Collaboration Station: Sister Service Swap!

One of the things I love about the Ellivate Alliance is how it brings like-minded professional women together from across the country and makes it so easy for us to support one other in unique ways!

We have our own private, online community for Ellivate. It’s an easy way to stay connected with one another, and it serves as an online marketplace where we can post asks and offers and share resources and inspiration with other members.

Susan Stutzel, who runs a coaching business out of Iowa, posted an Ask in our online community, requesting help with a flyer design. My business, ekMEDIA, does graphic and website design, so I replied that I’d be happy to help! Susan and I worked together to find appropriate imagery and colors for the flyer, and it turned out beautifully.

Just a few weeks later, Susan reached out again when she was ready to create a logo and build out her website. I was excited to create a logo, set up website hosting and build out a WordPress website for her. Susan wrote all the copy, and I made it look great online!

What was unique about this project was we bartered our services. In exchange for the website work, Susan coached me. She guided me through an intentional process, including a thought-provoking questionnaire and exploring my answers in depth. We explored what I really want for my business and life. We discussed goal setting and how I could best lay out my goals, including manageable milestones that will lead me to the big goal at the end.

This entire coaching process was so valuable to me because I am not a goal setter. In fact, I tend to rail against the idea! But, working with Susan, I was able to do it. In the process, I decided to take a short (50 day) sabbatical for my 50^th birthday in April…something I’ve wanted to do for the last 10 years! Now, I have a clear plan of what I’ll be doing for my sabbatical, and I can’t wait!

Working with another Ellivate Alliance member is so powerful for many reasons. First, you don’t have to spend a lot of time searching for someone you can trust. I knew about Susan (and vice versa) through our connections and experiences with other members, meeting one another during our online Ellivate Office Hours, and the private online community. Then, once we worked together, it became even easier to support one another by recommending each other to other members based on our first-hand knowledge of working together. Plus, we both feel really good about supporting another woman and woman-owned business. It’s a triple win!!