In Tour 19, I had the pleasure of speaking with three ladies who collaborated to provide a Media Mastery Class in late 2023. Their collaboration went so well, they have decided to provide the class every quarter.

Read Part 2 of my interview with the project's originator, Cori Maag with Hello Beautiful Social.

The Networker's Tour Guide: Let me ask you, how did you work out the details, because I talk about this in Tour 8b. I say whoever's going to approach the other person needs to come with some really well defined goals and objectives and plan on doing 60 to 65% of the collaborative effort because the person that you're asking doesn't really know how you work yet.

So I'm curious about how you all handled who did what?

Cori Maag: So I, just within my own nature, I am type A and I, take on a lot of the work naturally anyway, just because that's my nature. Some of it is controlling but most of it is I want to make it easy for someone else.

Once Kaitlin and I connected and decided that we were both in and wanted to make this happen, we were on the phone. We I think we had the idea and started marketing within a few days.

We then reached out to Paige and pitched it to her and she of course had questions. So we we talked through it and I'm sure there were changes that were made, and we we went from there.

We were very lucky that the Railhouse Event Center in Norman, where we hosted the event, sponsored us. That was a really neat way to get us started. And they believed in the event that we were putting on.

I took on a little bit more of the back end work. And of course, with my background in being the social media, I created the graphics and you know, did those small things too. And we all equally marketed to our lists and took turns posting in the big groups to try and attract attendees and sell tickets.

And so it hasn't ever been, like in school, whenever people would get frustrated because group assignments usually meant one person did the work. It was not like that. Everyone just naturally kind of figured out where we all fit together.

Before like big decisions were made, we would discuss them and come up with a plan.

The Networker's Tour Guide: Before big decisions were made, you checked in and collaborated. That's probably a really key element to your successful execution.

Cori Maag: You want to be open to the feedback of others, because that's what makes the collaboration beautiful, having the perspectives of others to create something.

Overall, we all happen to be very driven and ambitious women, because we all own our own businesses. I think that that really allowed us to make it a full on collaboration.

The Networker's Tour Guide: A good collaboration looks like everyone is doing their role out of joy and fun and, goal driven. The leader doesn't mind at all being the leader and the other people don't mind at all that they're not the leader. And that sounds like exactly what you guys had in this project.

The Networker's Tour Guide: Did you have any outcomes that you were hoping for, or a way to measure if it was if the collaboration was successful?

Cori Maag: Our biggest indicator, I feel, was while we were in the class, conducting the class, our audience kept asking, "Okay, well, can you cover this at the next one?"

So that was our biggest because at that point, we hadn't really discussed whether it was a one and done collaboration, or if we wanted to make this an ongoing series. And that confirmed it for us. That is why we have our next one coming up in February, and we've decided to offer it quarterly.

The Networker's Tour Guide: Same three players?

Cori Maag: Same three players, but we're making tweaks to what we're teaching.

The Networker's Tour Guide: Is everyone coming away with the same deliverable that you did in the first time?

Cori Maag: No, this time, because our goal really is to empower our and our attendees, we're calling it practical and tactical.

So the participants asked for me specifically more information about like how the algorithm works and what are the different types of content and the purposes. So we're gonna dive into that.

And then Kaitlin and Paige are going to do more of a joint presentation. This is what we've talked about. So we'll see if it changes throughout the next couple weeks.

And we're going to present it in such ways like "Here's how you can get the best content on your phone. That's all you need is your phone." So they'll practice taking pictures and taking video, and then work on the editing.

Left to Right: Cori Maag, Kaitlin Gonzales, Paige Rains PC: Paige Raines Photography

The Networker's Tour Guide: I love how you guys have just thought of everything for them. Another thing that I write about often in the articles is, that it's your responsibility to just think of everything. Think of everything when you're setting up your one to ones, when you're reaching out to people in conversation..... you always be the person that makes things easy, and you will reap the rewards.

The Networker's Tour Guide: What was the most surprising thing about the collaboration?

Cori Maag: I think just how natural it felt.

Like I said, it, it just happened. And there weren't any moments of frustration, at least on my part. I hope that the other ladies feel the same. It all just felt very easy and natural. And then, you know, the results that we got and the feedback we got just kind of, I don't know what word I'm searching for, but....

The Networker's Tour Guide: Meshed?

Cori Maag: Yeah. It just felt, it all just felt good and right.

Go network my friend, and remember:

When you collaborate, play into the strengths of all involved as you plan, and keep the end goal in mind. The end goal would be to expose yourself to each other's audiences, and turn each other's audiences into clients for yourself.

The Networker's Tour Guide, Faithann Basore, and her husband Dave have owned Window Cleaning Plus (WCP) for 10 years. Growing WCP through networking has given Faithann the desire to guide other small business owners through the networking terrain so they can feel comfortable and build long lasting relationships in their business.

About Cori Maag:

Cori is a proud mom of three, a seasoned social media strategist, conference and workshop host, emerging speaker, and moonlights as a pressure washer. Her passion is supporting small and local businesses by teaching organic social media strategies. 

Find Cori here: http://facebook.com/hellobeautifulsocial

About Kaitlin Gonzalas:

Kaitlin is a content creator for small businesses, with a creative eye that uniquely displays businesses in their marketing strategy. She enjoys capturing businesses behind the scenes, events, and businesses in action. When she's not capturing content she is enjoying life with her husband and 2 year old daughter.

Find Kaitlin here: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelDealVideography

About Paige Rains:

Paige Rains is the visionary behind Paige Rains Photography, specializing in brand photography for small businesses and personal brands. With a talent for capturing authentic moments and true personalities, Paige crafts images that tell compelling stories. From captivating headshots to dynamic brand narratives, her work goes beyond the surface, creating connections that resonate with audiences.

Find Paige here: https://www.facebook.com/paigerainsphotography

Got networking questions? Email me at [email protected].