Comments on: Making Collaboration Work, Part 2: Womens Memoir Duo Kendra Bonnett & Matilda Butler

By: Making Collaboration Work, Part 3: Creative Catalysts Janet Riehl & Stephanie Farrow | Riehlife

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:38:08 +0000

[...] In our first 2-part interview Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler told us how they met and shared five tips for successful collaboration. [...]

By: Kendra Bonnett

Kendra Bonnett — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:30:57 +0000

Ernest, I too have been on the wrong end of a business partnership. You're right to trust your instincts. Believe me, I wish I'd listened to mine. But that's in the past now.

By: Kendra Bonnett

Kendra Bonnett — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:28:28 +0000

I enjoyed your website, Julie. I read your blog and a couple of your excerpts. Nice work. Your husband's photography is great. Good luck on your continuing collaboration.

By: Janet Riehl

Janet Riehl — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:05:29 +0000

Ernest,

You amplify the issue of trust...and give a cautionary tale of when that isn't present. The question of time can work both ways. Sometimes collaboration takes more time. But, when it's a partnership it can save time. You're right. It's all about relationship.

Janet

By: Ernest Dempsey

Ernest Dempsey — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:32:21 +0000

This was a wonderful conversation and I really wished it lasted longer, though whatever was conveyed had important guiding points. My own workplace experience confirms that trust comes first. And it also depends mainly on the information we receive and observations we make all around us. I did not trust my senior colleagues since I knew of their history of corruption. So I never collaborated with them due to concerns over whether my work will get due appreciation, whether the people around me will try to take unfair advantage of me, and also whether they were good enough or competent enough to work with; all these concerns went far in time and intensity till I publicly exposed their quackery and was terminated from my job.

On the other hand, I trust my writer and editor friends (Janet, you are one of those most trusted people) and love to participate in their activities and writing ventures. It is also important that activities with mutual interest are marked and promoted. If the activity itself doesn’t attract one or more persons collaborating on a project, they ultimately feel disconnected, alienated, or even ‘used’.

One important factor that always keeps people from collaborating is the well-known TIME. Yes, in a world where we are burdened with earning our bread and perhaps taking care of our families too, keeping up with friends for joint ventures is mostly an occasional affair. This especially applies to young people who are always in the race for securing more, financially, while they are still strong and energetic enough to do it. Thanks to the Internet, the geographical distances have been reduced to a bare minimum, and yet, we always need more time to plunge into collaborative waters and enjoy a soothing swim.

By: Janet Riehl

Janet Riehl — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:10:49 +0000

Wow, two husband-wife collaborations in one conversation. How marvelous. Matilda--30 years collaborating with Kendra and 40 years with your husband--what continuity!

Julie, Your website http://www.juliewweston.com is lovely. I'm fascinated by your multi-talented-ness. Thanks for agreeing to write a guest post for Riehlife on how that evolved and how you've made it work, I know my readers will be thrilled.

Janet

By: Matilda Butler

Matilda Butler — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:41:45 +0000

Hi Julie:
Kendra and I both appreciate your comments. My second long-term collaboration is with my husband. We married in order to be together in all aspects of our lives. We have co-authored books and co-founded several companies. The rules that we provide in this blog hold true for almost 40 year (in October) with my husband. Some aspects of business I am better suited for (e.g. I was always the President of our companies) and he is better suited for others (He was the VP of Technology). We've taught together, written together, and raised children together. I'm incredibly lucky. It sounds as if you are also.

Best wishes to you.

-Matilda

By: Julie Weston

Julie Weston — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:43:48 +0000

My collaboration with my husband has been with his photography--photos--and my writing. We've had one piece in a literary journal, one piece in a commercial magazine, and he did some of the photos for my book, The Good Times Are All Gone Now. See http://www.juliewweston.com for a description of it. We work together in harmony, partly because he is my best friend, and I think I am his. So, we had a leg up too, Kendra--start with a good friend. Your "rulels" are good ones, whether in art or in business. I practiced business law for over 30 years, and so many problems would have been resolved if those rules had been followed in the beginning of a number of business relationships!

By: Kendra Bonnett

Kendra Bonnett — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:28:15 +0000

Thanks, Julie, it has been a terrific collaboration. It's tough to find the perfect business partner, but I can assure you that you get a real leg up when you start with a good friend. Matilda and I have been friends for a long. That's the real secret.

By: Janet Riehl

Janet Riehl — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:50:03 +0000

Julie,

Tell me more about how you might collaborate with your photographer husband.

Collaboration is fascinating and can yield the 1 + 1 = 3 results for the right team. For the mis-matched team? 1-1 = 0.

Yet, I believe that belong collaboration in our creative work that there are multiple collaborations in our daily lives--such as in our relationships, including couples.

Thanks for your comment, Julie.

Janet Riehl