Hello and welcome to the Messy Mompreneur Podcast, where we cover all things community, parent entrepreneurship, and building life-first marketing efforts for your small business! I’m your host, Alysha Sanford. I’m a mostly-work-from-home mom with a background in brand photography and a passion for sustainable marketing strategies. You’re probably listening because you, too, wear all of the hats, and I’m so happy to have you here!

You know what I’ve been thinking a lot about over the last few months?

How much I miss the kind of community we had before everything went fully digital — when word of mouth, face-to-face support, and genuine camaraderie were how we built things… in both life and business.

I want to talk about bringing that energy back: small businesses lifting each other up, sharing the love, and remembering what community really feels like. Because that’s the magic of the “shop small” season — it’s not just about sales, it’s about connection. And this episode tells you exactly how and why to collaborate with other small businesses to grow together.

Main Topics included in this Episode

  • Why community seemed to be stronger in the analog era, and how it hits differently now
  • Why networking and collaboration with other entrepreneurs is important for your life, business and marketing efforts
  • 4 simple, feel-good areas to collaborate and support each other (with plenty of examples)
  • My challenge for you this week

Resources Mentioned

Connect with Alysha

Music Licensing Info

Music by Eli Lev - Dancin' on the Lawn

Link

Episode Transcription

You know what I've been thinking about a lot over the last few months. How much I missed the kind of community we had before everything went fully digital. When word of mouth, face to face support and genuine camaraderie, were how we built things in both life and business. I was born in the late 80s and grew up in the 90s, and I freaking miss it, so my nostalgia for the analog era may or may not flare up in future episodes here. Hello and welcome to the Messy Mompreneur podcast where we cover all things community, parent, entrepreneurship and building life first marketing efforts for your small business. Hi I'm your host, Alysha Sanford. I'm a mostly work from home mom with a toddler with a background in brand photography and a passion for sustainable marketing strategies. You're probably listening because you too wear all of the hats and I'm so happy to have you here. So for those listening in real time, as this episode drops this week, we have Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday all colliding. And for those listening afterwards, lock this episode in for when the season circles around again. I want to talk about bringing that energy back. Small business is lifting each other up, sharing the love. And remembering what community feels like. What it really feels like, because that's the magic of the shop small season. It's not just about sales, it's about connection. OK, so why community hits differently now back in the 90s and obviously before community meant stopping by your neighbors shop, helping a friend set up their booth or hearing about a new cafe because someone told you? Not because. Of a social media algorithm. That same spirit still matters today, especially when so much of our work happens behind screens. Supporting fellow business owners as a way of recreating that sense of belonging that we used to take for granted. What if our modern marketing looked a little more like those 90s Friday nights where you're hanging out, showing up, cheering each other on instead of competing for five seconds of someone's time as they doom scroll online past your content? So let's dive into four simple feel good areas to collaborate and support each other. The first would be to share the spotlight. It's as simple as posting about a fellow small business that you love on Instagram or Facebook, and make sure to tag them because they will be able to see it and reshare it if you tag. You can mention them in your e-mail newsletter or your blog post. I personally do this a lot in my well each week in my e-mail newsletter that I send out called the Friday mix. I love highlighting others in a specific section in there to give a shout. Put out the sign up is LinkedIn. The show notes. If you'd like to see that in action, and I also do that a lot in blog posts where it is natural for me to mention someone or a resource and easily just link it and. Give them a little spotlight there. It's just like recommending your favorite band or restaurant back in the day. Only now we can reach even further. And you can include them when it's relevant in your client or customer resources like product pamphlets, receipts, onboarding, client guides, anything like that. That's helpful to your client and benefits sharing and other business. The second area is to create a shop small gift guide together or something like that. Think of it like making a mixed CD, but for your favorite local find. Everyone contributes a little something and everyone shares it with their audience. I recently created a gift guide blog post for the small business owner. You can find that link in the show notes as well to browse through it, many of the resources or tools are free or low cost and many of them are small business owners themself. You can give yourself some ease for the upcoming year in your life and business by checking out that blog post. The third area would be to co-host or co-create. You can team up for an event, a giveaway, an Instagram live. Those you see those a lot giveaways are super powerful. You can swap seats for guest blogging or brief e-mail newsletter takeovers. I see that too. It seems kind of fun and you can create a paired mini offer with a limited time deal that benefits both businesses. Collaborations are especially strong when your audience is overlap or your services. Complement each other. All right. In the fourth area is to be a real life cheerleader for others building their dreams, grab coffee with another local business owner. This is one of my favorite quote, UN quote appointments to schedule into my calendar. You can create a small group to do monthly check-ins with each other. That type of accountability or support. Might even be the very thing that keeps someone going in their business. It could make such an impact. You can also leave a glowing review on their Google business profile, their Yelp, their Facebook page. You can even just send in a testimonial for them to use wherever they want to. And you can attend their events, open houses or pop ups. You can share photos of you using or enjoying their product or service. Make sure to tag them. And you can share social media posts. Podcast episodes e-mail sign up links, their offers their YouTube videos or their blog posts. It's so easy to do. Just again, make sure to tag so they see it and they can reshare it. These little gestures matter so much more than we realize. They remind people that they're not alone in the hustle. OK, so why this matters for your marketing connection creates conversion. When your audience sees you supporting others, it builds trust. It's sustainable community marketing lasts longer than chasing trends or algorithms. It feels better. Genuine support fills you up instead of draining your creative energy, you grow together, every share tag and collaboration builds visibility for both of you, and it keeps that small town magic alive no matter how online we are these days. Now I have a challenge for you this week. Pick one fellow small business or creative and feature them this week online or in person, or both. Tell your audience why you love them and how they might help them too. And bonus points if you actually visit their shop, send a voice note, share their content online, grab coffee together, even virtually, or leave them a review. Let's bring back that 90s kind of connection where we showed up, supported, and genuinely wanted to see each other win. Yes. Remember, you don't have to do this alone. You don't need a huge marketing budget or a massive audience to make an impact. All it takes is community, real people showing up for each other. One share, one kind Word, 1 collaboration at a time. There's no algorithm stronger than genuine connection. So I'm going to leave you with that today. Thank you so much for spending your time with me. I would love to connect with you. Find me on Instagram with the handle @heyalyshasanford, or check out the other contact info in the show notes. My name is spelled uniquely, so you got to see it to make sure you're alright. Make sure to sign up for the Friday mix weekly e-mail where I'm most actively sharing my top hits for all things small business and marketing. And if you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, make sure to subscribe to the show for future weekly episodes. All right, friend, until next time. Bye.