Every business needs to establish and maintain professional working relationships with suppliers, distributors, vendors, service providers, and outsourcing companies.
You may think that just because you're running a solo operation and you are developing all your information products in-house you don't need to worry about on-going relationships.
Every business will need to establish partnerships (or relationships) with an Internet service provider, a bank or other financial partner, tax consultants (even if you prepare your own returns), insurance providers, possibly an attorney, and most likely some online service providers (like a merchant account company to provide for credit card transactions).
If you want to be professional in your business, you need to cultivate and nurture these relationships. Treat them with importance because if you lose them in the middle of your business operations, you may have to spend a lot of time catching up and finding alternative solutions.
Set up your accounts with these companies well in advance of the actual time you will need their services. Each may have a particular interface or a chain of steps you must follow to access their service.
Often it takes some time and experience to understand and learn how to use the services offered. As an example, don't wait until you have an order to figure out how to process that order for the customer.
With some suppliers and vendors you may need to establish a line of credit. That could take some time as references and banks are checked for your personal history of doing business. Don't wait until you're ready to use the service to get signed up and familiar with the new system.
It would also be wise to set in place some backup relationships, even if you don't ever have the occasion to use them. Your preferred suppliers may be out of product or overburdened with requests and can't deal with you for a time.
Do you know how you will operate if some of your main suppliers can't provide the services you need?
Finally, I would caution you to put everything in writing that you can. Most often, contracts and service agreements will be offered by the vendor and you'll be given a copy.
You must protect your business and your assets from exposure to law suites and claims. When legal documents are in place, your disputes will have a basis for review and evaluation, your image as a legitimate company will be enhanced, and you will be more committed to a workable and fair solution supported by pre-authorized documentation.
Your small business relationships will become your lifelines to the outside world, so to speak. Solo business needs these relationships to be solid and well grounded in order for the business to profit and grow.
You, as the solo business owner, just can't do everything your business needs by yourself in a vacuum. You will have to rely on, and trust, your relationships with service providers; so, it's best to treat them with loving care.
