With the New Year now in full frozen swing, many people are looking at starting a new business. It is not rare for people to ask me if I could help them with a business idea they are working on or developing. The following paragraph is based on something that really happened three years ago.

I was asked by a neighbour to help him with his business idea (I have since learnt to never tell neighbours what I do for a living!). So we go out for a coffee and I ask him about his business. His reply is “it is something to do with design”. I obviously needed something more than this – but he refused to tell me as he was worried I would steal his idea. I could understand his fear – but then he should not have asked me for help. As it happens, it turned out to be a very quick coffee.

Last week, I was having a conversation with someone about their business and they were worried (rightly) that once they launch their business, they will generate competition and other companies will try and do what they are doing.

Sometimes, people can get carried away with this fear of competition and the need to keep things secret. You need to look at your business and recognize that most of your business value is not in the formulas, IT system or even brand design. Most of the value will be in the relationships and partnerships you form within your business ‘eco-system’. This part of a business becomes very difficult if not impossible to replace.

Many people argue that because of the internet, the value of these relationships diminishes. I would disagree. Most e-commerce sites still rely on partnership arrangements and it becomes very difficult for new entrants to replicate this.

In this specific example, we were able to realize that by tying up contracts and agreements with just twelve very specific companies, this new company would have most of the market tied up and make it very difficult for a new entrant.

So in this new decade and indeed in this new supposedly depersonalized world, I believe it is firms who employ people with the best interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence that will build great businesses that will be able to withstand the competition from new entrants. Networking and relationship building will take on a greater importance.

So to conclude, when you are thinking about protecting your business – focus on the areas that are truly difficult to copy such as great service.

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