Partnerships on Purpose: What Partnerships Really Mean in Business

Welcome to the very first episode of Partnerships on Purpose! Marie Mack and Anne-Marie Pasquino break down what partnerships actually mean (hint: not corporate deals or sales tactics) and why they’re one of the most powerful ways to grow your business.

From corporate sponsorships to online entrepreneurship, they share their journeys, how they built their own partnership, and why the future of business is rooted in real relationships, trust, and intentional collaboration.

If partnerships have ever felt forced or confusing, this episode will completely shift your perspective

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:52

All right, welcome everyone to our very first episode of Partnerships on Purpose. Um, today is an exciting day because we get to welcome you to our podcast with our very, very first episode. So today is gonna be Anne Marie and I. We're just gonna lay it all out there like, why did this get started? Where are we coming from? Why you should even listen to us in the first place. Um, in the future, you're gonna see more and more guests coming on, but it's always good to lay some foundation and know who you're hearing from. So um, my name is Marie Mack. I have my beautiful and wonderful partner, Anne-Marie Pisquino, with us. Anne-Marie, say hi. Hey everyone. Hey Marie. Um, I'm sure as you guys listen to us in the coming months, you'll get a little bit more of our personality. I love to kick us off and I love to talk a little bit about the whys behind different topics and episodes. So today we're gonna talk a little bit about where we're coming from, um, why we're here in the first place, and some ideas that we're coming to the table with. Uh, partnerships is a huge word. If you have been inside of business at all, you've probably heard about partnerships. Um, if you've been in the online world like myself, I have a very different view. If you're coming from corporate like Anne-Marie, you have a very different perception of what partnerships are. So today we're gonna share what we think partnerships are and why we are doing this podcast in the first place. So, first thing is that um for years, Anne-Marie and I have seen partnerships done in a certain way that we didn't really super love. Um, and we decided to kind of break the mold a little bit with some online partnership conversations and do it differently. So you're gonna hear some different ideas. Um, you're gonna hear from people who we think are doing partnerships great. And then you're also gonna hear some concepts and ideas from ourselves that hopefully opens up your mindset a little bit. So, first things first is um we just want to talk about true what's happening now tactics inside of the online uh business world, inside of entrepreneurship. And then also um talk about things that are hard. Like not all partnerships go really, really super well. And what do we do with those? Because obviously every opportunity as entrepreneurs is a learning opportunity for sure. Um, and then they can also be turned into something really amazing. So um we'll go through that. But first off, Anne-Marie, I'm gonna pass it over to you. Just share a little bit about your background, where you're coming in from, um, and then I'll take it from there.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Thanks, Marie. Thanks for the setup. Um so I am Anne Marie Pisquino, and my background, I spend the most part of my career in corporate. So I was in corporate for 20 plus years, like Marie said. Um, and I was um primarily focused on sponsorships and events um in the corporate world. So managing um for a major loyalty program here based in Canada and running all of their events and sponsorships. In 2020, uh sorry, in 2019, I decided to leave the corporate world and venture off into uh doing my own thing, which was very exciting. So I launched my first business on January 1st of 2020 and just um decided to do sponsorships and events and then COVID hit. Um so March 2020 hit, um, and it just basically uh changed everybody's world. So um I spent the most part of 2020 just um, you know, looking into what am I gonna do? Um, where are their opportunities? And that's kind of when I've entered into the online business world. Um, I knew nothing about the online business world. I knew basically you can hire a VA, um, and that was about it. So um in March of 2021, I launched a new business focused on the online business uh world, and um, and that's where I met Murray. So that was the beginning, the beginning of many amazing things.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Yeah, I love it. I have a question because I don't know if I've asked you this before. Like, what made you think that you're you wanted to leave a corporate job and start something new? Like, this is a completely uncharted territory, and it probably is pretty scary. So was there like I never asked you why did you do that in the first place? Like, there's a cushy job. Why would you leave that?

SPEAKER_00 5:24

I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, I always wanted to venture out and do my own thing. Um, but like you said, it was very scary, right? You're leaving um the corporate world where you have the comfort of knowing that you're gonna receive a paycheck um every two weeks or every month. You have benefits, you have everything, you have paid vacation. Um, the company that I was working for had done um had basically done full circle and was being acquired by um a major airline. Um, and for me, it meant I was going back to where I started. Um, and because I worked for the same company for 20 years, I thought I had I had done, you know, what I needed to do. And it was now time for me to step away. It was scary, it was super scary. And um, but I knew I could do it. And it was just kind of like this was my time. It was my time to jump out. And I said, you know what? If it works, it works. If it doesn't work, I'll figure it out like I always do. So, and knock on one. It's worked so far because I've been doing it for the past six years. Oh my gosh, I love that.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

And I think it is scary, and it's also like anything new is kind of scary. And then there's also, like you said, there's this faith that we need to have in ourselves to do something a little bit different. Um, obviously, starting a business is kind of a big thing, but then when we think about it in the partnership world, it's around like reaching out to somebody who might be right outside your grasp, right? Like that big, big partner, or saying yes to somebody, you're like, I'm not exactly sure how this is going to work out, but I have faith and I know that I'll figure it out. Um, I I think that's a common theme in our business, you know, um, where we're like, this is gonna work. We know it's gonna work. Um, and if we have that throughout conversations and we have that throughout um building business, then it does. It's gonna work out. And like I said, even if it doesn't, there's a lesson in there and we can take those things and it's it's awesome. Um, thank you for sharing your story. I love it so much. It's such a fun one. Um, I'll share a little bit about my background. So I uh my first job out of college was as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the US Army. Um, that was a lot of fun. I feel like it was a lifetime ago. Um, but in that space, I did learn a lot about uh leadership. I learned a lot about myself. Um, I learned a lot about operations and systems and processes. Um, in my world as a helicopter pilot, like checklists saves lives. And Marie hears this all the time for me. I'm like, create the checklist, put it in the SOP. Why would we do it more than once without writing it down? Um, so my my whole world comes in with uh processes and systems. And we've leaned a lot on that with our follow-up processes, how we like to do things as a business, doing what you say you're gonna do. All these things kind of stem from that background. Um, I started my first business online after I had two kids. Um I was a stay-at-home mom, my kids were two and four years old, and I was like, I love this, right? And I really needed some kind of outlet. So I started my first business in 2014 online, really just got out there and started a blog. In 2014, in my world, everybody was blogging, and it was an outlet, and it was very much so do it at nap time after the kids went to bed. It was a hobby. Um, and then I started making money from it, and I was like, holy moly, like I can pay for things, which was really fun. I was blessed to be in a relationship where my husband was working full-time, so I didn't have that requirement to make it work, and I really kind of found my footing for a couple years before um I started the business that uh has evolved multiple times to what Anne-Marie and I run now. Um, and it started to get into partnerships because the operations side of me was building and supporting people as they were doing visibility events like summits and giveaways. Um, anybody in our entrepreneurial world will understand that uh summits are a great way to um grow your list and to get a bunch of people together, and it's where I saw the power of partnerships for the first time. Um, seeing all these summit guests coming together, promoting one event and bringing in um many thousands of leads at that time. And it was just like, holy crap, this is crazy! Um, and I love the organization of it all. Uh, I built that business up until 2025, and then in 2025 decided to dismantle it all the way. And um, Anne-Marie and I created uh partnerships, uh partnerships on purpose, the podcast, and then also powerful online partnerships, the business, um, out of that. And it has evolved into something that's been wonderful. So partnerships in itself is is about relationships. I think when we talk about partnerships, it's really just about creating uh a visibility opportunity. And and Marie and I come from a very um intentional and uh like I won't say heart-based isn't quite the right word, but just being like aware of other aware of other people and and how we can support them, and then the power that we have to either support or not support certain businesses based on our um our vibe of them and how they're presenting themselves in the world. Um Amory, I have a question for you. Is is more like because you come from a corporate world. So, I mean, when you started working with me, you were talking about partnerships and that you're like, nah, I don't want to do partnerships. So tell us a little bit about that story.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Um, absolutely. And it's part of my story, and it goes back to when I built my business and the importance of connecting with people and the importance of creating those partnerships because I needed to move my business forward. So when I met Marie for the first time, um, well, actually, I was doing a contract in her business, um, and then it was in events, and then she came up to me one day and she said, Do you want to do um joint venture partnerships? And I said, Absolutely not. And I remember that conversation as if it was yesterday. And I tell this story all the time because if people are coming from the corporate world, they understand. So, and I remember you saying, Why not? And I said, Well, I'm not qualified to do joint venture partnerships because in corporate joint venture partnerships means mergers and acquisitions. Those were the guys in suits going to really expensive lunches and dinners and doing the deals and flying all over the world, right? Um, to make those types of deals. And you looked at me and you're like, What are you talking about? And you said, No, joint venture partnerships in the online business world are very like it's very different. And you, and I remember you saying you'd be very good at it because you know, you you you have a background in marketing, you do you understand sponsorships, you understand events, you love talking to people. And I was like, Okay, but my fear was I was gonna be like a salesperson. And I remember asking you, I'm like, do I have to sell? And you said, No, it's a it's a promotional swamp between two businesses, and you just got to get on the phone and you just gotta make sure there's alignment. And I said, Okay, I don't have to sell. It checks all of the other boxes. I said, Okay, I want to know more. So I remember you're like, okay, you shadow me on these calls and we'll see if you like it and we'll take it from there. Um, so that's exactly what we did. Um, and I remember because you were working, um, you were working full-time in somebody's business at the time, and you're like, okay, come on these calls, and you were bringing on some clients, and and it was great because it was like you had everything like downpacked to the T. It's like, okay, you asked this. It was like a 30-minute call was like all mapped out. And I had like for the longest time I had my notes. It was like, okay, I gotta ask this, I gotta make sure I wrap this up, I gotta make sure, you know. Um, so yeah, so I started doing that. Um, and I loved it. I absolutely loved it. Um, yeah. And I I guess I never turned back. I just continued um, you know, evolving in that role. And I eventually took over what you were doing in your business. I became your director of partnerships, and then it was just kind of like, yeah, it was it was awesome. And and I think for me, it opened up my world to, you know, a different definition of partnerships because in corporate partnerships was very different. And um, you know, it was more about okay, we have partners. And I worked for a loyalty program. So partners like was very different. We had, you know, um a lot of different partners, and then we did sponsorships, and then, you know, we had business partners. So um coming into the online business world for me, it was like, oh my God, this is this is amazing. Um, and then, you know, obviously from 2021 to today, um, you know, joint venture partnerships has evolved, and that's why we've created POP and that's why we've, you know, put this business together because we've seen the changes in the partnership landscape. Um, and we know the power of partnerships, and we know, you know, um, where we want to be, what we want to do, who we want to do it with. So, yeah, so that was kind of how Marie and I connected, and that's part of I would say our partnership story. Yes, absolutely is.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

I love it. Well, and I think um there's a couple of things that came up for me. First, we've been saying partnerships, and you're talking about what corporate partnerships are. Um, I'd love to explain a little bit about how we see partnerships. Like, what is what does that word mean to us in partnerships on purpose? Um, and also like partnerships on purpose comes from that 30-minute uh, I won't say it's a script, a call script, but it was more like a call guide that Ain Ray's talking about. We share this inside of our uh community all the time. Um, it's one of the things I love to train on the most because conversations and relationships can be on purpose. Like we don't have to just happen stance, let things happen. We do need to be aware of other people and relationships we're we're talking about. Um, but partnerships on purpose of just thinking about that, it comes from that initial training and how to do it well so that you can move the business forward, so that you can move the needle that's happening and that it doesn't go on a tangent that feels like it's a waste of time because we get that all the time. Ah, it's a waste of time. People just want to talk, they just want me to promote them, blah, blah, blah. We'll get onto all that. But um, partnerships, like what does that mean to us? Because I think we need to just kind of hold that as our core. Um, we will definitely be talking about it more because it's it's like the center of um all of everything we do. And so partnerships to us is how two businesses work together to increase visibility. That's pretty much it. Like if we just look at its core, that's what it looks like. Sometimes that looks, do you agree? Yes, anything. Absolutely. Okay, good. Just making sure before I'm just like, yeah, we agree. You just follow. Okay, so two businesses work together to increase visibility. Sometimes that looks like um having a certain business owner on a podcast of yours and you're on their podcast. That is what we would call a visibility swap, right? You're borrowing that other audience to say, I will be showcased as a leader in this space. Um, what Anne Rie was talking about earlier, and then this was the 2021, 22 days of partnerships. It was about um promotional swaps. So we would say somebody has a lead magnet or they have some kind of freebie that they're offering to an audience, and somebody else has the same, and they choose to promote each other. So I'll take your lead magnet and I'm gonna promote it to my email list, for example, and then vice versa. And what that does is that gives both businesses increased visibility for the other lists. So, as partnership managers, joint venture managers that um Anne-Marie and I were working as, it was our job to make sure the lists were a fit, that the deal, that the promotion made sense on both sides and to protect really the list viewers. Because at the end of the day, it's about the people that are receiving that promotion. Um, so you have visibility swaps that are out there that are like list swaps. Um, sometimes it gets bigger and better and wonderful if it feels right. And Anne Marie and I are a really good example of that story, right? She was working with me as a contractor for many, many years. And then we're like, we kind of like each other, like we hang out a bunch. Um, I'm pretty sure I talked to Anne Marie more than I talked my husband. So it's all good now. Even though we've lived in different countries, literally live in different countries, we've only met once in person, which was a lot of fun. Um, but it has evolved into an actual business partnership where we are co-owners of a business. And that is another example of how do we increase visibility based on the different um needs of the people. So there are tons of other examples, and Anne-Marie and I get so creative, so creative with this. It's like one of the best things about our job is to talk with our members inside of our community and just say, hey, what what's the opportunity here? And what would be the best benefit for the people who are um you're being promoted to? Like what do they need and how can we help that? And um yeah, I think that definition will probably evolve um a little bit as we get into the following years of next partnership stuff. But did you want to add anything?

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah, I think I want to just take a step back because I think um we've seen a significant change in partnerships over the past five years. Um, if we look back at 2021 when you were saying yes, we were JV managers, we were, it was very transactional, right? Um, I would remember getting on back-to-back calls five days a week and literally just like booking. It's like you'd have the conversation, you check all the boxes, and then you're like, book, book, okay, great, let's connect in two months, three months, or after the promotion's over. Um, what we've seen um happen over the past five years is that shift from transactional partnerships um to more meaningful partnerships. Um, so people are being um much more mindful in terms of who they partner with, um, where they spend their money. Um, so that has been like the biggest change in partnerships. And that is also another reason why we created a pop. Um and I think it's the first time we say it on this podcast. It is pop. So our podcast is pop and our business is pop. Um so I think it's just um for us, it's really important. You know, partnerships are Marie and I are a partnership. Um, you may be promoting somebody and somebody may be promoting you. That is a partnership. Um, what's really important is um when you're creating a partnership, whatever that may be. Um, and like Marie said, we're gonna build on that, we're gonna talk to people, we're gonna hear from them like what does partnerships mean for them, all of that in their business. Um, it's about relationships. And and that is really, really important. It's relationship first. And when Marie and I started this business together, um, what did we say, Marie? We would always be friends first. Right. And we got that great advice from actually one of our clients, um, who I hope we'll have on our podcast because she is phenomenal. Um we're just gonna say yes, she will be. Yes. So confident. Yeah. Um, so it is it is relationships first. Um, and then, you know, it is about um when you're having a conversation. I always tell people, you know, and I always say my my husband's office is upstairs. He must think like she's she's doing something because I always say, let's go on a first date, let's see how it goes, right? So um, you know, it's it's thinking about what is that long, the strategic long-term partnership look like, right? So you start somewhere and then you build on that, right? And you can build on that in so many amazing ways if you're just open to having a conversation with somebody. Um, and that connection is important. There's a lot of people out there. You and I have met so many people over the years, and um, I think you talked about it at the beginning. It's uh we know who we want to work with, we know who we want to partner with, we know who you know we want to make introductions for. Um, and that is another reason we created POP, right? It's because we wanted to create the space that was different from any other space out there. So yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Yep, absolutely. And I do think it's important um that we do a little disclaimer here like we are not talking about Leo. Legal entities and partnerships that are binding and all the important things. So just know like if you want to take your business into a partnership to get all the right legal guidance. Um, I think Anne Marie and I, we took about six months to talk about like how are we gonna set this up, what makes the best sense for us. Um, and we do have, you know, legal entities that are out there. That's not our expertise by any means. Like, we definitely had a lot of wonderful guidance from several different people before starting a legal partnership. Um, and this is not about acquisitions, it's not about acquiring others. We we know a lot of people. So if you want to know somebody, we got a person. Um, and we could probably introduce you, but it's about how do businesses work together overall, how do businesses work together to increase visibility? Um, and we want those conversations to be intentional, long-term, knowing that it's a layer inside of your business, right? Like this is one way um to constantly and consistently get new vetted leads into your business. It it should go alongside. I'm gonna say, go alongside ads and other acquisition places for your lead gen. Um that's not our expertise either. Again, we know a lot of people that do a really good job. Well, our our expertise is inside of really amazing conversations and how those conversations can convert into making really powerful relationships. So um I hope that gives you a little bit more insights and um where we're coming from, how how we've got here in the first place, and then you know, what our core is. And the core is really about having good conversations with people and doing it the right way, and then some other important things like do what you say you're gonna do. Um, I think, you know, where we are right now in society, I know that we are in a trust recession, and I talk to people about this all the time. If you can't be 100% behind what you say you're gonna do, I would say don't do it. Like, don't say it. Now, there's nothing wrong with saying, hey, I would love to do X, Y, and Z. And I'd like to follow up in a certain amount of time to make sure it will work or to commit to it. Um, because the thing we see the most is people will start to degrade trust. And once trust is degraded, you lose that visibility option. Um, because we we do we rely a lot on relationship marketing and it's huge, it's big for us. And I think if we can bring anybody in this podcast up and over, it's to say, do what you say you're gonna do. And then absolutely be confident in that. And if you can't do it for some reason, or you see something that would be conflicting, be okay to say, I can't do this right now, or I'm choosing to not do that. It's better for you to say no to somebody than to say yes and not be able to produce whatever you say you're gonna do. And maybe that's a promotion, maybe that's being a speaker, maybe that's you know, in six months going to an event and and being um on a stage, whatever those different visibility options are. Um I I know I can get on a very high horse about this because it's it is so, so, so important. And um my hope is that Anne Marie and I are always the the the example of doing what we say we're gonna do. Um yeah, anything else you want to say about that?

SPEAKER_00 26:32

Absolutely, because you know I always I know I'm just gonna pass it over to you, which I'm thankful for. Um, I think you know what you were saying um was bang on. Um, there's three words that came to mind as you were talking, um, that I just and and I think people will see it and they'll hear it a lot in our podcasts, and even if they look at our website and all that, it's about being real, it's about being genuine and it's about being authentic. Um, and you know, when I get on a call with somebody, um, I know right away if there's that, you know, connection and if people are real and they're authentic and they're genuine. And if they are, then I want to know more about them. You know, I want to see where it goes. And I think, you know, if I think back about when we met, you know, um, those are qualities that I saw in you. And I'm like, this is somebody that I want to be connected to. This is somebody that I want in my life. Um, you know, so I think that is really important is like what are the the what's the foundation, right? What are you looking for when you're when you're meeting people? So um, yeah, I just wanted to add that and and keep that for everybody to keep that in mind.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Yeah. And I think that um I think that's just doing business differently and and not following some status quo of whatever's out there. Like um, online business is difficult, being an owner is difficult, um, being in partnerships, it takes a lot of um it takes a lot of courage to go out there and to ask for those things that somebody may say no to. Um and it's so rewarding, right? The leads that we get back, the the people that we can support, the um impact that we can make is all inside of having good conversations and good um good relationships. So uh we practice what we preach. I have, I don't know how many conversations every single week, not only um on our podcasts will bring more and more guests on, but also um in our own, in our own partnerships for our business and then in relationships in general. So we're in there, we're doing it every single day, um, every single week. And I'm so grateful because uh if this does, this pays the bills, like it's awesome, but like this is our job, and we get to do it, and we get to do it together. That's so true. So true. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

All right, so let's talk, um, let's tell our listeners um what they can expect from the podcast. So we did say there are gonna be some of these podcasts that are just gonna be me and you talking, um, which is great, but we are gonna have some amazing guests join us. So um it's gonna be conversations. We're not gonna do interviews with people if that's what you're looking for. Probably not the place. We'll have questions, obviously. We'll have lots of questions for the people that are joining us. Um, these are gonna be people that are gonna have different perspectives, right? They're gonna share their stories. Um, they're gonna share their stories with us, they're gonna tell us about, you know, how they do partnerships, the different types of partnerships. Some of them may be in the online business world, some of them may not. Um, we want to share those stories. So um I think that's really important. So if that's something that you're interested um in, please be sure to follow us and to listen to um all of our podcast episodes. Um Marie, anything you want to add on that?

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Uh I don't think so. I am excited to hear and learn from other people. Um I think it's always good to come with your own ideas about what is possible. I think when we learn from others, we kind of expand uh our comfort zone. And that's what I hope. I hope we get some really amazing um conversations that happen and see how people use partnerships to um build their business, which is huge. Awesome.

unknown 30:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

So I'm gonna say um before we close it up, if partnerships ever felt forced or frustrated, frustrating, um, and I've had many conversations with people where I've got on and like, it just doesn't work for me. Um, you know, please, please join us because this is the place where we're gonna talk about that. This is where we're gonna give you um the solution. Well, hopefully the solutions, um, but share basically our experiences, our expertise with you so that you don't feel like it's forced or it's frustrating, but it actually just comes very naturally.