Synergy and your business

Synergy

The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

Hi again.

Here's a two sentance update to get you up to speed on where I am...

Despite the tough economic times, we're growing. Revenue and profit are both up, and all in all, we're doing well.

Now, here's the latest addition to my business, a instrument repair technician.

At the end of last year, I received a solicitation to rent space in my studio by a person who wanted to set up an instrument repair shop. We negotiated terms in November, had a plan to set up the shop in December and go live in January.

Well, that fell apart. The guy was flaky and with my red flags going up all around me, I called him to tell him that the deal was off.

As soon as I made that call, here comes another guy wanting to do the same thing. But there was something different about this guy.

He had a business plan...

He wanted to work 6 days a week (as compared to just one day for the other guy)...

He had excellent ideas for using our space after our talk and walk through...

So I decided to give it one more shot.

We worked up an agreement in which I was to charge him more per month than the first gentleman and he cut me a check that day (01/06/09) for his rent. The very next day, we were setting up his space and he was in business within 5 days.

Now, this guy is serious about his business. He went out, busted hump and picked up repair contracts for several of the large music stores in town. He turned a $1500 profit his first month and has improved month over month.

So, I get additional revenue each month from his rent, but more importantly, we are now picking up several new students each week from his walk-ins. These are people that had no intention or thought about taking lessons until they came in and saw our studio. As they're waiting to get their instrument repaired, or pick it up, we'll chat them up about lessons, take them on a tour of the studio (which is a major selling point based on our space and programs) and usually pick up 1-5 new students per week just from the repair side of the business.

On the flip side, we're keeping the repairman in business with all our students and teacher repairs. So both of us are benefiting well from the business agreement.

In your own business, look for ways to partner with others that are in the same field but different enough from your business model to be non-competitive. By establishing a partnership, both parties could benefit. And with the tough economic times, there is strength in numbers, no?

Until next time (whenever that is) ... Best of luck to you!