In this heartfelt and honest conversation, I’m joined once again by Kerry Dobson as we explore what it really looks like to co-create a meaningful group program.

We talk about the power of true collaboration, the importance of aligned values, and the beauty of building something new together—with transparency, curiosity, and care.

If you’ve ever wondered how to design group experiences in partnership (and with integrity), this episode will both ground and inspire you.

Speaker 0: hello, humane marketers. welcome back to the humane marketing podcast. the place to be for the generation that cares. this is a show where we talk about running your business in a way that feels good to you, is aligned with your values, and also resonates with today's conscious customers because it's humane, ethical, and non pushy. i'm sarah senecroce, your hippie turned conscious business coach for quietly rebellious entrepreneurs and change makers, mama bear of the humane marketing circle, and renegade author of marketing like we're human, selling like we're human, and soon also my third book, business like we're human. if after listening to the show for a while, you're ready to move on to the next level and start implementing and would welcome a community of like minded, quietly rebellious entrepreneurs who discuss with transparency what works and what doesn't work in business, then we'd love to welcome you in our humane marketing circle. if you're picturing your typical facebook group, let me paint a new picture for you. this is a closed community of like minded entrepreneurs from all over the world who come together in two meetups per month to hold each other accountable and build their business in a conscious and sustainable way. we all share with transparency and vulnerability what works and what doesn't work in our business so that you can figure out what works for you, instead of keep throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. find out more at humane dot marketing forward slash circle. twice per year, i host my signature program, the marketing like we're human, aka the client resonator program live. in a deep dive into the seven p's of the humane marketing mandala, you will learn to market from within. this program is for you if you want and need to get more clients, but want to share your message in an ethical and humane way. if you want to make a difference with your work. if you are just starting out, or if you have been in business for a while, but haven't really found the marketing activities that work for you. or also, if you are pivoting your business from business as usual to your life's work and want to radically change the way you get clients. find out more at humane dot marketing forward slash program. and finally, if you prefer one on one support from me, my humane business coaching could be just what you need, whether it's for your marketing, sales, general business building, or help with your big idea like writing a book. i'd love to share my brain and my heart with you together with my almost twenty years business experience and help you grow a sustainable business that is joyful and sustainable. if you love this podcast, wait until i show you my mama bear qualities as my one on one client. find out more at humane dot marketing forward slash coaching.

Speaker 1: hi, friends. welcome back. today, i'm kicking off a little bonus series of short episodes that fit the p of partnership. as always, if you're familiar of the show, you already know that i'm organizing the conversations here around the seven p's of the humane marketing mandala. and if you're new here and don't know what kind of mandala i'm talking about, well, you can download your one page marketing plan with the seven p's of humane marketing that come in the form of a mandala. and you can do that at humane.marketing forward slash one page, the number one, and the word page. and this comes with seven email prompts to really help you reflect around these seven p's for your business. so, again, this conversation really fits the p of partnership. so you've heard carrie dobson before in episode 213. and if you haven't listened to that one yet, i highly recommend it. we talk about meaningful groups and whether having a group program is a good next step for you. you can go to humane.marketing/hm213 if you haven't heard that episode yet. so carrie and i hosted a collab workshop together and really felt a strong synergy forming, so we thought we'd follow that thread, especially when i told carrie i was ready to create a new program based on the selling like we're human book called how to sell in 2026 and beyond. because just as a refresher, carrie is a small group specialist who focuses on creating meaningful group programs. so we decided to partner on this new bro program that i will kick off with a beta group in november. and carrie will actually join the program as a co facilitator and infuse her long experience with making groups impactful and transformational. and so we thought it would be fun to share how we prepare this collaboration and build this program together live here on the podcast for you to take part of the behind the scenes. and, of course, if you're intrigued about selling in 2026 and beyond, it would be amazing to have you in this beta group. i'll be posting these conversations as bonus episodes, so make sure you're subscribed to the show to get notified about the following convos. not all of them will make it to social media. so, uh, it's best to be subscribed so you get notified. and of course, if you have any questions that you would like us to address, you can reach out to either me or carrie directly. so here's the recording of our first conversation.

Kerry: and our goal for this session is just to actually talk about the collaboration as a whole and kind of go through the guiding questions, um, and just kind of explore the collaborative part of it. um, and then we can kind of talk about next steps a little bit more about where we go from here. does that sound good?

Sarah: yeah. sounds great. and i think why not share this as well? i mean

Kerry: totally. right? yeah. no. i it's it's more of, like, how to contextualize it or put it in. so, yeah, it's not a yeah. so we what i did was i shared with you kind of my what i call the five guiding questions for collaboration, which are just starting questions yeah. for people who are looking to collaborate. i created it specifically for people looking to collaborate around groups, but it works for any collaboration.

Sarah: mhmm.

Kerry: so i guess what my first kind of question to you is, as you're coming into this, kind of having considered those questions, how are you feeling? what's going on? where are you at?

Sarah: yeah. i think it's just a nice idea to, you know, to have a conversation about, uh, the collaboration. and and and like we discussed when we talked last time, it's like, how do we make this a win win? that is, like, really important, um, for me so that we're both clear and that this can be very harmonious. you know, like the last thing i think we both want is some kind of injustice that we feel like, oh, this is not so just, you know, making it all clear at the beginning, i think is so key.

Kerry: yeah. yeah. i that that's for me, too, is that idea of when we do anything, we're having thoughts, we're having feelings, and yet we're not always super conscious and super clear at the beginning of a collaboration. because i know for me, i'm i'm a very positive, like, oh, i can see i can see the potential in everything. and going through this helps me to really slow it down a little bit and capture that excitement and capture what's really important to me, but also allow space and time to kind of say, like, what what am i worried about? like, what what is it that's happening that maybe i'm not fully conscious of, but it gives me that opportunity to do it?

Sarah: yes. yeah. very good.

Kerry: um, i have to

Sarah: say mature, you know, it's like, oh, we're like super mature human beings

Kerry: here. totally. and and we're acknowledging that we're human in this. right? and that that as we do this, you know, like, i the the story i make up is, you know, this is your body of work. this is a really important offer that you want to bring to your community, and there's a preciousness around that. and so, you know, inviting someone in both from the creation standpoint, but also a potential opportunity to co lead, you know, there's there's risks with that or there's perceived risks. right? and so, um, just acknowledging that that's part of what happens, i think, is yeah. super important. exactly. mhmm. very cool. so do you wanna go through each of the questions and we can just kind of share our answers?

Sarah: yeah. let's do that.

Kerry: very cool. okay. so the first one is, what is the goal of this collaboration and the experience as a whole?

Sarah: yeah. so what we why this came up is because, uh, i'm, uh, working on a new program called how to sell in 2026 and beyond. and just wanting to take this group experience to an even deeper level. and, you know, yes, enjoying each other's company already through the collab workshop and the the podcast and just realizing we have shared values. there's things that i can learn from you. and, um, so, yeah, that's how we entered this conversation about the the collaboration. and i see what i can win. so, yes, hopefully, an even deeper experience for the the participants, uh, also for myself and just, you know, having someone else co lead. i mean, that's the that's that's fun. i mean, at this stage in life, all i want is to do good work and also have some fun.

Kerry: so, um, yeah. yeah. do good work. have some fun. i like that. i can sign up for that.

Sarah: yeah. a...