Are you collaborating with other experts?
You should be, did you know that by directly collaborating with 20 other experts, I was able to extend my global reach to over a million?
If you are one of those experts that still see collaborating with other experts as the competition? You are missing out on a massive secret weapon for growing your online business. When we took our offices and moved online, it became a game-changer in how we view collaboration.
Do you remember where your only competition was the yellow pages? Well think of your online office as the new yellow pages, and you are not only competing with everyone listed in your county but everyone online in your field all around the world! Do you know the cute little beach signs that have all the different locations pointing in every direction possible? That is precisely what it looks like to your potential clients.
Your clients are being overloaded with information! Good, bad, accurate, inaccurate, wholly information overload! It’s no wonder that when they finally reach our stop, they are frightened, confused, untrusting, and desperate.
Imagine this, if you started collaborating with other experts in your field. Experts you trust that have the same work ethics as you do. What would happen if you began to collaborate with them? I can tell you precisely what that would look like for your business.
Let’s take someone like me, with a combined following of close to 100k, and I connect with 15 to 20 other coaches. I agree to share their blogs, podcasts, collaborate on books, and posts that I feel my clients would find benefit, and they did the same for you?
What if they didn’t have a less significant following, one expert had 10k and another maybe 20k? Would that hurt you? Not in the least. Let me tell you one of them was collaborating took my online business to the next level. I was approached to author a book; they wanted me to share my story! I was so excited, of course, I said HELL, YES!
I jumped right into writing my book. MY BOOK! I had dreamed of sharing my story with the world, and it was happening for me. I wrote my heart out, and I cried, I laughed, I relieved every exhilarating moment. When I had finally completed my book, I looked down, and I had been able to write two chapters. They were perfect, but I realized I am just not that interesting. I had an incredible riveting two chapters, and that was it.
I realized that even if I managed to somehow squeeze an entire book out of my two chapters, I then had the responsibility of promoting my book. For those of you who have written a book, you know exactly what I’m talking about, right? It’s costly and a significant time consumer. One of the things I do is work with experts who want to stand out and be seen as significant influencers in their field. The first thing I ask them when I interview them to work with me is that they share their personal stories with me. They are powerful! And I knew they had at least one powerful chapter.
Does anyone see what just happened to my book by collaborating? I was able to bring on close to 20 experts to share their personal stories, amazing stories of hope. I increased my reach globally, by collaborating with these experts to close to a million. The best part, when we launch, we are all taking on some of the responsibilities. By doing this, even more, people are going to be able to hear my story of hope than would have had the opportunity to have I authored it on my own.
When you find the perfect group to collaborate with, remember these essential tips:
- Share Podcast, Blogs, Posts that your clients will benefit from daily!
- Network in online facebook groups as a team. Take 10 minutes at the end of your day to go in and tag, comment, and like their posts throughout social media. When clients see you being acknowledged by other experts, it helps build rapport and respect. “Wow! Dr. Dee commented on her post,” it helps all of you to be seen as that influencer in your field.
- Collaborate on programs together; depending on your field of expertise, this can be super easy. Put together a plan that works for all those collaborating. Let each expert work in their area of genius. You will double your conversions.
Be sure to stay in your lane. Know your target market, and stay in your area of genius. If you are a mental health expert, don’t start training on weight loss, you will lose credibility and waste your clients precious time.
At my lowest during my health journey, I was scared and desperate. The worse thing the “non-experts” did to me, was to waste precious time I did not have. You are amazing and an expert in your field, if you tell a client, “that isn’t my area of expertise, but let me refer you to a college I collaborate with online.” That is going to build trust in that client, and I promise you they will not only follow you but refer to you.
Facebook has an abundance of opportunities for you to collaborate with other experts. One of the things I do with my clients is to get them introduced in groups that align with their business goals and their client base. If you are working in these groups as a team, commenting, liking, tagging, and sharing each other’s posts, it opens the flood gates for communication. It is quite common that a fantastic post goes uncommented on because people are afraid to be the first to respond and open up. When the experts start commenting, it becomes a safe place, and when it’s another expert, it adds credibility to the author.
I work with twenty experts each quarter, connecting them, giving them a venue for public speaking on podcasts, summits, and live interviews. The most fantastic thing I teach them is to collaborate. Then I sit back and watch their reach go global on massive levels. If you are interested in seeing how collaborating and getting enormous exposure can get you seen as an influencer in your field but extend your reach all around the world, reach out to me at jana@janashort.com.
I was very fortunate to be working with Jana when she began collaborating with experts. I remember her excitement when she exclaimed, “Oh my, collaboration is the new networking!! From then on seeing her take her business to not just the next level, but several levels above that. And more important, she still does what she knows, she’s an expert on what she knows, she’s not wasting time trying to be who she’s not. Like she says, she stays in her lane, she has integrity, honesty, and a compassion that always impresses me. Her mentoring has been invaluable in my business. And even more incredible, is I’m changing more peoples lives, and feel like I’m working less. I always seem to have more time to help people. I am so blessed to Jana for her mentoring, and friendship.
This article makes me want to get even more connected! It was a great read keep up the great work.