A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of connecting with Lynn Smith who invited me to be part of a FABULOUS partnership called the Inner Radiance for Prosperity gift sharing event. Lynn shared with me that this event was a phenomenal success last year and that she and her partners were looking to make it even bigger and better this time around! Not only am I totally psyched to be a part of this event, but I ‘m absolutely thrilled to bring you this interview with Rockin’ Partners: Lynn Smith, Cindy Hudson and Marcy Stahl who have graciously shared with us some key details about how they went about creating this amazing partner event!
Share with us who you are and tell us a bit about your personal experience with entrepreneurship?
Lynn: I am Lynn Smith and my business is Health Coach Team. 
I am a weight loss coach. My entrepreneurial desire didn’t start until I was in my 40’s – I was a late bloomer! Since then it has become my passion to help women step into their power. The more time I spend as an entrepreneur and coach the more I’ve come to love it! Watching a woman shift the way she feels about herself and change her own limiting beliefs is so rewarding. Not to mention, I love the freedom of being an entrepreneur. In my journey I have come to realize how creative I really am. I had no idea! I continue to learn so much about myself and my abilities. It is very rewarding!
Marcy: I threw away my pantyhose in 1997, when I left a defense think tank and co-founded a government contracting firm. I co-managed that firm for 8 years as we grew to over $1M in revenues. When I left the government contracting company, I wanted to help other smart women build their businesses, so I started as a business coach. Now I help women solopreneurs and women in direct sales with practical business-building skills and with the inner emotional game of entrepreneurship.
Cindy: My name is Cindy Hudson and I have had my own 
business for 16 years. In 2008 I began full time as a coach after 13 years of interior design. This was a big switch for me from hands on private client work, to primarily online and client work on the phone. My passion and mission has propelled me to continue to learn and move forward to reach women. Being an entrepreneur has been quite a challenge and it has taught me so much about myself and my own growth. Growing personally is essential in order to help others grow and I am forever learning something. I love what I do and I’m thankful for the opportunity to share my heart and purpose with my ideal client!
What is the Inner Radiance for Prosperity gift sharing event and why did you choose to partner on this collaborative venture?
Marcy: This is the fourth event our core group of partners has collaborated on. Our first two events were telesummits, which were much more time-consuming to organize and run. Our third event (Inner Radiance) was a gift giveaway, which was much easier to set up and run, and all of our participants grew their lists. Plus, everyone in our communities had access to a ton of amazing gifts!
Lynn: Inner Radiance for Prosperity is the next step for us after Inner Radiance. Each project we do becomes bigger than the previous one, which is a lot of fun! We have all grown as a result, too. I remember our first project. I had never done a telesummit. Some had never done a teleclass before. Some had never been in a joint venture. Each project has become more professional. We have all come so far as entrepreneurs. Our businesses have grown. I know how much of an impact these projects have had on me!
Cindy: The heart of the Inner Radiance for Prosperity gift sharing event is to bring together carefully chosen heart-centered entrepreneurs to share their secrets, tips, and guidance collectively and offer them as gifts to thousands of people. The belief of the core team is that abundance is to be shared and that is what this is all about. This is our 2nd gift giveaway event and we felt strongly about increasing abundance and prosperity by making these gifts available for FREE!
Which came first . . . the partners? Or the idea?
Lynn: The partners came first. On our first project we brainstormed an umbrella theme that would cover what each of us did. That was the Small Shifts, Big Changes tele-summit.
Marcy: The partners! Our core group of women entrepreneurs all participated in the same business coaching program. In June 2009, Lynn asked whether any of us would like to participate in a joint venture – details to be determined. I enthusiastically jumped in! After we solidified who was in the group, we created the first of four joint ventures.
Cindy: The partners! All of the IR core team met through our business coach and decided to partner primarily to share our messages and build our lists. With each of our events we have learned, perfected, shifted, and refined our site, our intentions, and our expertise. Each event grew and our specific subject for each event was decided among us, partly fueled by what we felt was important in our messages, plus what we believed at that particular time was being shown to each of us as an important lesson we wanted share with others.
Tell us a little bit about how you knew you were a good fit to work together.
Cindy: Since all of us were all being coached with the same energetic method we were all heading in the same direction with the same intention: To grow and build our business and lives from our hearts and change the lives of others with our message.
Marcy: We all worked with the same coach and thus had similar training and similar philosophy. Our planning is very collaborative, so everyone needs to contribute.
Lynn: We already knew each other to a limited degree so becoming joint venture partners was just a natural extension of that. It became apparent early on that we were good collaborators. We’d have phone calls in which we’d brainstorm and it never took us very long to come up with solid, marketable ideas. Once we finished the first project I put the idea out to do it again. It just made sense! We work well together and have always shared the workload. So why stop with one project!
Do you have any kind of partnership agreement? Why or why not? And if so, why was that important to each of you?
Lynn: We have a verbal arrangement. Personally, since we have a history together, I feel comfortable with that. Marcy, Cindy and I were together in a mastermind program last year and Marcy and I are in one together this year, too. I feel they are my friends. I know I can pick up the phone any time I need anything and they will be there for me.
Marcy: I never even thought of an agreement. Because we’re not sharing any money, it doesn’t seem necessary.
Cindy: Actually, no. We have never considered this as each one of us is responsible for our own submissions, equally contributing to the needs of the project and working as a team to partner with the creation of the project.
How do you handle financial and administrative matters associated with the partnership? Who pays for expenses? Do you have a team or hire contractors to help with the event?
Marcy: For all our joint ventures, our only expenses have been a virtual assistant, plus web site hosting costs. For our first two joint ventures, each partner paid an equal share of the costs. For the gift giveaways, we ask our contributors to pay a small amount.
Lynn: When we started the first Inner Radiance project Cindy stepped up and took over the administrative role. We each have played different roles in each project. She is great at the helm and, truthfully, when it comes to covering any expenses, I send her whatever amount she asks for. Being as she handles that aspect, I will let her explain how she handles the financial matters.
Cindy: The core team splits the creation of our copy, emails, promotional information, and participant invitations. We create as much as we can ourselves and then turn the rest over to our VA giving her instructions and a time frame for everything involved.
Our VA helps us with the creation of our site, including posting all relevant info such as each gift, instructions, and promo info. She keeps in touch with our participants for us with emails that we create and send to her. She collects the gift fees and stays on top of the schedule we give her to make it all run smoothly. At the end of the event we use the monies we have collected to pay for her services and if there is any leftover we split it among the core members. Our main objective is to build our lists, not to make money.
Because our VA is excellent this has proven to work beautifully. The core leader of each event stays in close contact with the VA making sure that she has everything she needs. The core team meets once a week on a conference call to go over what we need to be doing and the leader takes the info and sends it on to the VA. This has proven to work really well.
Lastly, for any women entrepreneurs out there who are considering a collaborative venture, what useful advice can you give them based on your experience?
Lynn: My best advice would be to just jump in and take the initiative. When I first put the idea out on the forum in that group program back in 2009 I never imagined it would have evolved to the level it has become. It’s just amazing what we have been able to do together!
Marcy: Partnering is a great idea! It will expand your reach, by connecting you with new audiences. It’s also hugely fun to collaborate with colleagues. It’s important to choose your partners carefully: is their philosophy similar to yours and are they a person of integrity? It takes a village to build a successful business. Joint ventures are a big part of that for me.
Cindy: Leadership and a desire to cooperate as a group is extremely important plus a willingness to be available to do your share of the work through the entire process. Be sure to have a leader who is accountable to keep everything organized and the group on track. Find a competent, responsible VA or team to support you. Create a schedule for the event and stick to it. Have consistent meetings with the core group to discuss the progress and the needs as they arise. Be open to new ideas and further collaboration. Set a specific intention for the event, (ie. list building, making money, etc.) and have a mindset of openness and creativity to reach that intention. Have an expectation of excellence and abundance at all times to make your event a success.
CONTACT INFO:
Mark your calendars: The Inner Radiance for Prosperity gift sharing event takes place 6/2 – 6/23. Please be sure to visit Inner Radiance and download all the FREE gifts you like from this amazing and generous group of small business owners! http://www.innerradiancegifts.com/prosperity
How can someone be part of the next Inner Radiance event?
Please send an email to cindy@redhotliving.com to be considered for the next Inner Radiance event. We will let you know when the next round will be and get you all the info you need to be a part of it.
Connect with Lynn:
Lynn Smith, Weight Loss Coach – Health Coach Team, http://heathcoachteam.com
Connect with Marcy:
Marcy Stahl, Mindset and Marketing Mentor – MarcyStahl.com, http://www.marcystahl.com
Connect with Cindy:
Cindy Hudson, Healer & Mindset Shift Coach – Red Hot Living, http://www.redhotliving.com
