EchelonOne Consulting

Your hand is made up of four fingers and a thumb. Did you know that these five digits are 40 times stronger when they work together? This got me thinking…can the same principle apply to businesses?

Small BusinessConnect: This past September, four other business owners and I started a community-based business networking group called Small Business Connect. Though we’re still in our infancy as a group, I’ve already seen the benefits of business people pulling together to create opportunities and find solutions. Here's a sample of some of these benefits:

• Joining Forces: Businesses with similar target customers packaged their services to create an offer that a single business couldn’t easily pull off on its own.
• Opportunities: A business owner got called on to speak when a presenter baled out at the last minute…and picked up 6 new clients from the experience.
• Dance Cards: Business owners are meeting over coffee, not to make a sales pitch, but to learn about the other person’s business. Why? So that they can recognize an opportunity to refer a potential client. (One of our mandates is to encourage these dance cards*.)
• Finding Solutions: Owners talk about problems that are common amongst the group…and help each other to find solutions.

The Makings of a Business Community: We started out thinking that we were creating a networking group. I now realize what we’re creating is a business community. These first steps have been exciting. I can’t wait to see what we can accomplish in a year. Two years. Five.

Which got me thinking…what would happen if you could get the majority of businesses in a community to work together this way? In a province? In a country?

How much better would our economy be?

What do you think?

*Dance card: A business meeting where two people spend equal time educating (note: not selling) the other person about their business.

Who spearheaded Small Business Connect?

Debbie Ouellet, EchelonOne Consulting

Sinda Simpson, ESS Direct

Shane Serra, WSI-We Simplify the Internet

Patricia Dent, Inciteful Solutions

Faye Zevenbergen, FBZ Accounting Solutions