Can collaboration be the ease you deserve as a solopreneur?

I ended the year, doing just my second collaboration for Lemons 2 Lemonade. Nicole Gaines of The Clarity Shop was a great collaborator and person who helped rebuild my faith in working with others because I always knew there was magic in numbers.

In 2018, I had the goal of touring Lemons 2 Lemonade. I reached out to all these brands to sponsor the full tour, and a company that is an online payment system was a promising partner. After not receiving the ROI my contact was looking for from an organization that was similar to mine, she honestly asked me why more Black women founders didn't collaborate. She mentioned that collaboration makes for a better business case to offer sponsorship.?

"More Black women founders with communities need to partner and collaborate to get this sponsorship," she said. "The nonprofit should have partnered with you as you do a great job marketing your events because I think you could help each other make the impact you want."

When she asked this, a part of me wondered if non-Black founders are asked to collaborate to receive sponsorship. ?Collaboration means bringing audiences with shared interests together to optimize impact. And my contact's question was valid: why don't more of us collaborate?

I could only speak from my experience. I struggled to find opportunities that didn't take advantage of my skill sets nor put a heavy lift on me. I wanted someone to add value and make up for what I lacked. ?When I sought collaborators, I thought they were equally yoked; they felt my social media following wouldn't add value to a collaboration. ?? I, however, am not looking for someone who has to have more social followers. I'm looking for someone with heart who can execute at the level I can, but together, we can create ease for each other and focus on our strengths.

Finding businesses and founders to partner with is challenging, but what makes it work out is when you bring together what you each do best to create a great product or experience. I hope L2L can collaborate more with other organizations in the future. If you're a solo founder like me I hope you feel this: We are deserving of more ease and if collaborations can create that, let's do it.

Thank you, Nicole, for your creativity and execution. I can't wait to run this back in the spring. ?? Take a look at how L2L ended the year with this floral workshop activation.