Listen Now:

Maybe you’re like us and have been building a business on your own and decide to team up with someone for a part (or all) of it. Maybe you’re looking to start a brand-new business with a partner and you want to set it up right from the get-go.

Either way – there are 3 things you’ve got to master in order to make it happen: Communication, Organization, and Execution. In this episode, Jennie & Alyson share exactly what THEY’RE doing to help you make some good decisions along the way.

Alyson Lex 0:03
It's hard enough to organize yourself in your business, but throw another person into the mix. And trust me, watch how you have to really figure out your process. Jenny and I have been asked how we do this together, we've been told where the dynamic duo organized on time, all the bases covered, awesome, right? front facing to the clients, that's 100%. True. But behind the scenes, we started off struggling to find a rhythm, and a system that works. And since we get asked about how we do this, today, we figured we would pull back the curtain share how we organize all of the behind the scenes stuff of exactly how we work together. And what makes it work. We each have our own businesses, each one is completely separate from the other. I have clients that Jenny doesn't have Jenny has clients that I don't have, we have all of our own assets. But we share a podcast. And we also collaborate on client projects. All of this takes effort, honesty, communication, organization, all of the things it takes all of the things. So we're going to break down the three most important for you today. The first one is communication.

Jennie Wright 1:28
I am so excited slash interested to talk about communication. Because I have struggled in the past to be a good and effective communicator. Let's put it that way. Even though it's something that I actually focus on a lot. If you're working with anybody in your business doesn't matter. If you have a setup like Allison and I, or you're working with clients or vendors or partners, how are you going to make this happen? And I remember when we first started it, Allison and I first started talking and we were first starting to talk about her maybe even hiring an assistant. You know, Allison is a super sweet and nice person. But having her switch sort of into a leadership role was a bit foreign, like how was you know, like that communication method. So we we've both grown a lot with this. So here's how we used to do it just Allison and I have we used to talk to each other, and how we used to communicate with each other. So first of all, we live on Facebook Messenger, we communicate a lot using it. So we had ad hoc conversations through Facebook Messenger mostly and these, you know, occasional zoom calls. But they weren't frequent. And there was no regularity, it was almost like, Oh my god, that puts it in the fan. And we need to talk kind of thing. And that's when a zoom call would take place. We couldn't find anything. We couldn't remember anything because we were both didn't have a system, there was nothing shared. And we struggled with that. Maybe we'd write it down. You know, Allison, I both like to write things on paper. Sometimes we didn't, we'd have great conversations and then not follow through on things. There was really no organized system of documents or folders. There was no shared calendar. There was nothing, there was no deadlines for each other, and we didn't communicate successfully to each other. And it actually led to some stressful moments. And some interesting conversations. And by interesting, I mean incredibly awkward. We both needed like 24 hours before we came back and we're like, are you okay? Yeah, I'm okay. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm a little you know what I mean? Like those kinds of conversations. Cool. Yep, he had that little moment. So it was strange, and it was foreign. And, you know, taking a friendship that existed for five years before we work together, and then evolving it into something where we could effectively partner on various projects was a challenge.

Alyson Lex 3:44
We really not only had to learn how to communicate, but how to be okay, communicating. So there really are two different aspects to it. There's understanding the, like the logistics of communication, what does person a need to know that person B, you know, has the information on? How do we share that information? How do we store that? How do we make it accessible? And then there's the mindset of communication, which is, how do I be okay, having those conversations? How do you how do you suck it up and say, the stuff that's awkward or hard to say? So, really, working on communication skills is probably one of the biggest things that you can do as a business owner because as Jenny mentioned, I've hired some people in my business. I'm actually currently working on hiring more people in my business. I have to be able to communicate to them my expectations, my out my instructions, my deadlines very clearly, and in a way that makes them feel appreciated. Seen I'm like a valued member of my team, because they are. So I had to, I've had to, and then still am doing a lot of work when it comes to that. I but organizing yourself when it comes to your communication is really important. Okay, so right now, Jenny and I, we still love Facebook Messenger. We're still on it all the time. But now we work to flag important ideas. Because I might be standing in line at a store or waiting for my kid at pickup or sitting on my couch, mindlessly scrolling through whatever TV show, you know, TV Guide is on the chat on the screen. And an idea will come to me. And I need to be able to a get it to Jenny quickly for her feedback, input, brainstorming evolvement, whatever. But then not forget that idea. Okay, so they either get flagged with tags, like the search in conversation feature in Facebook, or we now have a Slack channel. That's all broken up by all of our different project ideas. And we've throw information in there. So when we come back to it, we have it. It's not a what was that thing you said? I think it was last Tuesday. Right? So there's organization within conversation, which is probably foreign, especially if you're working by yourself. But even if you're by yourself, where are you putting those things? Are you throwing an idea onto a scrap of paper and then to find it a year later, or a month later? Or a day later? You've got to dig through a pile of scrap papers to hopefully find this one thing written down? Or do you place it somewhere to remember, I'm a big fan of something I used to call the idea book, I would have an idea I'd write it in a notebook. That was just for me. Right? But now that I'm with someone else in my business, we need to have something that's accessible and maintainable by both people. We have shared calendars. Jenny has my calendar. I have her calendar, and we have one calendar for our stuff together. I now know what's up with Jenny. And this has shortened communication time, she'll be like, hey, I've got this potential client, we need to book a sales call. On Wednesday, I now look at my Wednesday. And I'll say yeah, you pick a time. Or I'll say, you know what, Wednesday is a no go How about Thursday. And pick a time like she knows when I'm available because she can see my calendar. Okay. But we also have developed a way to deal with those stressful moments together. We've had to have those difficult conversations. And really what we do, and I learned this from a formal partnership that went well in that we're still friends, but we don't have it anymore. There's a friend hat and there's a business hat. And sometimes you have to put the business hat on and just say I'm wearing my business hat right now. Begin to compartmentalize the friendship from the business side.

Jennie Wright 8:22
I remember the first time you put your business hat on. And it was and I wasn't used to it. So years ago, Allison had me doing a bit of copywriting for, which was fun. I actually really enjoyed it. So I was doing copywriting on a couple of projects. But at the time, I was having my own personal struggles, and I wasn't hitting deadlines for certain things. And Allison's a stickler for deadlines. So the deadline was like on a Monday, it was Tuesday afternoon, and she was just like, Hey, how's it going? Any idea when you might have the thing done, you know, any support, you might need, like, super friendly. And I'm like, No, I'm okay. And then she didn't hear from me for like another, you know, four or five hours. And then she's like, Okay, I'm going to put on my business hat right now. And just want to let you know that this was due yesterday. And you know, I have to read it and get it to the client and has to be done by next time. And I really, I really need you to let me know when you're going to have it done. And if you can't do it, like I needed to know that information. I was like, Oh, crap. Okay. Right. So it was a good, it was a good. It was a good lesson. It was a good way to learn how to communicate. And we've had to have, you know, I've had to put on my business hat with Allison with things as well. Right. And we've had to have those difficult conversations. And thankfully, we are able to do that, I think in a respectful manner. And I think that's really, really important. So

Alyson Lex 9:38
yeah, and those suck By the way, super,

Unknown Speaker 9:42
super sock.

Alyson Lex 9:42
Sock, let's just be honest, it sucks. But you know, and there there's, I mean, there's every possibility because a lot of times we will have these conversations over Facebook Messenger because that is our primary method of communication and we've really work to make sure we're communicating. Not just words, but intent. But there are probably times when Jenny is like furiously tapping in her phone, like, right out of my mouth, and I'm a little warmer, wherever. But we make sure that it stays professional. Yep, it never gets personal.

Jennie Wright 10:25
Nope, nope, it doesn't devolve. And that's an important thing. And this is for anybody in your business like you don't talk to you don't talk to designers that way you don't you know, you don't talk to anybody in your business that way, you just don't. And I've had clients talk to me in most inappropriate ways when I've been working with them. Because they're having a blow up. They're having a moment. They're, you know, they're having some issues. And then later on, there's the apology, and I totally get that. So how are we going to do this? How are you going to work with people? How are you going to understand the back end of our business and apply it right? So first, we were talking about this earlier, find a place where you're going to store those ideas, and those brainstorms and those plans, you can do this for yourself. And also, for anybody who's on your team, I think that's really important. If you have conversations or thoughts randomly, where are you going to put them? Where are you going to store them? How are you going to organize them? Please try and not do the papers on the desk thing, like the random little scraps of paper, everything gets lost there. Like the lot, I mean, honestly, at some point, the desk becomes the black hole of paper just happens. And then you absolutely have to continue to work on your communication style and ability. I was a hot communication mess. Absolutely was I'm a bit better now. But I still have my moments. And it but this is so important, can't even stress this enough, you absolutely have to work on your communication style. And understand that other people have different communication styles. Allison has an incredibly different communication style than me. In some ways, you have to understand that people have different feelings and thoughts, and they have different styles of expressing them and coming and getting those across. And when people are stressed, it goes doubly so because when I'm stressed, my conversation gets choppy and short. And when Allison's stressed she cubbies and it disappear completely, he actually completely disappears. And we need to get you know, and she needs to be coaxed out and stuff. So there's all these different things, understand your people, is what I'm saying. And understand that not everybody is going to completely conform to your particular style. And you have to as a leader, you have to, or as a co leader, you have to understand and make allowances and room for it. And then move forward and find a common ground.

Alyson Lex 12:51
I can't add anything else to that. So I'm gonna move on to organize. We are super organized. But we are now always well, we are now well actually, I want to back up because in our separate businesses, we have always been very organized. The rub came when we tried to organize together, because we have different organizational styles, and different ideas on how things should be. And so I would set up a folder in something. And it wouldn't make any sense to Jenny. But it made sense to Alison. So Jenny can't find anything or Jenny would set something up. And it didn't make any sense to Alison. So I couldn't find any. And it just we have files, everywhere, everywhere. But

Jennie Wright 13:41
it gets better. Allison, remember this, when we first started starting to collaborate, I was a Dropbox person. And you were a Google Drive person. And I didn't use Google Drive for that I had my Google Drive, but honestly, I didn't use it at all, um, and for collaborating, Dropbox was not the way to go. You couldn't at the time, and Dropbox has evolved a little bit since this was taking place, I will admit. But at the time Dropbox like if I wanted to update something, and this is still true, I'd have to download it, update it, save it, and then you'd have to wait a minute and get the copy. Now when you go into Dropbox and try and like update at the same time when somebody is doing a PowerPoint as an example. It'll say Allison's working on this too. And if you want Allison's version, click here and then you're like making copies of a copy. It's just ridiculous. So we had to find common ground.

Alyson Lex 14:37
What we had to do was figure out what purpose each tool had. So the way we started this, we had a meeting, and I make I make fun of my husband all the time because he works for the government. They have meetings over The most inane things, they have meetings to plan meetings to plan meetings, by the way, they really do. It really was a thing. And so for me saying, Yes, we had a meeting to talk about how we organize our files sounds crazy to me. But it's not. Because we both needed to get on the same page. We both needed to come up with a plan that made sense to both of us. And then what we did is we documented the heck out of it. It's really an important step that I think a lot of people miss. And we would have at 1.2, but we made sure that not only did it make sense now, but it's going to make sense later. Because we have something to refer to. And if we bring someone into our business, like my VA, it now makes sense to my VA because we explained it. It's not just here's the folder, figure it out.

Jennie Wright 16:07
No, it's organized now. But in the beginning, who we even had, like different ways of naming stuff. We didn't have the same naming conventions. And that was a thing. Allison is huge on using acronyms. Huge. I have a really bad memory. If you show me an acronym, unless it's only three letters, good freaking luck. Like, I'm not going to remember it ever.

Alyson Lex 16:33
And Jenny likes to have file names that are so long, they don't fit on the screen, which is a huge, for some reason is a huge pet peeve of mine.

Jennie Wright 16:43
You'll love it.

Alyson Lex 16:44
I don't. So how do we handle? Right? Like I like? Okay. So if I was going to have a document that was an outline for this episode, it would literally be ep 104 outline. Now, Jenny knows what that means. Because we have this convention now. But if you didn't, if you didn't know what that was, you would have no idea. Well, Jenny's preferred way to title things would be like ep 104. How to Organize your whole business with a partner outline. Draft one?

Jennie Wright 17:25
Yes, no. Yes. Oh,

Alyson Lex 17:30
nine dot? Yeah,

Jennie Wright 17:31
it's literally, but there's no mistaking it. Right. And that's, and that's the way I prefer it. I don't know it. Maybe it's my background.

Alyson Lex 17:41
I The thing is here, neither one of us are wrong, no difference of working. And so this actually is going to call back to communication. Because we're joking about this now, but I'm sure there were times Jenny wanted to throttle me. Because she's like, Where's this file? I'm like, dude, you're looking at it. She's like, no, this is like, you know, a four letter acronym. What is that? Well, that's the file. I don't understand.

Jennie Wright 18:06
Who Oh, yeah, that was fun. There were times when I couldn't find anything, because we just didn't have the same understanding of things. Allison has given way to a little bit more of my naming convention. Because she knows that I can't remember acronyms. However, I have shortened my titles substantially to find compromise for Allison, so that it doesn't get into that pet peeve zone, right. So there was there was a real big sort of understanding, we're like, okay, and as you like, build stuff out together, it makes sense to, to have almost like a common language have a way of like a vernacular, a shorthand. And that develops over time as well. Makes it easier. But in the beginning, just because of the width, my my ability to learn, I need things spelled out. And it needs to be completely spelled out. Like Alison still has moments where she's like, Hey, I'm working in such and such doc. And I'm doing this and this and this, and I'm like, what, Doc? Oh, that you know, the SVT a b y, Doc. I'm like the what? What now?

Alyson Lex 19:08
I am never that bad.

Jennie Wright 19:10
Yes, you are. You were absolutely that bad. And she's like, you know, the SVT AB y doc. And I'm like the, the Hola. And she'll literally have to put a link in to where we're talking. And I'll have to come I'm like, Oh, you mean the, the thing of the thing of the thing for the Okay, now I'm on I'm on the same page, and she's just like, why did it take you so damn long. I'm like, that's just my brain.

Alyson Lex 19:35
Well, and so again, this calls back to the communication and understanding your communication style, as well as the person you're working with. I am a thought jumper. Okay, so Jenny, oh my gosh, she just rolled her eyes so hard. I will literally be talking about one thing and all of a sudden with no rhyme or reason to the outside world have a completely In theory, unrelated thought now in my head, the 16 connecting steps have been made in a millisecond. But to the to the rest of the world, it looks like a jump. So we'll be talking about, you know, Episode Four, for instance, I don't even know what that one was about. But it'll remind me of something 16 thought steps ahead. And I will instead just say that 16th step, instead of giving Jennie the glimpse of steps one through 15. So now I know that about myself, and I also know that Jennie needs those 15 steps to understand where I'm going. And so I'll give them to her, I'll be like, hey, while we're talking about this, it made me think about blah, blah, blah, she creates the site. I create the segue for her, but that's and organizing requires the same kind of idea. Okay. So what we what you can do is choose the tool that you're going to use Dropbox, Google Drive, we use both. Each file has its own, like each file type, podcast, audio, video, graphics, they live in Dropbox, outlines that we collaborate on in real time.

Unknown Speaker 21:19
Google Drive,

Alyson Lex 21:21
each file has a home. Each home has a purpose. Then you're going to look at what segments or sections of your business you need. Okay, here's an example. I actually went into my Google Drive and Dropbox and pulled out the segment's admin. That's your legal your banking, your hiring, your taxes, your this whatever right admin, this is your folder to run the business content, blogs, videos, podcast outlines, Brandon art, for me, it's headshots, branding, briefs, photos, logos, all of that. client work contains client work, exposure, which would be like JV guest stuff, guest webinars, products contains lead magnets and products that I've created, list building summits challenges, that sort of thing. And website. Start with those. Break it down from there

Jennie Wright 22:18
to get start. Also the client one that was really hard for me to figure out what was inside that thought. So

Alyson Lex 22:24
it took me a second to make that connection myself.

Jennie Wright 22:26
Yep, yep, super challenging. Maybe you should name it something else.

Alyson Lex 22:30
Just saying maybe I just need to add a few more words to it. Maybe just a few more words for

Jennie Wright 22:35
client work. This folder contains all worked pertaining to all clients of Alyson Lex their t now let's see, it's much clearer now. Now it's a journey title.

Alyson Lex 22:46
So you want to devote the time that it's going to take to set this up from the beginning. To organize your stuff, you will find a treasure trove of stuff you didn't know you had I promise asked me how I know. blog posts written three years ago that never got published. organize it thoughtfully. And then document it. Create an SRP, a standard operating procedure can be a video can be written screenshots, whatever, that you know, what goes where, why, how it's done, make that easy to find, and now you have it if you need it, or if someone else on your team might need it.

Jennie Wright 23:27
Those are really big things that are going to help. Absolutely. We absolutely Allison, I each have a way that we I'm struggling here.

Unknown Speaker 23:40
We're gonna have to,

Alyson Lex 23:50
once you once you are completely organized, it's going to be easier to implement projects, complete the stuff on your list. And that is the third thing that we had to work on was actually the completing part.

Jennie Wright 24:09
We're really good at starting stuff.

Alyson Lex 24:12
I'm so good at starting stuff.

Jennie Wright 24:13
Yes, you are. But we were really, really bad at actually completing. So the method that Allison and I use is we tend to write things on paper that we jot stuff down really, really quick. And then from paper, or sorry, how we used to do this, let me rephrase how we used to do this was like, separate To Do List paper panicked reminders and Facebook Messenger. Those are my favorite, especially because Allison and I have different schedules, and we should actually talk about that as well a little bit. Allison gets up earlier goes to bed earlier. I stay up a little bit later. I get up a little bit later. So there's a different communication thing and we had to kind of figure that one out. But panicked reminders and Facebook Messenger. Oh my god, where's this? Did you do this? Did you do that? That was really fun. There is a huge uncomfortability of assigning tasks and deadlines to each other And hated doing it. I hated doing it. So we didn't do it. And then there would be this incredible situation where the deadline is looming. And neither one of us have like, you know, communicated anything to each other, it was just not working. And then we also set incredibly unrealistic timelines. Wow, did we get that wrong in the beginning, we, we needed to add more time to things than we originally thought we both thought we were like, I don't know what we thought we were both. But we both thought we could get stuff done a heck of a lot quicker than we were. And now we have to give ourselves realistic timelines. In addition, and when we're giving a timeline to somebody else, like if I'm giving one to Allison, or she's giving one to me, instead of just saying, hey, I need this by Friday. And you're just like, Yeah, whatever. She's now saying, hey, this needs to be done by Friday, do you think that with what you've got going on, you'll be able to complete it by Thursday, so that, you know, blah, blah, blah, and I do the same for her, which really works. We have incredible, awkward conversations. Getting that business hat on sometimes, and having to have those conversations was incredibly challenging for both of us. And we also weren't sure who was doing what or what we were doing at all together. Because we didn't have a system. And things were all over the place.

Alyson Lex 26:22
A lot is gonna call back to communication here. I don't want to make this the communication episode. But it kind of sort of is it kind of is we had to get over a couple of things, this idea of being uncomfortable telling each other what to do had to go. We had to really, one of the most important things I think that we did is realize that we each have strengths. And we each have things we're not so strong with. And saying, I shouldn't do this, because I'm not great. You should because you are. And being okay, making those assignments, it doesn't mean that I'm the boss of Jenny, if I said, Jenny, I need you to do this. It just means I'm not the best person for the job. And so that's a little bit of a mindset thing. It's a bit of a communication thing. But it's an organizational thing and a way to get your stuff done. We had to have that conversation about what we're each comfortable with how we want to work this. I had to say to Jenny, I don't feel comfortable giving you tasks like this. And she said, I need you to. And I've also said to Jennie, I need you to manage me, dude, I need you to tell me when stuff is due so that I can have it on my radar. Yep, I remember that struggle too. Right. So we had to get that communication kind of, I don't want to say fixed because I don't think it was ever broken. It just wasn't as good as it can be. We had to get that up leveled. Before we could tackle the getting stuff done part. And now, when our clients see us, it's just handled. They don't see any of this stuff that's behind. So I know we have a couple clients who probably listen to this podcast, I promise, we have fixed this stuff before you started working with us. 100%, we're totally good. This is this is you're now getting the benefits of all this stuff that was fixed. Every everything now is documented. So we instead have Allison's legal pad full of to do lists and Jenny's legal pad full of to do lists that neither of us could see. Because we don't live close enough to share legal pad space. We use an online collaboration system we use Asana, that is the one we've chosen. We've gone through and looked at other ones and decided this is the best use for the team that we have at the point in our businesses right now. You may choose something different. We have used. I mean, we just used to keep a to do list in Google Sheets. Remember that one? We stuck with it for three weeks, three

Jennie Wright 29:21
weeks? Yep, that lasted about three weeks until until we both just stopped using it.

Alyson Lex 29:27
Exactly. But when you stick with a system and integrate that system completely into your life, it does make things easier and it feels good to know that you're on top of it. And that is where you're going to have to kind of embrace the struggle or embrace the suck, as I've said, of setting something up and getting used to something in order to reap the benefit of knowing you're on top of your entire business.

Jennie Wright 30:00
I also just want to mention this for because you made me think of it. You can't have an ego when you're working with somebody else can't have an ego. Allison would start something. I would say like, Hey, isn't there a better? Like, I think there might be a better way of doing this. And she's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're totally right. Like we weren't married to the one thing and we didn't have an ego about the stuff that needs to get done. We don't have an ego about it. Now. I've I've done stuff. And Allison's like, are you? Are you serious right now? Like, that's how you're doing it? I'm like, Yeah, she's like, No, no, I got you. Let me show you a better way. And I will just sit there and watch it happen. And it's awesome, right. So something really good comes of it. I've actually learned a lot analysis learned a lot. And we're not trying to pat each other on the back overly on this kind of stuff. This is not what this episode is about. But it's more about that. Again, this is not the communication episode. But it kind of is. Having an ego when you're working with somebody else can really ruin that dynamic super fast. They want to try to say,

Alyson Lex 31:05
Yes, I am not always right. Do not let my husband hear me say that. I am not always right. And I have to be okay, admitting it. And as much as Jenny probably doesn't like to say it, she's not always right either. No, I'm just kidding. Jenny's not always right, either. And she has to be okay admitting it. Because if we come to it, believing that we're always right, we're going to come to it fighting each other in order to win. That's not what we're about here. Because the way we win truly, is by having the best thing, the best system, the best design, the best copy the best, whatever, for our shared goal. Yeah. And our shared goal is not to make Allison feel better, or to stroke Jenny's ego, or whatever it's to grow our business and serve our clients and our customers and our audience.

Jennie Wright 32:01
And our clients benefit from that. That's how we get high converting pages. That's how we create amazing copy. That's how we have incredible plans for our clients, like the strategies that we can create that create those huge success wins that they have. That's because neither one of us has. It's been a it's been work. Okay, I will personally admit to the fact that Jenny came into this with a little bit of an ego and, you know, and that's just, that's a little bit, too, yeah, it's just a little bit of my persona, sometimes you have to let it go. But our clients reap the benefits of all of this work that we've done, because the stuff that we're able to create is, I think, impressive. And we we get the feedback that it's impressive. And I think that's the wind, that's the big win, right? So if you can figure out all the stuff that we're talking about, then you can work more efficiently with another person, then the wind is big, and it compounds things grow, sales grow, clients get happy, you know, experiences happen, outcomes are incredible. And if you can really find that common ground, and you can really build a system that builds on that commonality. Everybody wins, you win the clients win, the business wins the sales, like all of it. And that's, I think, a huge, huge point.

Alyson Lex 33:21
All right. So how do you get your tasks, your stuff, your deadlines, Jenny mentioned earlier, I am a stickler for a deadline, pick a system that works for you. And just use it. We started with a time that we're going to use this for x number of days, I think it was 30. And then we added another 30 until it was just habit. And even now we're using it. And we know the second we outgrow it, it's time to find something else. Okay, don't set it up and then revert. I am so good at this. I will. It's this whole I'm really great at starting things. I will set up a system, I will go all in on it and use it for four days. And then back to my pen and paper. Commit to using it. And the way to do that is integrated into your life. Asana has a cell phone app. So it's on my phone on the main screen. it notifies me when stuffs do it. I have it integrated with my Google Calendar. Like it's in there. It's all the way in and then hold each other accountable without making it personal. And this is where I had to say to Jenny, I need your help to manage me. I recognize that just knowing and having it all thoughtfully organized in my head is not a power that I have So I need you to help organize me. And be okay, leverage your individual superpowers in a way that's going to make it work better. We both don't need to do everything I shouldn't be, right. Like, I'm great at starting the outlines for these podcasts for these episodes and seeing kind of the overall arc. Jenny is amazing when it comes to filling in all the details and really getting the step by step by step by step story down. So what do we do? I start the outlines and Jenny fills them in. Like why we don't both need to do all of it. Absolutely not. So really look at, okay, this is something that needs to be done. Is there a part that I can do and apart that the other person on my team or my partner, or my co host? or whatever, can finish? Or is it the other way around? really look at what needs to be done to complete this? And what part is my skill set best used for? And do it and then track it?

Jennie Wright 36:17
And then fix it when it breaks? Because it'll break?

Alyson Lex 36:20
It'll break? I think that's also Yeah, a really good expectation is that,

Jennie Wright 36:24
yeah, it's not going to be perfect. And yeah, it breaks, everything breaks. And as it evolves, just find something that works. Right. I've actually really enjoyed sharing this and talking about our process, I think, people seeing sort of the behind the scenes of how we collaborate together, because again, we have our own businesses, we collaborate for specific clients, we collaborate on the podcast, the podcast is a year old. And I think the podcast I'm going to give a lot of credit to this podcast has helped us improve our ability to work together. And it's up leveled so many areas of the business. And if you're a solopreneur, and you want to uplevel, I would definitely suggest a podcast or even if you're working with somebody else, because it just all the things, all the things get a glow up. Okay. So then I want to talk about some takeaways that I think are going to be useful for you. And my first one is figure out how you're going to work together. You know, Allison, and I have a conversation coming up on a podcast with Jason Wheeler. It's Episode 109. And we talk about joint ventures. And one of the things is understanding who does what and what's not going to look like Allison, and I call it collaborate on projects. But we again, we also have our own thing. So what are we going to collaborate on? How's that going to look? Where are we going to make sure that we're also keeping our own businesses happening, and all those types of things. So making sure that we have the system set up. And that was one of the first things that we kind of had to figure out together?

Alyson Lex 37:59
It was it was and that was a lot of conversations as far as how is this going to work? Where does it where's the line? So that's really important. And it all started with communication. So my takeaway number one is communication is key. Working on your communication, I will say it until I'm blue, or green, or purple in the face. It is one of the most important things that you can ever work on, especially if you work with other people in your business. And have the weird, awkward conversation of deciding how you're going to communicate. That's not an easy conversation to have, because it's weird. But deciding how, hey, we're gonna have the friend hat, we're gonna have the business hat. And I'm going to tell you which one I'm wearing, when I need to just saying that sets that expectation up and set you up for success.

It's also really important to discuss how you will resolve conflict, right, leaving this stuff up to chance, and I'm really going to soapbox for this takeaway. Leaving this stuff up to chance is what you're doing if you don't make these decisions ahead of time. If you just think, Oh, well, we're gonna argue, and we'll just solve it the way I solve all my arguments. Well, I want you to think about all the arguments you've ever had. How does that work for you? Alright, but by deciding we're going to have a disagreement. Okay? If it's something like an example, sometimes Jenny and I will disagree on the best course of action. And I will realize, I don't actually care that much. I don't think it's the right move. But I don't really care. That's the whole no ego thing. So I'll say, you know what, Jenny, I don't care. You pack? Because it's not worth the argument. Because I don't see it having that much of an effect on the outcome. That's all it is. It's a little, you know, it's like font or font, I do not care. Right? Decide how you're going to do that. If you really care about it, how are you going to approach it? And how are you going to resolve it. And I want you to decide now that you're not going to argue to win, you're going to argue to solve. That's important. I like that one. write that one down.

Jennie Wright 41:00
I think I want to emphasize that you're not going to get it right all the time. And I think that's a process and that, you know, in the beginning, everything might go really, really well. But as soon as like, how are you going to? How are you going to deal with things when you hit a roadblock or a stumbling block, you're not going to get it perfect. So I like to think and look at it by being thoughtful, and how you're going to organize and agree on a process like Alyson just said. And she was very nice about it. What she was trying to say is Jennie is very bullheaded at times and incredibly stubborn. And I will continue to stay on my point. And she's just at the point now, where she's like, doesn't really matter the outcome, I'm just going to give that one. And then I have my little yet, so thank you for being very politically correct, that I can be a stubborn person.

Alyson Lex 41:52
It was really just sometimes you have opinions that are a little on the nitpicky side, for me, so it's I don't care. It's not that serious to me.

Jennie Wright 42:06
And I'm okay with it. And I, I have relaxed, my friend, I

Alyson Lex 42:09
have relaxed so much in certain you have. But this is where that no ego comes in, like, you have particulars that you care very deeply about, I have no ego about. So whatever. But I have some things that I'm particular about, and you let me have it, letting other people just have their particulars could be like, take away three points. Totally, totally. Also really understand what the other person is good at, and understand what they're not good at to determine who's going to be in charge of certain things, what you're comfortable with, what their particulars are. And, and I would like to throw in a number five that we didn't even talk about, but is extending grace to the person that you're working with. really understand that you have a shared goal. I remember, I was in an argument with my husband A long time ago when we were first married. And he I was hurt by something he said. And he said, I don't know why you think I'm not on your team, or why you think I'm not on your side. And that was where we use the phrase team lacks that was where it was born. But, you know, Jenny and I are team thrive. And so understanding that we're on each other side, that we have a shared goal. And if we're if we're having a disagreement, or we're trying to get something done, or you know, actually everything, we're on each other's team. Remember that with everybody you work with.

Jennie Wright 43:57
That's a really good one. I like number five, even though I didn't know it was there, it's great. I have no ego about it. Thank you for adding it. Take what you can from this episode and use it how you see fit in the ways that you work with people when you work closely with people when you work with people that come and go in your business because they will when you're creating joint ventures I have had multiple failed joint ventures again, we talked about this in Episode 109 that's coming up. And it's a struggle because I you know it's it's a struggle. And I want you guys to think about how you're going to implement and use some of this stuff to create that shared goal and how you're going to get there. If you liked this episode, please make sure you continue to listen to the the System to THRIVE. Allison and I are really excited about bringing you some really good content we've got the rest of the year planned out. I'm not even kidding. We have all of our experts in line. We have all of our topics for the rest of the year. We're super excited. We're working in developing some really great content that's coming up. So stay tuned for that. Thanks so much for listening everybody. We'll be back again soon answering another big question.