When Laurence started out in business, he was a company of one. For 5 years he found his own clients, did sales and marketing, managed his finances. It didn’t even occur to him to ask for help.

Then one day he realised it wasn’t much fun anymore, and he could only go so far with his own skillset.

Thankfully a project came in that meant he had to ask for help if he was to take it on. He could either stay solo and play it small, or start thinking bigger. As luck would have it, Carlos was looking for new opportunities having landed in the same industry not long before.

The rest is history.

The challenge is not everyone has the fortune to find a business partner where things click so easily. Most of the people in the Happy Startup School community are companies of one, sole founders, solopreneurs, AKA lone wolves.

When you don't have a cofounder or no longer have colleagues, a community is your lifeline to connection, which is why in this episode, Carlos and Laurence explore how to find deep, lasting connections when you no longer work for a company (or have one of your own).

Long-time friends and facilitators Line Morkbak and Andrea Strohmayr share how to build nourishing, long lasting relationships in business. Line and Andrea have known each other for years. They are not business partners, yet help each other with their businesses. They are not colleagues, yet sometimes collaborate on projects. They met through business circles but yet help each other out with personal challenges.

The trouble is we don't yet have a vocabulary for these kind of relationships. Accountability buddies? Business friends? Colleagues?

What is clear is this is a conversation that needs to happen more openly. We see these relationships happen in the cohorts brought together on Vision 20/20 and more widely in the online community and from our events. However Line and Andrea are curious about how these relationships can blossom when no-one else is facilitating that connection as part of a committed course or event.

They share more about how their relationship came to evolve, give examples of the importance of these colleagueships, and dive into how we get to this level of comfort, vulnerability and trust with one another, where the commitment isn’t transactional, but rather grows out of curiosity, chemistry, and a genuine interest in one another.

Links

• Join the conversation live
• Become a member of the Happy Startup School
• Join the next Vision 20/20 cohort