If you think back over your journey in business so far, I’m willing to bet there has been a pivot or shift you didn’t have in your five-year plan. Or perhaps you’ve reached your end goal, but how it’s playing out day to day looks different to how you mapped it out. I’d also bet these differences and shifts have been for the better – am I right?
Of course, hindsight makes it easy to see the moment that steered you in the right direction, even if at the time it didn’t feel very significant. Often, it was a decision to do something outside of your “normal” that pushed you onto a new, exciting path.
Without taking that step you would never know, would you?
Taking a leap into something new is what lead to the formation of B Directory, the business I’ve co-founded with Elsa Mitchell. Who would’ve thought discussions we had as roommates at a blogging conference would lead to a successful business years later? But that’s what happened.
After a big day of workshops at said conference, one night we chatted about the challenges bloggers faced finding brands to work with. We also recognised the difficulties small businesses faced finding the “right” blogger for their brand. We realised something was missing and came up with a solution. Naturally we wanted to share that vision, plus create an awesome community along the way. And so B Directory was born, with the goal of connecting bloggers and influencers with small business, to help each other grow. Since we launched the business, we have experienced great success – even surpassing our own expectations!
This success wouldn’t have happened individually, that’s the beauty of a well-formed collaboration. Our complimentary business skills allow us to provide unique ideas for our members. Also, we’ve been able to leverage our separate networks to create different opportunities. Our monthly catch ups bring our members together to share successes and failures, helping everyone grow. An informal mastermind group if you like. Collaboration at its best!
Working with other businesses to help boost your profiles is nothing new, but we have put a fresh spin on it. We recognise not all collaborations are equal. The goal of a collaboration can’t be to get stuff for free. It has to a mutually beneficial…or at least the intent behind it needs to be!
That’s the reason at B Directory we like to say “connected”. It’s a little twist on the term, but it means we strive to ensure our collaborations are genuine, fair and all round awesome.
Why Collaborate?
It’s easy to dismiss the idea of collaborating. I get it, why bother trying to find others to work with, focus on what you’re doing and do it well. But if we all walked around with blinkers on, imagine the amazing things we would miss out on! Collaboration with other businesses can bring you so much, such as:
Learning
Working with others gives you a chance to see how they “do things”. You’ll most likely learn something new and in turn impart some gems of knowledge onto others as well.
Connection
I know we all have a lot of online friends now, but a collaboration allows you to form genuine friendships. This is where you can score bonus points for making those online friendships real (we all know meeting in person makes a huge difference!). When you work on a project together, it takes the friendship to the next level and you know they’re behind you. Every businesswoman needs people in her corner.
Growth
When you collaborate, people see and share your work, which expands your audience. It can also help cement your position as an authority or “go to gal” in your field. It could also cause amazing opportunities to present themselves.
A less obvious benefit, is the confidence you can gain from these exchanges. This is especially true if you have a hard time “promoting” yourself online. Also, working with others and pulling off an amazing project gives you a boost. You feel great, your confidence grows and once you believe you can do something, the fire is lit.
What type of collaborations might you do?
Anything is possible! Collaboration can take many forms, from a blogger working with a small business, to freelancers coming together to work on a project.
As an example of how awesome collaborations can be, I’d love to share a connection we made through B Directory recently. We put our thinking caps on to help promote some businesses down south and created the ultimate luxury weekend escape in Yallingup. We connected a Perth food and lifestyle blogger with a winery, day spa and (as if that wasn’t enough) luxury accommodation in Yallingup for the weekend. This was an amazing opportunity for the blogger to showcase her skills and for the businesses to promote their offerings.
As the pairing was a natural fit (no accident, I assure you!) it was very well received and shared all over Facebook and Instagram. Everyone was happy – our members, our community and well, we were pretty chuffed too.
How do you form a successful collaboration?
Like any relationship, before you enter into a collaboration you need to have a think about your why. Here’s some tips to help make sure your collaboration is a positive one.
1. Think about your business – what do you stand for, who is your ideal client? How do you want to be “seen”? Whoever you connect with needs to align with that for the collaboration to work.
2. Be clear about the value of your services or product and how much you’re willing to exchange. That goes both ways, too. Be fair.
3. Be open from the start about what will take place and don’t be vague. It’s best to get everything out on the table, even if working with a friend, so there aren’t any “miscommunications”. They happen. A lot.
4. Be a nice human. Always.
5. Share the results – everywhere! Share on your social media, in your newsletters, on your website – tell your mum – whatever it takes to get the word out!
Done well, collaborations provide amazing results both for your business, and for yourself. Our collaboration to bring B Directory to life has been such a great adventure. By coming together, we’ve expanded our knowledge and networks, as well as create a beautiful little community. Things have evolved beyond what we imagined, which is pretty awesome.
It’s only through trying different things that you, and your business, can evolve. Which is what life’s all about, isn’t it?
This article was originally published on https://www.roooar.com.au.
Kristy Morton
Kristy Morton is the co-founder of B Directory, providing outside of the box solutions for small business to help supercharge their growth. One of the ways they do this is by connecting business, bloggers and influencers to create the right online partnerships.
Kristy also runs a web development consultancy, specialising in WordPress sites. Kristy combines her excellent technical knowledge with her ability to translate this into ways that are understandable to the average person, so her clients feel informed and in control of how their websites are developed and managed.
