Here at Smarta we're big on collaboration. Our mantra is 'together
businesses can achieve more than they can apart'. It's something we
actively encourage, and something we try our best to practice.
Neither them, are we shy to ask for help..
Like most of the online world trying to navigate north through
Google's labyrinthine algorithms we've recently been trying to
build our link equity by exchanging links, content and tools with
other small business sites.
Tom from Smarta's been doing a great job and made us some valuable
contacts with likeminded companies with similar readerships. Of
course, he's had more than a few polite rejections as well - that's
to be expected.
Nothing though, prepared us or Tom for this response from Len
Tondel from the long established Home Business Alliance:
Here at Smarta we're big on collaboration. Our mantra is
'together businesses can achieve more than they can apart'.
It's something we actively encourage, and something we try our
best to practice. Neither, though, are we shy to ask for help.
Like most of the online world trying to navigate north through
Google's labyrinthine algorithms we've recently been trying to
build our link equity by exchanging links, content and tools with
other small business sites.
Tom from Smarta's been doing a great job and made us some
valuable contacts with like-minded companies with similar
readerships. Of course, he's had more than a few polite rejections
as well - that's to be expected.
Nothing though, prepared us - or Tom - for this response from Len Tondel
from the long established Home Business
Alliance:
From: "info@homebusiness.org.uk"
<info@homebusiness.org.uk>
Date: 28 January 2010 09:49:02 GMT
To: "Tom Telford" <tom@smarta.com>
Subject: Re: Smarta
Reply-To: "info@homebusiness.org.uk"
<info@homebusiness.org.uk>
Hello, Tom
Sorry for not having got back to
you sooner; bad manners on my part.
Several of us have now had a
look at your website and although we would agree that it contains a
lot of good content, we don't like its association with the Dragons
Den or more to the point, some of its more publicity orientated
characters like Doug Richard and his recent, off-beam
nonsense.
It wouldn't be so bad if such
opinions remained his own but when they are aped by potentially,
the country's next prime minister and causing all involved to
become little more than an ill-informed laughing stock, we need to
draw the line.
We've been around for a long
time as have the majority of our members and whereas we certainly
aren't middle-of-the-road (we were the first and only UK business
association to form a national credit union for its members, for
example), we have seen it all before and quite frankly, doubt that
your website will even be around in a couple of years'
time.
Consequently, we don't think
linking to you in preference to the thousands of other small
business websites we are asked to link to each year, will be of any
benefit to our members or visitors.
I'll happily give you a plug in
our next editorial, though, and leave it to our readers to
decide.
Very best for now.
Len Tondel
Home Business Alliance
info@homebusiness.org.uk
www.homebusiness.org.uk
Now we won't expand too much on how Len's friendly 'very best'
wishes don't exactly exude collaboration - that's fairly easy to
see.
We also won't linger too long on his own 'off beam' comments
about Doug Richard, who we should point out, could probably find
easier and more efficient ends to self-publicity than quitting
Dragons' Den, writing two detailed, independent reports on the
state of entrepreneurship in the UK and then setting up School
for Startups to address the situation himself.
Nor, even, will you find us retaliating by making similarly
disparaging remarks about Len's own website. Instead we'd actively
encourage you to form your own opinions.
Indeed, unlike Len, we'd implore you to leave Smarta right now
and visit The Home Business Alliance - just perhaps not
all at once. Maybe go in batches of 30 - the HBA server should be
able to cope with a tripling of its visitors...
In all seriousness, we're poking fun and Len's more than
entitled to his point of view - I mean, you can tell from his
homepage that he's very particular about who he links to.
Let's instead focus on those of you who prefer to work more
collaboratively. If Smarta can help you then please tell us how -
after all, that's where collaboration should start, by offering up
what you can do for others. We're constantly on the lookout for
case studies, guest bloggers, interview subjects and excellent
sources of support we can direct Smarta members to.
If that's you, tell us (but perhaps don't tell Len)!