Beyond Networking: Building Empowering Partnerships

You’re busy building your business, expanding your vision, inspiring your team, and supporting your clients, but who is standing in your corner?

Who are your Power Partners?

Who are the people amplifying your voice, sharing your work, and magnifying the impact you have on the world??

What is a Power Partner?

Power Partners are business owners who serve the same clientele from a different angle. What your partnership looks like will vary depending on your business needs, goals, and values.?

The only “rule” is that these partnerships are always mutually beneficial.?

The Sliding Scale of Power Partners

Power partnerships are more than just a strategic tool – they're a testament to the transformative power of human connection.?

From basic referral exchanges and affiliate partners to profound celebrations of each other's work, power partnerships evolve along a dynamic spectrum. The essence of these deeper connections lies in authenticity—authentic admiration, genuine support, and reciprocal appreciation. Your relationship is more than just passing referrals back and forth; you’re inspired by what they have to offer, it excites you to share their work with other people, and the feeling is mutual.?

Whether you're collaborating with fellow entrepreneurs, industry experts, or devoted clients turned allies, these power partnerships offer a sense of camaraderie and community that fuels your company’s journey to success.

Finding the Right Fit

Transactional relationships have never really worked for me. Personally, it's much more important to build trust, foster mutual respect, to truly enjoy each other's company, and genuinely value each other’s work.?

When I’m deciding whether I'm going to refer a coach, marketing agency, or even a contractor, I ask myself if I would send my best friend to them for help.?

Personally, that is a heart-based decision, not a business transaction.?

For some folks, it is more sustainable to keep their Power Partners at a basic, transactional level, and there is nothing wrong with that. Curating these connections is about what works for you and your company and the level of support you are able to offer your partners. What that looks like is entirely up to you.

Identifying Your Power Partners Starts with Who You Serve

Who your ideal Power Partners are depends on who you serve and how.?

? What do your clients want?

? What do they need??

? What’s on their minds?

Your answers to these questions help to identify your ideal Power Partners because they’re the experts, business owners, and service providers who are fulfilling those needs and desires. They’re the thought partners who are aligned with your work and uniquely positioned to share your offers with the people who need and want what you have to give.

A simple and effective way to dive deeper and start identifying potential Power Partners is to go straight to the source. Ask your clients who else they’re working with.?

Ask whose work they admire.?

Ask them about the solutions they’ve found and the answers they need.

Your clients are the best people to identify their own needs, desires, and challenges.?

So ask them.?

Four Steps to Start Finding Your Power Partners

When I first started looking for Power Partners, I started by reaching out to the people I served who really loved the work that I did. Finding your own Power Partners may be as simple as reaching out to your clients and your community, but there are many other avenues available to help you create new connections.

1. Networking groups like Business Network International (BNI) are specifically designed to foster referral partnerships. For some folks, this avenue works well because it’s aligned with what they need to grow their business and the kind of support they’re able to offer.?
2. LinkedIn is another option that makes it easier to zoom in on your community, identify potential Power Partners, and start engaging with their work.
3. Ask your clients who they’re working with and who they want to work with next.
4. Or, put yourself in your ideal client’s shoes and ask yourself:What would I be reading??Who would I be seeking out??Who would I be spending money with??

The answers will lead you to other businesses that are serving your clients and potential Power Partners who are committed to showing up and doing the work.

Authentic, Aligned, and Empowering Partnerships

Building genuine relationships takes time. Nurturing a relationship takes effort. You need to build camaraderie, trust, and respect. This is what the deepest power partnerships are about: trusting and believing in each other's wisdom, expertise, integrity, and wanting to put more of that out into the world.?

Here are some questions to help you get clear on how you can recognize, appreciate, and celebrate your Power Partners in a way that feels meaningful.

• What do they need?
• What kind of support can you offer right now?
• How can you invest in their success?
• How would you like to show up for them?

Real friendships and potent Power Partnerships are built from a place of authentic alignment and personal connection, from a desire to really know the other person, and to see them succeed.??

This isn’t a short-term strategy, it’s a long-term growth proposition that offers untold opportunities for personal and professional support and expansion.

Creating Power Partnerships is about going beyond networking to build genuine relationships because, at the very heart of the matter, business is about relationships.

Do you love networking or does the idea make you cringe??

What do you love about it–or love to hate? Share your experiences, insights, and questions in the comments below.

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