Small business tips & tools

A Story of Accidental Collaboration (vs Competition) in a Small Business

Here’s what happened

The background

A few years ago, when I was living in New Zealand (NZ), my husband and I decided to take a day long road trip. This is one of my favorite things — road trips to just go see what is there, to see and explore nature in the area where we live.

We decided to drive to the end of a road we hadn’t been down before, to see a beach there.

The beach is named 90 Mile Beach and it ended in a small bay named Shipwreck Bay.

Great names, huh?

We found that in NZ, whenever we got to the end of the road, we were delighted with the beauty of the place, how unpopulated it was, how untouched nature felt.

We were almost at the end of the road.

I was looking at the big waves crashing on the beach, the large sand hills tumbling down to meet the beach, the blue sky.

Feeling awe and wonder. What a great spot. Wanting to pinch myself.

I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw that a Bed & Breakfast (B&B) we just passed was for sale. The name of it was Shipwreck Lodge.

What?!

I felt a jolt of energy, excitement, an Ah-ha, and KNEW this was a sign from the Universe to …

PAY ATTENTION, Laura!

I turned to my husband and said, “We need to figure out how to buy that place!”

Why?

Because living on the beach was on my Life List!

We hadn’t found the right time or way to afford to do that yet.

The Lodge was on the beach! A beautiful beach.

We were keen sailors at the time. We had sailed to NZ from the USA and loved all things sailing, especially old-time sailing stories and adventures, old-time sailboats, shipwreck stories.

The name of the Lodge jumped out at me… Shipwreck Lodge.

Perfect!

We were looking for a sign from the Universe on what to do next.

The energy, excitement, Ah-ha were a sign for me that I recognized. My intuition was communicating with me.

CHECK THIS OUT, Laura!

I got out my magic calculator and our simple Excel worksheet we used to brainstorm the budget for all our crazy ideas. I started to look at how we could afford to make this happen.

I wanted this.

My intuition was telling me this was the right next thing for us to do. And, the Universe got behind us and gave us all kinds of magical signs to show us that we could afford to buy the place.

And, we did.

But, wait!

We had no hospitality experience.

However, one of the life lessons that has showed up in our lives again and again is that we may not know how to do something, but we can figure it out.

We started by just doing what the previous owners had set up as methods, procedures, marketing. We made mistakes, learned, modified, and made it ours.

The competition

Shipwreck Lodge was purpose built to be a luxury lodge and had 3 large guest rooms with ensuites and balconies. There were no cooking facilities in the rooms. Each morning our guests would come downstairs, where we would cook them breakfast in our kitchen, serve them at our kitchen table, and then sit and chat with them.

There were probably 12–15 accommodation providers in this small community. A mix of campgrounds, small motels, apartments, cabins, and a few homeowners who had an extra room they rented.

We were the luxury end of the accommodation in the community.

Our only real competitor at the luxury niche was an owner of 2 fully furnished apartments that were beautifully appointed and decorated. He marketed himself as luxury, too.

I will call him Mr. Beach Apartments.

Our local hospitality providers occasionally met up together for national and local government tourist information trainings and gatherings.

Mr. Beach Apartments was always very stiff, short, competitive, almost rude in his interactions with us.

Okay. I let it roll off. I didn’t feel the need to worry about, or deal with, his attitude and issues.

The accidental collaboration

I believe it is important to set boundaries, rules, guidelines in our small businesses. Clear boundaries help reduce or eliminate misunderstanding, create clear expectations, minimize problems.

One of our rules was no cooking in our kitchen.

I broke this rule again and again when our guests that had been traveling for many weeks, who were tired of eating out at night, asked if they could cook a meal in our kitchen. I gave in and allowed them to use our kitchen. I wanted to be accommodating, easy to work with, keep guests happy.

Yet, it always created problems for us.

We still had to spend time showing guests where things were, cleaning up after them, staying up later than we usually stayed up so that the kitchen would be in the right condition for us to cook breakfast the next morning.

I finally decided to keep this boundary, to not give in! No cooking in our kitchen. We made this clear on our website, in our marketing, with our travel partners.

The day I set this firm boundary in my mind, I got a call from an Air NZ flight attendant.

She “had heard about our Lodge and was looking forward to a long awaited 4-day weekend in our area. Could she book with us?”

“And, oh, I want to catch fish and collect scallops on the beach and cook them at your accommodation. Was this possible?”

What?! The Universe was playing with me! I really had just decided to be firm with this boundary.

Was I going to give in again?

No.

No, I was not.

I politely and kindly told her that “our accommodation really wasn’t a good fit for you. We did not have cooking facilities in the guest rooms. You will be much happier staying somewhere else, staying at a place that had cooking facilities.”

In my mind, I was so happy and delighted with myself for saying No! For maintaining my boundaries! For not going down this road where I would regret giving in on this.

“Oh, but I’ve heard how beautiful your accommodation is, someone had recommended it specifically to me. Please I really want to stay with you!”

Wow! She was so outgoing, friendly, persuasive.

“I am so glad you heard good things about us, but you would not be able to cook here. If this is important, I’m going to recommend you stay somewhere else.”

“In fact, our competitor, Mr. Beach Apartments, had beautifully appointed apartments with full cooking facilities, and was also right on the beach. You will be much happier there. I am going to give you his phone number, his first name, and I want you to call him right now and tell him I sent you. Tell him I said that he was to take very good care of you.”

We went back and forth in a friendly, fun way, but she finally said okay.

We hung up.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock at our front door. Mr. Beach Apartments had a huge smile on his face and a bottle of wine in his hands. He gave me a big hug, handed me the wine, and thanked me profusely for sending this Air NZ flight attendant to him.

He was shocked that I turned her away and shocked that I recommended his place to her.

I said I knew his place was beautiful and knew he would take good care of her. That we didn’t accommodate guests that wanted to cook well and that I knew he could. We smiled at each other, shook hands, and he left.

I forgot about her.

Just a few weeks later, there was a knock at the front door. The flight attendant introduced herself. She was staying with Mr. Beach Apartments and was delighted with the accommodations and the incredible hospitality of Mr. Beach.

“Thank goodness! I’m so glad!”

She said, “But I want a tour of your place!”

She had heard good things, and she wanted to be able to tell all her friends about both of these accommodations, the kindness and honesty she had received from both owners.

Wow.

I ended up giving her a tour, talking to her for over an hour, and

Creating. A. Raving. Fan.

She didn’t even stay with us!

The kicker, though…..

I started receiving referrals from Mr. Beach Apartments!

If he was full, when potential guests inquired about specific dates, he sent them to us.

And, when we were full, I began sending potential guest inquiries to him.

Both of our businesses grew from this.

Hugely!

We both got more bookings, guests, income, delighted customers because we became collaborators.

If someone was looking for cooking facilities, I sent them to Mr. Beach. If someone was looking for a B&B experience, he sent them to me.

This collaboration was not thought out and planned. It just happened.

But I learned.

Collaboration vs competition is also less stressful, caring, kind, helpful.

I learned that there is enough business, clients, customers, in whatever business any of us are in, to go around and share with others.

I learned that collaboration is good for small businesses. I learned that collaboration helps our business grow and thrive. I learned that collaboration is good for whatever industry we are in. I learned that collaboration serves our clients and customers.

I have collaborated many times since then, very successfully.

Conclusion

We only lasted in the hospitality business for about 6 years. We found that burnout is very typical in this industry. We loved the experience, living on the beach, the small community. Our guests were fascinating.

But we got tired of always needing to be “on”, to be ready to serve, when sometimes we really needed a rest and to serve ourselves.

So, we sold Shipwreck Lodge.

And, moved on to the next thing on our Life List.

But that is another story.

Collaboration has always served me.

Maybe it would serve you.

I am a Life Coach & Small Business Coach. I help others get clear on the life and business they would love to manifest, know that they can have it, and help them choose it. Visit me at https://www.lauraraduenz.com