Imagine unleashing your entrepreneurial spirit after the age of 50 through the power of partnerships. That’s not just a pipe dream. Tune in and learn how you can make that idea a reality by forging meaningful collaborations.
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Show Notes | Transcript“There’s just something about the power of being able to connect with other women your age… who get you, who know the things that are driving you, who know your challenges.” – Gloria “Grace” Rand
As the founder of Align to Shine Academy, I’ve witnessed firsthand how joining forces with like-minded women can reignite passion, spark creativity, and open doors to new opportunities. This episode is your invitation to explore the untapped potential of collaborative relationships that nourish both your bottom line and your soul.
Discover how to:
- Recognize the signs that it’s time to seek collaboration in your business
- Overcome the scarcity mindset that may be holding you back from partnering with others
- Create meaningful connections in networking groups that go beyond lead generation
- Align yourself with partners who share your values and vision
Key insights include:
- Why traditional networking groups may not always serve your needs as a spiritual entrepreneur
- The importance of building relationships first before expecting business referrals
- How collaborating with other women over 50 can provide unique support and understanding
- The power of planting seeds for future partnerships through genuine connections
Resources:
Join the Soulful Women’s Network here
Receive daily inspirational email messages: bit.ly/LoveLightNotes
Rise above self-doubt and embrace your brilliance at AligntoShineAcademy.net
Need support? Go to engagewithgloria.com to schedule a call.
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Connect with Live Love Engage:
Send Gloria Grace a message
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LinkedIn: Gloria Grace Rand
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TRANSCRIPT
you plant seeds. That’s what happens is you. You plant seeds with some of these relationships and they. They might take some time to develop, but if you don’t plant the seed in the first place, then nothing’s going to happen
Namaste. If you’ve ever felt like carrying your business dreams alone, this episode is your permission slip to pause, breathe and discover the untapped power of sacred collaboration. I’m going to show you how women, especially women over 50, are creating something revolutionary. Business relationships that nourish both the bottom line and the soul. But first, I want to welcome you to Live Love Engage. Especially if this is your first time tuning in. I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of Align to Shine Academy, and I work with spiritually minded women entrepreneurs to break free from self doubt and step into their highest potential. Now, I love collaborating with women entrepreneurs, especially those like me who are over 50. Okay, a little bit more than that, but, you know, anyway, you know, let’s face it, we’ve been around the block a while and, and we’ve got some wisdom to share. And recently during, during the monthly meeting of my soulful women’s network, actually, I, I realized in talking with the other members that I needed to niche down the group. I really did need to focus on serving the needs of women over 50. And that decision reenergized me. I, you know, really did. We’ve got a, we’ve got a free Facebook group and in fact, you can join it if you go to bit.ly/soulnetwork, all lowercase letters. And I created a new cover image. I updated the description of the group and, and we’re attracting new members now. And I think that my being able to re energize based on the collaboration with the existing members of the group really made a difference. And that’s what I want to talk about today because I really do truly believe in the power of collaboration, whether it’s through networking groups or through a mastermind group, but also connecting, connecting with women. I mean, I love men, don’t get me wrong, I do. And I’ve had some great collaborations with men. Some of my best clients in the past have been men. And I know that especially. And maybe it is, I don’t know, maybe it is as we get older, I’m not sure, but there’s just something about the power of having, you know, being able to connect with other women our age, you know, other women your age, you know, whatever age might be, you know, especially if you are younger. I think, I think no matter what age you are, you. You like to be around people who get you, who know the things that are driving you, who know your challenges, who know, you know, what’s going on, because then they can celebrate your successes and they can offer advice on how to overcome something. And it’s so great to be able to do that. And, you know, it’s something that I found is that you don’t always get with traditional networking groups, especially ones that are really focused on getting leads. You know, there’s, there’s some groups out there that it’s like, that’s, that’s, you’ve got to be able to come to this group and you’ve got to be able to, you know, share leads with everybody. And, and it’s kind of this more, you know, kind of a give and take as opposed to. Well, I guess collaborate. No, I, no, that’s not the word I wanted to say. More competitive energy where, you know, they’re, they’re just, you’re out there to just promote. This is my business, this is what I do, and this is who I need because. So who can you get for me? As opposed to fostering a more collaborative type of environment where it’s about building relationships first. Because
I’ve got to be able to get to know you. I’ve got to be able to get to know what you do in your business, how you serve people, before I can refer someone to you. I mean, let’s face it, right? I mean, because anytime we do business with anybody, you know, no matter if it’s a big company or small company, if we have a good experience with them, we are more likely to tell our friends and say, hey, you should, you know, buy from this company or you should hire this coach. Because we’ve gotten to know them, we’ve gotten to know who they are as a person, we’ve gotten to know the quality of their products or services. And so we’re much more inclined to then refer them. So that comes from, especially with service industry or service providers, it comes from having a good relationship with someone. And so, you know, once you, if you are in some sort of networking group, I think it’s so much more important to build the relationship. So, sure, you can introduce yourself and say, this is what I do, and the other person is going to tell you what they do. But then it’s. There was a word I was trying to find, but it’s escaping me at the moment. But that’s okay. It behooves you. Yeah, that’s the word I was looking for. It behooves you to follow up, you know, especially, you know, I’ve been oftentimes in networking groups where you go into little breakout rooms on Zoom, you know, with maybe six other people or so, six or eight people. Sometimes, sometimes as many as 10, but let’s say six, four to six people. And so you get to know a little bit about what each person does. And I think also depending on how they’re interacting in the group, you know, what their energy level is, then you can kind of pick up on, hmm, you know, I think I want to know this person a little bit more. I want to learn more about them. And so you get their contact information and then you follow up afterwards, reach out and connect. And in fact, I had this happen last week actually. I was in a networking group and one of the other women actually did, she followed up with me. She sent me a connection request on LinkedIn and so I connected with her and we’ve exchanged some messages so far. You know, just kind of wondering, what did you think about the event kind of thing. So that’s, that’s the step that you have to take is, is to start doing that. And I know sometimes it can be challenging to, to find partners or people that you want to collaborate with. You know, sometimes, especially if you’re operating from say, a scarcity mindset where you are afraid that maybe your ideas are going to be stolen or that these, this competitor is going to take clients away from you, it can also, you might be reluctant to collaborate because you’ve got this need to. I got to do everything myself. And I know I’ve talked about this, I think on the podcast in the past that that doesn’t serve you as a business owner. If you want to grow your business, you’ve got to be able to get over that. And that’s one of the things I, I help clients with when I teach the Love Method, which is about, you know, letting go of that limiting belief and letting go of this need to control everything and then opening your heart to receive help from other people, to be able to open yourself up and, and then you can start to identify, you know, these people that you want to collaborate with. And in fact, I’m, I’m actually collaborating with someone right now.
We’re, we’re planning, you’ll hear more about this in a few weeks, but we’re actually putting together a, a virtual retreat, a like a three hour sort of mini retreat. And, and she reached out to me because, number one, I, I had her on my podcast and then she had me on her podcast. And so, you know, we’d been in each other’s orbits for a while and she was looking for people that she thought were, would be aligned with her. And so we got on a zoom call and we had a talk about what she wanted, and I got really excited. I’m like, oh, this sounds great. I’m. I’m in. And so, you know, now we’re working together. And that’s the wonderful thing that can come about when you do take this time to, you know, create relationships. I mean, that’s. That’s what it’s really about, is creating these relationships with. With people so that, you know, you may not collaborate today. And in fact, seriously, it’s like I did the podcast with her probably two. Yeah, I think it was. It was like two years ago. And I think probably I did hers as well about the same time. So you plant seeds. That’s what happens is you. You plant seeds with some of these relationships and they. They might take some time to develop, but if you don’t plant the seed in the first place, then nothing’s going to happen. So if you want to be able to, you know, grow your business in this way, then you’ve got to get out there and you’ve got to start making connections that align with your values. Of course, because there are going to people that aren’t going to align, and that’s okay because you get to decide who you want to work with. And that’s. That’s the important thing. And I’ll give you another example, and I want to be able to actually share something with you about that. That is something that is coming up for me shortly, is that last year, a few months ago, I launched my Align to Shine Academy. And it was so powerful to watch the women in the group actually, number one, supporting each other. During our weekly. We met. Had four sessions that we met together, weekly sessions. And they were not only supporting me and answering my questions, but then helping each other. And then they were also helping each other. And in our Facebook group, we had a private Facebook group that they were journaling every day. And they were encouraged. You didn’t have to, but especially one. One of the members really did, was very diligent about posting in the Facebook group every day. Her experience with journaling and positive and negative and, and her comments, someone else would then see that and go, ooh, that triggered me. And then she would comment something else. And it was just so fabulous to see that happened. And, And I think by also bringing them together, they. They may decide to, you know, have some collaborations between each other because they got to know each other in this. In this group environment. So if you would like to. Well, one of the things that they also provided me with too, I should say is feedback on the program itself. And so
I’ve tweaked it a little bit and also have decided that it really is designed for in particular women over 50. I mean, it can be also for younger women as well, but I think especially women over 50 who are, you know, maybe I’ve been putting a lot of other people first in their lives and they’re finally starting to wonder when is it going to be my turn? You know, when at the heck is it going to be my turn to start putting myself first? Because even if they’re already a successful business owner, maybe they’re still feeling something inside of like, you know, there’s. I love what I do and I’m ready for a change. I want to do something different. In fact, I do have a dear friend who actually just lost her husband and shortly before he passed, we were having a conversation about that because she does online marketing and she’s done it for years. But now, you know, now that she’s in this, moving into this transition of her life now, she’s like, I’m not sure I still want to do that. And I think I want to look into doing something else. So that’s what Align to Shine Academy is about. It’s about helping you to, you know, let go of any self doubt you may have about going into a new direction and, and to really start honing in on your own intuition and, and start listening and figuring out, you know, what is my heart calling me to do. So it’s, it’s, it includes like 30 days of journaling work and, and five, actually, I realized it needed to have five weekly Zoom calls that we’re going to do. So basically a little, a little over 30 days or so to, to join this program. And I, I would encourage you to go to Align to Shout… oh boy. If I could talk, Maybe align to shine academy.net and you can get all the details for that. And you know, we’re going to be starting up in a few weeks and I would love for you to join us in this collaborative environment to serve and support one another in really aligning with your inner power to shine and succeed. So I, I hope you’ll. Hope you’ll do that. And let me talk before I end this podcast today. I want to give you some practical steps on how you can foster collaborations. So, you know, we’ve already talked a little bit about, you know, looking for the right partner, you know, and kind of sensing their vibe. But what can you do first?
Well, one thing I would say is actually I had a whole list, I have a whole list of things here, but I just thought of a new one. Let’s say you want to collaborate with someone. Well, if you are someone who likes to do vision boards, you could have that be on your vision board. Or it could be something that you could just journal about and maybe you journal about it every day and say, I am so grateful that I have found the perfect partner to collaborate with and I found the perfect ideal person that we are going to create something amazing together and I’m so excited for our joint collaboration. So you could do something like that. You could also set an intention, like the next time that you’re going to go to a networking event and just before you get go online or you go walk in the door of the restaurant that you’re going to go to or whatever venue it is, you could just set an intention and say, I intend to connect with somebody amazing today. That is going to lead to a powerful and profitable collaboration. Another thing you could do is you could reach out to someone you, that you’ve already, maybe someone that you have already connected with and you haven’t followed up yet, or maybe someone that you admire and just reach out and have either a virtual or in person, if they’re local, cup of tea or cup of coffee. I’m a tea drinker, so I naturally go to tea and just get to know them a little bit better. And again, this isn’t about selling, it’s about building a relationship. So it’s about getting to know someone. And then here’s the other thing again. I’m a big journaling person. If you, if you listen to this podcast at all, for any length of time, you should know that I’m always talking about journaling and especially having a gratitude journal. So maybe in your gratitude journal keep track of those moments of support and collaboration that you’ve had with someone and keep, keep track of that because, you know, it’s, it’s good to remind ourselves of these things because sometimes we’ll, we may get into a rut or a funk and we haven’t been doing that. And then you can look back in your journal and say, oh yeah, okay, yeah, I did do that. I did. And I did have a lovely collaboration with someone. And then you want to also, you could identify three things about yourself. You know, gifts you have or insights that you can then share when you’re having a meeting with someone and just to help them get to know you a little bit better and consider joining Align to Shine Academy. That would be another form. And I just, something just occurred to me as well that I want to point out is that sometimes collaborations don’t work out. And I’m thinking back now, this is going back a few years now, but yeah, probably about five years or so, six years. I got into a collaboration with a lovely woman. We were, we’re both Virgos, as a matter of fact, so we were kind of, kind of simpatico, you know, Some of my best friends are Virgos. However, even though we had all these grand ideas and we, we were coming up with ways to collaborate and things, we were running a Facebook group together and yada, yada, things were going pretty well. But then it came to a point where she wanted to go one way and I wasn’t too crazy about that way. And so I wanted to stay in the direction that we’re going in. And so we had to, we had to end the collaboration. And that’s going to happen sometime.
And I was disappointed about it and it took me a little while to get over that and I did, you know, and that, that’s the thing is that just recognize that sometimes things aren’t going to work out. You know, sometimes we’re, you know, it’s, it’s, we’re only gonna meant to work together for a season, you know, and not, and not for, you know, many, many years. And, and that’s okay. And what I would encourage you to do is if that happens, reflect on perhaps, hopefully that you had some gains from it. So if you can look back at it and still be appreciative for whatever did take place during that time that you were working together. Because there’s a, those are lessons. And, and, and that’s what I would encourage you to take away from this is that know that there are always lessons that we can learn even from, you know, certainly from the good stuff that happens, but sometimes from the not so good and just know that that’s okay too. So don’t keep that, don’t let that thought of, oh, what if it doesn’t turn out? Oh, you know, Grace was saying that, you know, yeah, she had a collaboration and it fell apart. Yes. And I’ve also had some wonderful ones that have kept going. I, I, I, for, during 2020, I had a good friend who was running in person wise women circles. And when the pandemic hit, she’s like, well, I can’t have everybody come over to my house anymore. I guess we’re not going to be able to do them anymore. And I was like, but I really like getting together with you. Have you ever thought about doing them online? And so I helped her run her wise women’s circles online for the next two years. I, she like to call me her tech goddess, which always cracked me up. But she would introduce me, you know, during the meeting. Oh, and she’s my tech goddess. And we wouldn’t be doing these meetings if Gloria hadn’t said. And, you know, so that was a lovely collaboration. And, and we’re still, even though I’m. She’s now back to. Well, actually she’s not doing the circles anymore now, but it was okay because, you know, it was great opportunity and I loved supporting her and now I support her in different ways. So focus on the bright side of life. You know, as that Monty Python said, always look for the bright side of life and, and see what kind of wonderful collaborations you can embark on today. So remember, okay, let me go set an intention, you know, reach out to someone you like, journal about, you know, who you want to meet, what you want to do, keep track of who you do collaborate with and, and, and express gratitude for that and see what happens in your life and see what happens in your business and, and use this as fuel to take your business in a new direction. And yeah, I think that’s going to do it for this week’s edition of Live Love Engage. I hope you received value out of it today, and I hope, I would love to hear what kind of collaborations you’ve gotten into, maybe in the past or ones you’re hoping to get into. And again, I also encourage you, again, go to aligntoshineacademy.net for details about the program that I’m launched. Well, I’m running again. It’s already launched, so we’re, we’re, we’re doing it again and I would love to have you join us. And if nothing else, you can also go search on Facebook for the Soulful Women’s Network and you can join our free group in the meantime. So until we meet again, I encourage you to subscribe to the podcast and also encourage you to go out and live fully, love deeply, and engage authentically.
