The Break-Up Episode | S2 E26

Are you TEAM hide & ignore it or TEAM tell the truth?

Not every collab is meant to last. And that’s okay. 💔

Let’s be real—sometimes a business collaboration just isn’t the vibe you thought it would be. Whether it’s a social media series or brand partnership, you had high hopes. Matching energy. Maybe even a shared Canva folder. But somewhere along the way you realize… this isn’t working.

In this episode of Coffee Social, we’re talking about the awkward, uncomfortable, but completely necessary art of ending a collaboration gracefully (and professionally).

If you’ve been feeling stuck, stressed, or guilty about wanting to pull the plug on a collab—you’re not alone. Mimi opens up about the internal panic she feels when ending partnerships, while Jonathan brings his signature bluntness (and some very needed tough love 💥).

You don’t have to ghost, lie, or over-explain. You just need honesty, boundaries, and a little courage.

Pour yourself a strong brew—it’s time for the breakup talk.

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Transcript

Episode Introduction

Speaker 1 0:01

It's Coffee Social, the podcast, all about social media and business. And now here are your hosts, Jonathan Howard and Mimi.

Speaker 2 0:12

Langley, Hi everyone, Hi Jonathan Howard.

Speaker 1 0:18

Hi Mimi Langley.

Speaker 2 0:19

Why were you giving me that look?

Speaker 1 0:21

Oh, no reason. Hey, remember in the last episode where I was complaining because the cleaning lady was cleaning vacuuming when I told her not to.

Speaker 2 0:27

Yes, first world problems, it wasn't the cleaning lady.

Speaker 1 0:29

It was my neighbor.

Speaker 2 0:30

Okay, wait a minute. So they were in your house, or it was-. No, I could just hear him from he was vacuuming his car Wow. I wonder if he heard you stomping like a crazy person Probably.

Speaker 2 0:39

Can I tell you one time, okay, we lived in an apartment building in LA this is a true story, okay, and I bought an elliptical machine because obviously I wanted to get fit. I'm in LA, hello Hollywood, and we were on the third floor, anyways, I would work out on it, obviously, and the people downstairs, apparently they heard it, apparently it's loud, and they banged on the ceiling with a broom every single time I got on the elliptical. I'm like I mean, what do you do, do you?

Speaker 1 1:05

stop, you stop. It is impolite to be disturbing people in such a loud way.

Speaker 2 1:10

This is my apartment.

Speaker 1 1:12

I know I used to get mad when the people upstairs from me would have their high heels on. I'm like take your heels off. What are you? A nine foot tall drag queen? God damn it.

Speaker 2 1:22

I know, and it really does sting because you know, especially if you're in like an old building, I mean you can hear everything, everything, everything.

Speaker 1 1:28

Yeah, more than you want to know.

Speaker 2 1:31

Yeah, so shout out to all of our apartment livers I remember that.

Speaker 1 1:34

I remember that Absolutely, oh my gosh, jonathan.

Speaker 2 1:36

So can I? Can I admit something to you?

Speaker 1 1:38

What.

Speaker 2 1:39

I'm nervous about this episode.

Speaker 1 1:42

Why are you nervous?

How to End Collaborations

Speaker 2 1:43

about this episode? Why are you nervous about this episode? So you guys, as you can see by the title, we're going to be talking about kind of how to get out of a collaboration. We have an episode about collaborating and the benefits and all that, but there are some times where it just doesn't work out.

Speaker 1 1:55

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:56

It's almost like breaking up with someone, so we're going to talk about it, we're going to share some stories. It's going to be a fun episode, but hopefully informative.

Speaker 1 2:04

We're going to have a breakup episode.

Speaker 2 2:06

I can't do this. I can't do this anymore. Like if someone's trying to break up with me. I like run to my room and, like you can't do it.

Speaker 1 2:13

We're going to call this the breakup episode by the way oh my gosh we should.

Speaker 2 2:16

That was great. All right, well, here, let's quickly cheers.

Speaker 1 2:22

Yes, let's coffee cheers.

Speaker 2 2:24

And if you have tea or matcha. We don't judge around here. Cheers.

Speaker 1 2:28

We might.

Speaker 2 2:30

Jonathan, do you want to tell people who you are real quick, before we dive into this breakup stuff?

Speaker 1 2:34

Sure so when you're breaking up with me. My name is Jonathan Howard and I'm the owner of Success on Social. I help successful coaches reach their ideal clients on social media through developing their signature style and sharing their story Over to you, mimi.

Speaker 2 2:47

Well, hi everyone. I'm Mimi Langley. I teach women in business how to utilize audio marketing, and a lot of the times it's going to be through social audio, kind of like Clubhouse or LinkedIn Audio Xspaces places like that where you create audio-only content, and it's a great way to grow your business from the ground up.

Speaker 1 3:04

So and that's it, we're over, we're over. We are never, ever, ever getting back together.

Speaker 2 3:11

Oh, my gosh Taylor. Okay, she has to know that we talk about her every single episode.

Speaker 1 3:16

I know.

Speaker 2 3:16

Like she needs to be on this, okay.

Speaker 1 3:18

I know I'll let her know when I see her.

Speaker 2 3:19

Okay, getting out of a collaboration Now. First of all, again, we push for collaborations, we encourage you to collaborate because it's a great way to grow right, to build connection, all the things, and we'll link the episode below on the benefits of collaborating. But again, there are those times when it's just not what you thought it was going to be.

Speaker 1 3:40

It's true, it may not be at all what you thought it was going to be. Or you may just not jive with the person and you discover that a couple tries in. Maybe you're collaborating on Instagram and a few posts and you're like these all suck, like I can't do this anymore. Or on a social audio platform and you share rooms together and you're like I want to kill them. How do you get out of it?

Speaker 2 4:06

Well, my answer is you just run and hide, but I know you don't like it.

Speaker 1 4:09

That's not the best way. Not the best way.

The Importance of Honest Communication

Speaker 2 4:11

It's gotten me this far in my life. I'm just kidding, no, but really, jonathan, it really is breaking up with somebody and it's really hard for people to do because we never want well, not everybody, because there are some people that purposely want to hurt you, but the majority of people, they, don't want to hurt you. So it's like, how do you come across where you want to be honest and tell the truth and say this is not really jiving, but not hurt like you don't want to hurt them?

Speaker 1 4:37

Yeah, and I think one of the most important things for any situation is to have open communication. Open communication is going to be the key Now. This means that you have recaps after every thing that you do and just talk to one another and say, hey, you know, I love this, but maybe we can work on this. I love this, but this was really hard for me to do with you on that particular point. And when you have the open communication, it allows you to kind of flow through the problems a little bit easier. Now, if it just comes off as like you didn't like it, like after your first or second, and you're just like I this wasn't, just didn't fit me right, then you have to let them know this didn't fit me right, this wasn't right. It has. And you know you may want to play the typical line it's not you, it's me why that that that line is there for a reason.

Speaker 1 5:31

It's there for a reason and just be like. It just didn't work for me, this wasn't the right fit for me. I'm not it's. I'm not looking forward to doing another one with you. Oh my god, don't say that. You could say that, why not?

Speaker 2 5:44

if someone said that to me, I would like cry on the spot like I would be like mom yeah, like it would be like that, that's like, but there are some people that don't have a filter where they will just say it like that I would say it like that I'm sorry, I'm not looking forward to doing another one, so maybe we just don't do another one I can't see.

Speaker 1 6:00

I have to like beat around the bush like why do you have to beat around the bush when it's what you're honestly feeling like? If you're honestly feeling like, oh my god, I I hated every moment of this experience. You don't say I hated every moment of this experience, but you say, okay, mimi's giving me all sorts of like. You can't do that.

Speaker 2 6:17

You can't do that, that stuff that's for your diary.

Speaker 1 6:21

Okay, that's not what you say to somebody especially if you say, you say I hated every minute of this experience but you don't want to like burn bridges too, like that's something I've always been taught.

Speaker 2 6:31

like Don't burn a bridge, don't burn a bridge. If you're going to explain that you want to break up or end this collaboration, you have to do it in a very professional way. Yeah To where the road is still open. But if I don't want the road to be open, Well you don't know that, though I mean you do know it of roads involved.

Speaker 1 6:51

There's a lot of roads involved here and, honestly, if it didn't work out and it's not something that you're looking forward to doing again, you let them know. I'm sorry. This just didn't work out for me. I didn't love it, I hate you, whatever.

Speaker 2 7:04

Okay, what about just telling a little white lie? No, I think Never.

Speaker 1 7:10

It's never good to lie.

White Lies vs. Hard Truths

Speaker 2 7:12

Okay, listen, I don't believe in lying only when it's necessary.

Speaker 1 7:15

There's no moment when it's necessary.

Speaker 2 7:17

No, but I mean like not lying per se, but like using I guess it would be an excuse like just using something like again, put it on you Right, like it could just be like the schedule just be like. You know my schedule's changing like in the next couple of weeks. I just don't think I'll be able to keep up with this.

Speaker 1 7:33

Is that really what's happening?

Speaker 2 7:35

Are we like in this conversation? Are we doing a reel? I want to know.

Speaker 1 7:38

I want to know because that's to me. If that's really what's happening, then okay, that's what's happening and I get it. But if you're lying to me about that and your schedule looks the same the next damn day, that's going to cause more problems for me. I'm going to be like well, why did she freaking tell me her schedule was changing, but her schedule is the same exact thing? She could have done this room this week, but she's instead in the other room this week enjoying herself.

Speaker 2 8:04

Okay, but listen. So if you're going to do that line, if you're going to use that line, you really do need to change up your schedule. You cannot get caught.

Speaker 1 8:08

Okay, so you're just creating a lie and falsifying a lie on top of a lie on top of a lie.

Speaker 2 8:16

Listen, I know there are some people out there that understand, be honest and communicate. I know, but it's scary.

Speaker 1 8:19

Okay, so what if you're? It's scary, but it's easier than making up a whole other life. Now, I believe, are you the type of person that when you break up with somebody, you have to go and move cities and create a new life elsewhere?

Speaker 2 8:30

Yes, I have multiple lives.

Speaker 1 8:32

Okay, I feel like I'm on true you remember the MTV true life show?

Speaker 2 8:36

That was me. I have multiple lives. I've gone down to so many collaborations. No, honestly. Sometimes, though, with collaborations, sometimes they just kind of dwindle down on their own.

Speaker 1 8:46

Yeah, which I love those because it's like okay, I feel like we're both not feeling this, you know Well, because it's like okay, I feel like we're both not feeling this, you know Well. And that's the thing with communicating too, because if you really were so averse to the situation, chances are they weren't loving it either, because it's not like you're putting out good energy. So having that conversation it's not the end of the world, like they probably felt it already. They probably know that you're like well, you know, it's so funny.

Speaker 2 9:15

It's like I feel like and this happens a lot Like we just we build it up in our heads Like it's a bigger deal than it actually is. Like I'll be completely transparent with you, I've been in collaborations where I did not want to show up, Like I absolutely hated it, but I still showed up because I was too nervous to tell the person, and I did it for like over a year.

Speaker 1 9:35

Yeah, that's not healthy for anybody. No, because you're not showing up fully You're, you're miserable in the situation. They're probably like why the and it could actually hurt a friendship or relationship or potential to collaborate again, because they just saw you for a year being miserable and they're like, well, I don't want to work with her.

Speaker 2 9:55

She's miserable. You would never tell, You'd like you could not tell that I was miserable. Behind the scenes I was miserable and obviously that translate to you.

Speaker 1 10:03

know your energy when you're not the energy you're putting out in the in the room and the experience that probably other people can read, because you can read energy very well.

Speaker 2 10:12

Never read it. I'm a professional. Well, this is like a Mimi transparency episode.

Speaker 1 10:18

This is a Mimi transparency episode. This cannot go live. This is going live, Thanks. Jonathan, this is an episode that is really valuable for people? I think I think so too. You know what? We should wrap it up real soon.

Speaker 2 10:30

Well, I think honestly, we've said what we had. You don't have to necessarily like it's not like you're breaking up with, like a boyfriend or a girlfriend. You know you can, you can mess. I think it's fine to text each other in this.

Speaker 1 10:46

Oh, I think it's fine to text each other in this circumstance and have the conversation that way, if that's what you're comfortable with, because in most situations, or have us have it in a social audio room if it's a social audio breakup, why not On?

Speaker 2 10:59

stage publicly for everybody to see. No, by the way, we're not coming back next week.

Speaker 1 11:04

Yeah, so we'll be back next week. No, we won't. Bye.

Speaker 2 11:08

Oh my gosh. Okay, but real quick before we wrap it up. Yeah, how do you like not get into this position? I mean, I know that there's some ways you can't avoid it, because you really don't know how it's going to go but how? Can you sort of help set yourself up so that it?

Speaker 1 11:25

can happen now. This is one of the tricks that Mimi gives all the time Don't jump into a marriage. Don't jump into bed immediately.

Speaker 2 11:33

Okay, I have to say I never say jump into bed.

Speaker 1 11:35

Right, start off slowly, work with them once, twice and just commit to those couple chances of working together with them and then, if that works out, you can expand and do more. But if it's just once and it's kind of like, oh my God, this sucks so bad, you don't have to worry about breaking up. It's done, the collaboration is done.

Speaker 2 11:57

It is, and do you feel like you also have to like? I feel like on the other end, the person's expecting you to be like, oh, that was so much fun, let's do it again. But they may not be.

Speaker 1 12:08

Maybe they hated you too, and that's okay. They might've hated you, mimi, it's okay.

Speaker 2 12:14

Oh, by the way, I just want to give kudos and credit to where it's due. I actually got that like don't marry the person, just date them when you're collaborating. I got that from Tara, so shout out to Tara.

Speaker 1 12:24

There you go, yeah. So, and I think that's an important one, and other ones, I would say I like, you know, like check-in.

Speaker 2 12:32

I think that's important.

Speaker 1 12:33

Yes, checking in, having those check-ins after each event or whatever you're doing, those are really valuable because it shows you how you can do better, each of you, how you can do better, and really it says you know, this was fun or this was good, but it kind of maybe not do it again, you know. And then having one thing that I think we did really well on Clubhouse when we were doing some of these bigger like collaborations, like when you Mimi, you Mimi, you me and Jennifer Bassman like did that one room about over, you know content overwhelm.

Speaker 2 13:10

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 13:11

Yeah, like we had a back channel that was going throughout, not even, but before the event and during the event and then after, where we could kind of wrap things up and we could say, hey, that worked really well, maybe we need to do this next time, maybe we need to do that next time. So having open conversation, always opened, is good.

Speaker 2 13:30

Yeah.

Speaker 1 13:31

What else Mimi? Anything else.

Speaker 2 13:33

No, that's it. I would just say do the one time thing and see if you really do jive off of each other, and see how they operate and work in the background too, because sometimes that might drive you crazy how they communicate and all that, and if you need, to break up with me soon if you need to break up with the person. Just hire Jonathan Howard to do it for you. I'll do it.

Speaker 1 13:53

It's not cheap, but I'll do it.

Speaker 2 13:55

I will probably hire you. All right, jonathan, that's it.

Speaker 1 13:58

That's what we have for you guys today. That's the episode. There we go. I'm sweating. You're sweating. It's like oof.

Speaker 2 14:03

I feel like I was on the Maury show or what's one of those.

Speaker 1 14:07

Maury, jerry Springer or something. Oh, it was Jerry, wasn't it? It was Jerry, jerry, jerry.

Speaker 2 14:13

Maury was the one that said, you are not the father.

Speaker 1 14:17

No, ladies and gentlemen, that was this episode. So what do?

Speaker 2 14:20

we got to do. Well, they have to give us five stars.

Speaker 1 14:23

Give us five stars, visit us wherever we are on social media, and Mimi has a question for this one. Does she? She doesn't.

Speaker 2 14:30

Are you team hide and ignore it.

Speaker 1 14:34

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 14:35

Or are you?

Speaker 1 14:35

team tell the truth. Tell the truth. Are you team hide and ignore it or team tell the truth? You're going to have to let us know.

Speaker 2 14:42

Please you guys. We know what Mimi is. Let us know in the YouTube comments or on Instagram. We'd love to hear from you and check out the Coffee Social Library. We have a ton of episodes about social media and business, so definitely would love for you guys to binge listen.

Speaker 1 14:56

Binge. Listen, I think this is like close to our 40th one. I can't believe it, man, shut up Once we get to 50, we have to have a cake Shut up. With our faces on it. Yeah, okay, we'll see if we can afford that by the 50th.

Speaker 2 15:08

All right, you guys. Well, thank you for watching and listening. We'll see you in the next one. Bye everyone.

Speaker 1 15:14

Bye Jonathan Howard, Bye Mimi Langley, Outro Music.