My guess is that most people view similar businesses as competitors and this should not be the case, in my opinion. Instead, similar businesses should work together and share ideas in order to help each other’s entity grow.

When I had my business in Michigan, I trained an intern how to use QuickBooks so that she could start her own business. My mother thought I was crazy, asking “why would you want to share your secrets with someone else?” But I did not see the woman as my competitor. I was eager to share my QuickBooks and accounting knowledge with someone else, especially since she lived much further away from me. I figured she would be able to serve a population that I would have little interest serving because of the travel time, and why not give the client the best service possible indirectly through my tutoring?

Here in North Carolina is the same case. There are many QuickBooks consulting firms in the area, but different clients fit with different firms so there is not really competition. New businesses form often and there is plenty of business to go around. One woman, Christine Kelly of netWorth Bookkeeping services, is based out of Fuquay-Varina. Although she offers the same or more services than I do, we do not view each other as competitors. Some of our service areas do overlap, but for the most part we service other areas.

The benefit of us seeing each other as business partners is that we share a lot of information with each other to help each business grow. For example, we are often chatting on inside919 in the instant message system or through Facebook. I have referred clients to her and for me she provides invaluable information. For example, she taught me how to get listed on Google places for free and how to use a free service called Mail Chimp to send out newsletters to people. I also watch how she tries to grow her business and think she’s a marketing guru. Then I ask her how each marketing technique works so I can evaluate if I will try it or not.

Overall, we have a great working relationship and we keep helping each other learn how to be a better business person instead of closing our doors and not sharing any information.

I hope that through networking events, and the blogs we write, and advertising we give each other helps to serve as an example to other similar businesses to share their efforts to help each other grow.