Over last month my son Simon was involved in the bumps rowing (Summer Eights) for his college Oriel at Oxford.
Rowing is one of those sports which involves a group of individuals pulling together to achieve a common result. Unlike traditional team sports like rugby or football there is little interaction between the individual rowers during the race – but they are a team none the less.
For many business owners who work on their own having a team of others around them who can ‘join their boat’ at key points, can be a great way to move their businesses forward.
Last month I had a great example of this.
I meet people through networking I think may well be able to help clients and contacts of mine in various ways. However, it can be difficult to guage how these people work and what it feels like to use their services.
Rachael Wheatley, of Bluegreen Learning, was one such individual. We had met at Curious Conversations and the Bristol Circle events and got on well from the start.
But how to know assess Rachael’s approach to marketing strategy? And how to facilitate her understanding of how I help business owners to master their finances?
It struck me that the easiest way for each of us to do some relevant work the other.
I needed a fresh look at how I found new clients and engaged with them, and Rachael and her husband Rob needed to do some 3 year business planning work – for which they needed some robust figures.
By the end of the two half day sessions (one concentrated on my busines and one concentrated on hers) we had achieved what we needed for our businesses – and as a bonus we both had a clear idea of how the other worked.
I found the whole exercise enlightening and would now have no hesitation in recommending Rachael. Hopefully Rachael feels the same way!
Fiona 🙂
Having had an extension built to our house last year the next task on our list this year is to sort out the garden – and a key part of that task is to build some decking.