I did not like group work as a student.

I much preferred to take on a project myself. I wanted complete control over the vision for that project, its execution, and all of the details along the way.

And when I say I “preferred,” what I really mean is that I still prefer to do things on my own.

However, building a business has taught me that I’m not going to build what I want to build without group work.

All this month, we’ve been exploring the possibilities for teaming up as we run our businesses. We explored hiring & managing with Podge Thomas, and I shared how I cope as an anxious, introverted, and autistic boss with Annie Schuessler. We explored how we can expand the visions of our businesses to ask how they can help us take better care of each other–and not just meet individual goals for success–with Kate Strathmann.

And we explored how to guide ourselves through the process of asking for and receiving support from others with Shulamit Ber Levtov.

This week, we’re going to wrap things up by exploring 5 things that are only really possible when we team up.

As I mentioned, group work is not my thing. And, I’ve realized that the things I’m most passionate about pursuing and creating are things that can only be done as part of a group. I need a team to build community. I nurture community to transform small business ownership. I need a team to help people express themselves & their ideas with podcasts. Heck, I need a team to produce this podcast!

A lot has been written about the promise of “solo entrepreneurship” over the years. And 8 years ago, I wrote about how I believed that solo entrepreneurship is a myth. Businesses aren’t built in a bubble, I wrote.

The only reason it feels like we can build a business on our own is because we have so many ways of working together. Only we take those ways of working together for granted.

The reason social media can work for marketing? It’s because we’re all collaborating on the content we put there–intentionally or not. The reason so many of us can sell to individual consumers or entrepreneurs with no middle man? We’ve all agreed that supporting each other is a key part of creating the world we want to live in.

The reason the technology we use to run our businesses gets better and better? We’re all a part of the feedback loop driving innovation.

The more we can draw out how we’re all a part of an implicit collaboration, a quiet team of supporters, the more we can ease into the power of making those collaborations explicit.

Entrepreneurship isn’t actually group work.

It’s a huge opportunity to take better care of each other. An opportunity to make our little corner of the world a better place through the vehicle of business. And we just won’t do that alone.

Today, I have 5 ways we can team up to do bigger and better things.

SEO consultant Meg Casebolt shares a story about teaming up to create a truly unique experience. ★ Support this podcast ★

Lack and the Social Bond