On a recent post a reader (Mindful Entrepreneur (Jason)) asked:
“I know you talk a lot about being ‘relational’. I’m wondering if you can offer some specific suggestions for upcoming information marketers and/or bloggers to that end.
What are some strategies that worked for you? How were you able to identify potential partnerships quickly? What was your best approach in these situations?”
Thanks Jason – Let me tackle each part one at a time.
What are some strategies that worked for you? – in terms of being ‘relational’ and finding potential partnerships – perhaps the best tip I can give you is to think carefully about the way in which you write.
My personal approach is to write in a style that both builds a perception of expertise (ie people will only want to partner with you if they believe you know what you’re talking about) but which is also relational, humble and accessible (ie people won’t want to work with you if you come across as a know it all, arrogant ‘git’).
Get this blend between expertise and approachability right and you’ll find people will want to connect with you (both normal readers and potential partners). Of course this is just my own personal style and I’m sure other styles will worth for others – but I know when I’m looking for someone to partner with that this is the type of person I look for.
How were you able to identify potential partnerships quickly? – actually I’m not sure it was a quick process. I’d been blogging for a couple of years before I first started working in a more formal partnership with another blogger.
My style in connecting with others to work with is generally pretty slow. There have been one or two snap decisions but I think if you talk to most of those that I’ve ended up working with that I’ve actually taken my time (annoyingly so probably for the others) because I want to ‘know’ the other person as much as possible before entering into any agreement with them – particularly because in each situation I had never met the other before in ‘real life’.
What was your best approach in these situations? – Here’s some of the questions that I’d recommend people ask when thinking about potential partnerships:
- How long have they been blogging? – sometimes seeing that another person’s stuck at blogging for a while can be an indication as to whether they have stickability
- What have they done before? How has it gone? – past records can tell you a lot
- Are they consistent? – try look at their previous work – are they just on their best behavior at present or are you seeing their true colors?
- Do they follow through on what they say that they’ll do? – reliability is key
- What do others say about them? – do a little digging around – what do others think about them? Check their references
- What are their skills? – do they compliment yours?
- Do they have time? – many people just don’t have the time to take on new projects (and you’ll end up doing all the work if they are too busy)
- Do you have a relationship with them already? – I don’t enter into big partnerships these days unless I’ve already done smaller ones with people
- Do you know others who know them? – sometimes this can help – it keeps everyone more accountable
- What does your Gut say? – I’m a pretty intuitive sort of guy so my ‘gut’ helps me a lot
I’m not sure if I’ve really answered your questions Jason – but I hope something in this is helpful.
