I was at the monthly meeting of my ProfitNet group yesterday and someone was talking about having been to a trade show event where the cost of a stand was prohibitive for most micro businesses.
So half a dozen micros decided the answer was to get together and share the cost. They each turned up with their own promotional material, and agreed to help promote each other while they were there. (Trade show exibition stands aren't cheap - see Michael Fleischner's Top five ways to get the most out of every tradeshow for some good tips.)
Another member of the group discussed how she was getting together with some of her fellow professionals in the same field to offer workshop days, again sharing the costs and the profits.
With more and more of us working in this way, I wonder if this spirit of 'co-opetition' will become ever more the norm: people in complementary or even competitive businesses sharing the costs, effort and rewards of pitching for larger or more exciting projects than could be undertaken by any of them alone.
It's not a new idea, but it makes increasing good sense for those of us who are interested in taking on bigger jobs but don't necessarily want to build an agency empire.
It's not really the same as outsourcing because in that model the outsourcer controls the relationship with the client, allocates the work and decides the markup. The 'outsourcees' are simply suppliers, with no direct relationship to the client. That's not to say that the suppliers don't always get involved, I'm lucky enough to work with some fantastic 'outsourcees' who are more than willing to meet with clients and take responsibility beyond their remit. And I like what this transparency adds to the client relationship.
In a cooperative model, everyone becomes partner-suppliers. It's something I've considered in the past but thrown out as I couldn't figure out the logistics of billing, task allocation and so forth. But maybe that was just an excuse. Maybe it's time to look at it seriously again. What do you think? Has 'co-opetition' or co-operative working worked for you? Is it the future?
