Share your Business Sharing Successes

My nine-year old: ‘Can I play games on your iPhone?’
Me: Eye roll…sigh…long pause.

I usually say yes because my nine-year old himself is a good sharer. In our growing 27-member family, he learned early on that giving up a toy to a younger cousin earned him the respect and affection of his revered oldest cousin position.

Sharing is a lesson that helps us understand mutual benefit when we are young. “Okay, I’ll buy it – but only if you share it with your brother.” “Sure, I’ll let you play with my Barbie if I can have the Dream Car.” And, in the words of Tom Sawyer, “Say, Jim, I’ll fetch the water if you’ll whitewash some.”

Businesses leverage the power of sharing in all sorts of ways. Check your favorite search engine for ‘sharing opportunities’, ‘shared advertising’, ‘share business’, or just ‘share stuff’ and you’ll see many of them. But sharing hasn’t been part of business buzz since food co-ops saw a surge in the 60’s.

In the age of shared digital content, social networks, phenom success by shared buying sites like Groupon, and recession-driven budget cuts, co-op is cool again. Sharing isn’t just for children and people who live hip, organic lifestyles anymore. I love it!

In 1999, I started AssociAD based on the principles of force multiplication, collaboration, cooperation, group buying, win/win/win, economies of scale, or any other way you want to say sharing. I’ve witnessed the synergistic success that happens when professionals link in their common interests and share resources.  Now, I want to share sharing! Join me for some detailed how-to’s of sharing for business, and please share your entrepreneurial and professional sharing success stories, on the LinkShareGrow blog.