The Dynamics of a Collaboration With Ariel Schiffer

In this week's blog of Aligned & Ambitious, we have special guest Ariel Schiffer! Ariel is an instructional designer, speaker, and coach. I wanted to have Ariel on today’s blog so we could dive into all things collaboration. We are going to talk more about what it’s like going into a collaboration for your business, as well as how different a collaboration is versus doing things yourself. 

But before we dive on in, let me introduce myself. My name is Taylor Slango and I’m the host of Aligned & Ambitious Radio and a business coach who helps women make major bank through their online businesses. 

So if you’re an ambitious millennial, wanting to get more out of life and learn how to combat those who doubt you along the way, stick around. This blog post is for you!

And today, we are going to talk all about collabs. We’ll also be going behind the scenes on all the different dynamics and aspects of a collaboration. 

How Ariel and I decided to work together.

Ariel has been working with me for about a year now and she shares that as she grew her business, she always knew she wanted to do a collaboration with me in some way. At first, I asked Ariel what she had planned and she had no idea. It was cool because our collaboration unfolded and became really natural through time. Ariel shares that she feels we’ve broken all these rules we see around marketing, we have always gone about things differently. I feel like our collaboration came so naturally because we stayed true to our core values, which is why I feel like I align so well with Ariel. Working with people who align on those core principles you have is the total key. I know for Ariel and me, we are total nerds when it comes to innovation. Over time, it’s become a partner relationship and I love the collaboration between us.

When we were both brainstorming what a collaboration would look like, we based it off what would be different from everyone else. With our pre-launch event, we wanted our core values of innovation to shine through. We also wanted to make sure whatever we were teaching would help our audience achieve the same thing. Ariel dives into how often people come up to her and ask her HOW to do something, HOW to achieve something. What’s interesting is that nobody asks WHY. Ariel says the core of all strategies is intentional decision making. It’s not all about the how and what. You should be asking the people that you’re observing and admiring about the why and the thought process. By understanding that, you will transform your decision making. When it comes to creating and launching you don’t have to rely on another coach to tell you how to do it. When you create with intention, that’s all you need to successfully launch, create, or collab.

Why hierarchies and levels should be nonexistent in a collaboration.

Ariel points out that we’ve never collaborated and created content just for the sake of doing something. We’ve both always gone through a thought process first where we analyze how our content would impact others. It’s important to know the power you’re looking for that you see in everybody else is inside of you as well. The CEO Sleepover is all about this and applying your magic to your business. I also find that it’s really difficult to innovate if you come from an energy of pressure and expectation. When we bring up the topic of innovation and creation, it all comes from stepping into a thought process and having a why. Whether you may know it or not, you already have the answers. The goal for Ariel and me is to help others dig deeper and realize the power they have within. 

Ariel shares a pet peeve of hers when she sees other collaborations or launches that mention something along the lines of, “No matter what level of business you're in.” For us, we aren’t in a video game where there are levels to advance. There shouldn’t be levels or hierarchies. This is something we are adamant about in our collaboration. However, we are also recognizing that our event isn’t just for new entrepreneurs. It can even fit a “seasoned entrepreneur.” Sometimes, if you’ve been an entrepreneur for a while with a business established, it can be easy to become stagnant. This makes it hard to shift into an energy of thinking differently, Ariel says it’s always good to step back and allow creativity in your business. It’s important to be more innovative over time as you scale. For me, I realized as I’ve grown in business that being an entrepreneur doesn’t need to be exhausting. There’s nothing to keep up with. Instead, there’s something to tap into. You have to keep up with yourself and continue to do things that feel good to you. 

Dynamics and aspects of my experience working with Ariel.

When Ariel and I were thinking about what collaboration we wanted to do, we knew we didn’t want to make it long-term. What sparked our collaboration ultimately was that we have two very complimentary signature programs. With Ariel’s course Alchemist and my launch course Five-Figure-Flow, we knew we could create something really powerful. This is when we decided to do an event, but we hadn’t named it yet. We wanted this event to be a couple of days retreat with a rapid mastermind vibe. As we were also analyzing the qualities we wanted in this event, we wanted it to be fun and to be an experience. Another huge factor that went into all of this was the fact that we put ourselves in the future customer. We thought about what kind of event we’d want to attend and what we felt was missing in programs and offers. 

A huge tip from me when it comes to collaborating is to choose someone with a complementary skill set to yours. At surface level, you could see Ariel and me as competition since we’re both business coaches. However, Ariel has entirely different skill sets than I do. Think about people in your network that you align values on as well. It’s important to know how the other person thinks and makes decisions. At the end of the day, a collaboration takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of going back and forth sharing input. You’ll also need clear communication. I promise that if you don’t understand each other's communication style, a collaboration can easily crash and burn.

Expectations to have when you go into a collaboration.

Don’t expect your collaboration to be 50/50 and perfect the whole time. Think about any other relationship in your life. I’m sure there are days that those relationships are not 50/50 all the time. This same concept applies to collaboration, which is also why I emphasize having clear communication. By having communication, you can pull off a successful and fun collaboration. I’ve found that this entire project with Ariel has been really light-hearted and has worked out tremendously well. I also want to say that you shouldn’t jump into a collaboration commitment if you aren’t 100% sure. Always listen to your gut. For anyone who has launched before, you know there’s always this excitement and hype at first. Towards the middle, you can sometimes find yourself overthinking and doubting things. Ariel shares that this has been a challenge in itself to manage when you’re working with someone.

I want to also point out that if you’ve never launched an event, it is a completely different dynamic than launching a program or course. For Ariel and I, this event has been a longer launch than normal. While it’s normal, it’s been so different than a typical program or course launch. This can sometimes affect your energy, as well as the partner’s energy. We aren’t here to tell you that our entire collaboration has been a perfect experience. At one point Ariel and I felt like something was off. When we did, we didn’t ignore it. Instead, we explored it and openly communicated. If you ignore the energy shift, you are missing an opportunity to shift and create something even better. It can be tempting to get fearful or start doubting your launch when energy is off. For Ariel and I, we recognized the shift and started to open up our mind to other opportunities and ways we could expand on our existing launch. 

Top tips on what to look for in a collaboration.

When you are in a launch with someone else, adaptability is huge. You need to be able to adapt in whatever way is needed. When it also comes to tasks and content, you need to be able to talk openly with the other person about both of your content plans. I know something very helpful for Ariel and me was jumping on a call to talk about the concepts we plan to post about for the next month. Then we can make a plan to share each other's content and complement it in a way that supports our collaboration. Make sure you have a plan and balance that out with the fact that plans may change. When you think of launches in general, it’s a marketing campaign essentially. Don’t feel like you need to go about it like everyone else. 

Think about all the things you’ve seen marketed and ways you can bring a different approach. When you are trying to offer something that hasn’t been done or seen before, it’s all about positioning. We are calling our event a sleepover because it goes back to being able to let loose and have fun. We also want to encourage people to look inward for inspiration rather than outward. If you are wondering how to start going about collaborations, it comes down to putting yourself in situations that may be uncomfortable at first. It can feel like a lot of effort, especially when you go into a group or a community you’re not used to. This doesn’t have to be just for collaboration but if you want to expand your network or community, it’s the same concept. It all comes down to building relationships. Make sure that you build rapport and put effort into the relationships as they grow. This can result in an amazing and powerful collaboration.

The Dynamics of a Collaboration With Ariel Schiffer: Main Takeaways

I hope this blog post brought you a lot of value and insight on all things collaborations. It was great to also share insight on my collab with Ariel. Be sure to join us at our Sleepover event! You can go to www.taylorslango.com/sleepover to get your tickets. We will see you there.

Thank you so Much for Reading…

Thanks for reading! If you liked what you learned, connect with me on social too at Facebook, Instagram, or start working with me! 

Then share this blog post with an entrepreneur who would benefit from top tips on all things collaboration.