The Power of The Network

In my new all-time favorite business book (Alpha Dogs) one of the chapters was dedicated to the importance of building a business network. Not necessarily a network of clients or vendors with whom you wish to do business, but a network of business colleagues (did I spell that right?) and small business owners with whom you can work to get better pricing, special deals, and share business tips and tricks. For me, while it's still small, my business network is proving invaluable in an unusual way in that I'm partnering up with my competitors.

With the busy tradeshow season right around the corner (gulp, just about one month from today!) there's a million and one things on the to do list and what feels like a million and one dollars going out the door in preparation. One of the biggest issues is how to get the tradeshow display items down to the first show and then down to the second show but most of the tradeshow freight companies charge big bucks with a minimum weight of 275lbs. My company does not have 275lbs of tradeshow display material but I still have to pay the minimum weight so it gets expensive really quickly. In the past I've literally handcarried everything into and out of the show and then relied on UPS and our friendly airline to help me transport boxes to and fro but I'm starting to have just a little too much stuff to pull that off comfortably not to mention the hassle that is the airlines these days.

So instead I've partnered up with a local small business owner who is also a direct competitor of mine and is also going to the same tradeshows I am. I figured that we could both sit in silence and suffer the prices or split the pallet which will cut the cost of getting everything transported in half. I reached out to her the other day and she agreed that it's a great idea so it looks like the deal it done. I'm pretty excited because it means this year instead of lugging everything into the tradeshow hall by myself it will already be sitting at my booth waiting for my creative (ha!) eye to unpack it and make it into something retailers just have to stop at as they walk by.

The only other piece of the puzzle is that I now need to find a pallet. I've been checking Craigslist to no avail and do know of a place where I can buy one...but unfortuantely you can't just buy one and I really don't need five wood pallets. I did however see that our local vegan doughnut shop has a number of pallets outside their facility so I'm thinking of going over there this weekend, purchasing a number of doughnuts, and then asking if I can take a pallet off their hands. So if any local Pacific Northwest folks want to come over for vegan doughnuts I may end up having a bunch of them up for grabs tomorrow!