Sit + Sip: when collaboration beats competition
Sara Eizen has a company called Nest. Piper Lauri Salogga has a company called Natural Balance. Both do interior design and redesign, color consultation and organization. While I’ve known Sara to also do home staging and personal shopping, Piper applies Feng Shui to office spaces and calls it “Office Shui.” Upon meeting each of them you might feel they do variations of the exact same thing. Fold into the mix that they both live and work in central Seattle neighborhoods. They are both mothers of young children, appealing to new moms with a lot of clutter and not a lot of time. And they’re both on Biznik. Total competition right? Yes… but these two looked beyond the ways they compete and found a way to collaborate.
It started with Sara asking Piper to coffee. “Hey, it sounds like we do very similar things, and are both on Biznik. We have a lot in common, want to meet?” One coffee meeting led to regular walks around Greenlake, sometimes with strollers in hand. Six months later their relationship is going strong. What exactly do they have to offer one another? Don’t they worry about protecting their precious trade secrets?
Competition is real. But if you believe that there is enough work for everyone, you’re already one step ahead. Put your energy into developing a clear marketing message, establish a niche customer, demonstrate authenticity, integrity and professionalism in everything you do. Then reach out to your competition and look for ways you can support one another.
Sara and Piper have not become business partners and they don’t refer clients to one another. Each is capable and interested in presenting their own interpretation of the same service. Instead, they offer each other, camaraderie, support, inspiration and peer mentoring. Tonight, they’re co-hosting “Sit + Sip” – a free event “to bring people and ideas together, have fun and get inspired… to introduce you to some of the best green furnishings and practices in town.”
Sit + Sip Drink & Dream Green, at Camelion Design.
Wednesday, December 3rd
7-9pm
5300 Ballard Avenue NW
Seattle 98107
RSVP by emailing info@sitsip.com
Biznik is a community of forward thinking business people on similar paths as one another. Biznik’s mission is to connect great minds with interesting work. Sara and Piper connected on Biznik and two companies in competition with one another have benefited from the collaboration.
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Lara,
I love this post because it really showcases an example (not just a lot of hooey talk) about how people CAN really find ways to learn, grow, and build businesses with and around others.
The old competition model just doesn’t fly anymore. Collaboration is where it is at. Without collaboration, I certainly would not have the business I do.
Keep encouraging others to get to know their counterparts – add value to them – have coffee with them – using an abundant mindset that there is “plenty for everyone” in a big, open world.