While we were living in Cape Town, I met some interesting new friends… Charise and Shane (whom I now miss).   Shane runs a successful online business and I quizzed him about how he got started – and what made the business a success.

One of the biggest things I’ve taken away from our conversation (and what I have been chewing on – obsessively – ever since) was Shane telling me about his business partner, Andrew.  Shane and Andrew started the business together a number of years ago.  As far as strengths go – they are polar opposites.  Shane is a creative creature.  He’s a visionary… he always has a new initiative up his sleeve… he’s an optimistic generator of ideas.

Andrew, on the other hand, is the sensible, logical one.  The stable money-guy.  The budgeter.  The grounded strategist who can implement Shane’s magnificent ideas in a no-nonsense, makes-lots-of-sense kind of way.

Their business is a success because they both operate within their specific strengths.  Their business needs BOTH of them.  It wouldn’t be the success it is without Shane’s creative input and ideas…  but, as Shane readily admits, he needed Andrew’s business and money skills.  He needed Andrew’s strengths… as much as Andrew needed his.

I need an Andrew in my life.

I neeeeeeed an Andrew in my life.

I would absolutely love to partner with somebody who is NOTHING like me.

My Andrew (or Andie) would need the following strengths:

  • She would need to be organised!  Somebody with strong project management and organising skills.  Somebody who can sit down and hear me out… hear my ideas, my plans, my projects – and who can somehow help me to implement them!
  • She needs to be able to organise… compartmentalise… strategise… and make sense of the massive mishmash of creative ideas and projects that lie half-completed on my desk and on my studio floor.   (This includes… but is not limited to… the illustrated books… the unique themed zines… the Shine! Camp for Girls… the short film… the creative workshops for adults… the online course material with-a-difference… the art… the illustrations… the stationery design…. the Songs & Stories evenings… the CD… and on and on it goes…)
  • She needs to be able to *get* my vision… and then, help me take it to the next level.

I would love to work with this Andrew on a project-by-project basis – where we share the profits of whatever project we’re embarking upon.

I imagine that the Andrew-person would need to be Joburg-based… because I’d love to sit down over a cup of coffee and have long discussions.  But then again – maybe that’s limited thinking on my part.  Maybe – with the joys of technology and things like Skype and Google+… an Andrew could work with me from a long distance.  Who knows.  I’m open to ideas.

Also – I’m not always going to be in Joburg anyway.  We’re here for another couple of months, then we’re on the road again.  So… there’s that.

Here’s what I don’t want my Andrew to be:

  • Bossy!  I’m looking for a partner… not a parent.  Not somebody who sees me as a strange arty child that needs to be whipped into shape.  I don’t want somebody to try and change me… to try and make me more like them.  I want somebody that understands… and *gets* the anomaly of the Creative-Creature that is me… and who is strong in the areas where I am weak.
  • On the other side of the bossy scale… I’m also not looking for a yes-person… an employee… an assistant who sits around helplessly until I tell her what to do.  I don’t want to *tell* the Andrew what to do.  The Andrew needs to know what to do.  The Andrew needs initiative.  We need to have regular meetings (whether online or in person) where the Andrew and I discuss the project at hand… and the Andrew says:  “Okay… this is what we need to do first.  Then this… then this… then this.  You handle those 4 things… and I’ll handle these 3 things.  Cool with you?”

Anyway.

So… does anyone here have any suggestions on how to uncover my Andrew?

Where does one even find Andrews?

Thoughts and suggestions most welcome!!!  🙂