Victoria is the founder of Ladies Who Launch. She is the creator of Ladies Who Launch Online and the Featured Lady stories. She is also co-author of the book Ladies Who Launch: Embracing Entrepreneurship and Creativity as a Lifestyle. Victoria explores the idea of success on all levels in her blog, and offers tips on reaching your goals and designing strategies and tactics to get the results you want.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned since starting Ladies Who Launch is that you can’t do it alone. If you want to be successful beyond your wildest dreams, then you will eventually have to collaborate and build many relationships to get there. You will find that the best relationships are those where the whole is greater than the parts: You can achieve amazing success if you simply collaborate and leverage each other’s strengths.

Every business constituent is a type of partner, and the most successful businesses take this point of view and act accordingly. Below are my top 5 tips for forming successful partnerships to enhance and grow your business …

Agree on the vision and mission: You should always be able to verbalize your mission statement and “elevator” pitch in almost identical terms. Not being able to do this or even having slight variations in the way you describe what your company does are signs that you may not be on the same page as your partner(s) and you may want to reevaluate.

Get advice from experts: Surround yourself with experts in key areas (like marketing, finance, legal, technology). Consider sourcing and finding a strategic board of directors or board of advisors to guide you. Rely on your board for expertise and to help you make the right choices in your partnerships. Choosing the right board allows you to grow your business faster and with fewer mistakes along the way.

Set goals and measure them regularly: Set specific monthly goals with specific tactics to reach those goals on a monthly basis. If you don’t have a full business plan, at least have a document outlining your strategy for growth and make sure you are in full agreement with your partner(s) on this. Hold each other accountable.

Supplement your weak areas: Surround yourself with those who have complementary skills. Network, network, network to find them. Find what you are good at and what you enjoy doing and partner with those that can fill in the gaps.

Know that things change (even partners): Identify the needs of your company and evaluate partnerships accordingly. As your company grows, your management structure will grow and change. Be open to forming different partnerships at different times. What might have worked during start-up may not work during growth. Embrace the shift as a sign of growth and celebrate along the way. Be passionate and have fun!

Here is who Ladies Who Launch is partnering with every day to fulfill our mission of being the number one provider of valuable resources, community, and inspiration to women launching and growing businesses:

• Our members, to provide the best resources possible, to spread the word, and get their feedback
• Our Featured Ladies, for tips and inspiration
• Our board of directors and investors, for connections and strategy
• Our Incubator leaders, for local community insight, ideas, programming, and in-person connections
• Other organizations and affiliates, to expand our product offerings
• Our team, which makes Ladies Who Launch happen every day

To read articles about partnerships, click here.
To download partnership documents, click here.
To join Victoria’s group on the social network, click here.