5 tips to turn your business competitors into collaborators then cheerleaders

I was around six months into my business journey when I had a lightbulb moment: the people I thought were my competitors, weren’t my competitors. I was only competing with myself, writes Erin Huckle freelance writer and PR consultant.

I know, I know, it’s so cheesy! But before you click to the next article, hear me out.

You see, I was guilty in those first six months of looking with wide-eyed wonder at the other freelancers around me – PR consultants, copywriters, marketers – and feeling like they had it all together. And that I had to compete with them to succeed. I was wrong.

It was only when I joined The Clever Copywriting School, an online membership community for copywriters and content creators, that I started to realise these people could be my cheerleaders. There really is plenty of work for everyone, and being part of this group made me realise I could look to my competitors for guidance, for ‘been there, done that’ advice, and most importantly in that first year of work – for well-paid work referrals.

Two years into my business, and I’m all about connecting with the ‘competition’ and continuing to build a network of people I trust for referrals – now that I’m often the one fully booked and referring work to others.

So, the competition can actually become your team of cheerleaders and collaborators.

But what about going into business with your competitor? Is it a good idea and can it ever work out?

For wedding florists Sarah Cleaton and Katarina Rosa, when COVID first hit in 2020, their businesses ground to a halt almost overnight.

“Our businesses were solely reliant on weddings as our main source of income. Almost overnight, our cash flow disappeared and there was little to no interest from brides planning dream weddings with so much COVID-related uncertainty,” says Sarah

Throughout her career as a wedding stylist, Sarah was often asked “what can I do to preserve my bouquet after the wedding?”. But she never really had an answer she was confident in recommending, other than the age-old “hang it upside down and cover it with hair spray” option. When COVID put a halt to wedding styling and someone dear to Sarah passed away, she finally had the time to really explore finding a flower preservation solution.

Sarah knew her idea for a flower preservation business-pivot was a good one, but she also knew it would be hard to do on her own.

“I’d met Kat a few times and I knew she had a similar philosophy to me with her floristry business. We were competitors, but I could see a synergy in the way we worked,” says Sarah.

So Sarah reached out to Kat, and explained her idea for creating a flower preservation business, turning flowers from treasured events into pieces of art to last a lifetime.

“I was pretty surprised to meet with Sarah and hear about her business idea, and even more surprised when she said it was a business she wanted to partner with me on. I’d always admired her work and creativity, and it came as a glimmer of hope for the future of both our careers,” says Kat.

And so, in July 2020, Embedded Blooms was born.

Just over one year later, Kat and Sarah have worked with more than 600 amazing customers, and they’re now in high demand from brides and customers nationally – their ‘fresh box’ flower delivery system means they can create resin casts with flowers from anywhere in Australia.

“We’ve learnt that we’re better together – we each bring different skills to the business, and it’s great to have someone else to bounce ideas off of, as the business grows,” says Sarah.

Sarah and Kat’s top 5 tips for going from competitors to collaborators:

Be honest and upfront

There’s no point tip-toeing around things – be honest about the parts of the business you enjoy and the parts you’d rather delegate. If your collaborator is doing something you don’t agree with, speak up! Honesty is always the best policy.

Lay the foundations for success

In the early days, be really clear around setting expectations, working on plans and agreeing on responsibilities. There’s no point assuming things or hoping for the best – if you both know where you stand, you’ll feel much more invested and aligned in the business.

Quick, informed decisions are good decisions

n order to push your retail business forward, you need to move rapidly. But so long as your decisions are informed and you’ve been able to bounce the idea around with each other, go ahead and make it. Nothing can’t be undone and tried again if it didn’t work the first time. Procrastinating over decisions is wasted time in a business like this.

Share your networks

since starting out, we’ve leant on our friends, family, past wedding vendor business friends, extended colleagues and florist and funeral community at large. Building a community of supporters, and reaching out to let them know about our business has been really important, and we each bring our own network to the business.

There are no hard feelings in partnerships

You both need to agree that the business always comes first. Although there will be differing opinions, if you remain flexible and fluid you’ll be able to shake off the instinct to take things personally and be better able to identify them as the right decisions for the business.

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