Beyond Support: What True Collaboration Reveals

Oct 13

By Rachel Anzalone, Founding Member and Director of Strategic Visioning at The Prosper Network

The most powerful growth I’ve experienced in business hasn’t come from working harder — it’s come from working alongside the right people.

We talk a lot about aligned community — the kind where you feel seen, supported, championed.

But there’s a particular kind of magic that happens when you move beyond connection and into true collaboration.

When you actually build something together.
When their vision bumps up against yours — and you both stretch.

It’s not always comfortable. But it is transformational.

The Edges of Your Own Vision

No matter how experienced or self-aware we are, there are limits to what we can see from where we’re standing.

Not because we’re lacking — but because we’re human.

Our past experiences, our unconscious beliefs, the assumptions we’ve carried for years… they create a kind of invisible frame around what we imagine is possible.

And within that frame, we build.
We refine.
We grow — until we start to bump against the edges.

Sometimes you don’t even realize there’s a ceiling until someone else shows you what’s beyond it.

I felt this viscerally last spring.

I was at an event — not even one that felt like a major turning point at the time. Just a gathering of people doing meaningful work.

One session in particular caught me off guard. It wasn’t even related to my primary area of focus, but something in the speaker’s energy pulled me in.

As he shared his vision and the way he was serving his community, something inside me cracked open.

Not because I wanted to replicate what he was doing.

But because his clarity — the way he was moving in alignment with his values and gifts — showed me a new way of thinking about my own work.

I came home and couldn’t go back to business as usual.
My internal framework had shifted.

That’s the power of being in proximity to someone who’s operating at a different frequency.

It doesn’t pull you off course — it reveals a direction you hadn’t yet considered.

Three Kinds of Collaborative Expansion

Collaboration can stretch you in different ways — and each has its own role in your evolution.

Peer collaborations are your lateral support. The ones who are in it with you — facing similar challenges, moving through similar seasons. These relationships remind you that you’re not alone. They keep you resourced, grounded, connected.

But sometimes, they keep you comfortably at your current level.

Mentorship collaborations offer vertical expansion. These are people who’ve walked further down the path — not better, not more worthy, just ahead in a way that lets them see things you can’t yet. These collaborations stretch you into new territory, often requiring humility, curiosity, and a willingness to unlearn.

This is where exponential growth happens.
It’s also where your ego might protest the loudest.

Cross-pollination collaborations bring lateral expansion from outside your immediate sphere. These are creatives, entrepreneurs, thinkers who aren’t in your field — and precisely because of that, they help you see your work through an entirely new lens.

Some of my most game-changing insights have come from conversations that had nothing to do with strategy — but everything to do with energy, values, and vision.

The most sustainable growth usually comes from a blend of all three.
And the discernment to know when “uncomfortable” means expansion — versus misalignment.

Integration, Not Imitation

Here’s a place I see a lot of entrepreneurs get stuck:

You witness someone’s clarity. You feel inspired. And instead of letting it inform or ignite something unique in you — you try to mimic their exact steps.

But that’s not how alignment works.

True integration sounds more like:

What’s the principle underneath this that resonates?
How does it reflect or amplify something I already value?
What would this look like through my voice and model?
What’s actually mine to carry — and what’s not?

After that event, I didn’t rush to apply or replicate anything.

I let myself pause.
I gave the insight room to settle.
And only then did I begin to integrate what had shifted.

Sometimes the most powerful collaborations plant seeds that take months to sprout. That doesn’t make them any less meaningful — it just means they’re real.

Holding Bigger Vision — For You and Others

As you begin to experience people holding expanded vision for you… something opens.

You start to do the same for others.

Not from a place of hierarchy.
Not from ego.
But from a quiet knowing.

You see their potential — and you reflect it back.

Not with a blueprint or a list of shoulds.
But with presence, curiosity, and the kind of clarity that comes from lived experience.

This is what true collaboration feels like.

Reciprocal. Expansive. Rooted.
Not performative or extractive — but deeply nourishing, for everyone involved.

The Collaboration That’s Calling You

Take a look at who’s around you right now.

Who’s already holding a vision for you that feels a little bigger than the one you’ve been holding?

What kind of collaboration might stretch you — just enough to be clarifying, not overwhelming?

If you’ve been craving that kind of space — one where peer support, mentorship, and cross-pollination can happen organically and intentionally — The Prosper Network might be the right next step.

We’re building something rich and real here. A space for women entrepreneurs who are ready to grow their businesses without abandoning their values.

If that sounds like you — I’d love for you to join us. Join The Prosper Network right here >>>

Rachel Anzalone