Connect, Collaborate, Serve

Organic Growth

I've had the amazing fortune to meet a couple of fabulous coaches who share my business philosophy and have helped me clarify words for it. Many thanks to Renee Hribar and Tracy Beavers for their inspiration! 

Never One for Hustle Culture
I enjoy conversations - a lot - all day, every day. These conversations help me get to know people, their needs, their motivation, and how we may be able to assist each other. 

I'm not here to simply earn a buck. I'm here for the conversations, relationships, and to help you shine.

---

Image: Lezlee Alexander with members of the City of Glendale Chamber of Commerce: Allison Diaz, Bud Zomok, and Elizabeth Hunt.

Connect
​"I am a Connector!" to quote a rally cry from my friend Renee! Apparently I'm not the only one as she's begun including brief introductions to fellow solopreneurs in her podcasts who all proclaim they are connectors before sharing their offer. I love being surrounded by Connectors!

I've often noted if I could get paid to simply connect people, I'd be a happy gal! Someone recently suggested, "You'd be in Human Resources!"

No, that's not it. But I do love to meet people to hear what they do and offer, suggest others who may support or collaborate with them, see how we may help each other, and share content that may be mutually useful. 

Any time I can connect someone with anyone else who may be helpful on their journey, it's a very happy day!

Collaborate
Beyond simply connecting with others is finding ways to collaborate and lift each other. "A rising tide lifts all boats," as it were. 

Collaboration can take many forms:

• Work on mutual projects together
• Share ideas and connections
• Podcast swaps or being a guest
• Email swaps
• Summit participation
• Affiliate links

​Collaborations begin with conversations.

Serve
I have always been in service professions and volunteer regularly in addition to paid work. My passion is finding ways to share the opportunity others bring to the world.

"Serve" is a multi-faceted word with some misconceptions around it.

​Merriam-Webster offers a number of definitions for "serve" based on a variety of contexts for its use. For our discussion, I'm going with "to be of use." 

Serving has different connotations among my nonprofit, solopreneur, and author clients. 

• Volunteer/nonpaid: Nonprofits, especially the small or start-up organizations, rely heavily on the power of their volunteer network.
• Paid: Solopreneurs and authors serve their community or clients regularly by offering a service or a product for a fee. Pricing structures vary widely, but there is an exchange of goods, services, or thoughts/expertise. It is absolutely ok and expected to bill for your services.

But I'm An Introvert!
Not to worry—Connect, Collaborate, and Serve can absolutely still work for you. You simply may need to take a more measured approach to it. I'm a born introvert who learned to be extroverted, but it remains necessary to step back and recharge sometimes.

• Be selective with your time and energy: No need to attend every event online or in person that you see.
• Focus: No need to try to do each daily—pick a focus for the day and rotate them. 
• Small efforts carry big promise: Many suggest "Comment on 5 or 10 LinkedIn posts daily for reach!" That may be too aggressive for your energy or even business needs—maybe 2/day is plenty, and that's ok.
• Consider monthly rather than weekly or daily activities: Maybe you attend an in person or online networking event once per month rather than weekly. Maybe you comment or work on posts or comments 2x/wk rather than daily. There's no set right or wrong. You get to make up the rules! 

Get to the Point
Connect, Collaborate, and Serve are the cornerstones of organic marketing growth and simply working with people!

They each revolve around conversations, which is really the heart of the matter. 

Your Turn!
What opportunities are you looking for to Connect, Collaborate, or Serve? Let's share ideas and resources to support each other!

If you could use a thought partner or a strategy session, Let's Chat or message me on LinkedIn or Substack!