Agencies, Freelancers, Design, Copywriting & more.: [Copyblogger] Why Strategic Collaboration is the Secret to 21st Century Success

Why Strategic Collaboration is the Secret to 21st Century Success

Why Strategic Collaboration is the Secret to 21st Century Success

Partnering Profits

There are plenty of ways to succeed online, and plenty of advice for making it happen. But what's the one thing that every successful entrepreneur can fall back on?

If I had to reduce my recipe for success to just three things, this is what those three would be:

Content
Copywriting
Collaboration

And if I had to give up two of those, I'd keep collaboration.

That may come as a shock, given the subject matter of this blog. But it's true.

Partnering Strategies For The Win

The thing is, even if I couldn't write my way out of McDonald's bag sopping with Big Mac grease, I could still make money. My knowledge of partnering strategies (joint ventures, strategic alliances, project collaboration) guarantees the ability to put together a deal that has all the necessary talent and assets to make a project happen.

And even if I were dead broke, I could do it without spending a dime, all while making everyone involved better off. Including me, of course.

Now, I'm not saying this because I'm some special hot shot. Even though I practiced business law and saw first hand that the real rich in the room were the business people who made the deals (not the lawyers who wrote them up), it still took me 5 years to apply partnering strategies in an entrepreneurial way.

(And if you think being an attorney gave me an unfair advantage, think again. Lawyers are trained to be adversarial, and that's the kiss of death to smart deal making. I had to get over that and readjust my mindset).

The truth is, there were at least two times pre-Copyblogger that smart partnering kept me in the game and allowed me to take things higher (the real truth is they saved my butt). That's a big part of the back story to the instant success (yeah right) of Copyblogger.

Fast forward to today, and I'm still at it.

The Secret to Success… Before and After Copyblogger

As a business, Copyblogger is successful not because of page views, but because of what it promotes. And what it promotes is made possible through collaboration with two exceptionally talented partners—Chris Pearson (DIY Themes) and Tony Clark (Teaching Sells). I've got other things in the works with Sonia Simone, Mark McGuinness, and Jon Morrow, three other exceptionally talented people.

In short, you can't do it alone. And who wants to?

As I've said before, I started Copyblogger to demonstrate what I could do as a way to attract partners and do other projects. There was no need for Copyblogger to become some so-called "A-list" blog to accomplish that, but I guess I got carried away.

What you'll find much more interesting is the partnering strategies I used before anyone knew who I was. And I'll share those stories and examples with you next week.

But up next in this Partnering Profits series, Copyblogger Associate Editor Jon Morrow shares why partnering strategies may provide a smarter route to success than your current path. Jon also has a background in offline joint ventures, as an organizer of high-dollar real estate investment groups. He's ported his effective tactics online, and that makes him a guy you need to listen to.

See you next week, and have a good weekend.

About the Author: Brian Clark is the founding editor of Copyblogger, and co-founder of DIY Themes and Lateral Action. Get more from Brian on Twitter.