Our founder Jessica is a visionary, a force of creativity, a leader. Despite her boundless abilities in areas such as design, photography, website creation, event coordination (really, the girl is a powerhouse), and more, she is always on the lookout for other like-minded talents that she can work together with in her business and her personal projects.
Top of mind for her whenever she dives into something new is what the impact will be. The environment, and specifically the ocean, is the first thing that she considers, and a close second is the stakeholders. She looks first to the people in her life that she knows personally and how they can be included. Even if the arrangement will benefit them, and not her or her business, she will be the first to offer an opportunity to team up.
Doing a photoshoot? Who does she know that would appreciate having photos of themselves? Or what great photographer could she partner with? Writing a blog post? What awesome local and/or Canadian brand could she feature?
If you ask her why she approaches her business with a collaboration-over-competition mentality, she'll say "We're all in this together." It's just that simple. And why not take the time to be kind, especially within the small business community? Why not share awesome brands made by other entrepreneurs? Starting a business from a burning desire to create something new is a lot of work, and since we know what that's like, we celebrate it!
It could be argued that not every business has the luxury of this mentality, but we beg to differ. Considering we are younger than two years, and started from the vision of just one person, we wouldn't necessarily be considered one of those companies with a lot of "luxuries" (you know, like free time, million dollar bottom line, or even a back office). From the beginning, as a business owner you get to choose what you stand for. As businesses get bigger, more public, it's not impossible that it will become a beast of it's own and run away from it's original intention. You have to find like-minded people who are committed every day to keeping your mission alive and your message on point.
Running a successful business may generate revenue, but building a brand gives you a platform to share what you're passionate about. At SALT, among other things, we are passionate about the Ocean. What can we do to take care of it? How can we give back to the Earth that sustains us? Making a difference doesn't happen overnight, but the more we talk about it and educate ourselves, the more of an impact we can have. The shift we need to make world wide change is going to happen slowly, and hopefully everyone will become inspired to work together, like one big global collaboration. We hope that the ripples we cast from sharing what we're passionate about will contribute to this positive change.
Our newest way to connect with our community will be to launch our SALT Ambassador Program. We want to curate a small group of awesome mavens and influencers who we feel represent what we are about. We want to feature them, learn from them, and make them a part of the SALT team. We are so excited for this next step. More to come soon!
The photos we have included in this post are a product of multiple collaborations. The shots are taken by the lovely Meghan at Sweet Heirloom Photography. Many of the props, like the candles, scarf, and sheep skins were provided by Fever Tree, a local Salt Spring Island shop. From SALT we see MAAPS incense, The Fox Tarot cards, and Leaves of Trees hand cream, all small brands carried in-store and online. Jess is wearing an Aritzia sweater, Blundstone boots, Hart + Stone jewelry and a Wish You Were Northwest toque.
We love involving people and businesses from all over in our shenanigans both serious and fun, especially when we can work with them face to face. If you love something we do, we want to hear from you! If you think we'd be friends, we want to hear from you too! Let's do something awesome.
See you out there. #wereinthistogether
from SALT Shop - Journal https://saltshop.ca/blogs/news/collaboration-in-it-together
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