138: How collaborations helped me grow my business without social media

In this episode, Jules White is joined by virtual summit strategist and coach Julie C Butler, who helps women entrepreneurs grow their email lists, visibility, and income through summits, bundles, and collaborations - without relying on social media or paid ads.

Jules and Julie explore how collaborating with others can be one of the most powerful (and underrated) ways to grow your business. Whether you are ready to host your own event or simply want to start getting in front of other people's audiences, this conversation is full of practical insight and genuine inspiration.

Key Takeaways:

What a virtual summit actually is: Julie explains how a virtual summit works - a free, multi-day event where guest speakers contribute pre-recorded trainings, and in return share it with their own audiences. You get in front of new people without paid ads or social media.

Summits vs bundles: Understand the difference between the two formats and how each can help you grow your email list. Bundles can be a lower-lift starting point, while summits offer significant authority-building opportunities.

You do not need a big audience to get started: Even contributors with no email list at all can participate and begin building visibility. The value you bring matters more than your numbers.

The relationship-building power of collaboration: Every event you are part of - whether as host or contributor - builds genuine connections with other business owners. Jules shares how a member of the Website Growth Club found her through a bundle two years before joining, and how those long-tail relationships quietly compound over time.

Why collaborations work for local businesses too: Julie shares how even location-based service businesses can benefit, both for attracting clients and for building referral partnerships with other local business owners.

Authority and online visibility: Being featured as a speaker or host across event pages, sign-up pages, and community spaces builds your authority and creates backlinks - increasingly valuable as AI search evolves.

Community outside of social media: Jules and Julie discuss why intentional online communities - such as Julie's Skool group - offer the kind of genuine connection and focused engagement that social media never quite delivers.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Join Julie's Event and Collab Growth Co community on Skool
• Get Julie's free AI Assistant to help you decide whether a summit or bundle is right for your business
• Join Jules' Website Growth Club

If you have been wondering how to grow your business and visibility without relying on social media or paid ads, this episode will open your eyes to the possibilities that collaboration can bring.

Transcript

Introduction

Jules White: Hi, welcome back to the Website Success Show. It is Jules here, and today I'm joined by the lovely Julie C. Butler.

So Julie is a virtual summit strategist and coach who helps women entrepreneurs grow their email list, visibility and income through summits, bundles, and collaborations without relying on social media and paid ads.

And we're gonna have a chat today about how to grow your business through collaborations and generally about the, the lovely possibilities of growing your business without social media as well. So, welcome Julie. It's so great to have you here.

Julie C Butler: Yes, thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

And I'm all about social media being optional, right?

Jules White: Yes. Right. J yeah, absolutely.

We're all there for that. Absolutely.

That's one of my core messages that I love to spread the word about is the fact that we don't have to use social media. If we choose to, then we absolutely can. Really.

So

Meet Julie C. Butler

Jules White: Could you introduce yourself, Julie, and let us know a little bit more about you and how, and what you do and how you've kind of got to, to doing this kind of thing.

Julie C Butler: Sounds good. My name is Julie C. Butler.

I live in Ottawa, Canada. And I, I kind of like, you know, over the last 20 years, it kind of like, should you, we all do this.

We go from one thing to another. I was a photographer and then, you know, network marketing and then back to photography, but then like I realised I wanted a global online business.

So, um, but more recently I've, I was like, I hosted my first virtual summit in 2022 and I fell in love with it. And then at the end of 2024, I was like, you know what?

I wanna become a virtual summit coach. And then more recently, I'm, I'm more like, I love all ways of being able to grow consistently through collaborations, whether that's a bundle, whether that's a summit, whether that's a freebie swap or podcast guesting or whatever.

So I'm, I'm kind of like focusing more on audience growth, visibility and all that stuff. So, um, and that's what kind of like I'm moving towards now, uh, being able to help people get, to help them decide what is the best fit for them or maybe help them get to a place where they're confident enough to host either a, a bundle or a summit, um, or, or maybe even just participating and all of that.

But honestly, at the end of the day, it's a numbers game. We have to be, if we want our businesses to grow, we have to get in front of more people and more people.

We have to grow consistently. And I feel that without social media and without, I mean, paid ads, paid ads is always another way to do it.

But if you don't want to invest the money and the time into paid ads, this is the perfect way to do it. Like, I've grown my email list like a thousand plus in five days.

Like there's no better way to do that than hosting your own bundle or virtual summit, but also being part of them can also grow your list significantly. So anyway, in a nutshell, that's me.

Jules White: Fantastic. So bef one thing we probably should start off with, because

What Is a Virtual Summit?

Jules White: Some of my listeners might not know what a summit is. So could you just talk a little bit in, in real layman's terms about what a summit is and what, and maybe the difference between that and a bundle or other sort of collaborative events really?

Julie C Butler: Sounds good. So they, they're virtual events, so a virtual summit is essentially like it's like a conference, but it's virtual.

And the best part about it is that it's, it can be all free, done ahead of time. So first of all, we need to pick a, a topic and a theme and, and all that good stuff that goes without saying for anything we do.

But you're basically having a two or three or some are five day event where you are gonna share with them prerecorded trainings, videos. Virtual summits, they come in different shapes and sizes.

Some of them are trainings, some of them are workshops. Some of them are, are just like inspirational like chats.

So they like, honestly they come in different like forms. But essentially during the three days that you're hosting your event, you share these workshops or I'm just gonna use workshop to simplify the, the, the chat.

But that you get people to sign up for like two or three weeks ahead of time, and then during the two or three days, they listen to the workshops, they can choose which ones they listen to. Um, and so that's, that's a virtual summit.

And then like the gist of it.

Jules White: So if you were hosting a ver virtual summit, would you be putting all these workshops together yourself? Would you have to create a load of workshops to do?

Julie C Butler: Right. So, um, so essentially you get,

How Guest Speakers Work

Julie C Butler: You get guest speakers to come in. So, uh, obviously we can host a workshop ourself, but it's just one.

But for a two, three day event, you are getting 20 different speakers, including yourself. So you have guest experts that you find, they come and they train on a topic that is related to your event.

And I always say like, what is it that you sell in your business? Make your event about that or close to it because then you're gonna attract the right people to buy your things or join your programmes or your membership or all that stuff.

So you're inviting these 20 speakers, guest experts to bring in their expertise in a training, and then in exchange they also share it with the audience, so they're inviting their audiences to come to your event. So it's a collaborative, it's a collaborative effort, even though you're doing all the work.

Um. Um, but we're dipping into other people's audiences.

So just as an example, uh, someone joined my programme a couple of days ago and I was like, awesome, where did he come from? He joined, he joined one of my virtual summits in 2023, and I could narrow down whose list he came from.

And so it was from someone that was part of my event. It was someone from her audience that joined my programme.

And I, I'm, I'm a, a nerd when it comes to data like that. I track all my things, all my different, like collaborations that I'm in, my summits and all that.

And so I know where people are coming from. Plus I use ThriveCart, which has the affiliate links and information, but I know from the data that I've collected that whenever someone, you know, whenever I get a sale, I check, okay, where did that person come from?

And a lot of times they come from one of my virtual events, but someone else's audience.

Jules White: Yeah.

Julie C Butler: So that's really, really powerful. And I always say like, your net worth is in your network.

Absolutely. And so, yeah, so, so finding speakers who are going to also, um, it's a team effort, right?

Like put in the, the promotion and promote it to their audiences as well. And then you're bringing in like obviously there's this a science, be behind the madness.

You want to obviously invite speakers to collaborate with you who you have a similar audience because you don't wanna have people like, this is a business we're running, right? It's not like, although some people do it for fun, these virtual events, but because it's because we wanna find our audience in other people's audiences.

Right? So, so it's important to, uh, also find people who are gonna also contribute when it comes to the promotion of your event.

Jules White: Yeah. Yeah, I guess as well, you want people that are going to deliver value to the people who are, who are signing up as like delegates, I suppose.

Really. Absolutely.

You don't want Absolutely. Because there's so much noise online that otherwise you can just end up with a load of noise.

But actually, if you can deliver something really valuable, then mm-hmm. Yeah, that makes, I think that does make a big difference.

Yeah. What you said about measuring your data, I, one of my Website Growth Club members this week was we, we've been celebrating a year since I launched the membership, and she put a lovely message in the group saying about how much she has enjoyed the membership and how much she, she's learned.

But she reminded me that she had found me through a collaboration, through an event that I was a collaborator on. So a virtual summit that I submitted a workshop for, I think it was, that one was around, it was either around Google Business Profiles or around SEO basics, right.

And she had found me through that, and I, I hadn't really tracked that and it had kind of forgotten that she had come to me through that. But it does just show the power of it really.

And that was from, it's 18 months ago. I think that I was actually, it might actually, no, but I think it might have even been two years ago.

It was the Therabundle, um, bundle and, uh, yeah, I, it was two years ago and, and actually she came on as a client a year ago. So, yeah, it's, it's,

Julie C Butler: I know it's really cool and it's really powerful because if we're trying to sell our things all by ourselves and trying to reach the masses or whatever, like, it's so much easier if you start, you know, if you're not, if you're not ready to host your own event yet, just then participate in events because that works as equally as well, you know?

Jules White: Yeah, definitely. Uh, there's a big online summit, um, Elizabeth Goddard's Christmas party, Lizzie's Christmas party, and I was part of that last year and that added a thousand people to my email list within just, yeah, I've been

Julie C Butler: In her events before too, and it, it's thousands. Yeah.

Jules White: Yeah. Yeah. Which is really exciting as well when you see that sort of growth coming on and people coming in, they're interested in the thing that you put into the, into the bundle as well, or summit, you know, so Yeah.

It, it's, there's so much possibility with it there. One thing I did want to ask you, I dunno whether you, whether you have any thoughts on this, but a lot of my listeners and a lot of my audience are people who've got like local location-based service businesses.

Can Local Businesses Use Summits?

Jules White: Do you think this kind of event can work for businesses like that?

Julie C Butler: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Because the thing is, is that I have one of my students, she, she is a local business, but she also has kind of like a part of, you know, she kind of has both. Yeah.

And she hosts in an event, because you're bringing in information or workshops or hers was more of a health and wellness kind of summit. Um, and it was, it was awesome because I, she was helping local businesses promote their, you know, their, their offers or their products and stuff like that.

So I really feel like it doesn't really matter, um, if, if you are a B2B business or if you're a B2C business, if you're a local, I think they all work because, and you know, like, honestly, like sometimes I feel like the more niched we are, sometimes we may not attract the thousands of people, but you're, you're attracting your exact ideal clients and that's what matters more.

Jules White: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Julie C Butler: I don't think, don't think that, yeah. Like, I don't think there's, there's any reason or anything that is can stop us from doing that.

And if anything, like some of these businesses may have a, a, a component of their business that is not local, right? Mm-hmm.

Like for example, I have, um, a friend and she sells yarn and she's opening up a yarn store. So for her, because she ships, right?

So because she ships, but she also has a shop. So it's kind of like you need the people no matter what, whether it's local or not local, but if you're doing it and it's more for a local-based clientele or people or stuff like that, I think it would work as well because it's the same as instead of networking in person or having an in-person event, you're just bringing it to online.

Right. Which is a lot easier for a lot of people because maybe some people from out of town like Toronto, like for me, that are like in, that would normally travel to come then they get access to this event without actually being there in person.

So, so there's different ways of looking at it, but I certainly think that it's, you know, worth it and possible.

Jules White: Yeah. I think one of the things as well in terms of like, uh, a big other benefit of this is actually if you, if it was a local service provider and you can get to know other local business owners, yes.

You may build some, you might not get a load of clients coming from it, but you might build some fantastic referral partners who then yes, bring clients into your business. Yes.

I say so maybe, um, could you talk a little bit about that, about how the getting to know the other people who are also contributing, how beneficial that can be to,

Julie C Butler: It's like, the thing is, is that it happens organically no matter what. Right?

Like, without realising you're doing it, it's kind of happening. So because now you're creating relationships with these people by just even inviting them to your event.

Right? And then if they're contributors to your event, whether it's a speaker or whether, uh, they're, you know, contributing products or, you know, offers or whatever.

You are just like building that relationship, that connection, and I think that you need, we need to kind of capitalise on that and go the extra mile. Like, because some virtual events, a lot of times the speaker will record a training on their own and submit it.

So there's no, there's not a lot of interaction face to face, but I know that my student, she was like having a 10, 15 minute video interview with them, interview slash getting to know you, kind of like, you know, coffee chat. So that goes a long way because you starting to build the, the, the relationship with these, you know, different people and some, some stick, some don't stick.

And that's okay. I mean, there's all kinds, right? Um, there's those connections that are stronger than others, but, but it's also brand awareness, right?

Like, more people are gonna know who you are, what you do, and probably send people your way or, and vice versa, right? By you getting to know your collaborators, you're like, oh my God, like, this is so cool what you do.

And now, because I know you, because we've had a conversation, I feel like I can send people your way, right? So, so there's all of that too.

But not just that, I think like you, you are building your expertise as well and your authority, because by bringing in these different collaborators, you're kind of like the expert at, you know, bringing in these people together to create this event that will help, you know, hundreds or thousands.

Jules White: Yeah, definitely. I think as well from, from thinking about people's websites as well, if you can show that you've been part of these events and you've either been a speaker or certainly if, yeah, if you've been the host, that really puts you up as the person who, who is the expert in that thing that you are bringing it together about.

But even just being on there and there will be sales pages and sign up pages and things for that, that actually then that information being out there online is really helpful. And especially moving into AI search, because anything we can do that shows we are an authority in what we do, and there's links then hopefully coming into our website for that, I think that's really important moving forward as well.

Yes.

Julie C Butler: Yeah,

Jules White: It's a, it's amazing. Even if it's just a small summit, showing that you've been involved in something like that, I think is, it is a great way to grow, grow authority in a business, really.

Julie C Butler: Absolutely. And I think too, like it's, let's not forget that it opens the doors to so many possibilities, opportunities like guest podcasting, being part of other events.

Like, you start, like the minute you host your own event, it's like you're a go-to now, you're an expert. We wanna have you as part of our event.

So the minute that I hosted my first, I started getting invitations, I started getting like invited to podcasts, being podcast guesting. And just because you're like, within that short time, you're like accelerating your success.

That's how I say it. Like you're 10 times your visibility, 10 times your authority, 10 times.

Like, like it's a win-win all around. It's like a package deal.

It's really cool.

Jules White: That's brilliant actually. Mm-hmm. And so, from your own, like in terms of how we are taught that social media is such a big thing and we've gotta be on social media, generally, that is the message, not obviously from people like you and me.

We're trying to sort of turn the tide on this, but

Why Collaboration Is Underrated

Jules White: Why do you think that collaboration and net and, and relationships, I suppose, really do you, do you have any thoughts on why it's so underrated by so many business owners?

Julie C Butler: I think that like, like it's, it's not underrated by me now because, because I've been in this world for a long time. But, but you know, like, we hear this all the time.

Running your own business can get lonely as a solopreneur, right? And I disagree.

Like I have friends all over the world, right? Like, like obviously I broke up with Instagram, but I, I still go on there.

I still see what my friends are doing because some of my friends, some of my biz besties are, are still on social media or, you know, I can talk to them via emails or whatever, but, uh, or Facebook or whatever that looks like, right? You still, but now I've got friends all over the place and it's so cool because, um, that is key.

And also like we, we can help each other thrive, right? Like, I always say, we are better together.

And I think that, um, being able to first of all relate to other business o uh, business owners, right? Having someone that you can message and be like, Hey, how's it going?

Like, you know, like just, just whatever. Like, it's just so empowering knowing that you're not in it by yourself, right?

And once you start collaborating, whatever that looks like, if it's, if it's you just being a guest on podcasts, that's okay, but you're already building the relationships. Sometimes I'll even, like, if I feel that I have a connection with someone on Instagram or whatever, I'll just send them an email, or not an email, but a DM.

And I'm not talking about a cheesy, like, this is what I do DM, you know, like, I'm like authentic, genuine, like message, oh my God. Like, I love your stuff so much.

This is so cool. And, and sometimes you can find things that you relate to, like, I don't know, like, oh my God, like my kids are this or that and they, or my dogs do this and that and whatever, right?

Like there's ways, if you feel like you connect with someone on social media, um, reach out to them. Like, this is the best way of building relationships.

Right? And you, for example, right?

You joined my Skool community and I don't know how, or was it in Kylie? I can't even remember now.

I can't remember

Jules White: How we met, actually. I could, I was thinking

Julie C Butler: About this. We started an authentic conversation.

Yeah, yeah.

Julie C Butler: I think it was maybe because I shared, okay, let's, let's share our podcast and if we're looking for guests, and you posted in there and we started talking back and forth a little bit like that. And next thing you know, we're biz besties.

Like yeah,

Jules White: Absolutely.

Julie C Butler: That's what happens.

Jules White: It really is though, but it's not, it's not me just following you and liking your posts and things like that. It's that real connection, that real human connection, I think.

Yes, yes.

Julie C Butler: And now you've been on my podcast, I'm on your podcast. You'll probably be part of my, my next bundle or few summits and all that stuff.

Right. But this is like, it, I feel that it's so important because I think that, you know, it's, it's the key to, I think also it encourages us and, and, and being able to have chats with business on, with other entrepreneurs around us.

It's, it's so important because, you know, sometimes, you know, you just can't share some of the things with like your friend or your husband or spouse, you know, your whoever, that they just don't get it.

Jules White: No, it's definitely different conversation and it's also things that you wouldn't then want to be posting about, but it's something that actually, yeah, if you build these friendships and build these relationships,

Julie C Butler: Oh my God, like I got a sale and it equals this, this and that, and whatever, you know, oh my God. Like, you know, like, they're like, uh, okay, what does that mean?

You know, like I have some friends that are like, what is it that you do? And then they're just not in that world, right?

No. So even if I explain it, I don't even know if it will make sense.

So anyway, but having the people that, you know, you're, you're building authentic relationships with that, you know, some are like, some are gonna, you're gonna connect with some entrepreneurs out there and you're gonna have, like, I have a friend and she's in the UK and, and once in a while we'll message and, and we're like, oh my God, how are you doing? How's business?

You know, like, you know, it's so hot here because I know it's hot in the UK right now.

Jules White: Yeah, it was. Now we seem to be, have gone back to April weather, which we didn't have in April, where it's thunderstorms today and all sorts of things.

It's hot one week cold the next in it's a lot. The creek ev like everywhere.

I don't mean to be British in talking about the weather, but you know, we are, unfortunately now

Julie C Butler: We talk about the weather too. I think it's

Jules White: Oh yeah. In Canada.

Absolutely. I think

Julie C Butler: It's a global thing, maybe. I don't know.

Jules White: Yeah, absolutely. So, um,

Do You Need to Be Techie?

Jules White: If somebody was thinking about summits and regardless of whether it was they were thinking of hosting one or thinking of being a guest, do you need to be techie to be able to do that?

Julie C Butler: Personally, I say no. And some of you that are listening, if you don't have a team, I do this all by myself.

Like I don't have a team. I do it all by myself.

Obviously now, because I've done it several times, I have systems in place, I have spreadsheets and all the, all, all everything, right? So I'm, I'm very organised that way.

Um, tech nerd. I'm a tech nerd, but I'm also a spreadsheet nerd. Um, but honestly, you, you can use the tools if you want to host your own event.

You don't have to have fancy tools. Actually, the last summit that we hosted, we kept it super simple.

We went back to basics. It was a registration page on my website.

I use ThriveCart for the checkout so that they can sign up and the affiliate and get affiliate links. You do need some type of form of, uh, affiliates, uh, unless you don't have VIP upgrades, which is totally also fine.

But honestly, like, and, and everything, the day 1, 2, 3 was on my website. Like I did not use any fancy tech or softwares or anything like that.

We can use what we have a lot of the times, right? So, and or vice versa, if you are participating and you wanna submit, first of all, the first thing I wanna say is that if you feel like you don't have a big enough audience, or you don't have, you know, you're not, you're not prepared enough, like get that stuff out of your head, apply anyway, because our recent summit, someone was a speaker at our summit that had zero on her email list, and we let her be part of the event because she had value to bring.

And sometimes I like giving people an opportunity to grow their email list as well. So don't let that stand in the way of you applying to be part of events, because they're really, truly, it's powerful the moment that you start showing up in these different types of events.

It can build your visibility like, and your authority, like super, like really, really well.

Jules White: Yeah. And I guess you never know as well what's gonna happen in people's businesses.

I always feel like that about if I, if I ever do any guest speaking or guest talks or guest training and things, I don't mind doing them for small groups because you never know what's gonna happen to that group in the future. Exactly.

And also you own, you know, if there's one right person in that room, then I'd much rather have that than a thousand people who then have no interest in then going on to buy from me or learn more.

Julie C Butler: Exactly. And, and because what, like if one person buys from you in the future, that is that one person that you would never, if you didn't do the thing it like, you would not have gotten that sale.

Right? So, so it's like just showing your face in different places is really like, and sometimes you don't see a result out of it.

Like, like sometimes you, you like, I'll be, I, I've been part of virtual summits where I barely get any leads, but to me it's just so much more than that because when you're a speaker at a virtual event, you're sharing your expertise, your your brand awareness. And even though they don't sign up for your, your freebie or whatever, they still know who you are now.

Right. So, so I feel like summits have a place, like if you are participating in summits and you get five or 10 people sign up for your freebie, don't get upset about that.

But that's okay because that's what matters is building your authority, being on stages. People will start seeing you here and there and everywhere.

That, that, I think to me, that trumps the signups. Obviously the signups are always nice, but, um, hosting your own, obviously you get all of them, right?

Like you get all of them. Yeah.

So, um, I feel that like hosting a bundle, if you are participating in bundles, those tend to yield more email subscribers just because of what it is. Right?

So

Jules White: What's the difference?

Summits vs. Bundles: What's the Difference?

Jules White: What's the difference between a summit and a bundle?

Julie C Butler: Well, a bundle is not, there's not, it's not like a two, three day event.

A bundle is a, a group of, I dunno, 15 to 80. I, I mean, you know, the one that we've been in had like 300 offers, uh, from different collaborators.

So all of these different business owners will, will provide something to be part of your bundle that is normally a paid offer anywhere from $9 to three, four, $500. I mean, you decide, um, and then you put them together that we go back to the theme and the topic has to be related to that so that you start attracting the right people, but then people will sign up for your bundle and have access to all of these offers within the bundle for a period of a few weeks or something like that.

So the last bundle that I hosted, it was live for five days, meaning that there was, during these five days, all of the collaborators get to promote the bundle and then everybody who signs up for the bundle have access to signing up to everything that's inside the bundle. I grow my email list, but also, so do all the collaborators.

So if there's like a hundred or 200 people that sign up for the thing that you provided to the bundle, usually the expiry date is like two weeks later so that you know people have time to download your, your offer, your mini course, your templates, your workshop, whatever, that you have included in that bundle. Something that you, you normally sell, but you're including it in the bundle.

Bundles are huge and they're, they're so powerful. They're a great way of growing your audience.

So if you feel like, um, I think that summit is maybe a little bit too much for me now, like, I really encourage you should try hosting a bundle because there are so much fun. And the last bundle that I hosted, I threw a theme on top of it.

Like, it was like Bridgerton vibes. It was just so cool.

Obviously I didn't use the word Bridgerton because it's copyrighted, but, but you know, everybody knew what I was like trying to portray without using the word. Um, so it was really cool.

And so I feel like bundles, they're just low, a little bit lower lift obviously. You have to test all the offers.

So like, I signed up for every single thing that was submitted to the offer just to make sure that everything is in order, it's working. I'm getting emails because there's nothing like hosting a bundle and then you didn't test them and all of a sudden you start getting emails because like five of them aren't working or whatever.

You know, there's some logistics to, you know, to a bundle.

But again, I'm gonna keep it simple. My next bundle is gonna be register on my website, sign up through my email, redirected to a website pitch where they can download everything.

Super simple. I only need a website if I decide to do a, a bump or an upsell or a tracker of, so type for like, I don't know, $9 or something.

Um, that will be, uh, using my ThriveCart checkout. And I'll just redirect after they sign up.

Keep it super simple.

Jules White: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's the best way to go, really.

So if somebody's thinking about, um, thinking about this, and this is sort of, uh, piqued the curiosity.

Should You Participate Before You Host?

Jules White: Do you think it's best for somebody to be a speaker or contribute something, something to somebody else's bundle before they host one themselves? Or I mean

Julie C Butler: No,

Jules White: Or even signing up for bundles? Like sign up for something?

Julie C Butler: Yeah, sign up for something and see how it is inside. Like, like study it, right?

Mm-hmm. That's, but being part of events also is a huge help.

And because then you are having the experience of an attendee and you know, like, okay, like this is what the host is looking for. This is what they're sending me.

This is what promotion in pro promo material they're sending me. This is like the communication that they're, they're doing, you know, you can learn so much by being part of them, but also you can learn a lot by signing up for them.

And there's no lack of bundles. They're everywhere.

So you can find one that you can sign up for even a summit. Um, but, or if you're like, you know what?

I got this. Like, go for it.

Like, there's nothing, you have nothing to lose. There's like no black and white and there's no hard rules in hosting your own bundle or you know, your own summit if you're a person that figures stuff out and, you know, a lot of times like ChatGPT can help us with all that. Um, go for it.

I say go for it. Why wait till the perfect moment

Jules White: Absolutely.

Julie C Butler: Host to host our thing, right? Like, just do it.

You, if anything, we learn so much from hosting our first events.

Jules White: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you can help people get started with that, right?

Julie C Butler: Mm-hmm. Yeah, so, well, first of all, I have like the Skool community, which is, uh, uh, great.

It's, it's juliecbutler.com/skool, and it's the Event and Collab Growth Code. I changed the name not long ago, so I just make sure, but it's a place where we can have conversations surrounding different collaborations that you can do to grow your, um, email list, your visibility, grow your authority, and all that stuff.

But I also have programmes to help people either host a bundle or a summit. So,

Jules White: Fantastic. Yeah.

I'm part of Julie's Skool community, and I would highly recommend checking that out. I have a, all of my communities outside of social media that I'm in, I have them bookmarked on my desktop.

And I, I know it's, it's part of the thing that I wanna do is be more active in those kind, those communities. But I love your community.

It's, it's really active in there, really buzzing, and people are in that, and they seem

Julie C Butler: To, I mean, you know, thats my goal. My goal is to be helpful, but obviously I'm a business owner, so there is like a madness to science, to my madness, right?

I'm gonna create a membership and, and all that good stuff inside the community.

But honestly, like, even just being part of like a handful of communities inside of Skool, Skool is It's a community type platform that you can, there's all kinds of different groups now, but that finding, being strategic about finding communities that you can actually participate in intentionally, and then people get to know you.

There's another way of getting people to know you. Then they come and join your group and you're just having conversations, authentic conversations with different entrepreneurs, and then, or you're answering questions like, like I had one or two groups that I'm in.

People were asking questions about summits. Of course, I'm gonna go all in and answer.

Right? So it's an opportunity too, right?

Like, I think it's like Facebook groups, but like, so much better.

Jules White: Yeah, I think I used to, I made a lot of connections through Facebook groups early on in my business, and I found them that they were really helpful. But what I love about these communities outside of social media is that you go there and you deliberately go there to spend some time in that community.

So it's not like Facebook where you just end up doom scrolling almost, or you end, always end up down that little rabbit hole, or you don't have a newsfeed in there. So actually you go into your, I come and I look at what's going on in your community, or I see my notifications from your community only.

Julie C Butler: Yeah.

Jules White: And I really like that. I think it's a, it's,

Julie C Butler: I like it too. I like it too.

Yeah. And also you're not just scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, right?

Like, and it's like super intentional and it's just really well built, like the notifications and the, the, you know, and it, you don't wanna go and like, so and so's group today. You don't, right.

Like, I don't have time, so I'm gonna skip this one today. I'll go back tomorrow.

The notifications are still all there. It is really great.

Like, I, I really actually do enjoy it. And it's been, it's been great for like just having conversations and people start recognising you. Right.

So it's the same as I feel showing up on social media, except it's more powerful.

Jules White: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

And more intentional. I think that's the big thing.

That is one of the things I hate most about social media is it just steals our attention and then ends up, makes making us feel crap afterwards. We've been on there for an hour and, oh, why do I feel so rubbish?

Because I've been on social media. Yes.

Julie C Butler: Yeah. I know.

I go on social media now, I'm like in the granny hobby era, so, so I'm like, I'm like scrolling social media now to see projects about crochet projects and, and I really like bags or, and blankets too, but like, I love sewing bags, so I'm like, uh, I love those videos that are like, you know, beginning to end and they, they build a bag. Anyways, I love that.

So that's why I go on social. I'm like, Ooh, what can I find today?

Right. See,

Jules White: I do that. I, Pinterest is my place to go and look for crochet.

Yes. Amazing crochet things.

But I'm, I'm finding, I'm getting annoyed with it now because there's lots of ones that are, I can obviously AI generated images and it's like,

Julie C Butler: I know,

Jules White: Well if I make that, it's not gonna look like that. Right.

Julie C Butler: Or or you click on it and it brings you to a random page. Yeah.

Like, those are so annoying. It's like this beautiful, and some people, I mean, this is a whole n’other conversation, but like some people steal other people's work to, and then they link their website. Um, so I found that a lot.

And sometimes it's frustrating because you find something good and I'm like, Ooh, I want the instructions for that. And then you click on it and it's like nowhere to be found.

Jules White: Absolutely.

Julie C Butler: Problems with granny hobbies.

Jules White: Yes. Stealing our attention.

Yeah. So this has been really helpful.

I definitely think that like the power of growing relationships and the power of collaborations in general is so undervalued and no algorithm can take that away as well. The relationships that we build, um, like just can't be taken away from us.

Julie C Butler: Mm-hmm.

Jules White: So I am, I've absolutely loved having this chat and I hope that, that it gives some inspiration for people for looking into summits and bundles of how they can actually use it for their business. Any like

Top Tips for Finding Collaboration Partners

Jules White: Top tips for if someone is wanting to start finding collaboration partners? Have you got any sort of advice?

Julie C Butler: Yes. I mean, obviously come and join my group, juliecbutler.com/skool, S-K-O-O-L, and it's, it's still a newer group, so not all the different collaborations are in there yet, but that's what I'm moving towards.

But I have also a, a resource where people can find Facebook groups where a lot of them are in to find collaborations to be part of. But also we're having daily conversations about ways to collaborate, ways to what can you do?

Like be a podcast guest. Okay. Like, and or there's different ways too, like, not to mention freebie swaps and, different things like that.

So, um, definitely I find that also sometimes a lot of people think that it's too much work, but it if you want your business to grow, if you want your money to grow, you need to get in front of more people. And this is one of the ways, some of the ways that we can do that.

And I also, like some of us, we, we wanna wait until we have the, the right amount of, number of people on our email list or the right audience on social media or have everything, you know, set up in our business. Don't wait, like launch your business with a summit, right? And, um.

Yeah. So I think just go for it. Like, you have nothing to lose.

And when I'm hosting a summit, I allow myself like nowhere to lie, six months to plan it because then I'm not overwhelmed. And then you, you have time to figure it out if there's missing pieces and stuff, or finding the right people and stuff like that.

So don't, don't be, you know, shy of allowing yourself a long amount of time to plan these things, but also go and be part of them because it's honestly a lot of fun.

Jules White: Yeah. And even just doing things like this, you know, I think we only, um, I, I, I, as I say, I can't remember where we met, but I've, I've definitely known of you and seen you in my world for quite some time, but it's only really about the last month or so, I think since I joined your community.

And yet we've recorded two podcast episodes on different days and we've had chats back and forth. So even though yes, if you are organising an event, it might take more time, but even things like podcasting, um, or just, just if somebody is using social media, if you don't have a podcast set up or something, just doing a live together with somebody organising these collaborations.

Julie C Butler: Exactly.

Jules White: We don't have to overthink it. Training

Julie C Butler: In someone's community. There's all kinds of things we can do.

Yeah,

Jules White: Yeah, definitely. I did a podcast episode with my friend Jo Bolton, and it was, it was about when Instagram became Google searchable and I was sort of saying, oh, well we can put it on YouTube and we can do this and can do that.

And she was like, no, Jules, let's just go live on Instagram. Don't overcomplicate it.

Okay. Queen of the overthinking. Really?

Julie C Butler: Yeah.

Jules White: Oh. So, um,

Where to Find Julie & Wrap-Up

Jules White: Julie, before we wrap up, I would love you to just remind us again of what you do and share any links that we can, um, find you. Where's the best place to find you?

Let us know about your podcast as well.

Julie C Butler: Yes. Yes.

So, um, I think that if we wanna hang out, I think Skool is the best place, you'll have that in the show notes. Yeah.

Um, but if you're like, interested in playing around with whether or not you would want to host a bundle or a summit, I have a custom GPT, that is like the perfect tool that you can have a conversation with. It's, you can grab it at juliecbutler.com/gpt and it's an AI assistant that will help you figure it out based on what you sell and all that stuff.

If a bundle's the perfect, if, if a bundle or summit is a right fit for you, it's really fun. I would love you obviously to join our, the community.

This is where Jules and I are hanging out and, you know, we can help you, um, grow, grow that email list, grow the email list. Right.

Absolutely.

Jules White: Grow the email list, grow your business. And who knows who you might meet in there that could absolutely have some amazing opportunity come up in your business.

Julie C Butler: It's really cool because Skool has this, this, uh, this map and you can see on the map like who you're close to. It's so cool.

And you're like, you look, and I'm like, oh, like we look really close to each other, even the same city. Like it's just making connections with different people as well.

And you're like, now you have something in common. Now you're like, you, it's like an icebreaker to building a, a relationship with like someone new that like actually lives close to you.

It's really cool.

Jules White: Yeah, absolutely. And we are all craving that real, um, that community.

I think so. Yeah.

Yes, absolutely. I love that.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Fantastic.

Julie C Butler: Mm-hmm.

Jules White: Well, thank you so much for joining me, Julie. This has been really great.

I've loved just to, just having a chat about how we can sort of use collaborations to grow our business. So thank you so much.

Thanks for listening, and I'll see you again soon. Bye.