Four Creative Collaboration Benefits

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Guest Post by: Sara Halcumb

In this cut throat world of self-made millionaires, social media stars, instant celebrities, and bloggers who influence a generation (i.e. Girl, Wash Your Face) it can seem like the only way to the top is through self-reliance, embracing the grind and staying in your own lane.  However, let me tell you what happened to me when I recently branched out of my introverted comfort zone, took a chance and realized many creative collaboration benefits.  Hopefully this will inspire you to change the way you approach your relationships with other women. In doing so, you will become a beacon for more abundance, connections, creativity and miracles.

I should also mention that I want to be completely transparent in all of my writings.  I feel that we all crave honesty and the truth is especially refreshing, now more than ever.  Please know, that every word of this is 100 percent true, and written from my heart.

The Backstory

My sister-in-law, Maria started an amazing lifestyle blog earlier this year (Psst! This very blog!), along with her private tutoring business. At the time of her launch I was just a few months into creating my version of a daily gratitude journal, which I was going to self-publish.  Also, I hadn’t told anyone about my journal (except for my hubby) out of fear that it wasn’t good enough, and out of fear that I wasn’t good enough to be an author.

Has this ever happened to you?  You are working on a new idea, book or business, and then a friend or someone close to you spreads their wings before you get the chance?  How did you react? Did you become truly supportive of them or did you just support them on a superficial level, and behind closed doors you grumbled to yourself about how that should be you instead of them?  Don’t beat yourself up if that was your honest reaction. Women, and especially moms, are conditioned to believe that we have to scrape and fight our way to become successful, and that there’s only room for a select few lucky women at the top.  If only we would realize the power of collaborations, and that by lifting up another mom, we also rise! That’s what I’m hoping you will come to realize at the end of this.

Envy Can Be a Signal

Here’s what I did, and I offer it to you:  I womaned up, accepted that I was feeling slightly envious, didn’t judge myself for feeling this way, let it pass through quickly, and then wholeheartedly became her biggest fan.  What transpired after that decision is pure magic.  

Maria and I have been on very similar spiritual paths for the past few years (almost eerily similar), and something kept telling me that she and I needed to work together.  I ignored the feelings for months and told myself that she would never want to work with me. Who am I, anyway? I am a nurse, not a blogger. At the time, I had only just self-published a simple little journal, whereas she owned and ran a business and a blog.  However, I kept getting that feeling deep down to my core, that we were meant to collaborate on something. So, I took a leap, and sent that lady an email that I wanted her to be my first “Featured Blogger” on my author webpage.

Click here if you want your blog to be featured on my webpage for one month!

Since that initial email I sent, my opportunities have amplified, to say the least.  Literally Simple was my first featured Blog on my website! Maria wrote an entire blog post about the benefits of gratitude (click here to buy the journal to start becoming more grateful), she connected me to other people who I could work with, and she fully supported me by using my journal as her own gratitude practice.  Lastly, and what I’m most excited to announce, we’ve recently decided to co-author a book together specifically for moms!  More about our book below, when I talk about miracles.

What does this mean for you?  Let me tell you something- if a quiet girl from the sticks can form a power bond with another mom, anyone can.  

4 Creative Collaboration Benefits

Here are the top four benefits you will experience when you reach out to that mama in your life that just keeps unexpectedly showing up.

1.) Abundance

When I talk about abundance, I don’t mean more material things, I mean an overflowing fullness of the heart.  More joy, love, friendships and fulfillment will start to enter your life. My journey started with gratitude and by increasing my awareness of how much I already have been given in this life.  In doing this, I quickly realized that life is an echo. Whatever you put out, will come back to you. So, if you’re constantly competitive with other females, what you will get in your life is more competitive females.  If you’re always jealous of what other females are doing or succeeding at, then you will only attract other jealous and catty women in your circle. It’s that simple, and it won’t change until you do.

Change your mindset to one of thankfulness for what you already have, instead of a scarcity-mindset.  Then, you will start to meet more women and moms who are full of gratitude, kindness and compassion. These are the women you want to collaborate with.  They will be the ones to lift you up, and you them.

For far too long I thought that the only way to accomplish my dreams, was to keep them locked away in a secret place where no one could take them from me.  Oh, how I was wrong. Whatever you do for yourself to reach your goals, think of how you can transfer that knowledge, inspiration, or skill to another mom you know.  This will attract more abundance in your life than you could ever imagine.

2.) Connections

Another creative collaboration benefit is the ability to make connections. In a world of hashtags, algorithms and how many followers you have, it can be difficult to gain true human connections.  I bet when you read “connections” as this section title, you may have thought, “Oh good, I need more Instagram followers!”  Sorry, ladies, more followers or subscribers may be a byproduct of working with another mom, but it’s not the one I am highlighting here.  Real, true connections to another mom is more valuable than any number of followers on social media.

I challenge you to think about the moms in your life, and which ones come to mind that you would love to work with.  Don’t think of what you will gain, think of what they will gain. Meet up for coffee, send an email or text her about your thoughts for a collaboration.  It may be that you host a house party for her new product line, or maybe you offer to feature her business on your website, or maybe, just maybe… the two of you have a book idea that the world needs you to write together.  

Start with the moms that you have in your life at the moment, and from there I guarantee you will form connections that you didn’t know were possible.  Example: you host a house party for a friend’s new product line, and she invites her friend who is married to a book editor- you were just searching of an editor for your manuscript!  Or, one afternoon you help your sister develop her new website, and you notice a self-help book on her kitchen counter that she lets you borrow, which after reading inspires your next business idea.  Things like this happen all the time when you are open and willing to accept the gifts that are meant for you. The way for you to get these gifts sent your way, is through opening up your heart and forming connections to other mamas.  

3.) Creativity

When you form a partnership with another mom, one of the bonuses is that the two of you form a creative relationship.  You get to work on something together that is for the greater good.

Big Magic

I recently read the book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. It illustrated how important being creative is to us humans.  I have always loved writing, drawing, painting (my father is an amazing artist) and crafting. Her book helped me to see that creativity is bringing forth the hidden treasures within you.  Gilbert writes, “If I am not actively creating something, then chances are I am probably actively destroying something- myself, a relationship, or my own peace of mind.”  I find this so true. When I’m being creative, whether it’s writing a book, crafting with my kids or even doing those adult coloring books (don’t judge, they’re relaxing), I am fully in the present moment.  I am not locked in my head worrying about other people or my problems. I am in the moment and focused on my project.

A creative collaboration benefits your partnership and helps to cultivate that creative bone in your body that we all have.  You share ideas, give constructive advice, support each other’s craft, and lift up the other. When you create something, inspiration flows through you from within, and pores out to your work.  Imagine how much more inspiration you can get when you work with another mama? Ideas will form between the two of you that you could not have conjured up on your own. And there is my point. Creativity between two people is priceless. What you create together is not your own or her own, but a combination of the two of you.  It is something that you could not have done without her, nor her without you.

4.) Miracles

Creative collaboration benefits also include acknowledging miracles. I’m branching out of my comfort zone. One of the ways I’m doing this is by writing a book. The book is in collaboration with the creator of this very blog. We are in the early phases of the process and are approaching it in a very light-hearted and relaxed manner. What lady wouldn’t want to read a health and wellness book written specifically for moms, by moms? Each of us has knowledge to offer that the other does not, a combination of professional backgrounds: nurse and educator.

Is it scary and are we afraid of it failing?  Yes! Do we constantly feel that the other person’s writing is better than our own?  Yes! Are we afraid of editors judging us and publishers turning us down? Yes! Is this something that both of us want to write more than anything, even if the book only sells copies to our parents?  Bingo!  

In order to branch out of your little comfort zone and ask that mom to collaborate with you, please remember some wise words of wisdom by Gabrielle Bernstein from her book Miracles Now: 108 Life-Changing Tools for Less Stress, More Flow, and Finding Your True Purpose:  

“Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love.  They are performed by those who temporarily have more for those who temporarily have less.  As you open up to your inner power, it is important to accept that your life’s true purpose is to be helpful to all.”

Here’s our secret:  There is nothing special about us!  We are your everyday, ordinary moms who want what’s best for our family and to inspire women along the way. We struggle, cry, laugh, learn and then… get past the fear and embrace the love in our lives from those around us.  

That is the miracle that you will receive when you collaborate with another mom to help her out… a shift from fear to love.

Want Me to Guest Blog For You?

Hey Bloggers!  If you dig my writing style, and would like me to be a guest writer for your blog, please head on over to my “work with me” web page . Fill out your information on the contact form so we can collaborate!  As a nurse, mom and up and coming author, I can offer knowledge, insights and information on a number of topics related to health and wellness. It just could be your next creative collaboration!

Join the Discussion

Have you ever felt envious, but then turned it into a collaboration? What have been your best creative collaborations?

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We also have a 2019 Wellness challenge happening at Literally Simple’s FB page. It is completely FREE and the focus is to improve the quality of women and mom’s lives inexpensively! Each month will be a different challenge. January begins with decluttering! Feel free to invite friends as well. It will be public for the next week, and then we’ll make it private. 🙂

January’s Monthly Challenge: Play the minimalism game, or focused de-cluttering!

Source:

Bernstein, Gabrielle. Miracles Now: 108 Life-Changing Tools for Less Stress, More Flow, and Finding Your True Purpose. Hay House., Inc., 2015.

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. Bloomsbury, 2016.