ENGAGED IN VEGAS

Do you have partnering stories to share?  It would be great to hear both your positive and negative experiences…what you have learned or wish you would have already known.

Maven Diary

Dear Diary – Vegas was terrific!  I got engaged! I should say, we got engaged – the Mavens that is.  We were able to come together and accomplish what we set out to do.  It was unfortunate that one of us was unable to come due to a personal emergency, but we had her on the phone when we could! 

The reason I say I’m now engaged is that Vegas really moved the Mavens from a concept and an exciting idea – to something real.  Here is what we accomplished:

1)       Understanding each other:  we took a lot of time and discussed what we wanted to accomplish through the Mavens and how it ties to driving our businesses forward

2)       Fantasizing about our future together – we had discussions on what we might be the “dream” of Mavens

3)       what our married name will be – we settled on calling ourselves The Mavens Network, LLP, we also decided where we would file for our name, and getting a trademark started

4)       how to deal with family – we spent a lot of time discussing who was going into business with who; our companies together, individuals vs. other partners

5)       pre-nuptial agreement draft: we went through our partnership document and this was so helpful in getting a lot of issues resolved.  We flush out how we will track money, what kind of contribution we all make, how we will make major/minor decisions, who will keep the books and many other details like that.  It seems SO right to have these discussions BEFORE things happen vs. in the heat of the moment.  I seriously hope none of us get hit by a bus or we need to kick someone off the island, but if we do – we have a plan!

This is really exciting.  Now my work – as with any relationship, I have to invest the time and energy to keep it moving and exciting!

XXOO

Daphne

Here are some supplemental materials and reading materials on the subject of getting engage!

This is a link to a Forbes article, but it is found on Vantage Partners website.  This site is a great resource for research and white papers on partnerships!

Comments

[MaryAnne Bobrow]

I loved reading this story and as I did, I could see the hundreds of sticky notes on the window as we brainstormed on what we would do. Yep, full disclosure, I'm the Money Maven and probably on occasion (although more frequently right now) the Grouchy Maven.

The interesting part of this exciting venture, for me at least, is that we saw a need, several in fact, defined what we could do about it, and plowed straight ahead with great resolve.

And, what we decided is that we would be our own "lab rat." Let's face it, in this industry we talk about issues, we assign buzzwords to them and then go about the business of our daily lives, never doing anything concrete to resolve issues. One of the things we have talked about consistently is raising the bar for strategic partnerships to the level it deserves. If I never hear the words networking and strategic partnerships in the same sentence again, I will feel we have made a difference.

We all know the world is changing and the way we do business is changing. We no longer "outsource," we "source". The world is shrinking and the model for partnering is morphing. The one-time competitor may now be our next partner. It all depends on how we envision our futures and our business models.