As small business owners or creators it’s very tempting to say yes to all collaboration opportunities and get exposure. But a lot of these invitations end up being a bloody waste of time!

Here’s a story about how I learnt this lesson. I hope it helps you pause and weigh the pros and cons before you commit.

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Car sickness. Stop and go traffic. Exhaust fumes so thick, I could pierce the layer with the tip of my stiletto.

If I wore one. I don’t wear heels. I suppose that was the one saving grace that day.

Jay and I stood up on that temporary podium for an hour doing the Dairy Alternatives demonstration.

“Almond milk’s ridiculously easy to make.” *Blend* *Pour*. “Look how creamy cashew milk is. Ta-da! Yes, you can turn it into yogurt and cheese.”

All my usual enthusiasm out in its full and shiny glory

Enough to make a hundred people squeal in delight. “Ooh, ahh”, at the magic of vegan milks. Dropped jaws to match my smug grin.

We faced rows and rows of those plastic white chairs, filled with…five people.

Five, and three of them were friends, there to show support and cheer us on. And ask us questions they already knew answers to.

Anyone who knows me, vegan or not, knows plenty about making nut milks and seed curds, just by being around my mad scientist level obsession with the stuff.

Hey, look, I’m happy teaching one student at a time, or twenty

If they’ve turned up for my workshop, I am game! But this time, I’d gone to a place far, far away. Forty-five minutes by car from my kitchen. For that kind of effort, the crowd better have been worth it.

The lady who’d organised the event invited us to come all the way to Phoenix Mall in Whitefield to do our demo. She’d promised to pull a big crowd. She even said, “We’re going to cover it on Facebook Live. We have so many followers. Huge exposure!”

Not a camera in sight, phone or otherwise.

And no, we didn’t get paid for this, it was supposed to be a ‘collaboration’

Oh yes, I learnt an important lesson that day. The next time I even consider braving Bangalore traffic, I’ll be doing plenty of research on the organisers before accepting an invitation like this.

As creators, people running brands built on our personalities, small business owners, conscious entrepreneurs, we get all these opportunities to collaborate. A lot of them are amazing and so worth putting the effort into.

But also, a very big chunk of them are a huge waste of time and effort.

Yeah, sure, if you’re just starting out, then try every single thing so you can learn more, and get more exposure. More experience even if not exposure (like in this event).

But, if you aren’t really starting out, if you’ve kind of got the hang of things, like say, teaching a workshop, I’d done that hundreds of times before even going to this event…If you already know what you’re doing, then…

Make very sure that whatever you commit to is going to be worth your time and your effort

Don’t agree just to be polite. You know, in this case, I’d agreed to this lady because I thought there’s going to be a future there. This one collaboration’s going to lead to other collaborations.

In fact, I’d met her for the first time when she’d organised a different event, and she’d pulled a decent crowd to that. So I was like, “okay, good”, you know, “she does this, so if I collaborate with her some more, then better and better opportunities will present themselves.”

Except, it turned out that during that first event, it wasn’t her who’d pulled the crowd, it was the other people. laughs

So yeah, I just wanted to share that experience today.

If you’re a business owner or a creator or somebody who’s just kind of getting the hang of things, be careful who you say yes to

Watch out, and weigh the pros and cons. Make sure whatever effort you put in towards something is going to pay off in some way, is going to be worth it.

I was willing to do that event without getting paid because I thought, marketing or not (that’s a secondary thing), I’m going to reach a whole bunch of new people, and be able to talk to them about dairy alternatives. And maybe some of them would go vegan, you know. So that was the payoff I was looking for.

I thought, okay, the effort should lead to something meaningful, right?

But people only didn’t turn up! Then it was like, “I hope the two random people who were there learnt something from it, and researched some more about veganism, and went vegan.” I just hoped that. That’s it. laughs

There’s nothing else I got out of it.

So, yeah, watch out who you say yes to, weigh your pros and cons. And of course, there’s always a polite, firm, kind and loving way to say, “Nope! I’m not available.”

All right! If you enjoyed this episode, you’re gonna love my free newsletter, The Feel Good Tribe. Sign up here. I’d love to see you inside the Feel Good Tribe.

Talk to you again next week. Take care!

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Susmitha Veganosaurus

“I read voraciously, find humour in most things, and I’m most in my element when I’m teaching, writing, and playing with clay. I believe authenticity and kindness are the key to a joyful world. Sign up for my free newsletterwhere I share Life and Business Tips, Vegan Hacks, Holistic Guidance, and more.

Vegan cuisine and holistic business building are my two biggest passions. If you’re looking for guidance with vegan cooking, or want to grow your conscious business with joy and fulfilment, explore ways we can work together here.”

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