As a Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com, part of my job is to establish and develop strategic partnerships with companies and organizations. The ideal outcome of these partnerships are win-win situations that will not only provide cross-marketing opportunities, but relationships where there's accountability, trust, and mutual enthusiasm for shared visions and successes.
You're Building a Brand
So how does that affect you? Most likely, if you are reading this column, you are building a brand for yourself. Whether it's the cool invention that will make all your friends swoon, "Why didn't I think of that?!" or it's your blog about the myriad of ways to use nutritional yeast, the idea of partnerships is not limited to companies. The "one-woman show" that most of us operate help us leverage our relationships with other like-minded and entrepreneurial women.
Partnerships don't necessarily have to be formal. No paperwork is required unless there are contractual obligations or money involved. However, I highly recommend reaching out to a few other women you trust and admire (and that you feel pretty confident that the feeling is mutual) and letting them know, verbally, that you'd like to align yourself with them.
Find Your Partners
What to look for in an ally?
- Shared vision
- Mutual respect
- Similar work ethic
- Same level of commitment for success
- Genuinely liking the woman
What do you do once you've got some allies? (You lucky girl, you!)
- Try to communicate by phone at least once a week
- Check in with each other and see what the other needs
- Boost the others' morale BEFORE they really require it
- Celebrate their success even if you're not having the greatest day yourself
- Look for opportunities, networking and otherwise, not just for yourself but for your allies too.
At Blog World Expo this past weekend I had the honor and privilege of meeting, in person, a lot of the people I consider my allies…those who I think of as a partnership on both a personal and professional level. One being Colleen Padilla, of Classy Mommy, pictured with me here at a party at the Revolution lounge in Las Vegas. (More photos, videos of Blog World Expo 2008 can be found on the Sparkplugging Media page)
Okay – so who's going to be your partners? How are you going to approach them?
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Jessica Smith is Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com, Founder of ChiefMomOfficer.org, and the Celebrity Business blogger for Sparkplugging.com. You can also find her talking about all her latest projects, thoughts, and ideas at her personal blog Jessica Knows.
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Something that does it make it more personal is the weekly phone call. I've never done this to be honest…well, with you that time but that's all. I can see how a simple phone call can really make a difference.
I'm very shy about approaching people. I think it's years of childhood abuse that keeps my self confidence at a certain level but I do try to rise from that. I'd imagine that self confidence holds many people back, thinking that they or their blog is not good enough.
Definitely some things for me to work on. I appreciate the post. Great stuff!
What a wonderful post Jessica! I think, like Cowboy's Wife, that I have been very shy and hesitant to truly reach out and find people to connect with and work with. I am going to try harder this week to find a couple people like that and then work on setting up some phone calls! The first steps are probably the hardest right?
I agree that it can be hard to reach out to people. One colleague reached out to me earlier this year and since then she has been invaluable to me. I don't know if we are partners but seriously? There are days when I don't know what I would do without her. We have never spoken on the phone but keep in touch almost daily and if there are days that go by when we don't hear from the other… then an email is sent out to make sure the other is OK.
The idea of having people you can partner with, if for nothing more than moral support is a priceless tool. We shouldn't be building ourselves without it. You have some great tips and I'm glad to be using just about all of them.
Great post Jessica! The other CRUCIAL thing is having an ally who is not jealous of your successes (saying or thinking 'That's not fair. Why are YOU getting opportunities and not me.') "You get what you give" Give of yourself unconditionally to your allies and just see what comes back.
xoxo, your friend and ally,
@BarbaraJones
(Hey, btw, is that MY eye next to yours?)