I’m not saying don’t start a business alone, and that you shouldn’t entertain the idea of starting a venture without a partner in tow, but none of us is an island and you won’t make it without help and support.

When someone asks what I do, I say ‘I run a website www.myitchydog.co.uk’ then they ask if it’s just me working alone and I hesitate before answering ‘kind of’.  Because although I work on my own, in my office at home, day after day, if I didn’t have anyone to mentor me, do the books, to speak to about what it takes to run a business with others that do the same, or bounce ideas off people I’d not be here now, over two years after starting the site.

Teamwork, people!

The only good thing about David Cameron binning Business Link when he came to power (how is that helping businesses get back on their feet, David?) was that I was introduced to Gareth Sear www.sussexwebmarketing.co.uk who set up his own business when he was made redundant from Business Link.  He’s now my business mentor and I highly recommend him.  My nickname for him is Straight & Narrow because that’s where he keeps me.

When things are tough and I’m daydreaming I’ll drop him a text saying ‘how about I start a new website that sells mega dog widgets or some such?’ and he’ll come right back with a well-reasoned argument that gets me back to working on the hard stuff and stops me moaning and bleating like a three year old who’s not allowed another go on the swings!

We meet fairly regularly, going through the sales figures, discussing what I want for the business, setting targets whether that’s for sales, SEO, marketing and what my goals are and how I’m going to achieve them.  It might sound like a load of hassle and the very reason you went it alone was because you never wanted to set another target in your life, but trust me, when it’s your business you’ll understand why you need a strategy, targets, milestones and all that other corporate guff.

Granted, I can do it all in my pyjamas now (with the exception of meeting Gareth at the garden centre restaurant halfway between our homes, no one wants to frighten the horses after all!) and I don’t get roped into Christmas parties or team building days out (unless you count a cuppa and a right good chinwag round at Karan’s house – she does my books) but otherwise it’s the same.  You need people and you need a strategy.  If you don’t have those you might as well shut down your computer, grab a bar of Green & Blacks and sit down with an episode of Borgen or the Killing.  You’ll be all the better for it.

So I’d like to thank the following people, without whom I couldn’t run my business all by my lonesome: Gareth Sear aka Straight and Narrow, Karan (Sage wizard and keeper of receipts), Deb (for keeping customers in Stag Bars when I have to go away), Paul Schwartfeger for his constant support and our long discussions about running our own businesses, Sophie Persson, for everything, Jasmine Birtles (she knows what for) and Babs Saul aka. www.blogmistress.com for her blog design and prowess see www.myitchydogsblog.com to appreciate her talents. Thanks guys, I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without you.