You can’t do it all.  Neither can I.  Or anyone else, for that matter.

If you’re like me, you can become so enmeshed in “doing” things, you don’t “delegate” or “outsource” enough or find someone to share the load and partner or collaborate with.  These are the keys to being able to have the time to market yourself and focus on those things you do best or that only you can do.

One thing I’ve noted about a genuine collaboration is that the other person, ideally, is as invested in the business at hand as you are. I’ve also noticed when you “outsource” something, there’s no question you can find someone with the technical skills to accomplish your task.  I do it all the time.  But what’s often missing is the “loyalty factor”. Those times when your client suddenly has a crisis he shoves on to you or needs you to accomplish at warp speed.  Do you think your assistant or tech person from Russia or Eastern Europe or India or even Kentucky is going to bust his ….lets euphemistically say “off time” ……to get this done for you?  Hmmm. Maybe not.  Or maybe there are just more holidays, family gatherings, illnesses in other regions than where you are.  If you have had the same employee for 20 years, maybe.  But someone who’s collaborating with you and has as much of a stake in the outcome and satisfying the client as you do……. they will step up to the plate. And, aside from sharing the load in ordinary times, that’s reason enough to look for people to collaborate with.

Brian Clark of Copyblogger says: “The thing is, even if I couldn’t write my way out of a McDonald’s bag sopping with Big Mac grease, I could still make money. My knowledge of partnering strategies (joint ventures, strategic alliances, project collaboration) guarantees the ability to put together a deal that has all the necessary talent and assets to make a project happen.

And even if I were dead broke, I could do it without spending a dime, all while making everyone involved better off. Including me, of course.

Now, I’m not saying this because I’m some special hot shot. Even though I practiced business law and saw first hand that the real rich in the room were the business people who made the deals (not the lawyers who wrote them up), it still took me 5 years to apply partnering strategies in an entrepreneurial way.”

That, fortunately or unfortunately is an excellent point.  It is the person who makes the deals who makes the money. One may have to write, or travel or research or do something else to raise your profile and get the attention of the people to make the deals with ( see post on Tweet Your Own Horn on how to meet the right people.)  But in the end, it’s the deal that matters.

Find someone in your arena who can help leverage what you do.  If you have an online blog or business, find someone, or several people who can help you write.  Or provide you with a successful product to promote and split the revenues.  There’s power in numbers.  There’s power in collaboration.  Go out and make it happen!  And good luck!