B.Collaborative

I taught high school Spanish for 14 years, and apparently at some point I also agreed to this faculty photo. 😂

World Teachers' Day was Sunday, and seeing this picture again reminded me just how much I loved being Señora Lewis.

Now I have a sophomore in high school and a sophomore in college, and I think I appreciate educators from the parent side even more than I did when I was one.

Our kids spend SO much of their lives in school. Their educators are teaching, encouraging, challenging, listening and noticing... often in ways we never hear about at home.

And having been on the other side of it, I also know how much a thoughtful email from a parent can mean. So if your child has a teacher who's doing something great, tell them. ❤️

And to all my teacher friends... I hope you know how much what you do matters... even when they make you take yearbook photos.

I'm late wishing my own business a happy birthday, but at least it's still the same month... even if it is the very last day. 😂

B.Collaborative officially launched in September 2019. But that's not really when it started.

A couple of years earlier, I was on my way to a coaching retreat in Tahoe (one of my most favorite places, especially this time of year) with one of the most influential mentors I've ever had, Jennifer Edwards. I had been leading alongside Jennifer and loved the work, the training, and getting to learn from her.

Somewhere along our drive through Donner Pass, I casually said, “Ya know, if you'd ever want to work together, I would love to put some organization around your brilliance.”

That question turned into a project.

That project turned into referrals.

Those referrals turned into B.Collaborative.

Looking back now, I can see God's hand in putting the right people and opportunities in my path long before I knew where any of it was leading.

And I'm really grateful I asked that question. ❤️

I'm reading Boundaries by Henry Cloud, and this thought showed up in my feed at exactly the right time to reinforce a lesson I'm already learning.

I catch myself thinking, “I don't have time for this,” or getting frustrated when someone or something takes up time I hadn't planned to give it.

But that's the uncomfortable part of this.

They're not actually stealing my time if I'm the one giving it away.

Ouch.

I'm really good at protecting deadlines, commitments I've made to other people, and things that have to get done.

I'm learning that I need to be just as intentional about protecting my time.

Apparently “I don't have time” and “I didn't protect my time” are not always the same thing. 😬

Still working on this one.

Yes. This is me posting a photo of my fully decorated Christmas house in September. 😂 I live in the country where hardly anyone drives by, and I love these green and white lights way too much not to give them an audience somewhere. So... here we are.

Plus, it's a good time to answer this question: When is the best time to start planning for the holidays if that season matters to your business? Maybe you rely on holiday sales. Maybe you send corporate gifts or run a holiday promotion. Whatever it is, the best time to start planning is July.

The second best time?

TODAY!

If you haven't started planning for the holidays yet, don't panic.

But do start.

Decide what you're promoting. Get the photos taken. Order whatever needs to be printed. Update your website. Start writing the emails and planning the social content.

Because once the holiday season actually arrives, you want to be ready... not scrambling to get ready.

And maybe make yourself a note for next year: Planning for Christmas starts in July! 🎄

I’ve been thinking about the things in business that don’t scare me nearly as much as they used to…

Following up too many times.

Hearing, “We'd like a logo with a house, a wolf, butterflies, and purple... but make it all look cohesive.” 😂

A client deciding they didn't need me anymore.

Saying yes to designing a website on a platform that was new to me.

Raising my rates.

Telling a client I didn't know the answer.

Saying no to work.

Pushing back on a client when, in my experience, what they're about to do is a big mistake.

Supporting a client's new business launch unlike any I'd done before.

And the list doesn't stop there... but the funny thing is, all of those things have happened at some point. Clients have left. I've raised my rates. I've turned down work. I've built things I'd never built before and taken on projects I'd never done before.

Somewhere along the way, I realized a lot of those things just didn't scare me anymore.

I know what I'm good at. I trust the experience I have. But I also really like learning new things and taking on something I haven't done before.

Turns out, I actually really like a good challenge. 😊

For the past several months, I've had the opportunity to help bring The Old Base Factory to life right here in O'Fallon.

And if you're wondering about the name, there's a pretty cool story behind it.

For more than 30 years, the building that is now OBF produced base frames that were used throughout Major League Baseball. Today, that same building has been completely reimagined as an indoor/outdoor food hall with multiple restaurants, a huge bar, event space, and plenty of room for families, teams, and friends to hang out right next to the Sports Park.

There have been a whole lot of conversations about how to take a really big idea with a LOT of moving pieces and turn it into something people could understand, get excited about, and eventually experience for themselves.

That's probably been my favorite part.

People actually seeing and experiencing it firsthand.

Because after all of the months of meetings, revisions, brainstorming, problem solving, and so many tiny decisions that happen before something like this ever opens... it's now real.

OBF is officially open and it's pretty cool to drive by something I've spent this much time working on and see a parking lot full of people.

Even cooler? Seeing people inside enjoying what this entire team has worked so hard to create. And having so many of my own friends and family show up for the Grand Opening made it even more special. ❤️

Congratulations to alllllll of the talented, smart, and hardworking people behind the scenes. I'm grateful I got to be a small part of bringing this one to life.

And now? I get to trade in the meeting agendas for a table and enjoy it as a guest. 😊

If you're local and haven't been yet, go check it out! Lots of food choices, lots of places to hang, lots for the kids to do, and lots of space indoors and out.

My colleague and friend, Kelli, sent this to me recently, and it came at the perfect time. Her words gave me so much encouragement... which is funny because apparently we must have that vibe together?! 😂

I almost didn't share it because posting really kind things someone says about you feels a little awkward. But then I thought about how much her words meant to me when I needed them.

So maybe this is also your reminder to tell people the good things you see in them. You never know when they might really need to hear it.

Kelli, your words about our time working together were so kind and thoughtful that I couldn't bring myself to change them. I'm incredibly grateful our paths crossed... and I'm leaving the rest exactly as you wrote it. ❤️

“At the heart of all of this is people. Human connection. Sharing joy, light, happiness, and even hardships even if we ‘just work together’ means so much to me!

Brooke is an extraordinary person. Working together for the Lake Country Growers marketing team is what made our paths cross, and I can honestly say we are 10x more fun (and focused😉) because of her.

Once we connected via Google Meet it was an instant, ‘oooh I love this girl.’ And there are many reasons why.

She has a genuine light about her, and it comes with the right amount of s***k too!

She welcomes criticism with open arms which means you know the final result is going to be better because of the conversation.

She keeps our team on track to accomplish our shared goals and objectives.

She challenges us to continually pursue best practices and be better at what we do.

My all time favorite though? She encourages the heart.

We can be talking business and she encourages. We can be talking life and she encourages all the more!

Those are the people you want in your corner. The people who make the work better, the hard days lighter, and the whole experience a little more joyful.”

— Kelli, Lake Country Growers

Things I apparently do for a living...

Help someone start an entirely new Instagram account because the old one occasionally sends people to p**n. 😳😂

Write an email.

Rewrite the email because nobody is going to read an email that long.

Build websites.

Help open a food hall.

Figure out why a legitimate business email address is suddenly being treated like spam.

Write press releases.

Plan social media.

Coordinate branding photo shoots and a TV interview.

Talk through partnerships with a Major League Baseball brand.

Design a two-page ad spread.

Set up Google Workspace accounts.

Move domains from one platform to another.

Sit in on an IT call because one problem is actually connected to six other problems.

Figure out how a giant red lantern fits into a marketing strategy.

And somewhere in there...

Actually do the work I had planned for the day. 😂

The longer I'm in business, the less sure I am what to put under "services" on my website.

I see this happen in business all the time.

Sometimes it's finally updating a website that's been untouched for years.

Sometimes it's investing in marketing, creating better systems, or simply looking at a challenge from a different perspective.

Change isn't always comfortable.

But neither is staying stuck.

Twelve years ago this month, I hit publish on my very first Facebook business post.

It wasn't B.Collaborative.

It wasn't even under my own name.

It was called Zhuzh-it with Brooke & Wildtree 😂 Come to think of it, I followed that up with B.Collaborative. Maybe difficult-to-spell business names are just my thing.

Back then, Riley was 3 years old, Roby was 7, and I was teaching freezer meal workshops to help busy families get healthy dinners on the table.

At the time, I thought I was building a business around food.

What I was really building was relationships.

Wildtree introduced me to mentors, taught me more about communication and human dynamics than I ever expected, and led to one conversation that became my very first consulting client.

She introduced me to another client.

Then another.

Most of them are still with me today.

Looking back, I had no idea one page, one conversation, and years spent teaching freezer meal workshops would help shape the business I have today.