While everyone’s buzzing about business collaborations and partnerships as the golden ticket to growth, achieving a true win-win isn’t always as simple as it seems. In this episode, Gwen Bortner and Tonya Kubo, seasoned internet veterans and business strategists, cut through the noise to reveal the essential elements of successful collaborations versus formal partnerships. Gwen, with her meticulous approach and operational expertise, distinguishes between fleeting collaborations and lasting partnerships, while Tonya offers her unfiltered insights on setting expectations and avoiding misaligned goals to ensure a truly win-win outcome. Learn why many collaborations never get off the ground, what fuels a thriving joint venture, and the crucial step of planning your “breakup” from day one to guarantee a positive, win-win result for all parties involved, all while navigating today’s complex business environment.
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Win-Win Business Collaborations: Setting Expectations For Success
This episode is highly relevant to this moment in time. When we are recording this, I’m going to jump in and say it’s the middle of April 2025. Everybody and their brother and sister are talking about collaborations in the business space. Folks are looking at how to increase visibility, how to increase leads, how to, quite honestly, keep their businesses going when what used to work is no longer working, and they don’t know if it’s temporary or permanent.
What I see in the circles I run in is everybody is saying, “You need more collaboration. You need more partnerships. You need a referral network. You need this. You need that.” I love that answer for so many reasons, but I also hate that answer. The reason I hate that answer is that I’m an internet dinosaur. I have been around long enough to know that several times, time and time again, collaborations fail, and they fail for a lot of reasons.
It’s not necessarily because a collaboration is a bad idea, but because too many people jump into collaborations without ever getting clear on what winning looks like for them individually and collectively. You end up with misaligned expectations, and it’s stuck on start and never quite makes it to the finish line.
Collaborations fail for many reasons. It's not because collaboration is a bad idea, but because people jump in without defining what winning looks like—both individually and collectively. This creates misaligned expectations. Share on XGwen is going to share wisdom with us. She doesn’t know that, but she is. Trust me. Gwen, here’s what I want us to start off with. Can I say thank you for being a good sport on this one? This is one of those where I get all up on my soapbox, and you go, “We can do an episode on that.” You’ve been in business a lot longer than I have. Where I call everything a collaboration, you tend to have a finer point on some aspects of collaboration. Why don’t you kick us off? Tell us what we’re talking about with collaboration and what you think about it.
Collaboration Vs. Partnership: Key Differences Defined
I’ve put a finer point on almost everything because, by nature, for better or worse. Let’s be honest about that. Where I tend to separate the line is collaboration versus partnership. For me, collaboration tends to be short-term, less formal. It may have money go back and forth, but not necessarily. A partnership is formal, documented, and long-term.
As we were prepping for this, you said, “It’s like a joint venture partnership.” That lands in the middle because it’s short-term, but it typically does have a contract of some sort. A true joint venture partnership usually means that there’s a referral fee, there’s an agreement of what we’re doing, when we’re getting it, and how we’re getting those referral fees. That falls a little bit in, but it’s usually not long-term. It’s usually not for years. It’s usually a shorter-term event that’s going on there.
When I hear people talking about collaboration, I’m generally, in my mind, not thinking about long-term permanent environments. When I’m thinking that, I’m thinking partnership. When I say the term partnership, I’m thinking long-term and formal. The classic would be a legal partnership or an accounting partnership where everybody’s name is up on the masthead.
All of these terms are being used interchangeably. That’s why I want to be clear. When I’m using the term, that’s how I’m defining it. A collaboration could be almost anything. We’re exchanging shows. We’re promoting each other in email. We’re doing an Instagram takeover. There are a lot of things that could be a collaboration. We’re co-hosting an event together and all sorts of stuff.
Collaborations: Driving Visibility And Lead Generation
I’m glad that you defined it how you did because it made me think of something. I would not have thought about this initially, but most of the time, when people are talking about collaboration, they’re talking about some form of lead generation. There’s a mechanism of visibility and lead generation connected to it.
When we’re talking about newsletter trades, like, “I’ll feature you in my newsletter with a link to your lead magnet or your whatever. You feature me in your newsletter with a link to mine.” Bundles are collaborations, similarly as such. Summits can be collaborations in that context. “I’ll interview you on my podcast if you interview me on yours,” is the same thing.
“Become a guest expert in my community,” is a little bit tricky, but it’s still focused on, “You’re going to come and be a guest expert in my community. I’m probably not going to pay you because I’m giving you a trusted expert stance in my community. The people in my community who are within your ideal client are going to then be joined into your audience in some way,” whatever that is.
I’m getting support with fulfillment, but my support with fulfillment is feeding your need for marketing. That’s where I would label that as a collaboration. I have lots of collabs. I do a biz bestie show with a peer on YouTube. The only point is that we have fun talking about it. Sometimes, my people join her community, and sometimes, her people join mine. It works.
With your definition, though, partnership makes me think that partnerships tend to be much more connected to scaling a business, using your definition. It’s that we’re going to join forces, and in joining forces, we are going to be able to provide a service or an offer to the public that neither of us could do on our own.”
I love that as an observation. It’s not 100% accurate, but I bet it’s 85%. I bet it’s mostly accurate. That, at least, is the impetus. It may or may not be the result.
That’s what we’re talking about here.
I bet it is the impetus for it.
Are people in your circles touting collaboration as the next greatest thing, as if it’s not a 2010 idea?
I can’t get onto Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, or any of those without seeing something about collaboration, especially at the beginning of 2025. That was everybody’s word of the year. It was one of those things where I felt like someone posted about collaboration and everyone was like, “That’ll be my word, too.” It wasn’t their word. Someone used it and it became the most popular word of the year. I can’t tell you when I haven’t either seen it, heard it, or had people talk about it, but it is there.
People are talking about it. I have people who are like, “I host these collaborative events. I specialize in building collaborations.” I hear it framed as, “This is the most reliable way to build and grow your business without being dependent on social media.” I’m a marketing professional. I specialize in digital marketing, specifically community-based marketing. It’s a lot of social media stuff. Everybody’s like, “If you want to build off of social media, it’s all about collaborations.” I’m going, “Yes.” It was all about collaborations before social media existed. This is not a new idea. Before we had social media, we had to find a way to build our businesses.
This is reaching into a dinosaur space.
I’m the T-Rex. You can be the Velociraptor.
We’ve been around this many times. It hasn’t been that long ago. In the last couple of years, the watchword was, “Don’t count on referrals for your business because referrals could dry up.” Now, everyone’s like, “Referrals are the thing. You need to be better about referrals.” What you need, and I know that you agree with this, is that you need to have a variety of tools.
This is one of the things I preach all the time to my clients. There is not one right answer. There are multiple right answers. Whenever possible, you need to be using multiple things. Don’t do sixteen things and do them all poorly. I’m not saying that. Don’t do 2 or 3 of the exact same thing. Do 2 or 3 of slightly different things so that when one falls out of favor for whatever reason, you aren’t like, “I can no longer function.”
There isn't one right answer. There are multiple, and whenever possible, you should be using multiple. Share on XWe’ve talked about how collaborations are getting there. I don’t know if this is their second, third, fourth, or probably sixth golden age. They’re very attractive because they’re not dependent on third-party platforms. Also, people care much more deeply about all of the people that they do business with. It’s not enough to be like, “That Gwen knows her stuff. That Gwen has a large audience,” which is what we used to make our decisions based on. It’s also, “That Gwen has the same values as me. Therefore, her clients likely have the same values as my clients. Therefore, we’re probably a good fit.”
When you’re building your business, whether it’s social media or you’re doing summits or bundles, these much larger traffic-based events, you don’t know how much philosophical and values alignment you have between you and the people who are coming in. Collaborations feel good because there’s probably going to be a better fit from the beginning to the end. That also means you’re going to have a higher conversion rate if you have a more personal collaboration referral network. That’s one thing that’s making it popular. Were you going to add something?
Collaborations that feel good tend to be a better fit from start to finish, which naturally leads to a higher conversion rate. Share on XI was. I was going to say the other thing that makes it popular is that there’s been enough isolation in our businesses where we’ve been, heads down, either working in or on. I don’t care which. Both are still very heads-downy answers. It’s like, “I want to be having a conversation and to be thinking about this more broadly with somebody else.” When you find someone that stays in their lane and in your lane, but they are adjacent lanes, back to similar values and similar client base, all of a sudden, it’s like, “This is something that we can talk about and have a relationship with.” There’s also a personal satisfaction in doing the collaboration as well.
Case Study: Operations And Astrology Success
I would agree. I’m a little torn about how to go next, so I’m going to share my indecision. You can direct us. It’s like choosing your own adventure, but reader, sorry. You don’t get a vote. I know there’s somebody reading who’s like, “I’ve been there, done that. I got the t-shirt. It was horrible.” I want to address what makes collaborations not work so that we can talk about what makes them work.
There are a couple of ways we can go about this. We can talk about, in very general terms, why they fall apart, and then talk about the opposite of what makes them successful. We could also talk about some specific scenarios of collaborations that our readers are more likely to encounter, and then ease out what makes those individual scenarios work. What do you think makes the most sense?
The latter is a better choice. You’re probably going to have to come up with more of the examples, but I’m going to start with one. One of the groups that I’m a part of is The Dames, which is a paid networking group for female entrepreneurs. What happened at our last in-person conference, and I know that Megan did this on purpose, which I appreciated, was that they were collaborative presentations. It was two people who each had their own lane, but had strong reasons for working together. You could see how it is supported, but it felt very unique and specific.
One of them, they’ve had a continuing offer, or maybe once every other month for 3 or 4 months for an extended period of time, that’s been free for The Dames. They’re charging other people to come to the same thing. It’s an ongoing discussion workshop, taking that information and taking it yet another level. They have the same audience because they’re both members of The Dames as a starting point, but there are other aspects that allow them to align together.
In this case, it’s an operations person and an astrologist, which is very different. Both are talking about, “How are we going to create success? What are those things?” I know them both, and one of them I know pretty well. I need to reach out and follow up with her. All evidence would say that’s been a good collaboration, because not only did they do it the one time, but they’ve continued it going forward.
I don’t know what their financial output has been, and any of the rest of it. I don’t have any of that kind of information to share. Part of seeing them on stage at the event, you could feel like they had a relationship. This wasn’t their first time together, or they hadn’t gotten together for this piece and then figured it out. They had figured it out, and it made sense coming together. That was the first thing that I thought of as a successful version of it.
What made it successful, do you think?
It’s because there was a real relationship between the two of them.
I’m not saying everybody can, but I can tell if the people collaborating know each other or if this is some larger trade sort of thing. That’s the one thing. Having a background in online education, online course building, and working with course creators and such, I’m very familiar with the traditional JV partnerships, where what they are is affiliate partnerships.
You sign on to be a partner. A lot of times, we’ll call you a referring partner. All it means is you will send out a certain number of emails promoting our offer or inviting people into our webinar or whatever. Since they use your link, they’re tracked, and then you get a percentage of the sale if they buy. Sometimes, that may mean that we tag team on a webinar together. Sometimes, that means you send them to my webinar. It can look a lot of different ways.
It’s because of that experience, and I should say I did that for a few years, I know when the two people have never laid eyes on each other until one comes into the Zoom call. The other one’s like, “This is my good friend.” You’re like, “Your good friend who you’ve maybe talked to for a total of 1 hour in the last 5 years.” It’s a financial relationship. The only reason they’re doing this is because the money makes it make sense. My favorite form of collaboration is the guest expert. Personally, I love teaching in other people’s communities. I know you love teaching in other people’s communities as well.
I honestly wish I had more opportunities to be a guest expert.
I come in and help your people. For me, it’s not even whether they come over to my audience or not. It’s that I’m building a bigger pie. If one thing I say makes an impact on you and your business, then it makes an impact on everybody you touch, and that makes me happy. There’s the personal fulfillment piece, which is what I like about being the guest expert.
The other thing I like about being a guest expert is that it’s a much more personal experience between you and the people. I have a good business friend. She will come and teach in anybody’s community for free if you can promise her 100 attendees. For her, it only makes sense if there are 100 people in the room. She knows that if 100 people are in the room, 10 people are going to buy her thing. I love that.
I’m not scared of large groups, but I’m not going to get to know anybody very well in a room of 100. Bring me into your membership where only twenty people show up to your Zoom call. It could even be five people in your Zoom call. I know you’ve done this, too, and you love it for the same reason. You’re a context matters person. In a room of five, ten, or twenty, you can get much more down to the heart of the issue.
I can deal with very specific things when I’m dealing with a few people, for sure.
What Makes Collaborations Truly Successful?
Let’s talk about what makes these types of collaboration successful. This is so you know. I’m intentionally not talking about summits and bundles because they’re so nameless and faceless. The only thing that makes them successful in anybody’s eyes is the number of email addresses they collect at the end or the number of sales they get as a result. It’s not the long-term relationship that most of us want when we talk about collaborating. The first thing you have to do is you have to come in with clear expectations. You have to be willing to voice those expectations because oftentimes, the other person’s not going to do it for you.
When collaborating, the first thing you must do is come in with clear expectations. Share on XPart of the expectation is not only what the outcome is, but is what is the energy effort that I’m supposed to put in as part of it. We’re talking about giving some examples. We’ve experienced an example where deliverables weren’t being delivered within the timeframe that we were expecting them to be delivered, so everything ended up having to be pushed back.
It ultimately was okay, but my calendar gets full pretty quickly because that’s the kind of calendar that I like to have. When it doesn’t go at the time, it is a slot. It’s what we talk about all the time. When you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else, and you don’t know what it is. I don’t know what else I was saying no to during that same slot of time.
That was one where there wasn’t a giant cost for us in it, but at the same time, it wasn’t a good batch. It wasn’t a good fit because there was some amount of rework, some amount of follow-up, and some amount of things that had to be done that I wasn’t expecting to have done, and you weren’t expecting to have to do. The people that they’re focused on and the people we’re focused on probably are not the same people. Did we both show up 100%? I think yes. For the people who participated, did they get good information? 100% yes.
Being realistic about what you can bring to the table is also an important piece of it. Another example of this is that I have done a number of joint venture referral kinds of things. Honestly, it is the biggest waste of my time ever because I don’t have a giant list. I don’t have a giant list that is highly active and responsive where if I say, “I’ve used this. I think it’s good,” people go, “I want it, too.” That is not who my people are, and part of it is because I train them not to be that way.
Let me step in here because people are going to be like, “What do you mean it’s not a responsive list?” You have a small email list, but if you ask those folks a question, half of them will respond and answer. Since you are the first person to be like, “Don’t buy that. You don’t need that,” they are not the type of people who buy everything an email tells them to buy because you train them to be.
It also means that when you email them, “Buy this thing,” you have to be careful. This is something you and I talk a lot about. Some people can be pushing something to their audience every single day because that’s part of how they do business, and it works well. For you, because that is not how you have historically done business, it would feel weird to have you doing a traditional ten-sales email sequence promoting somebody else’s stuff.
I’ve done it a couple of times. I will only do it when it’s something that I truly have used, understand, know, and can talk about with all of my own copy, not all of their copy, because I have thoughts and comments about it. Once or twice, I’ve sold one thing, which was fine. I still thought it was a good thing. It was. It was all of those things. I also know that’s not a type of collaboration that makes sense. If I were someone who had a big list, that may be the type of collaboration that would make sense. Those types of collaborations are also designed for people with bigger lists.
Choosing The Right Collaboration Partner
Let’s talk about that. That’s the first thing I want to say. If you’re thinking about collaborating and you want to get outside of your bubble, which is what I call where you’re like, “I need to get out of my bubble,” what should you be looking for? The first thing you want to look for is who makes sense to collaborate with. To Gwen’s point, who are the business owners who serve your same clients but in a different way?
If you're thinking about collaborating, you want to get outside your bubble. Share on XIn my case, as somebody who does marketing, I am great at collaborating with operations folks. I’m great at collaborating with Software as a Service folks. I’m great at collaborating with sales folks. For you, because you do operations, I’ve seen you do some great collaborations with people in the finance sector. It’s much more of a referral-based thing. You would be a great team teacher with somebody who’s a CFO or a finance person.
You’re also a great team teacher, with somebody who does the tactical side of operations. They’re the people who build out the SOPs, or they’re like a systems and processes expert. You also work well with folks who are on the marketing and sales side. That’s part of why we work so well together. It is two sides of a coin. Too often, that is where people stop. They stop at that. They’re good at checking that.
The next level is that you have to look at values. First, do we serve the same people in different ways so that we’re not poaching on each other? The last thing we should do is put our community that we have worked so hard to build in the uncomfortable position of deciding whether to hire me or you. It should be a no-brainer. If I have this problem, I hire this person. Second is the values. Back to what I said earlier about the importance of values alignment, we tend to attract people with similar values. Third is the list size or community size. I will add that it’s not just size, but it’s also the level of engagement.
That’s an interesting one that a lot of people don’t think about. They often do think about it, but they think about it incorrectly.
Give your thoughts, and then I’ll say more.
I’ve got a tiny list, so I want to partner with someone who has a big list so that I can have a big list. There are a couple of problems with that from my perspective, things that you and I have talked about offline. Part of this whole thing is to start taking our private conversations out into the public. Probably the reason I don’t have a giant list is because the type of offer I have is not a big list-based offer. It’s not a thing that is designed to sell to people who are on parts of big lists. That’s one of the issues.
The other issue is I’m probably not used to communicating with big list people the way that the big list person does. It seems like a good idea because it’s like, “I’m going to get all of those people,” but the reality is, even if you do get quite a few of them, probably quite a few of them will drop fast. You may grab the 1 or 2 people who are like, “This is what I want. I don’t want to be on a big list. I want to be on a small list.” That’s also pretty rare.
Most people know that they’re part of a big list, so they’re not paying that same level of attention. Although my list is small and they’re not responsive to buying anything that I say because I’ve trained them not to, our open rates and our response rates are amazingly high for the size of it. People who have no reason to be on the list continue to stay on the list because it’s such a dedicated list.
Some of the sweetest emails complimenting the newsletter. I love that about them. They’re so kind.
That’s my thought about big list versus small list.
List Size Vs. Engagement In Partnerships
I’m glad you brought that up. I hope that this new golden age of collaboration makes it less true, but I feel like a lot of people go into collaborations focused on what they’re going to get and not focus nearly enough on what they can give. Oftentimes, it is not a generosity-motivated scenario, so it’s like, “I’ll collab with them because they have a list of 5,000 and I have a list of 500,” or, “They have a list of 50,000 and I have a list of 5,000.” We’re not showing up to give it our all, so we tend not to get the greatest results.
A lot of people go into collaborations focused on what they're going to get and not focus nearly enough on what they can give. Share on XI oftentimes find that folks with large lists, because their lists are so large, they know, hands down, that one person is going to do something, whatever it is. They oftentimes don’t work nearly as hard on the collaboration as somebody else because to them, they’ve got the numbers to bring to the table. If they’re bringing the numbers, they’re going to expect you to bring the sweat equity.
I say all that to not say that it’s bad or good, but to say we’ve given you the evaluation. Evaluate first whether you serve the same client in different ways. Evaluate next on values. Evaluate third on whether you are punching at your weight class. Are you above or below? Also, you can then take that information and set very clear expectations moving on. It’s like, “This is what winning looks like for me. Tell me what winning looks like for you. In an ideal situation, what do you want to happen here?” Do you see eye to eye on that situation?
If winning for you is, “I want 10 more email subscribers,” and winning for them is selling a $20,000 offer, you are both going to probably end up being disappointed because both of those things are harder than you think. I know I wouldn’t want to get into a situation where I’ll be happy with 10 email subscribers if the only way they’re going to be happy is if 1 person buys their high-ticket offer.
When it comes more organically because of the real relationship and the real values alignment, that solves so many of the problems. We have a private networking group that we host. The very first time we hosted the conversation, two of the gals who had never met each other immediately bonded in the small group chat, got together, and started talking.
They did a collaboration that I know was super successful for both of them. I know that was super successful because they both liked one another. It was the relationship values alignment piece that was the basis of it. My guess is their list sizes are probably similar-ish. It also works because of that. They came up with a way that made sense for them to work together.
In that case, they liked working together so much that they ended up creating a joint offer, but they didn’t start with the joint offer. They did a couple of events, like guest expert stuff, and then that grew into a joint offer, which is the other thing. Don’t put the cart before the horse. Try it out. As we would advocate if you were going to hire them for a project before going into a long-term retainer relationship, if you’re thinking about partnering with somebody, start with something small.
Guest expert in each other’s communities or partner in a workshop, and then see how that works out. If there’s alignment, then consider something bigger. I’m going to share the most crucial element that you should cover in creating a formal agreement for a collaboration that most people skip. First, you have to guess what you think the most crucial element is.
I would say the most crucial element is the expectations. Who’s doing what when? Who has authority and responsibility? We could talk for hours on how you both can’t have the same responsibility, because then no one has the responsibility. If it’s like, “We’ll both do X,” no. Someone’s doing X, and someone else is doing Y. Don’t put both names on it, which includes deadlines and all of those things. That’s what I would say. I’m curious because I’m sure it’s not what you would say.
Plan Your Breakup: Collaboration Exit Strategy
That’s not what I would say, but that’s a good one. Are you guys ready for this? Plan your breakup.
You are right. That’s 100% correct.
This is the problem. I went into my marriage with a whole lot of nothing, so I don’t have a prenup of any sort. This is the business equivalent of a prenup. Sit down, have the conversation about what winning looks like, clarify the expectations, and assign who does what, but plan your breakup. If you plan your breakup in advance, then you have automatically reduced the chances of it being awkward and ugly at the end, no matter what happens.
This is something we did a partnership with you on at one point. The other person handled all the text side, which meant they got all the email addresses, and we didn’t. Part of the agreement was that within so many days of the event, they would get us that list. We would get the email addresses, too. We didn’t have to worry about setting up all that tech stuff and the registration. They did all that.
We already had an agreement as to how the email addresses were being divided up and when those were coming through. It was a matter of, after-the-fact, me having to remember to say, “It’s been ten days and we haven’t received this list yet. Do you mind getting that over to us? What’s the best way for us to get that?”
It is super important for short-term collaborations where you’re positive that you’re going to break up, but all the more important for long-term collaborations where you don’t think you’re going to break up. It is what I would call partnerships. When it’s well-defined, then you do the thing, whatever the thing is. It could be a multi-step thing. It’s not always a simple thing, particularly if you’re talking about a formal business partnership.
It is where you’re able to say, “First, I do X and tell you this. These are the two options. You can either do A or B. If you do A, then we do this. If you do B, then you do that.” You go on down the list, and it becomes a series of steps. The clearer that you can be ahead of time, the easier it is. Part of it also is knowing how you break up, if it’s an amicable breakup or a non-amicable breakup.
The clearer that you can be with your expectations ahead of time, the easier it is in the end. Share on XI’m going to use an easy example here, which is joint podcasting. I’ve seen this play out a few ways, which influenced how we entered into this. I have fallen in love with podcasts that have two hosts who had a falling out. There was an uncomfortable situation where one host had to buy the other host out because the other host wasn’t leaving.
I have a mentor of mine who started a podcast with somebody else, and they did what we’re talking about. They went in and had a written agreement. They deposit a certain amount of money in the podcast account, and that’s where the podcast operating expenses come out of. They had an exit strategy that if one person wanted out, what that looks like, where the name would go, and who had the rights to the name, the URL, and all of that stuff.
We knew when we entered this show that this was 100% your show. You’ve carried the entire financial burden. I always say I’m here to look cute, but I have some sweat equity in the gig. We have a plan for what happens if I get sick and I can’t be here. At what point do we put off recording versus bringing in a guest host so that you have another co-host, versus when do you decide that you’re going to do solo episodes? We had to think all of that in. Do we end it?
Do we end it, or do I become the interviewer and we bring in guests for a period of time? There are multiple options, but the easy answer is that it’s associated with Everyday Effectiveness and Gwen Bortner.
That’s because then, it’s always cleaner.
It’s clean.
I know the conversation went all over the place, but I hope, if you’re still reading, what you’ve come away with is, first of all, try before you buy. That is my catchy little statement there. If you’re looking at collaborating and that’s something you want to do, try short-term collaborations before you enter into anything that’s long-term.
Get clear on what winning looks like. Make sure that there is alignment both in the target audience as well as values and general audience size, or let’s say, audience commitment. Gwen can have a list of 50,000 with only 5 committed people, and I can have a list of 500 with only 5 committed people. Once you’re there, get clear on your expectations and go ahead and craft that breakup contract. You’re writing things down anyway. What’s one more thing to write down? Craft the breakup contract, and then you can go into the collaboration feeling good and not having to worry about some worst-case scenario because you’ve already planned for it. Anything else you want to add?
Keep in mind how long it is. Does the level of result and effort match up? Don’t assume that because you’re getting along now, you’re always going to get along. There will be differences. There will be communication issues. There will be all sorts of things that will pop up. If you start by saying, “We’re going to keep open on the communication,” 99% of the time, the communication will take care of themselves.
That brings us to the end of this episode. I’m going to leave you with this thought. It is better to have fewer, deeper collaborative relationships than a bunch of surface-level ones. It will go further faster. When you find the right collaborators or the right partners, make sure that you structure that relationship thoughtfully. It’ll help you create a foundation for sustainable growth that can weather any economic climate, not the latest internet apocalypse.
It is better to have fewer deeper collaborative relationships than a bunch of surface level ones. Share on XIf you are looking for support in your business, maybe you are not sure if collaboration makes sense for you, or maybe you think it does, but you don’t know how to go about it, or you’re looking at, “What is the right next step for me in my business?” I would encourage you to head over to EverydayEffectiveness.com. Click on the Contact tab and book a call with Gwen. Have a chat with her. If she doesn’t have the answer, she can connect you with somebody who does. We’ll see you next time.
Mentioned in This Episode
About Your Hosts
Gwen Bortner has spent four decades advising executives and entrepreneurs in 45+ industries. She helps women succeed in business without sacrificing happiness by identifying their true desires and aligning their business functions. She spots overlooked bottlenecks and crafts efficient plans toward sustainable success that center your values and priorities. Known for her unique approach to problem-solving and accountability through the G.E.A.R.S. framework, Gwen empowers clients to achieve their definition of success without sacrificing what matters most.
Tonya Kubo is a marketing strategist and community builder who helps entrepreneurs build thriving online communities. As co-host of The Business You Really Want and Chief Marketing and Operations Officer (CMOO) at Everyday Effectiveness, she keeps conversations on track and ensures complex business concepts are accessible to everyone. A master facilitator with 18+ years of experience in online community building, Tonya takes a people-first approach to marketing and centers the human experience in all she does.
