Business tip: Turn your competitor into a collaborator

A story yesterday about a new business arrangement between Deutsche Post's DHL and United Parcel Service reminded me why I love owning my own business. I can make my own decisions and do things that others might not like to do... like collaborate with competitors.

Basically, DHL has been trying to compete with UPS, offering to deliver your packages anywhere in the world. The problem is that DHL doesn't have as big a network as UPS, so it was very expensive to get packages to certain places.

The solution: Work out a deal to have UPS transport certain DHL packages. It's a win-win in my eyes. UPS increases annual revenue by an estimated $1 billion. And DHL keeps its promise to customers at a much lower cost than if it tried to transport all packages themselves.