HOW TO BUILD AND GROW YOUR ASSOCIATION

What does it take to get a business like an association off the ground, or explore a new strategic initiative, today? Next to nothing, actually – often, you just need a few hours’ spare time and a credit card. Over a third of America is now freelancing, and countless sites (Fiverr, Upwork, FlexJobs, etc.) and free online stock image/video/music/etc. libraries can connect you with gig economy workers and complementary resources that can help you launch new businesses or initiatives for under $100. Barriers to entry in many markets are virtually nothing as well, meaning it’s easier than ever to start a new project or initiative. After all, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. If a common business problem exists, more often than not, you can leverage someone else’s clever, cost-effective way to solve it. And more and more, communities are springing up online and around the globe that can help you dive right in and begin making things happen.

Folks often ask us: Do you need any particular degree, training, or qualifications to excel at functions like leadership and business development? As you might imagine, the answer is an emphatic No! You just need a little initiative. Happily, we’re all capable of successfully innovating our way to the top – and all it takes is one simple shift in mindset to do so. Research shows the leading barrier to ongoing business success isn’t time, money, or resources: It’s resistance to change, and lack of risk tolerance. As fast-moving and unpredictable as today’s world is though, we’re all forced to adapt on a daily basis. Haven’t taken a good look at your shifting schedule or priorities lately? Surprise – chances are, you’re successfully changing and innovating every day already. If everyone is capable of innovating, the only thing stopping you from getting ahead consistently is your own sense of perspective. The fundamental rule of business development is that there’s always a way to get a job done – finding it is simply an exercise in puzzle-solving and persistence.

As a simple illustration: Launching any association or online community – especially one consisting of some of the smartest, busiest, and most outspoken folks in business today – is always a challenge, as is finding ways to make people sit up and take notice. On the bright side, you never know when serendipity will work in your favor. For example, even as professional trendspotters, we could never have predicted one of our most effective tools for boosting dialogue and interest was accidentally printing some member-facing materials that contained a misspelling in them in our rush to get the word out quickly in the wake of the pandemic. Amusingly, we received more than our fair share of messages about this little snafu. On the bright side, several came from business development pros representing companies we had yet to collaborate with. And this little hiccup proved to be such a helpful icebreaker and conversation-starter that we parlayed these exchanges into partnerships that have only helped raise visibility and awareness. Remember what we said about innovation earlier? It’s not as hard to make lemons from lemonade as you may think – and you’d often be surprised at how many people are secretly rooting for you to succeed, and (if only you knew to reach out and ask them) are happy to go to bat in your corner.