SAMIA: Hello, Salam, Shalom, Namaste, Sat Sri Akal, Aloha, Holah, Ciao, Bonjour, Buna and Privet! 

It's really really good to be with you again... And we are going to have a lot of fun today because we have a very special guest and it's Sabine... and she is a business strategist... So before we dig into our topic for the day Sabine welcome and please will you jump right in and tell us more about who you are and what you do…

SABINE: Thank you Samia... it's great having you have me here today... I'm very excited... I would love these kinds of interviews but I'm always thinking about the audience around what they really enjoy right so I don't like a lot of fluff and fluff so I'm going to actually be sharing a lot of truth bombs and a lot of insights from my business... I've been in business for like 10 years and I've not only worked with team entrepreneurs but also in boardrooms so I have actually two businesses... One is obviously related to female entrepreneurs' startup and growth at the Quantum Growth Academy basically… and on the other hand it is around the empowerment portal which is an online platform for organizations and teams basically to help with post COVID recovery which is pretty hot at the moment... Imagining all the political developments you know people do need the support because there's a lot of anxiety out there in the world… so I'm all about inspiring others and to sort of try to shine a light right... It's not always easy even though I'm feeling it right now but I want to show up in sort of here to sort of really support motivate and maybe give a few hints and tips today as well around how to do that… 

SAMIA: Nice I love it... And you know you just mentioned about how you have you know multiple projects going on and I know you are a mom and you know you're a very busy person... And one of the things you're really excellent at is managing all of these multiple projects and things that you're going on… that are going on in your life... And so I would love to talk to you more about that... How do you make that happen… How can we make that happen… So if you could share some you know do's and don'ts from your experience around that... that would be fabulous...

SABINE: And just remember as well your podcast called Make Change Fun and Easy... So I remind myself because it isn't always easy once you are an entrepreneur or even you know I was in corporate where it's not always fun and easy and sometimes we have to actually remind ourselves why are we actually doing this… And are we doing this... I mean do we have a strong enough why right... Is it worthwhile getting out of bed… You know can I make the impact that I want to make... I mean it's so foundational in some underlying notice when I was in corporate I was like a zombie I would get up in the morning go to work do my work come home you know go to sleep next morning same thing… but at some point I was like waking up thinking why am I doing this I would just go to work to pay my bills and I'm not even around to actually enjoy my house... That was obviously pre COVID Now things have moved on a little bit and there are different challenges because all of a sudden we have family and you're working from home and now all of a sudden the time management and everything else distractors are going on as well so it is engineers a very good question... So even I have to work through this and COVID has been a right kind of spanner in the work because I would so… growing my two businesses and having to home school as well and it was really really exhausting... So I decided for myself a couple of things... Number one it's to prioritize and really kind of listen to my intuition around what are the things that I truly love doing... Those are going to stay on my list of to do and their maybe even some tweaks and sort of amendments around that because sometimes I was doing things with of course the things I love doing but I also kept myself a lot busy and I may have not gone did it easy like the straight route let's say I would kind of you know follow some systems processes or have some tools in my business which were just complicating things… 

SAMIA: Yeah… 

SABINE: I actually eradicated some of that so it was almost like I did a bit of a declutter around a lot of projects that I didn't want to do anymore and didn't yield a result or wasn't just aligned anymore and I was like okay probably just park it... It's great because I'm sure everyone you know especially entrepreneurs…they have zillions of ideas and I want to do all this stuff but it's just sometimes we got to sort of rein ourselves back and say... Okay is it really going to bring it to where I want to be... you know I for example I was also author of three books like I want to share inspirational stories that's where I went out to get 75 different stories and of course it was a lot of work in you know authorship and books that's not my income stream really I wouldn't call it if there is income it's not money stream as such... But again if for me it was like a project where I really wanted to make a difference in the world which I'd be there are all types of projects as well…

SAMIA: Yeah…

SABINE: You know and plus it helped me to network to get out there and really make an impact... So priorities is number one… connect the purpose with your priorities… declutter... declutter again …how many emails have you subscribed to get zillions of emails every day that you have to go and delete and it can be overwhelming to go in sort of remove yourself from a gazillion of you know emails... So every day when I get an email that I'm like Okay do I still value this email… Do they keep on selling… Or do they send me value… okay I make a decision every day probably to unsubscribe from two to three emails... So just clearing that space as well makes it so much clearer …and then now I also have a little routine where we all know probably wouldn't be journaling and meditation and of course you know it's sitting at the desk for many hours you know and I'm not getting any younger... So I'd be feeling my body is like aching but you need to have my exercise time and my downtime and understand and have experienced when we have acquired time and when we look after our bodies we will be actually more productive believe it or not...

SAMIA: That is so true...

SABINE: You get the answer intuitively when you start listening when you start taking those breaks because of course we all think we could do do do do… Sometimes it's really about taking a break and I'm probably the worst person to say that because I'm so project driven as a project manager in corporate you know it's like I'm thinking in boxes and steps and things like this …but I do recognize there's definitely sort of energy and tap into your energy and making sure you know you replenish yourself on a continuous basis

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Yes there's actually a lot of research that supports what you're saying... And I mean one can think anacdotic... anadote... you can think back to your own experience and think about how much of a difference that made but there's actual research that shows how important it is to have downtime quiet time where you're not really on a mission to get something done you know… because the brain needs that kind of down quiet time in order to do deeper processing of all the information and data that it's actually constantly being assaulted with …and if you don't get that downtime to do that deeper processing it actually compromises your level of intelligence …your level of intelligence drops because intelligence isn't just you know having lots of knowledge or what you have already learned in the past... A huge aspect of intelligence is about being able to continue to learn and grow and you know make… like process the information that you learn and receive in ways that you know you can then use it to do something useful and helpful... and so if you don't have downtime you can’t do that deeper processing you know it's like you were saying when you have that downtime oh the answers begin to come you know… why...

Especially in the shower...

Exactly... Because you're finally giving yourself that opportunity or brain the opportunity to do that deeper processing where it can then come up with oh here's an idea and here's a connection we just made from this is what we learned before and this is what we learned now... And you know just to be able to put things together…

Exactly it is so true...

Ah so another thing that you mentioned like especially in the context of when you were in the corporate world being project driven but I imagine in that context you were working with teams you know you're not working alone and that you know allows for different possibilities when you have teams of people working with you around you because it opens up possibility for collaboration …you don't have to do everything by yourself... Can you talk a little bit more about that… like the power of collaboration of teamwork and how that can be helpful…

Yeah sure... And I would like to use it in the context of entrepreneurship... Yes…So I am very much a team player and I think a lot of people actually are and when they start in entrepreneurship and they have their own business all of a sudden it's like oh I'm on my own I've got to wear so many hats and I need to now get to know about social media about finance and accounting and marketing and delivering stuff as well... So all of a sudden it's like Oh my goodness so many things I should be doing and I didn't learn and that actually causes massive overwhelm and it could be a lonely path as well because obviously you know we have self alone when things aren't working out you know... maybe there's some people around us that say we're likely to get a proper job again right... So all these things come with us... And that's made me think well what about collaborations you know where I work with others who may feel the same way... So I started off with networking basically did some online networking ran online networking events there was again wave or COVID and you know a COVID… Everyone's like oh with resumes now and it's fine I've done zoom calls for years already we've done online networking for years already so it was quite funny...Through networking I met people who could do complementary things and they were all in the same boat and that's where it all started... And one of the ideas I've had during COVID was actually creating this empowerment portal where a range of different coaches could actually go and deliver the services into corporates and that's where the whole collaboration has started... I didn't... I don't think there is a handbook around collaboration there's probably do's and don'ts around teamwork and they will probably apply toward that but then you know you just go and experience quite a lot and in your life realize aha okay this you know for example if you collaborate on a project that has financial impact you need to be super clear around who does what…yes… right... what are the expectations… What are the financial shares… What should be the outcomes and what are the inputs and everything else… So there's so much actually to remember…

Yeah…

But I would say it's all worth it because it's so much more fun to have someone to discuss with and bounce ideas off and when you have a bad day you know you can of course you know get on a call and you'll feel better again because...

Yes…

That's what you know teams are for… there for...

Yeah that's right... And thank you for mentioning you know this... for sure there's amazing benefits to collaboration but it can for sure come with challenges as well just like you said like for example if people don't get clear and about who's going to do what and one of the things that I have experienced is that it's not enough to just get clear by just talking about it you need to actually put things down on paper...

Yeah you want to write this down... And yeah and this is where I guess why project management skills come in quite handy because that's what I'm thinking... I'm thinking in processes I'm thinking you know project plans and roles and responsibilities timelines actual logs and all this kind of stuff is absolutely so valuable to have those things in place…

Yeah... Can you maybe share another challenge that people might run into when they try to use collaboration as a strategy… because I personally love it... I love the idea of collaboration I love doing collaborations so I'd love to have you share your wisdom around... Well what are some challenges we can run into… And then of course we will talk about what we can do about about it…

Yes... so one of the I think main challenges is to pick your collaborator or your partner Okay… so it has to be the right partner and there may be a few criteria that you might want to think about... One of the main criteria I would say from my perspective was the fact that the collaborator had complementary skill sets and you know we wouldn't tread on each other's toes...

Yeah

…much let's say... And that we had the same vision... And the vision was beyond what we could do on our own because together we have so much stronger we can leverage each other's skill set and network and we mustn't be thinking in like scarcity… in terms of you know we are taking away from each other or we're competing or anything like that... So that's so so foundational… that's the human side and the vision side of that… if that… there's no alignment then it's really really it's not going to work it's really not going to work…

That's right… because collaboration by definition is you know coming together in a way where you're striving for Win-Win solutions and that is a very different mindset than a competitive mindset... because a competitive mindset is not a win-win mindset... Competitive mindset by definition sees things in a context of win-lose… it's like if I win then you have to lose… in order for me to win you have to lose or someone has to lose... And my gosh that's just a very very different energy than when we talk about collaboration and we're thinking about win-win… Could you really give an example of you know like where you applied this kind of win-win collaborative thinking like a concrete… a more concrete example of who did what that allowed for a win-win kind of solution…

Excellent example actually… because we're… when we've been building the empowerment portal for three years and we've got about 30 collaborators in this portal... So that takes you know they're all putting in sweat equity they're not being paid right so everyone's pulling on the stock… on the same string… basically we're all in it together in the same boat with the same vision... So it takes quite a lot of leadership to set this up and to connect with the following and sort of instill that kind of mindset amongst the whole collaborative pool... And I guess another… obviously you know it could be much smaller collaborators or collaborations with just two people and you wouldn't have such a organization around it… if you have a bigger pool you know the next thought is how well are they equipped and how well do they know about collaboration... So one of the ways we collaborate is on delivery but also on business development... So because it's my company and my vision initially they need to understand what's behind it so they need to fully immerse themselves and understand what the products and services are so that they can be like mini me’s and I clone them in essence with their own spin obviously right we're all unique human beings but in essence they need to be equipped and confident in order to go out and sell this collaborative platform...

Yes…

And that takes a lot of work on my side actually...

Yeah…

We created all kinds of different courses for the collaborators because not everyone was equipped with you know okay we've started we've had marketing material they can now use obviously videos website brochure and now they're trained to do presentations around it... But then on the other hand we have business development getting in corporates and we're just not very well equipped so we did a course around that for them... So again we have a collaboration which is a two way street because I gave what I know and they in turn do the business development and they get rewarded also according to like a commission as to what they bring through... So it worked all around …but it is a learning... So it wasn't something I had set up from the beginning… didn’t know that was needed…

Yeah... that's an excellent example and an excellent point about… everyone may not be on the same page they may not have the same level of skill but we can still work together and there might be you know this learning curve that we have to go through as a team in order to get everyone on the same page... That is so cool…. Yeah... Awesome… Okay are there any other big challenges that you can see that might be helpful for someone to be aware of as they begin to… or dig deeper into this collaboration strategy…

Yeah... I mean I guess one thing there's probably a few things I just want to sort of finish off with... one is you might want to consider is collaborating actually for me… And why would I want to collaborate… And on what would I want to collaborate… What do I want out of the collaboration... So be very careful before you go into it because obviously it takes commitment if the relationship is literally like getting married to someone and you know you have commitments and you need to keep that relationship up… you have to have an open communication and be honest and there may even be pit stops like milestones after three months let's see overall how is it going for us... And you know that could be potentially even an exit plan... Because not all collaborations work very well and you know you can't force it... So there's got to be some open fair communication otherwise it turns sour and we don't want that... So that's one major major…

Yeah... And that was an excellent point… Can you give me an example of like when you said... make sure collaboration’s for you… what kind of scenarios or like situations might there be where collaboration is actually not a good idea…

Sometimes you I guess you don't know before you get into collaboration you could find yourself collaborating with someone who then doesn't do what they said they will be doing or they don't quite have the qualifications or are not working towards your standards in terms of the quality of the delivery or handling certain situations and it just sort of could be one sided... I guess even before that before you get into that sort of scenario it's about ask yourself why would I want to collaborate… How would I want to see the collaboration ideally and then just lay it out before you approach anyone or sort of have further conversations...

Yeah because you may yourself may not be in a mindset where you're ready to collaborate... That is so true… so true... 

Yeah...

Thank you so much for sharing all of that amazing wisdom and those amazing tips... Do you have any other… anything else you would like to share… Because we're sort of coming towards the end of our time for today... But yeah any last thoughts that you would like to share…

Yeah I mean I've always been sort of going down the route of… coming back to make change fun and easy... Okay... It's about really thinking about the context of your business in terms of what are you doing right now… Is it yielding the results… and just quickly look at the different components,,, maybe the foundations may not be right you know sometimes I'm always saying to people sometimes the message isn't right or the offer isn't right and then they keep on going round and round in loops and it's so super frustrating... So in that time like don't even think about collaboration because it will just amplify if the offer is not right it'll just not work either even in collaboration with someone else... So yeah and if anyone's kind of you know interested in you know at this time of whatever business journey you're on right now there may be some things that you might need support with or you're stuck with …certainly the collaboration is something that we will be doing potentially some courses around because it seems it becomes more and more popular... People want to know they want to grow exponentially and they can't do this on their own... So there's definitely different sort of levels within that at Quantum Growth Academy that people can sort of come in do some basics around their offers and their message and how to get out in first place without obviously doing any sort of complicated tech or Facebook ads and things like this… and then I have a second level where we're taking this obviously a notch up with regards to joint ventures collaborations and really scaling... But as you can see it is a journey… you need to have the foundations right in order to go to the next level... So positioning where the collaboration fits… from my perspective I wouldn't have had leverage from day one… I actually tried… I did try actually …When I started my business… my online business… I tried to create a platform …a course… an online course with someone who had been in business for many many years… she knew everything about you know the whole online marketing and I was a newbie back then… that's about 10 years ago now and that collaboration just did not work out because we weren't on the same page…

Right…

So there's another good example around when is collaboration good and when not …when you're on different levels of sort of skill set it might be very hard...

That is so true and I also especially loved your highlighting... oh shucks... I just lost the thought...

It was probably a good time to close...

Yeah... indeed indeed… For sure you shared so many so many amazing and helpful thoughts like aspects of this that there's so many different types that I could lift… but for sure I think for right now we will go ahead and wrap up... And by the way for all of you who are listening please know that we will be putting Sabine's links in the show notes... So if you're looking for some support some guidance on how to do collaborations more and better... If you're looking for help and guidance around you know just how to be a bit better business person and create multiple income streams and manage them more effectively …any of that kind of stuff that we've been talking about today please connect with Sabine …make sure you check those show notes... So with that basically I will just say I wish you lots and lots of peace and joy... until we connect next time :).