Collaboration- There must be some differences in thinking of a successful entrepreneur and a commoner. Otherwise, everyone (or at least most) of the people we see in our daily life would have become millionaire if not a billionaire.
While there are a lot of factors contributing to the success of a person as a business owner, one of the most successful strategies we can observe mainly in the case of big corporations is collaboration.

What is collaboration?

Google dictionary describes collaboration as “the action of working with someone to produce something” which has other similar meanings such as alliance, joint effort, team effort, association, partnership etc.
Yes, collaboration is when more than one person, businesses or any entities work together to achieve something. For example, an Indian conglomerate called Reliance has recently collaborated with Facebook and Google in order to dominate ICT sector of India which is one of the largest and fastest growing market in the world.

What makes collaboration so important?

If you read history, then it will be evident that many of the greatest achievements were the result of successful collaboration between various entities, not only in business but in many domains of society including politics.
Many countries have achieved independence with the help of collaborative efforts between a number of political forces. Ending of many wars have been made possible by building an alliance with likeminded groups.
A typical example of this is the war of Mahabharata (in Hinduism) where Pandavas teamed with kings of other states to win over the Kauravas. Ramayana is another good instance of the wonderful power of collaboration between the Rama, army of monkeys led by lord Hanumana, Vibhhishana and others to bring the war against evil to an end.

What makes collaboration so powerful?

Whenever two individuals set a goal and work together to achieve it, they both feel compelled to do whatever it takes. This is unlike when one is working solo where s/he won`t be motivated enough to continue doing the necessary tasks or s/he might terminate the aim altogether because s/he has no one to report to.
On the other hand, when you agree to fulfill some common objective and start in the path of achieving it, both of you are responsible for each other`s actions and have to show some progress from time to time.
A sense of shame of not doing what was promised and a motivation factor automatically comes into play after the collaborative handshake between participating parties.
Also, all the collaborative forces start to believe in each other than when doing jobs alone which is in itself an unexplainable trait. This also makes the work faster and of good quality.

How to collaborate with others?

Now that you have a brief idea of what is collaboration and why it is so important, lets discuss the process of making an alliance with others to fulfill your dream (and that of the other collaborating parties at the same time). You just have to follow the below given procedure to make a successful cooperative force:

• Decide on the goal that you want fulfilled i.e. what are you aiming to get? Some might say “to make a movie hit” and for others it could be “launching an online business and make it popular”.
• Do research on what makes a cinema hit or what are the requirements to launch an online business and who are the potential people to collaborate with. For example, film distributors and online movie streaming services could be good collaborating partners for making a film hit (we are not talking about making money here but to make a movie hit). Same goes for launching a successful business.
• Finally, you have to approach them but most people make mistake at this point and become unsuccessful in achieving their dream. This is due to the fact that they do not understand the concept of providing value first before getting anything in return. Yes, you have to give something to them first. Otherwise, why would they collaborate with you? This is the most difficult part but if you think hard and work on it, there is always a way (yes it definitely takes time and a lot of effort too!).

Conclusion

If you want to achieve something big in this world and fast, collaboration is the key. Look at the past and the present of business, politics, art, sports and even your own life & people around you; if there is anything with a significant impact that has ever happened, collaboration is involved most of the time if not always.
Next time, when you think solution to a problem, think collaboration and let me know what was your experience regarding this. Best of luck to your endeavor!