Page 101 - The Magic of Tiny Business

Part III  Practice Your “How”

with the same kind of values and focus. There’s no reason
any single business needs to own the entire town. A town
with one restaurant only draws a certain number of people.
When you add another restaurant and a coffee shop, you
add options. More people come, more people choose, more
businesses open and thrive. It’s the law of momentum.

Cooperative Marketing

Another option to amplify your reach is through coopera-
tive marketing: finding brands that are simpatico with
your own and who are playing in the same sandbox but are
not in direct competition with the same product. Call
them out, celebrate their stories, and co-market.

When Sandra Harris of ECOlunchbox launched her
brand, she called me out of the blue and asked if I would
be her mentor. She’d seen what I did with Eco-Bags Prod-
ucts and she wanted to be a Tiny Business too. She was
like me when I started: a mom with a product to fix a
problem (replace plastic lunch containers with 100 percent
plastic-free reusable eco-friendly lunchware) who wanted
to make a nice income.

“I learn by connecting with others willing to
share their experience. Sure, there are fiercely
competitive and suspicious people guarding
their secret sauce, but they generally don’t have
the big ideas. I’ve found generosity breeds gen-
erosity and spreads big ideas the best.”

—S andra Harris, Founder and CEO,
ECOlunchbox

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