Tim Bursch

Are you a freelancer? Small business owner? To keep going with the Village idea, I often think about the cost of venturing out on my own.

Most people are working for a living. The challenge with the entrepreneurial journey is that we are the single point of failure in our own business. If something happens to us or we miss work it means lost time, opportunities, money and security.

I wonder though, could some of these costs be mitigated by working more in community. Not necessarily co-working, although I think it might be one model. What if I am a realtor in this village and I have a showing, but my daughter has a special school event? A big cost in my book. Could a person in the Village, not even the same profession, cover for the showing and let the Realtor see his daughter? Maybe.

This village would take time and trust to build. Maybe we are already building it through digital connections.

What do you think? What is the cost and how could it be shared?

Image credit: psyberartist

Tags: village.

If you are like me you are working on several projects at once. What happens if you get sick or have an emergency? Who will cover for you?

To keep with the village analogy here … if you’re a baker who covers you when you have a sick kid? I bet he or she has friends and shop owners nearby to help out. What about when the merchant gets a huge delivery in the middle of a busy day? The village probably stepped in to help unload.

What about business today? Every person for themselves? How could we be more open to community? I’d like to hope we’d look out for people around us. A village was a place where craftsmen and women had each other’s backs. How could this play out today? How could we use these digital tools and networks to watch out for each other and intentionally collaborate.

Who do you have looking out for you and your business?

Tags: village.

People are talking about social business. It’s not a new concept but a maybe a way back to relationships over just transactions.

Because of the global village and instant feedback, we now know more about what the neighbors are doing. We can see if someone across the street and across the world are taking care of their customers. Technology brings us close. All this has me thinking about business the village way.

In a village, I imagine the baker talked to the butcher about her weekly highs and lows. The merchant walked over and gave instant feedback to the craftsman on a product that wasn’t working. And all the village businesses worked together when someone important showed up or someone threw a party. Collaboration? Co-working? Project management? We’ve been practicing social business for centuries.

I will be writing more about this concept soon. Do you want to live in this village?

Image credit: Miss Claeson

Tags: village.