By Monique MacKinnon & Patricia Weber, Collaboration Strategists

When my American joint venture partner Patricia Weber and I met over a year ago, we each had an intention of working collaboratively. She’s an introvert and I’m a borderline extrovert. So, we have a good balance in our teamwork. I’m just not sure either of us envisioned where our meeting would take us. The collaboration lessons we’ve learned have been numerous. Still, they have been well worth it!

There’s no doubt that business collaborations are a hugely successful way for an entrepreneur or small business to grow. But, you can either curse or celebrate collaborations. Here are the top ten reasons you may be avoiding them and/or fearing that you will step on your collaboration partner’s toes.

1. Previous collaborations have failed you. One of the biggest fears comes from what you may have already experienced in collaborating. It’s similar to how people answer my workshop question, “When you think of salesperson, what comes to mind?” The words captured on the easel are in line with sleazy, high-pressure, dishonest, and the list goes on. Why? Previous experiences are on the top of mind.

2. It means working toward clearer communication. A great number of collaboration efforts are initiated online. Email is a primary mode of communication but don’t rely it. An email that asks, “Do you get this blog?” might be answered, “No, I don’t get it.” Misinterpretation can be rampant with assumptions, poor word choice, and poor listening leading the way.

3. Online it can begin to seem 140 characters is enough. Successful collaborations because you have tens of thousands of followers do not create a magic carpet ride flowing along the 140-character stream.

4. Nothing can replace an in-person meeting. You lose the ability for understanding the full message without including the distinct advantage of meeting in person. And yet, the latter may not be financially feasible for you if you live far away from your collaboration partner.

5. Agreements will take more time than on your own. Collaboration is time consuming. Instead of just one company or one person creating and delivering, there are now two or more coming together to create something new. The timeline is suddenly stretched out.

6. Access to collaboration tools may be required. Working across international borders and time zones, without places to share documents or ideas momentum, can slow down progress.

7. You must be ready for personal growth on many levels. Collaborating to create takes two, and generally slows down processes. If you are uncomfortable with delay, you may add resistance, which will further impede your progress.

8. You’ll need to be a change leader. Buzzards, bats and bumblebees can each struggle and die when they find themselves with limited movement in any kind of container or space. If you are more of a follower to change, collaboration will beat you down like a limited container does to buzzards, bats and bumblebees.

9. Disagreements are highly likely. Squabbles happen. You will not agree on every thing and with greater dependence on email communication over conversation, this raises the bar for more disagreement.

10. Lack of organization and little flexibility are part of your daily agenda. The expression “Life happens!” when you are in collaboration has an echo effect of “”Life happens, happens, happens!” Things are going to come up for the each party that are unavoidable and can put your collaboration conversation on hold or even stop it.

Is stepping on your partner’s toes unavoidable with most collaborations? The likelihood of this happening can certainly be minimized. You can take actions, shift beliefs, and find better ways of being to have more collaborations gracefully flow more like the dancing you see in the top 3 finalists of Dancing with the Stars!

Collaboration Strategists Monique MacKinnon and Patricia Weber help you discover the secrets to the process of how to land success instead of flops when taking the collaboration plunge. How To Find Your Best-Fit Joint Venture Partner With Less Time And Energy plus Entrepreneurial Joint Ventures: Psychology + Soul guarantee your collaborations become successful. Email questions@entrepreneurialtelesummits.com to receive these two excerpts… for free.

By Monique MacKinnon & Patricia Weber, Collaboration Strategists

This summer has been rich with collaboration activities and life lessons. In fact, by attending the School of Love (one of the four Life Schools in hand analysis), instead of skipping it (which as a human, the latter is tempting!), I’ve learned how to create and live a bigger, happier, and more meaningful life than ever. You see, this school is about mastering taking responsibility only for your own thoughts, feelings and actions, and not anyone else’s. If and when you choose to shoulder more responsibility than that which is required, then you are crossing the responsibility boundary and preventing others from learning their lessons. And if you’re a highly kinesthetic communicator, here’s a tangible clue that will tell you you’re being over-responsible: your chest and shoulder blade area will feel tight. By taking on others’ responsibilities, emotionally and/or actively, you prevent them (and yourself too) from growing. So, what does personal growth have to do with business and relationships? Well, it’s the fertilizer for business growth and thriving relationships, including with your massage therapist, who will be happy to handle your tight back!.

Speaking of responsibility, one of my American collaboration partners Pat Weber and I received a rich lesson about working with suppliers. Although it cost us time and energy, it was well worth it. Here’s what happened: Early in May, we hired a Virtual Assistant to create our sales page and be a speaker for our upcoming Chef’s Table for Entrepreneurs Telesummit. Two weeks before she was due to start working on the sales page, in early July, she got really, really sick. From that point on, we were unable to reach her via email or phone. It was a real mystery to us, so much that we finally had to let her go because we could no longer count on her. Since perception creates reality, we then made the executive decision to increase our budget for this important resource and created the intention that we could attract the perfect candidate who could fulfill both the copy writer and web designer roles. Only eight days later, an Online Business Manager that we were very pleased with officially started working with us! Although we were told that we wouldn’t find this writer-designer person, we continued to energize our intention. And since boundaries is one of the fourteen life lessons in hand analysis, it’s apropos to raise this point: Staying true to one’s intention, so that it can actually materialize, requires that you stop entertaining other possibilities along the way, oodles of patience, and emotionally detaching from the intention.

Now, what are you willing to let go of in your life right now, that you may initially perceive as a loss or a problem, that will transform into a pearl of wisdom for your business and/or personal life? Is it a person, judgment about someone, need to be right or validated, or even to feel free from any type of restraints? Just remember, the best things in life cost you something! Are you willing to embrace this notion as a means of getting your intentions in motion?

Collaboration Strategists, Monique MacKinnon and Patricia Weber help you discover the secrets to the process of how to land success instead of flops when taking the collaboration plunge. How To Find Your Best-Fit Joint Venture Partner With Less Time And Energy plus Entrepreneurial Joint Ventures: Psychology + Soul guarantee your collaborations become successful. Just email questions@entrepreneurialtelesummits.com for your two free excerpts.

By Monique MacKinnon, Creativity Expert/Energetic Evolution

This final article shows you how embracing your fear of emotional intimacy (also called trust issues with self and others and one of the fourteen Life Lessons in the art and science of hand analysis (do you have it?)) will bring more prosperity into your life. If you didn’t see Part 1 of 2, no problem! You can view it below, on this blog.

Prosperity Secret #3 – Actions: Embracing action means that you actively follow through with your intentions (which should already be written down) even if you don’t know every step of the way. In fact, all you need to know… really… is your NEXT STEP, as the Universe will show you through Universal signs, including coincidences, where to go and what to do next.

Prosperity Secret #4 – Coincidences: What does “coincidence” mean? It’s: 1. The state or fact of occupying the same relative position or area in space, and; 2. A sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged (Answers.com). And once you cultivate the habit of appreciating, spotting, understanding, and energizing coincidences, and pair that with the belief that prosperity shows up as coincidences, then you will be perfectly positioned to receive abundance. What is an example of energizing coincidences? When you notice a coincidence, really FEEL it, by saying something like: “I so much LOVE and appreciate the fact that this coincidence came about as a result of my continuously using these words: jazzed about.” Case in point, I personally use the following question when making decisions: Does this jazz me? Yes or No? As a result of consistently using this expression in May 2010, within less than a month, I attracted a private 1-2-1 client who wanted to open up her own jazz club. Also, another Energetic Evolution private 1-2-1 client was experiencing a difficult moment with one of his customers. As I was coaching him, I told him to let go of his worries and to trust that everything would get resolved without his having to intervene. Immediately after his coaching session, he checked his Blackberry. He had received a text notifying him that the problem with his customer was no longer there. Guess what? His life lesson is trusting.

Bottom line is, with coincidences, someone you are meant to meet or something appears or happens that is energetically aligned with your intentions, beliefs and attitudes.

Now that you have learned how to leverage emotional intimacy to attract more prosperity, you are ready to receive and apply: The Create Prosperity FormulaTM = Attitude + Decisions + Actions + Coincidences.

Exercise: Write down what you want to manifest that is taking you longer than you anticipated to receive. Using that example and The Create Prosperity Formula, answer the following: Is your weakest link between:

(1) Attitude to Decisions?
(2) Decisions to Actions?
(3) Actions to Coincidences?
(4) Coincidences to Attitude?

For the next 30 consecutive days, write down the following:

How you specifically strengthened this weak link? For instance, with what situations did you practice mastering either: Having the right attitude? Making the right decisions quickly? Following through with the right actions? Or believing in the power of, spotting and energizing favorable coincidences?
How this changed the prosperity you experienced in life?

Ideally, you should notice the amount of prosperity in your life become more predictable and frequent the more you strengthen your weak links. Let’s say for example that making decisions, specifically around the topic of planning and systematizing your business, is your weak link. Then, what you would want to do is systematize your decisions, to ensure you were consistent in how you made decisions and your decisions were aligned with attracting only what you had envisioned for yourself in terms of ideal clients, work and lifestyle you had envisioned for yourself. Consequently, the more you would practice using this system, the easier decision making would become for you and the faster you magnetize with ease and enjoyment what you and your clients want in life.

To receive this FREE GIFT, the audio recording of Monique MacKinnon’s 1.5 hour presentation “Use the Art of Coincidence to Create Prosperous Relationships and Opportunities” (value: $67 US), visit http://www.energeticevolution.com In this hands on presentation, backed up with real life client cases, Monique will teach you how to master in practical, everyday terms the skill of “connecting your dots” to help you create prosperous relationships and opportunities.