A Collaboration Opportunity That Can Help Scale My Startup

One of my clients from my last tour called me recently and said that he is interested in collaborating or partnership. He just saw the value and potential in what I do. He is very much interested in travels, adventures, and nature activities. When he and his friends were here, I talked to them about my plan on just focusing on the Indian market. They know very well that the people are more of the leisure or business type of travelers, the market I am more interested in. I learned that my clients have their own companies in New Delhi. And this guy especially, owns schools and construction companies, like with s, in India.

He had invested in other businesses in the past. He also failed and could afford to. He said that he just wants something that he loves doing and he saw that what I'm doing is much more enjoyable. I just see this as a potential opportunity for collaboration. Having a tie-up agency in India would help my business grow.

What's more important for me is that I have 100% hold on my business, it's mine. As you all probably know, I worked hard and gave everything I got to build it. And for the first time in my life, I feel empowered. This is the only thing where I could get my status and pride... this is the only thing I have.

However cliche this may sound, when a big opportunity knocks on my door and I have a good feeling about it, I have to open it and take the chance. Otherwise, I will never know what's in store for me. So, I think it won't hurt to partner with other travel agencies in other countries too. And he can just be one of the many or the one I have more focus on. He said that it's more for him than for me because he wants to set up another company in India that he's more interested in - like travel. That's a good thing I think. There were some people who proposed in the past but I just didn't see any success track record nor a sound plan in them. Maybe I was just too untrusting or I just didn't have a good gut feeling about their proposals. I'm easily put off and I'm trying to overcome this side of my perfectionism. I just think that there are some things I can tolerate and some things I can't. Having your own business means making difficult decisions and taking a lot of risks. I have to see what and who's worth it. The reality is that I belong in a cold and friendless world, moves should be calculated and risks should be manageable.

I think I might have to travel to India next year or very soon. This will help me get to know my target market more. I have itchy feet now as I haven't traveled in a while. I'm a nomad at heart, I get frustrated when I stay longer in a place. To restore balance, I need new surroundings to give me new life perspectives. This time, my travel is no longer for leisure but more of a business trip, or maybe both. He was telling me about this guy who got famous or insanely successful in India. Basically, this person traveled to unknown countries like Georgia, Armenia, and Uzbekistan. He stayed and immersed himself in the places and culture and got to know these countries more. He saw the opportunity and started bringing tourists from India to these countries. Now he has a big travel agency. My friend told me that he just did exactly like what I did for them - taking them to nice places, off-the-beaten tracks, good restaurants, and genuinely spending more time with them by giving personalized services and authentic experiences.

I don't want to close myself to opportunities when they come. The other day I was looking for Steemian volunteers because there's no way I can do everything on my own. I need to delegate some tasks too, especially the ones I'm not really good at - like graphic design, accounting, website optimization, and SEO. And perhaps, having an investor might speed up the process, because then if he passed me more clients, I will have more funds to pay others to help me scale my business.

I believe in my product and it just happened that someone saw the potential first-hand. He believes in it too. The thing is, if I just work for money, I'll never make it. This is more of a passion for me. I think this can be a great opportunity to become something big someday. So yeah, you may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one.