Collaboration? What does it REALLY mean? It’s defined as the “action of working with someone to produce or create something”. Ok, sure! But it’s more than just that simply stated I think. Collaboration is at the heart of EVERY successful business. I believe to be truly successful at what you do it should be one of the strongest elements of your business’s foundation.

When asked to write a short article on ‘how or who’ I’ve collaborated with recently to help my business, my mind just started swirling. If you’re anything like myself, you must know that collaboration just happens if you’re really into your work and love interacting with the people around you to get the job done. So it should be happening every minute, right? Whether it’s your employees, your clients, your suppliers, etc… it’s ALL around you, and everything you do is a form of collaboration. If you choose to let it, collaboration forces you to build relationships, and relationships build friends who care, which in turn help you succeed.

I felt THAT should be said first before I throw a twist into this article. However, if I had to tell you the most unique and specific situation that I found this year for collaboration, it is the Small Business Development Center located at the University of Georgia. Tilt (my dog) and I walked in and knew we were in the right place! They are a free consultation organization available to ANYONE in the state of Georgia who needs help. It doesn’t matter if you are someone who’s thinking about starting a business, someone with a brand new business, or someone who’s been around forever. It’s all about you, where you are currently, and where you’d like to be in the future? It’s all about helping you and the economy within the state. It’s an on-going consultation. You come back whenever you get to a new stepping stone, and continue to work with them as long as you’d like to keep climbing. They have legal resources, financial advice, HR training… you name it, they got it! All you have to do is work with your appointed consultant. It’s that easy.

Lastly, if you’re having any sort of trouble with your own businesses, just know there’s a reason for it. (And trouble could mean good or bad guys. You can either have not enough business, or too much business you know?) Either way, if you’re having trouble, and you don’t know how to fix it? A group like the SBDC in Georgia can help point you in the right direction. That and a little faith, if you know what I mean, is about all you need!

If you are in Georgia, here’s their link. They have 17 locations across the state also.

https://www.georgiasbdc.org

Stay blessed guys! Jimi and Tilt ——— jimismithphotography.com