Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello and welcome to three steps to consistent
collaborations. In this class, I'm going
to take you through my three-step process
to finding and joining a consistent pipeline of online collaborations and partnerships so
that you can grow your influence and your
audience and your business. So before we get started, I just want to tell you a
little bit about myself. I'm Jodie, I'm a
productivity coach working with online
business owners and solo printers who are stuck in an action due to confusion
and overwhelmed. I help them to get clear
and to feel motivated and to take quick
action and make quicker progress on their goals. And what I love most in the
world is yoga, reading, traveling the world, and also in my own backyard and
all things. Woo-woo. That's about me. So
this class is for you. If you sell digital products and offers in your business and you've never joined an
online collaboration before, but have heard how great
they are from others, maybe your fellow colleagues. And you've been wanting to
get started or even part of one or two or a few
collaborations yourself in the past and have
been meaning to get more consistent with IT. Side note about Digital offers, It's not always the
case that you need a digital offering or product to participate
in a collaboration, you can of course
definitely contribute or pitch one-to-one services
and things like that. It's just that in my
experience in most instances, a digital offer is
really ideal and sometimes often the only option
in order to participate. Namely for things like bundles and giveaways
and things like that. And even if you are
pitching services, having a free resource or download like a lead
magnet is often an ideal way to attract people
into your world, right? To attract that audience, to give them that
online offering as a starting point
to working with you. So if you're looking to join
a variety of collaborations, having a digital offer is
pretty much essential. This class is not for you if you're not willing
to put in the work up front to create a process
and system for yourself. Because yes, there is a
bit of legwork upfront to get this process in place and streamlined and to get
yourself organized. Once it's in place, you will have created momentum
and will need to spend very little time or much less time on this
process moving forward. This class also isn't for
you if you already have an easy and efficient
process for finding and securing
partnerships and collapse. And it's enough
for you if you're happy with the amount of partnerships and
collaborations you already have in your calendar. And also this class
won't be for you if you're looking for
marketing or sales and, or hosting events advice, this masterclass is
focused on finding, taking action on joining and being consistent with
those collaborations. And disclaimers. I want to
mention about this class. Again, we will be talking
about how to find, take action on join and be consistent with partnerships
and collaborations. The focus here will
be on planning, getting organized, and managing your time, and being consistent. Of course, as mentioned, we will not be talking about
marketing strategies or sales funnels or client
nurture sequences, or how to effectively
follow up with your new contacts that you
make during any events or collaborations are part of a
sales or marketing expert. I'm at productivity coach,
so I'm here to help you get motivated and
consistent and take action. So all of the information
and providing in this class, as well as based on my own
personal experience with collaborations and participating in various online events. And by the end of this class, you will know how to easily find collaboration opportunities
and recognize which one's are a
good fit for you. So you're not just joining any and all random collaborations. You'll be able to set goals
and create a plan that allows you to quickly take
action so that you can have a
consistent pipeline, that consistent pipeline of collaborations booked
in your calendar. And by the end of the class, you will also have a strategy
to get organized and manage your time when it comes to creating that
collaboration pipelines. So it doesn't take
over your life.
2. Why Collaborate: Let's talk about
why collaborate and all the benefits of
collaborating with others. Second slide. These reasons may already be obvious to you, but in case they're not, I wanted to show them out. So the first one is grow your business visibility by getting in front
of a new audience. Collaborations are
amazing because they grow your general following
and your e-mail list or whatever social platform or other online platform you are focused on growing
collaborations, showcase your expertise so that people can get
to know you better, get to know your
vibe, what you offer, how you work, if you are
the right one to help them. This also helps you to build that all-important know
like trust factor, your professional credibility
and your authority. And last, collaborations
give you an opportunity to expand your network and
meet new people in general, not just new clients, but also new colleagues
and online connections. So right off the top, Here's a list of some of
the most common types of collaborations
and partnerships. In order to plant some ideas in your mind of what's out there for you
and what's possible. So keep these in mind as we go through all of the modules
in the class so you can start thinking of more
ideas and thinking of specific examples and opportunities you want
to take advantage of. So there are giveaways
and bundles. This is where several
business owners contribute a digital product or offer
into the bundle or giveaway, and attendees can access
everything there, all the offers that
everyone's contributed. There's also online summits, which are very, very
popular these days. It's basically just online, either pre-recorded or live
interviews and presentations that you can watch
and theirs roundups. This is like a blog post or even just an e-mail
or landing page that lists several
different products or offers within a certain
niche or category. Roundup blog posts are very popular where people
will do that. There's also workshops and
trainings which can be like a joint venture or co-hosted with someone else or
a group of people. There's also online conferences very similar to in conferences. There's also a guest blog posting, podcasts
and interviews. Either you can be a
guest of someone on their podcast and be interviewed by them
on their platform. Or you can swap roles of hosting guests for each other if you have your own podcast. There's also takeovers,
meaning e.g. you and a partner will choose a day or a time on which you will each host or present
to their audience, you will host their
Facebook group, e.g. are present to their
audience multiple times throughout the
day, maybe on Instagram, you'll take over their
Instagram feed and stories and you become the host of that group or
membership or social platform. Swaps and cross promotions, meaning you and
someone else present your own content to the
other person's audience. So very similar to the takeover, you could swap blog
posts or IG posts or freebies and send each other's freebies,
your e-mail lists. Facebook lives is
another example. There's also features
view can be featured in various ways in places
such as networking groups, Facebook groups or
mastermind groups. Other ideas are
micro audio Summit, which are, as the name suggests, their audio only and they're like an online
summit, but microbes, so just a little smaller
and not as long term, just shorter time period, just a little bit of
a smaller version. Book compilations,
also being part of a panel or contributing
to advent calendars, which I noticed this past year became very popular in December, running a clubhouse
room with someone. These are just the
tip of the iceberg. These ideas, there are
so many other ways to partner and collaborate
with people out there. So I hope you're already
feeling a spark of motivation and excitement with
these ideas right here, again, just the tip
of the iceberg. So here's a summary of my own experience
with collaborations. Since I started setting specific goals last year and
implementing this process, I'm going to take you
through my personal goal was to have two
collaborations per month. Why Y2? So I wasn't personally
overwhelmed. I had been part of
collaborations in the past and I know how much
prep and work they can be in terms of getting ready for the collaboration
and promoting it and all that stuff. So I didn't want to
overwhelm myself. I started with a conservative
number of two per month, and I also didn't
want to overwhelm my email list and my audience with event promos in addition
to all of my own content. Because you do often, almost always have to
promote the collaboration. It's a part of the package, part of the deal, and it's
the right thing to do. You do want to highlight to
your audience when you're part of something and
allow them to join in. So April was when I got
started with this goal. And from April to December, I have been or what? I was part of 19 collaborations
and partnerships total, which is an average of
about two per month, which slightly exceeds my goal
by just one collaboration. 18 collaborations would have
been two per month exactly. I was in nine summits, part of two podcasts in
five bundles, one giveaway. I did one advent calendar and one Instagram joint
post slash carousel. So the results that
I achieved were about 100 to 200 new
email subscribers during each mid-sized
to large size event, which was most of them. For the very small events, I got about 40 new
email subscribers. And then the most
successful event that I was part of, which
was one of the summit. I got over 1,000 new email subscribers just from
that one summit. And I was shocked in a very, very good and happy way. And on top of that, I had about a 2.5 to 4.5 conversion rate on
my trip wire offers. So when I had promoted my
freebie lead magnet download, I have a trip wire offers, so I made some sales
on that attitude, 0.5 to 4.5% conversion rate. Which was great. And that's when I had one. And I really advise that
you do have trip wire offers for your
freebies and downloads. It's just an extra added value
offer for your audience. It's a win-win for everyone. And of course they don't have to get it if they don't want to. I'm not a marketing
expert again, but as a business owner, I can see the difference it
makes in the sales they make. And a 2.5 to 4.5% conversion
rate is actually quite good. And I really saw how I lost out on an opportunity there when I didn't
have a trip wire. So the steps that I
took in order to reach my goal, I thought through, first of all, I thought
through and set goals, clear goals and intentions. Step two, I started to search
and compile and organized a database as a spreadsheet of all the events and opportunities I found in people's names, people who were hosting, etc. So just all the data. I put it into a
spreadsheet to collect it. Step three was about
engagement and outreach. So I was connecting with hosts
and attending events and choosing wants to apply
for and just doing a little bit more
deeper research. As I mentioned, this is
a lot of work upfront, but now that I've done
that, that legwork, the momentum has built and
opportunities now appear all over the place for me and I don't have to go
searching for them. They literally like
up here in front of me and it takes just a few
minutes here and there. Add an event and information
to my database and just do some outreach and apply for the ones that
are right for me.
3. Step 1: Goals & Intentions: So let's get into step
one, goals and intentions. This is about what to do. Before you start your
collaboration search. You want to set
goals because even though you have little to no control over the outcome of events and collaborations
that others are hosting. Being clear with
your own goals makes it easier for you to
find collaborations and events that help you achieve whatever goals
you do have in your business. And you want to set
intentions because you want to ensure
you set boundaries for yourself so you
don't get carried away applying for all the
collaborations out there, which will lead to overwhelm
and being in front of misaligned audiences
and doing things that you are comfortable
doing in some cases. And so you're not contributing
all your products and constantly creating new products or submitting the
wrong products. And also so it's easier to recognize when and
collaborations just a good fit for you. And ultimately this
means you'll be much less overwhelmed
in the process. And it will help you later on, once you've joined
some collaborations in terms of deciding what kinds of content
you want to present and the freebies you want
to offer to attendees. And any trip wires and
upsells you want to include. It'll just help you. That's just to say it'll
help you tweak and refine your process and your offerings for
these collaborations. So first let's talk
about setting goals for what you want to achieve
through collaborations. So ask yourself, what ultimate outcome are you looking for
from the collaborations? Why is the collaboration important for you
and your business? Some general examples would be to increase your email list, to grow your e-mail list
for a specific reason, whatever strategic
business reason you have for doing that, or growing your income, making more sales,
to get more clients, to network and just meet new friends and
make new contacts. Those are just overarching
general examples, but that's the direction
we're going in here. Like how does joining collaborations help you
meet your business goals? Also, ask yourself what
specific niches, audiences, and subject categories are
you looking for and can you contribute to
and makes sense for you to collaborate on? You want to make sure that the audience of the person
you're collaborating with or the business you're
collaborating with a lines with yours and with your
ideal clients and customers. And obviously you'll
want to be speaking about subject matters
that you're an expert in and that relate to your
business and that you're contributing content
that's within your realm of expertise. So the subject, the content and categories
included with any, within any collaboration should fit what you have to offer. And third, ask yourself, how many collaborations Do
you want to be a part of? You can set goals monthly, quarterly, or annually,
whatever works for you. When setting your goals, remember that it does
still take time and energy to be part of and
participate within collaborations once
you've joined. And there's a lot of things
that need to get done, like the application process, filling out the intake form, which is in other words, sending to host all
of your materials and your bio and your headshot
and all that stuff so they can set it
up on their end. It also involves any updates or tweaks that you
would need to make to a product or offer that you are contributing to the
collaboration, e.g. if you have to create a
landing page, our setup, a new sales funnel or
an email automation. Even if you just have
to tweak those things, maybe you actually
need to create a new product or
create a trip wire, set up a thank you page, or a promo code. There's a lot of
things to consider, so if any of that
has to be done, it obviously takes time. Also, reading through all the collaboration information
rules and guidelines. Good hosts of events and collaborations
will provide that. And it just takes
some time to read it and understand it and
follow the rules. And there's also
reading and signing the contract that the
host would send you, creating and sending and posting promotions for the event
to your own audience. Also, potentially participation
during an event, e.g. in a Facebook group
that's dedicated to the events are going live somewhere answering
attendee questions. Some events will have
networking sessions, Q&A sessions,
co-working sessions. Obviously this doesn't apply
to all collaborations. This is just something
that happens in some of them as extras
for the attendees. A lot of this sort of thing
is optional, but ideally, you'll want to be engaged
in as visible as possible in order to make the most of the collaborations
you are part of. The hosts usually do want
their contributors to give as much as they can
as well during the event, which is a reasonable
expectation they want to provide as much value to the attendees
and audience as possible. And that's why they
set up these events. So something to consider
that will take time. With all of this, I
personally found that two collaborations per month was more than enough time
and energy-wise. So next is setting intentions or in other
words, your boundaries. What boundaries do
you want to set for yourself around
collaborations? So some things to think about. What rules are you willing to accept and not
willing to accept, e.g. are you willing to pay money to participate
as a contributor? In a collaboration or it will, you will need to
free opportunities. So a lot of people have a
lot of different opinions about paying or not to be
a part of a collaboration. I have personally been burned
by a paid collaboration, and that was because I randomly
found the opportunity, did not know the host, did not ask for any
details from the host about their past events and collaborations and
events successes. And as a result, I received basically zero new
email subscribers, which is my main goal and collaborations to
grow my email list. And this host was just
MIA afterwards as well. When I did start
asking questions about attendance for the event and conversion numbers
and all that stuff. But I've also had great success with a paid collaboration
that went really smoothly. So this is just a
note to ensure you do your research and
your due diligence. Get to know the host, understand why it's a paid collaboration
is super-important. E.g. are they putting the money into marketing efforts
for the event? Or they donating the money
to irrelevant charity or something else equally
important that makes sense to collect money
from the contributors. It's just a note to
do your research and get an understanding of why it's a paid collaboration. And I've seen people
ask and Facebook groups of hosts like
why is this pain? Why are you making? Why are you requesting
contributors pay? So it's okay to ask, also in terms of
setting boundaries, ask yourself how many
promotions are you willing to send your audience? They're often rules and
guidelines from hosts about the minimum number of emails
you must send to your list. Including dedicated
e-mails, meaning emails focus solely
on the collaboration, not just I mentioned
in the footer. And they'll often have a minimum number of
social posts as well, not always some hosts
and collaborations, you'd still have no requirement. They just say do what feels
comfortable and write to you. But there's often
rules like that. So know what you're
okay with doing. Also, what if applicable, is the minimum email this size, this is often not requested and doesn't
matter to the host. But sometimes it is, it is a request and to have a certain amount of
people on your email list. So this is just a
note to be aware of what you can and
can't commit to. And if your list size is less than what the
host is asking for. But you really want to
partner with this host, this event and feel
like it's a great fit. You could position your
listing agent if it's really high or other impressive and valuable
metrics to the host, you never know how
flexible they'll be and what they're
willing to bend on. But don't just flat-out
ask and just say, hey, can I do this anyway? Showcase what else you can bring to the table such as like, I don t know, 80% open rate, which would be like, Wow,
that's really great. That's a really engaged list, even though it's smaller
than they wanted, we can showcase It's
really engaged. The next boundary is
that what sort of participation Are you
comfortable with? E.g. are you okay Going live
or being interviewed live or do you prefer to do
pre-recorded audio and, or video? Are you cool with doing
audio and or video in the first place as the one you prefer one you don't want to do, or do you prefer no audio or video and only want to
submit digital products? Also, are you willing
to go live in a Facebook group for attendees
when this is requested? Just writing a post in
the Facebook group is often an alternative option or something you
could ask about. Are you willing to use the hosts graphics
for your promotions so they may not
be the colors are images that are
on-brand for you, but you almost always
need to use them as is. You need to use the
promotion graphics. Almost always as the
host provides them. So just know what
you're okay with. And sometimes there
are events such as ask the expert, networking, co-working, things like that, that are part of a
collaboration like a summit. How okay are you with
those sorts of things? Just know that upfront. And last Here is
what products or offers are you willing
to contribute? So do you want to use your
current products and offers, or would you rather
create a new product dedicated for an exclusive
to collaborations? It's sometimes a rule for collaborations such as
bundles and giveaways that you can't include one-to-one services like
consultations and coaching. And that your product
must be digital. And this is because services
in one-to-one sessions are time limited and you can only do so many of them by
their very nature. So it's possible to run
into a situation where you have a huge wait-list or a backlog of clients
waiting to work with you. And people want their gifts and whatever offers and products they grabbed in this
collaboration event. They want them sooner, they want them now,
rather than later on. They want instant access. They don't want to wait, right? So if you get a backlog of
clients and they have to wait six months
to work with you. It's not ideal. So that's kind of
the reasoning behind not including
one-to-one services. Also, hosts usually want to promote something free
to their audience and products are most often free for attendees
in things like, again, bundles and giveaways. Some bundles are paid. There's a lot of
free ones though. And giveaways are just that
giveaways. They're free. So because either the event
is free or when it is paid, the attendee pays one
heavily discounted price to access all the products
within the bundle. So just know if you're
okay allowing others to access certain products
and offers you have for free or at no charge? Well, products are usually free. The minimum value of products is often defined by the host. So know how much your
product's value is as well. If you do dedicate something to collaborations have
$1 value for it, because that's usually transparent within
the collaboration. And the ranges I've
seen requested most often are $29-100. I mean, that's just a guideline. It definitely varies depending
on the collaboration. Sometimes there are
extra rules and guidelines about the products
they'll accept as well, such as it can't be offered
for free anywhere else, or that it can't be sold
outside of the event. So think about
things like that and you'll learn as
you go, obviously, the different rules that
people come up with and what's most
commonly requested. So just know and
think about what you're okay with
and not okay with. Lastly, are you willing to contribute additional
offers and products like extras such as game and bingo prizes or an
all access bonus. Because often e.g. for
a bundle or summit, there will be an all
access pass which people can pay extra
for and then they get extra bonuses and
things like that. So some things to
consider ahead of time to prepare yourself and know what you're okay
with and not okay.
4. Step 2: Search & Organize: Step two is search and
organize your collaborations. So this is about finding and
compiling opportunities. Here are some ideas right here for where to search for
those opportunities. Facebook groups,
you're already in. Facebook is a great
resource and if you're not, you're not already on Facebook. I would recommend
joining Facebook for the sole purpose of searching for and finding
collaboration opportunities. It has a plethora
of resources and groups and connections
you can make there. So if you're not on Facebook, I'd recommend getting on
just for this purpose. You can use the
handy search feature at the top of each
Facebook group. And search for keywords such as collaboration summit
bundle podcasts, or even phrases such as
looking for speakers. Need a guest, things like that. Anything someone would
post to write up in a post looking for
contributors and partners. Not all the results you get will be for collaborations
and partnerships, but it is very easy to scroll through the results
you get and scan for those that are because
of course you're just searching for keywords that are very common
in posts that are about finding
collaboration opportunities. Some won't be, some
people obviously just use those words for other,
other purposes. But it's very easy to
scan the results and see which ones are opportunities you want
to take advantage of. Also, there are Facebook groups dedicated solely to speaking and
collaboration opportunities. And you can use the general Facebook search
bar to find groups like these to join and use the same keywords as you
would in a specific group. Things like collaboration
summit speakers, to pull up a list of groups
based on those keywords. Again, keep in mind some of the results won't be exactly
what you're looking for. A lot of the results
will probably be for private Facebook groups
that are dedicated to specific events there
for attendees to join because they've signed
up for a specific event. So obviously you
don't want to join those groups unless you
are attending the event. But again, it'll be very
easy to scan through and see which groups are just open for people looking
for opportunities. And once you are in
a Facebook group, I suggest turning on
all notifications for those groups so you
see every single post and you don't miss a
single opportunity, especially when
you're just getting started and doing your research. Since most of the posts and
groups like this will be for opportunities and people searching for partners
and collaborators. So to do that, as of
today in Facebook, this may change at any moment, but I know right
now as of today, when I'm in a Facebook group, on the top left corner,
there's a button. It'll, there'll be a
button somewhere at the top for you
that says joined. And there's a
pull-down menu there where you can choose
manage notifications. And that's where you
can choose to turn on all notifications. So you are notified by Facebook of every single
post and then you can always change that
later once you're done seeing every single post. So let me skip ahead one slide. This is a list of Facebook
to get you started. So feel free to take a screenshot
of this or come back to the lesson later when
you're ready to start your search and get into
those Facebook groups. This is a great comprehensive
list of groups that I'm in. Most of these groups
that are dedicated to collaborating and
finding opportunities. So let's go back to one side. There's also the
Facebook events area. So you can use this
area to find events already happening or that
are already scheduled. You can add them
to your database and or attend them
yourself so you can check them out and start to
get to know the host and the vibe of the whole event
and see if it's something you want to look
at in the future. If it happens again, the
event that is just utilize a search bar within the events area and look
for similar keywords. Again, like Summit Conference, podcasts, things like that. You can filter for
online events and for in-person events if that's
something you want to specify, if you're interested in
just in-person events or just online events, be sure to check out the professional
networking category as well that is very relevant to collaborating
and partnerships. Also look within the
discover events area or use the discover
events option. This is where
Facebook will filter suggestions for you
based on your location, I believe, and your interests
and things like that. It just filters events that it thinks you're
interested in. So just click around
in the events area, explore and see what
you can find them. Next, you can join
collaboration and speaking directories in your
search over all, you will naturally come across
directories like these. And you just set up a profile
within that directory as a person looking for collaborating opportunities
and speaking opportunities. And you include your
business details, your bio, your area of
expertise, and all that stuff, all that information so
that hosts of events or people looking for guests on their podcast or
speakers can go into these directories and search for certain niches or
areas of expertise. They'll reach out to
you and ask you to contribute to their event
or podcast or whatever. And often on these directories, you do need to include a list of previous collaborations or events that you've been part of. So no need to rush
into this option. If you don't have anything
under your belt yet, any events under your belt, maybe get a few
collaborations on your belt first and then come back so you can include
it in your profile. You can always set up
a profile upfront, but having those examples
is very beneficial. And you'll see at the bottom left-hand
side of the screen, I've included virtual
summit search.com, which is a really
great directory and a really good place to
get started with that. So another option,
networking and simply talking about
what you're looking for. So this sounds really
basic and obvious, but we so often forget
to talk about and say aloud and to others what we need and what
we're looking for. So you'll feel like
a broken record after awhile as
you start to talk about it a lot with people and mention it to
those you're speaking with, but that's a really good sign. It means you're
talking about it. You're letting people know
what you're looking for. So just share with them
what you have to offer, the types of collaborations
you're looking for, and the audience that
you're looking to speak to. So just having a quick snippet or blurb that communicates
these things makes it so much easier for people to recognize when an opportunity is a good fit for you and to bring it to you
to recommend you. I've actually seen a lot of people ask for
speakers and partners at networking groups
that I've been part of just as we chitchat
and networks. So opportunities may come
up for you there too. You can outright post about what you're looking for online. So similar to talking to
people one-on-one about it, you can just put it out into the online social world by
writing it down as well. Again, like with networking, be super specific so
that you're not getting misaligned or weird offers
that don't make sense for you. Let people know what
you're looking for. You can also create a contact
me about collaborations here section on your contact
page, on your website. Because you never know who's
landing on your website. A really efficient way to communicate your
intentions to others, lets them know you're
open to collaborating. It makes it really easy for them to just get in touch with you if they seem like
a good fit for them. And bonus points if
you include specifics about what you have to offer
and what you're looking for. Again, so you're only getting
people reaching out to you who are a good fit
and are aligned. Then last on this page I
have Poly work and LinkedIn. So these are two great
sites to utilize. Pali work is a collaboration
network and really great for things like podcasting and content creation
opportunities. I've personally seen a ton of those sorts of
opportunities on Poly work, but I'm sure there
are a ton more. It's a huge network, online network dedicated just to finding collaborations
and partnerships. And you can also
utilize LinkedIn, a great resource to find very various opportunities and to connect with
potential partners. Again, just searching around. On the platform, you'll
find plenty there. So you definitely also
want to make the most of your emails and watch the email newsletters
that you're already subscribed
to very closely. Look for what I call
a call for speakers. Other business owners
will often tell their e-mail list when they're
looking for collaborators, when they're having an event, and when they are looking
for collaborators. Once I started looking for
this in my own emails, I saw them everywhere. Once. It was kinda crazy one, I just set the
intention and thought, Okay, I'm going to start
looking at my emails. They were everywhere, whereas before I just didn't
even notice them. So they're often at the very bottom of
the emails as well. Not always, but often they will be at the bottom as a footnote. Just look at the emails
closely all the way to the end to see those
opportunities. Also be on the lookout
for collaborations that your friends and
colleagues are part of. This was also used for me once I actually started intentionally looking and noticing and
compiling all the info. So often, your friends
and colleagues, if their parts,
part of an event or collaboration, they
will promote it. So that's why you'll
see it in their emails. And it will be something that's already scheduled are happening, but it's good to
have as reference and add to your database
for the future. Because if someone's
hosting one event, they're likely going
to host another event. Or if they're having
a podcast guests, they are likely
going to want more podcast guests down the road. So it's great to compile
that information. And also you can
follow the hosts that coordinate these
collaborations and events, the ones that you're very interested in joining
and participating in. And you can join their email
list if you're not already, not already on there and or
sign up for their events. So you can benefit from the
event itself as an attendee. And so you can continue to
follow the host and look for those call for speakers and other opportunities in
their e-mail newsletter. So all of this email business, this will create
some congestion in your inbox if you do start signing up for a
lot of newsletters. So I wanted to touch base
on how you can keep this organized in your Gmail inbox with a dedicated
label or folder. So I'm using Gmail. I'm going to reference Gmail and the process to set
that up in Gmail. I'm sure all other
email platforms have something similar if
you're on another platform. So I would, yeah, it'll probably be
similar to this. But I'm going to speak to Gmail. So first you'll want to create a folder called collaborations. Events, summits or whatever
makes sense to you. A folder dedicated to just these e-mails that you will be keeping an eye
on for opportunities. So as these collaboration
related e-mails start to arrive in your inbox, you will want to move them
to this folder right away. To keep them from congesting
and filling up your inbox. You'll choose the three dots in the top right-hand
corner of the email. So there's a little
menu pull-down from the three dots in the
top right-hand corner. You choose those. You choose filter
messages like these. And you're going to
create a filter based on the sender's e-mail address. So you click Create filter, then you choose the rules. You can choose Apply label. This is where you will
choose the folder that you set up specifically for
these collaboration emails. And then you just
choose skip the inbox. And this will send e-mails
from that email address directly to that folder
you set up automatically, they'll move their out of
your inbox into the folder. They won't delete,
they will just be filtered into that folder. So they don't congest
your inbox and you can refer to them later all at
once when you're ready. Just, I recommend
scheduling some time, setting aside some time so
you don't forget about them. To go through that folder
and all the e-mails. And you can edit or
adjust that filter anytime, of course, in your settings under filters
and blocked addresses. And probably, probably the most important part
of all of this is to keep all of this
info and data you're gathering organized
in a spreadsheet. So this will relieve a lot of stress and overwhelm as it's easier for you to find and keep track of all this information. You'll be able to reference collaborations you've
participated in the past so you can promote them
and highlight them two hosts of upcoming
collaborations when you need to, you can keep track of your upcoming collaborations
and you'll have that quick reference of dates that the collaborations live and when the
promotion dates ours. So you'll know at a
glance if you're open or not to accepting other
collaborations at any given time. It will also help you easily see if you're
meeting your goals, your monthly, quarterly, annual
collaboration goals, e.g. if you have a goal
of two per month, are you meeting that you'll
be able to quickly see that with a clean spreadsheet, you can keep track of
those promotion dates. As I mentioned, you
can stay on top of all your collab
to-dos and deadlines with a checklist on my own
tracker, I color code. The collaboration is based on if they are collaborations and part of and they're coming up or their collaboration is a part of and they're happening right now. Or they're a collaboration
I applied to and I'm just waiting to
hear if I'm accepted. And then those collaborations that I'm thinking
about applying to, but I'm not sure yet. I
keep those color-coded. So again, at a glance I can see the status of all of them. And on this slide, this is just a screenshot of my own collaboration tracker that I created in Google Sheets. So what sort of data just
listed a bunch of data that you'll want to keep on this
tracker, this spreadsheet. But to have a more
comprehensive list, you'll also want to be sure you have the product or offer
that you contributed. So you can be sure to mix
it up once in awhile. And so you can track the results for specific products or offers. Plus, it can just get really
confusing what you have and haven't contributed
once you start doing a lot of collaborations
on a regular basis. And even once you apply
for collaboration, between the time you apply, it happens, you will
sometimes forget honestly, what product you said
you would contribute. So it's nice to have that
all in black and white. And as I mentioned, you can keep track of your
collaboration live dates. When is it actually happening? The promotion dates, when is the promotion window that you need to do your
own promotion? General collaboration
details like any Facebook group or a Slack group that's part
of the collaboration. The sales page for it, a link to your intake
form, a signed contract. It's nice to keep
a copy of that. The hosts contact info in case you need to
get a hold of them for any reason so you
don't have to search everywhere for
their contact info. Also your to-do list and action items and
everything you need to get done because there are a lot of moving pieces with promotion, various events if
those are happening, the intake forms, contracts
and other preparations. Also, if it's something that
people are paying to attend, you'll maybe have the
opportunity to be an affiliate and make some
income off affiliate sales. So you'll want to keep your
affiliate info like your app, link, your dashboard, track
your stats, all that stuff. Also any rules or guidelines
that you want to remember or keep top of mind
for the collaboration. Also your total income and
payouts which can include affiliate income
and also any sales of your trip wires are
upsells that you do have and your final results of the collaboration is
something else to include. So whatever your
metric of successes, the number, total number of new email subscribers you
got from the collaboration, conversion rate on your trip
wire number of new clients, or simply just the number
of new contexts you made, whatever your metric is, it's nice to have
that again in black and white and laid out.
5. Step 3: Engagement & Outreach: Step three, engagement
and outreach. So it is time to take action and choose
your collaborations. This step is super easy now that you have
clarified your goals and intentions and have a
spreadsheet tracker and database for all
the collaborations and opportunities
that you have fact. So first of all, you want to be checking out the collaborations
themselves. So this can include checking out the application forms
for collaboration, details for contributing
on the application page, checking out the sales pages
for a collaboration already scheduled and for
which applications are closed that maybe
you want to come back to you in the future
if it happens again, ask yourself, does it
help you meet your goals? Does this collaboration have the potential to help
you meet your goals? Is it aligned with your
intentions and boundaries? What kind of content and or
offers can be contributed? And do you have what
they're looking for? Can you meet those expectations? And what are the rules
for participation? Are you okay with them? Can
you adhere to them also? Do have any questions
about them. Is there anything missing? Do you do the live
dates work for you when this event is
happening in live? Does that work with
your schedule? Promotion dates also work for you and your own
content calendar, or do they overlap with any other launches or
promotions you have? Also, you'll want to
check out the hosts, checkout and connect
with the hosts if you're aligned and impressed with what you see and what
they have to offer, or your audience's aligned
and, or complimentary. Do you share similar business
and or personal values? Have they hosted collaborations
or events before? First-time hosting is definitely not a reason to decline
or avoid an opportunity. It's just a nice to know that you have some
expectation of how it's gonna go and how secure they are with
leading the event. It's just a nice to know. Also, follow and engage with them on social,
join their newsletters. We talked about as I
track collaborations, I often see online colleagues as speakers at events that
are already scheduled. So I will reach out
to them and ask their experience with that collaboration
and with that host, if it's something
I'm thinking about, joining in the future are
applying for in the future. Also do generally get a
good vibe from this host. Do not underestimate the
value of a gut feeling. Ignoring that gut feeling
can result in a lot of trouble and wasted time if you ignore it and
plow ahead anyway. There are a lot of other events and collaborations out there. There are a lot
of opportunities. So if something does
not feel right, it's okay, there will be
plenty, plenty more efficient. And C is they say, bonus tips for connecting with these hosts. Get to know your potential
hosts, the partners better, or about pages or meet the whole sections of
their event sales pages. If you're looking at an event sales page and
there's no website, I like to find, you know, their social sites
and their website. Check out more
about them if they don't have that because
it is a sales page, so it's often a missing. They want people to focus
on joining the event. Check the FAQ at the
bottom of the page. There's usually a
FAQ at the bottom. We've got more questions. So the very last one is usually, Hey, do you Is your
question not answered here? Do you need something else? And they'll have an
e-mail address in there. So that domain,
after the at sign in their email is almost Always their main
website domain, right? It's their domain. So take that domain after the at sign.com and see if that works or search
for it and Google, it might be like a.ca,
dot.uk or whatever. Another cool resource
is Hunter IO. So this is a website I
found where you can search any business and it will give you back contact information
for that business. So it sounds a little creepy, but it's really just a search
engine and the information, this contact information
is somewhere on the web. Hunter IO is just finding it on the web for you in a
much quicker way than it would take you to try
and find it and sift through hundreds of
pages trying to get it. Hunter IO is a great
resource for that. Optionally, you can ask
them the host for stats of previous collaborations
or events that they've had. Only or further
podcasts or whatever, only once you've connected
and gotten to know them and, or your at the application
process, right? This can help you decide if the collaborations
meet your goals, are, can help you meet your goals and give you an idea of the results
you might end up seeing. Again, it's kinda out of your control when
someone else is hosting the event and it's
hard to predict exactly what kind of
results you'll get, but it can help you have a general understanding
when you know, sort of stats and the audience and conversion rates and
things from the past. But like I mentioned,
only once you've connected with this host or you're at the application stage, I wouldn't just reach out cold
and the Hagen your stats, That's kind of weird, right? Wait for that stage. But note some of the host's get so many applications and
are so busy with that. They may or may not have the bandwidth and
time to send it to you. And that's totally
understandable. It's not something
I've ever done. I don't think I've asked after an event what were
the results of the event, but I've never personally asked
before I joined an event. And it's something I
intend to do in future. So that's a choice you
have to make for yourself. I think it goes
without saying be genuine in your engagement
and connections with them, and never asked for a favor
or a collaboration of someone who doesn't know you reach out, get to know one another first and don't just outright ask, like I mentioned, for all their stats and
previous clubs or whatever. And don't just ask what
they can do for you. Come to the table with your value and what
you have to offer. In my experience
with collaborations, they've been absolutely
amazing experiences in general and super successful. And it's possible it
won't always be a window. So be ready to say no sometimes, especially when posting outright looking
for opportunities, like putting it on your
contact page or telling other people to refer
you or whatever. Or if you're joining
directories, which is when
people will then be initiating contact with you
and asking you directly, Hey, do you want to join my
event or collaborate with me? There can be that
feeling of pressure to say yes when someone asks you. So remember, it's
okay to say no. And some very aligned and
reasonable reasons to say no can include your
audiences aren't aligned, or you've already committed to too many other collaborations or events during the
same time period. Or you can't fulfill one
or more of their rules or requirements or their event infringes on one of
your boundaries, e.g. they're only doing live videos, but you prefer to
do prerecorded. So those are some, again, just very legitimate and
authentic ways to say no. Honestly.
6. How To Manage Your Time: Now, for some tips for
managing your time and staying organized on top of what we've
already talked about. So here's some tips. Set aside time and
block off time in your calendar each day or week to search for opportunities. Go through the Facebook groups, check your emails in
that filtered folder, all that stuff, set up the process and
block off the time. Start with a small number
of collaborations as well and a conservative
goals so you can get an idea of what
you can handle and what you enjoy doing without getting overwhelmed and in
too deep and over your head. As I mentioned in
a previous lesson, I set a goal that I thought was conservative of two
collaborations per month. And it turned out to be
my absolute maximum, at least for the time being. Of course, use a spreadsheet, as we discussed in a previous
lesson as well to track all that information and all of those details are
going to be compiling. And save templates and
swipe files for yourself, including things
like blurbs about your products and offers that you'll be contributing
because they'll, the host will request a
summary or a quick snippet of that describes your offer so they can copy and
paste it on their end. Your bio include a short
version of your bio and a long version of your bio that's often requested as well. A promo copy. I mean, you'll get swipe copy and have different copy for each
collaboration you're part of. But having a template and
outline can be really helpful and help you save time each time you have to
put those together. Also have two or three
products or offers ready to go exclusively
for collaborations. I have found having
products and presentations dedicated solely
to collaborations made the whole process
so much easier for me. I did not have to decide each
time what to contribute, and didn't have to worry
about any potential rules about not offering the
product elsewhere. And I didn't have to
create anything new. I had a little library of
offers that are just for collaborations that I
could choose from and it made everything so much
quicker and easier for me. Also test your sales funnels and payment process and
the whole client journey. Host of events will
often test your product, download funnel, all of that
to make sure that it works. But you should definitely
do it yourself upfront. Because that makes you
look professional when everything just works
right away for the host. When they go to test it, you
will lose leads if the hosts don't happen to check it themselves or no one
realizes there's a glitch. It makes it easier and saves time for
the host and it makes it easier and
saves time for you. Because when something
isn't working, it's a huge time
suck that happens on the back-end with not
just figuring out what's wrong and fixing it, but all the back-and-forth communication that
has to happen between you and the host as you
troubleshoot and fix the problem. So to save yourself
tons of time also, you should have a
general to-do list or checklist and a promo
to-do list or checklist. On the general to-do list, there would be things like
reading through the rules and requirements and
expectations from the host, completing their intake form, reading and signing
the contract. Anything that needs
to be done for your product or sales process, like creating the product or writing a blurb or
description about it. Creating a promotion code
needs to be 100% off. You may need to create
a code for that. Landing page creation. A thank you or
direct Page Setup, setting up the sales funnel itself and the
e-mail automation. If any of that is missing or if all that's missing,
that's a lot of time. Each of those things takes time, so just make sure you
have all of that on your checklist and
that you can ensure it's all done and you have enough time to tweak or set
up whatever you need to. Any participation also that's
happening during the event, like in a Facebook group
or Slack group going live, answering attendee questions,
networking sessions. A lot of that stuff is optional. But do remember to include things that you will be
doing on your to-do list. You want to be engaged
and you want to be visible to make the most of those
collaborations you're in. And the host will want their contributors to give
as much as they possibly can as well for the
benefit and value of the attendees
and the audience. On the promotion list,
there will be things like writing and scheduling
your emails, letting people know,
letting your audience know about this collaboration. I use a general template and obviously it needs
to be updated for each collaboration
because there's different information
for each collaboration. But it's a great
time-saver to have just a formula or an outline
to follow each time. So e.g. I. First talk about the highlights and then I talked a little bit
about the host. And then in my e-mails
on certain graphic, I will list some
other contributors that I would like
to highlight to my audience who I think my audience will most
likely to check out. Then I'll put a summary of
the details like the date and where it will be
happening and all that stuff. So I have a formula and outline that I can
follow each time that just saves a lot of
time and it makes it so much easier to
write up the promos. So also create and schedule
social media posts. So I take portions of my emails, I write the email first
and I take a portion of that and put it on
Facebook and Instagram. That makes that
process so much easier rather than just starting from scratch on Facebook
and Instagram. Sometimes I pinned
my social posts, so that's something else to add. Adding it to your blog sidebar, adding it to an upcoming events
section on your website, adding it to your link
tree on Instagram, sometimes I'll add a cover image to a Facebook business page. Ig stories going live
to talk about it. I might promo it in Facebook groups I'm in
where that is allowed. I make a list, as I mentioned, of other contributors
and participants that I want to highlight and shout out to my
audience who I think my audience will most
likely to checkout. So there's all that
stuff and of course include any other
social platforms, anything you plan to do
to promote this event, writing blog posts, TikTok, clubhouse, Pinterest, whatever. All of this is, by the way, included also to be included in your collaboration
tracker and database.
7. Bonus Tips For Collaborating: Now for a few bonus tips for participating in your
collaborations and partnerships. So another disclaimer, I am not offering sales or
marketing advice. These, this is some
best practices that I have learned through my experience with
collaborations. And always be sure to check
the rules and guidelines for each collaboration for this kind of stuff that I'm
going to go through, make sure it's allowed
and appropriate. So the first thing is you
could create a sales page or landing page dedicated to that particular collaboration
you're part of. I have only done this once
myself and have seen many, many other people
do it so that you can personalize the
page a little bit more. I mentioned the
specific collaboration and details about
the collaboration. So it's only meant for people, only meant to be seen
by people who are, have joined this collaboration, who are attendees
or participants. Plus it makes it easier to track the results of the collaboration because you can track links, clicks to that specific link, to that specific sales page and the conversion rate and
all that sort of thing. So having a dedicated sales or landing page can
be very helpful, not necessarily just helpful. You can optionally add your own bonuses for
anyone who signs up with your affiliate link for those collaborations that
attendees paid to be part of. So this can really
only makes sense for those higher ticket
items and events where people might need an
extra incentive to join. But it can be really
fun to say, hey, sign up through my link and
you'll get this bonus for me, a free offer that's worth
whatever 40, $50 or whatever. I'm just throwing random
numbers out there. So having a bonus
is also an option. Some people also recommend
temporarily turning off your email automation that
attendees will enter into. Just push it back a
little bit in terms of dates or stretch it out
for a few days at least, because for larger
events like a bundle where there's maybe 100 people, which happens at part of the bundle and
contributing to the bundle. It's a good idea since the
attendees will be entering numerous email
automations as they sign up for a whole
bunch of offers, right? So your email may
get lost in them. So it could be a good idea
to just temporarily turn off your e-mail for a short period of time until the event is over, and then get back into
their email inbox once their inboxes
hopefully quieted down. Also use your own words when
writing promotion materials. So you can reference swipe copy, which is often
provided by hosts. For things like bundles
summits, most collaboration's. But don't just
copy and paste it. Add your personality to it so it doesn't sound
like everyone else. And include your own perspective and your own stories like make it interesting for people instead of just
copying and pasting, because it can be
kind of obvious when it's copy and pasted, it can sound kind of bland. And what do you call that? But just repetitive, like just not unique
people on your list, maybe getting emails from other contributors in
the same collaboration. So you'll want to
sound like yourself. You don't want to have your
email look exactly like someone else's are really
similar to someone else's. And you don't want to sound like a robot who's just copy and pasted someone else's words, make the most of your
affiliate link as well. And remember to use it for those collaborations where
affiliate sales are possible. You can make money this way
and keep an eye on as well, the sign-ups and the payouts like who signs up through
your affiliate link and the money you're making through affiliate
sales and the payouts. One of my patients was missed once just because of a glitch and I only noticed it because I was tracking it and had it
written in my calendar as, you know, on this date, I'm getting my payout and
I noticed I didn't get it, so just keep an eye on that. You never known a
glitch will happen. Also, you can follow
up with hosts to check the status of the
applications and acceptance. If you've applied for
the collaboration, you're waiting for a response. But note that a lot of hosts will provide a
date by which they'll reply to you or they'll
ask you not to follow up. Mostly because they just get so many applications they can't possibly reply to
everyone individually. So be sure to check those
details and respect them. When you do apply for things. Don't follow up or check and before the date
they've given. If they have given
one and just again, respect any rules they
have around that. But the date has passed. If they said they'd get back
to you by a certain date about your application. You
haven't heard from them. It makes total sense to
follow up and check in. And sometimes there
will be less than ideal outcomes and results. So as I mentioned in
a previous lesson, I had a couple of
bad experiences, only a couple in the past. Example one, I had almost no sign-ups are
basically no sign-ups. I think I'd like to on my email list from that
collaboration specifically. So I asked the host
for attendees stats. I asked twice to no avail. It didn't engage with us this host and engage with us
contributors much at all. One of the only one promo
graphic was provided, and this was a
collaboration I paid for, so it was just not
a good experience. Example two, there was the host was completely MIA
leading up to the event. And I didn't have any details. I didn't have graphics, I didn't have swipe copy in preparation so I
could attend myself. I was missing information for attendance and it was
missing information that I needed to pass onto my audience so I could prepare and deadlines
were very, very close. So I eventually
just backed out of that collaboration
and I was very upfront about why I just
said I need to plan ahead. I've emailed you
two or three times, so I'm just going to pass. So all this to say, you're pretty much never going to be able to tell
the outcome ahead of time. So you just live in
Learn 99% of the time and 99% of my experiences of collaborations have been
absolutely amazing. So if you have a
solid reason for doing so, I just want
to let you know too. It's okay to back out if it's a solid reason and you're
just really uncomfortable, It's a very rare
circumstance, but it happens. Also, make your offer or
product super specific. And each this will help you
to stand out in a crowd for any collaborations
that are again like a big group of
people and there's, the attendees are looking
at a lot of offers. So make it super
specific in nature. That's always just a generally
good business rule to make your products appealing and relevant to people and also to help you stand out in these
bigger collaborations. Also ensure that you
have a client journey or path in place for
post collaboration, the collaboration
isn't a dead end. You want them, these
people to find you in these collaborations
and then stick with you, right on your email list or
through your sales funnel or whatever path or journey
you have set up for them. Last, I suggest having different and separate
products and offers for free events versus paint events. This just avoids any potential resentment
or misunderstanding. Those that paid to access your product in one
collaboration when they see that same product being
offered for free and another collaboration that
can be a bit awkward. So I recommend having
different offers for those for free versus paid. I mean, it happens,
it's a thing. I just feel comfortable offering certain
things for free and then certain things
for non-free. Paid posts collaboration,
as I've said, I'm not a sales or
marketing expert, but I do know that you need to have sales and marketing
strategy in place for new sign-ups that
come to you through these collaborations that
come to you anywhere. But don't forget about those
that come to you through collaborations like a trip
wire, sales funnel, etc. Be sure to nurture
them and guide them on that journey with you. Also do a post
collaboration analysis. You get your stats. You can get your
stats from the host, like the total number of attendees or the
conversion rate. They sometimes have the
number of views for your offers specifically that some sometimes a thing
they can provide. But otherwise just look
at your own stats on your on your software
and platforms. How many clicks or
views were there? How many people
purchase a trip wire? What was that conversion rate? How many email sign-ups did
you get and do an analysis? Would you want to
work with this host again or do a similar
collaboration? Did it meet your goals or
help you meet your goals? What did you get out of it
And did you enjoy ourselves? Most importantly, wasn't a fun experience where
you're comfortable with it. And would you like to do
something similar again, reach out also to other participants
and contributors that you met with and connected
with during the collaboration. There's no need to have that, again, as a dead end. Continue to build on
those relationships. Reach out to the host as well, just to thank them for
everything they did for providing you with the
opportunity to share your feedback and thoughts and ask how you can support them. That's always a nice thing. Do you just offer how you can work
together in the future?
8. Conclusion: Congratulations,
you have completed the three steps to consistent
collaborations class. So just by following the simple strategies that we
went through in this class, you will create the
exact momentum, system and habits
you need to get that consistent pipeline but partnerships so that you
can grow your audience, you're following and
in turn your business. Next steps. Complete the workbook in the projects and
resources section. It includes prompts and
questions to help you process each of the steps
you learned in this class. And it's got plenty of space for you to brainstorm
and plan, organize, and map out your next steps
when it comes to finding, booking your collaborations
and partnerships. So share with us your
next steps that you plan to take in the
Create a Project section. And if you're feeling like it, some fun photos of you with your completed
workbook pages. I would love to see them. They're also leave a comment
in the discussion area with any a-ha moments you
had during the class, any new ideas that
came up for you and, or your favorite
insights from the class. And last, I love
if you could share your thoughts and feedback about your experience with this class. In the review section, you can grab your own copy of the collaboration
tracker Google sheet that I had mentioned in a previous module so that
you can stay organized and on top of all those moving pieces of each of
your collaborations, the URL to grab that is in
the bottom right-hand corner of the screen is a
Jody ground.com, forward slash product, forward slash collab tracker, templates. And be sure to connect
with me online for all things productivity
and making the most of your time you can
find me on Facebook and Instagram at Jody gram
coach, all one word. My website is Jodi
gram.com and I have Notion templates on my Etsy
shop at saving time designs. So many congrats, again
for completing the course, you did amazing and
I will see you soon. Bye for now.
Jodi Graham, Productivity Coach
