Last week on Creating Your Encore Career, I shared the next steps you should take in creating your Encore Career. These steps are your foundation when you’re just getting started. They take you from being fresh out of your corporate career, having no clue what you’re doing to running a successful business in your Encore Career.

I want to take some time to share more thoughts on this topic. Specifically, I want to talk about partnerships.

Why Partnerships Are Important

One of the highlights I’ve gleaned from the books I’ve been reading lately is the importance of partners. We just can’t do this Encore Career thing alone. 

Why?

Partners are people who:

• Encourage you

• Teach you

• Do work for you

• Connect you

Partners are essential.

How to Work With Partners

I’ve partnered with a variety of people in my Encore Career. Some ways I’ve partnered with others include:

• Hiring a Virtual Assistant

• Participating in masterminds

• Hiring a podcast production team

• Working with designers

• Collaborating with other entrepreneurs

Hiring my podcast crew has been one of the best partnership decisions I’ve made. They’ve freed up so much of my time so I can focus on the stuff only I can do. 

There are other best practices I’ve learned in this journey of partnering with others as well. Firstly, build a diverse network. Partner with people of all different ages, cultures, and skills and from different areas of the world. 

Secondly, remember that it’s more important to know “who” than it is to know how. Know about and let others use their expertise. 

Finally, collaborate with others and stop worrying about competing. There’s room for everyone. To fight against comparison, remember that some people need to hear your unique voice. 

I like the way Mike Kim sums up partnering: “Be the jelly to someone else’s peanut butter.”