How to work as a partnership
Get Ahead VA is very proud to have branches across the country, and we’re always on the lookout for ambitious, business-minded people who are interested in opening a new branch in their local area. Our Regional Directors are brimming with good advice about being your own boss. Today, Kristy and Suzanne, co-Directors of our Berkshire & North Hampshire office, are here with some advice about working together as a partnership.
When we set up our branch of Get Ahead VA in 2019, we decided to do it as a pair. There are all sorts of benefits to going into business with another person – companionship, shared workload, complementary skills – so if you’re thinking of doing this, here are some tips for how to make your business partnership work!
1. Understand your strengths
We both come from slightly different backgrounds, so we worked out early on where each of our strengths lie and how we could most effectively divide up the work. Kristy has more to do with client management and business development, while my background is centred around people and HR, so I focus on handling the VAs. Of course, we still try to do most things together, and we learn from each other by seeing how the other person works. If you can go into business with someone whose skills complement yours, you can really maximise the time you spend on strategy and delivery.
2. Establish a working pattern
We try to work together as often as we can, usually in Kristy’s home office (because she has a puppy!), but we do work separately sometimes, depending on how much we have to do. On the days we don’t work together, we always have a call to make sure we’re both up to date with what the other person is doing and what needs to be done that day. It’s a good idea to establish a routine for working together – e.g. work out how many days per week you’ll spend together, which meetings or events we need to attend together or separately – and to have a plan for the days when you work apart.
3. Get out of the office
We find it really useful to get out of the office now and again – it gives us a bit of variety and helps us to do some of the more big-picture, strategic jobs together, away from distractions. Sometimes we’ll have a brainstorming session while we take the dog for a walk, or we’ll take ourselves off to a co-working venue or similar for the afternoon to craft an elevator pitch or to work on a client proposal. It’s good to give yourself this focused time together, away from your everyday workplace, to spark some new ideas and finish those jobs that can get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.
We really enjoy running our Get Ahead VA franchise together, so if you’re thinking of doing the same thing, we say go for it!
Would you like to run your own business with the support of an established brand? Then Get Ahead VA’s exciting franchise opportunity could be for you! We offer ongoing support from our award-winning brand to get your new business off to a flying start. For more details, or for a copy of our free franchise prospectus, contact Rebecca Newenham, owner and founder of Get Ahead VA, on (01483) 332220.
