Collaborate for Success

This week we are celebrating our 200^th blog post!! Let’s take a step back and tell you the story of our blog. It’s a story of risk taking, growth, and collaboration.

Back in November of 2012, both of us felt some pressure that we “had” to have a blog to be “legitimate businesses” and jump in the pool of social media marketing. At that point Dana had been in business 10 years and Katherine for 16 so we both felt established and reluctant to take on a new form of promotion. We decided to tackle the project together – co-write a blog that we would publish jointly and could each re-purpose for our own use.

Here are 10 lessons we’ve learned through 200 posts:

1. Don’t go it alone – tough jobs are way easier, and often actually fun, if done with a friend
2. Have courage to move forward even if you don’t know what you’re doing – things have a way of sorting themselves out and you learn along the way
3. Commit regular time in your calendar – make it realistic if you want to get something done
4. Don’t give up – your partner may have energy when you’re flagging
5. Honor your limits – over the last 6 years we adjusted our start time, adjusted the frequency of posts, and gave ourselves permission to repost old blogs when feeling uninspired
6. Go for good enough, instead of perfect – don’t let perfectionism be a roadblock; done is better than perfect
7. Keep things simple
8. You don’t have to have all the answers – bring in outside experts to help with topics or technical issues
9. Make your own rules for success – don’t let others’ expectations drive your goals or standards
10. Celebrate your accomplishments – it’s often only the negatives we focus on; celebrating helps you remember and savor the positives

Does the blog get us new business? Hard to tell. But we get consistent feedback from current clients that they like hearing from us and get value from the topics. Taking the time to think through topics keeps us curious and open to ideas and creates content that we can use in presentations, newsletters, and other places. One of the biggest benefits to us is a regularly scheduled time to stay connected, support each other through business challenges, and celebrate business and life successes.

How could you collaborate to achieve some of your goals? Have you had a great collaboration experience related to organizing? Share your story with us!