One of my first collaborations with a florist and photographer

Working on your own can be quite lonely, so one way that I've found to save money, enhance your business, and keep you sane, is to find plenty of business "friends"

These are people that you can either

Share work with: You work for them, and they do an equivalent amount of time or job for you
Share experiences with : You both learn from each others mistake (hopefully halving the amount you make and the money you loose from them!)
Have a moan with : If you take my no cost, low cost marketing masterclass, you’ll find you should only ever be positive about your business in public whatever is happening. But with business friends, you can bitch about the customer from hell you should have never taken on, and they’ll sympathise and remind you to only take on ideal customers next time!

Being British we are often reticent to ask for help....... BUT we have a wonderful product that is thought of as a luxury, and unless you have sold every single one of your stems, you will always have something to buy help with.

People to look out for who may be good collaborators

Photographers
Florists
Cake makers
Gardeners
Tree surgeons
Community garden members
Caterers
Local farmers
Copywriters
Local craftspeople

As with the ideal customer, find those who aren’t going to stress you out, value you and the product you grow and sell, and have the same values and work ethic as you. Make sure that you value them too, and the relationship will be a long lasting and mutually beneficial one.