Despite the fact the average number of wedding professionals who “touch” a wedding or special event hovers around the 14 mark, we’re in an industry comprised of entrepreneurial creatives used to (and some quite sufficient in) getting the job done on their own.
The truly best of the best, however, have figured out the secret to their success lies in age-old adage, “It takes a village.” They embrace the power of collaboration and teamwork to reach inspired heights they couldn’t possibly achieve on their own.
That’s not to imply a complete forfeit of control or suggest an opening up of the “Pandora’s Box” that is death by deliberation. In its best execution, collaboration empowers our relationships with our professional peers to create opportunities to stretch our creativity and innovation together, test our processes on one another and, ultimately, encourage each other to go where we don’t dare our own selves to go.
Dialog in the Digital
There’s no denying it: our world is all in on digital, whether you like it or not. From finding out what’s happening with your friends this weekend to following your latest Amazon shipment from warehouse to front door, the digital experience is the new human experience. Just as it can enhance our personal lives making decisions and processes easier and faster, it can empower the way we collaborate professionally.
Using software solutions that sync up calendars makes it easier to schedule those all-important meetings, especially when working with multiple partners in different parts of the city, region and even country. Co-creating mood boards in a shared access online space ensures we’re capturing multiple points of view on the same focus. Chat platforms are perfect places to align and track quick-paced communications without burdening your email inbox or playing phone tag.
PRO TIP: Aisle Planner is specifically designed to make collaboration and communication with your team, your partners and your clients easy and effective by keeping it all in one place, behind one login. Visit our Help Center or our Pro Blog for great tips on how to put Aisle Planner’s “Power of One” behind your business!
Mentor Matters
No one – or, no one business – benefits from a handout over the long run. Instead, seek a hand up from someone in your professional community whom you respect for the work they do and how they do it. Odds are, no matter what profession you’re in, you’re going to find yourself in a creative or business rut.
Leverage the experience and different points of view of others on those situations where you can’t seem to see the way out of. These opportunities don’t have to be formal – a simple phone call or invitation to coffee will do.
Likewise, if you’ve been “around the block” in this industry for a bit, or have developed a unique solution to a common business problem within your professional community, find opportunities to share that individually or in group settings like webinars or local business association meetings.
In both cases, the honesty and vulnerability shown help to foster trust and transparency, both of which can help shape your business and that of your peers for the better.
Two Heads (or Twenty) are Better Than One
Any reason’s better than none to gather your tribe but putting the professional purpose of collaboration behind it can generate some fantastic momentum to your individual creativity and business success.
Build a list of people whose work, attitude and ethics inspire you – think of everyone from the newbie weekend warrior who pulls off their work flawlessly after 40+ hours in their main hustle to the veteran full-timer with a portfolio gallery to die for, and schedule a no-frills gathering to talk trends, test an idea on the group or collaboratively plan an out-of-the-box, “muscle flexing” photo shoot that tests the plane of your collective, creative convention.
By definition, collaboration is work – and we’re all used to that. The beauty of collaboration, however, is that it requires cooperation with others in order to create something greater than we could ever deliver on our own. In a business designed to bring our clients’ dreams to life, that makes collaboration our strongest and smartest tool to make sure that happens each and every time.
