This movement of community over competition is spreading and it is absolutely beautiful.
As a planner, it is a given that we can’t produce a whole wedding by ourselves, and neither can our brides. We need caterers, photographers, florists, all different types of people working together to bring each event to life! And I think this is what started to spark the idea in our heads that working with others, not only benefits the bride and us but it benefits everyone way more than if everyone just kept to themselves. It is through collaboration that we can all put forth our best, most creative work and rise to the next level in each and every single one of our businesses.
In all different industries, we are starting to see that collaboration is the solution to creating much better products, sparking better ideas, and it’s an added bonus that it makes the world a better place! (It definitely makes it a lot less cutthroat!) There are so many more ideas that can form when different types of people come together to achieve a common goal like a wedding or a styled shoot!
I attended the ICAN conference at the Century Link Center last winter, a conference geared towards fostering leadership in women and what was interesting was that the main themes of the conference were: collaboration, compassion, confidence, and creativity.
“Research indicates successful leaders must be collaborative, compassionate, confident and creative to meet the changes we are experiencing in an ever advancing business climate. Many successful female leaders embrace collaborative and compassionate styles.”
Even in completely different industries, others are starting to see the value of collaboration! By fostering collaboration over competition, we are erasing the stigma that successful industry leaders can’t be friends. Being a small business owner is hard. It can be lonely, especially when the people who can relate to you the most may not want to share their struggles or ways to overcome them with you. It’s crazy to think that just because we are wedding planners, we can’t be friends with other planners in our own market. Why not? Who else would understand our thoughts and hopes and dreams and successes and failures and be able to relate to us more than another planner?
Collaboration can seem foolish. Why would you want to help out your competition? How can you even be friends with someone that you’re fighting for clients with? There is room for everyone in the industry! Some may think we put more value on friendship than we do on our bottom line. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive!
This post is pretty similar to the post that we shared last week about why we believe in helping other small business owners. This is why the following quote still applies: “A flower doesn’t compare itself to other flowers, it just blooms.” By collaborating, we are cultivating the idea, the wisdom that other people’s success doesn’t negate or affect your own. Other people’s businesses really don’t affect our customers or clients! If that seems crazy, come back next week to see why!
The idea of having a mentor or being a mentor is so that others do not have to go through the same struggles as the ones before them. But I think there is always an underlying fear or a turning point of discomfort when you feel like your mentee or the person that is supposed to be at a “lower level” than you is surpassing you! If you’ve ever played Candy Crush and don’t mind helping other people get to the next level UNLESS they are farther than you, you’ll know this feeling quite well. How else does Candy Crush relate? Your Candy Crush friends who are somehow really awesome at the game aren’t preventing you from your own success. They may have more time or buy lives with real money! Their circumstances are different and if it leads them to success faster, good for them! What happens if you stop helping them get to the next level? They’ll stop helping you, too. Unless they’re really nice.
It’s interesting/cool/awesome to slowly see the shift from an every man for himself mentality to one of collaboration. We will be an advocate for collaboration over competition because this is the way business ownership/life should be!
If you’re interested in talking or collaborating with like-minded creatives, please email us!