Latest / Flow State Business / Brand deals for coaches: how to start and how to get paid

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Brand deals for coaches: how to start and how to get paid · Flow State Business

• 0:00
  Hello, my loves.
• 0:00
  Welcome back to another episode.
• 0:03
  It's Monday morning here as I'm recording this.
• 0:05
  It is drizzly, and gray, and rainy, and the Gold Coast just does not look good in this weather.
• 0:11
  So I am hunkered in.
• 0:13
  I'm feeling so ready for this week.
• 0:15
  It has been one incredible month after another, and I hope you loved last week's episode with the amazing Alex.
• 0:25
  So many of you had messaged me saying that you felt like Alex's episode was just so good, and the conversation was so flowy.
• 0:33
  And yeah, guys, that's the thing.
• 0:35
  I'm really in an era… And I messaged Alex this too on Friday, 'cause I wrap up all of my foxes on Friday, and she's a private client of mine.
• 0:43
  And you know, I just said to her, I am so grateful for clients like her, because it shows me that I'm in so much alignment to attract women like her in my life, for the mastermind, for private coaching.
• 0:57
  And I send every single one of my clients those messages on a Friday, and just speak life into their businesses, and it's one of my favorite things to do.
• 1:04
  After that, however, my poor husband got so sick.
• 1:08
  He was just out of sorts pretty much the entire weekend.
• 1:13
  I think it's just from, he was playing a lot of football, and then they went out afterwards.
• 1:18
  And then we thought it was a hangover, and then it wasn't, and then it turned into this big cold.
• 1:23
  Anyway, I've been nursing my dear husband.
• 1:26
  And you guys know, all right?
• 1:28
  If you have husbands who don't really sook so much, but then when they sook, it's, like, really sad.
• 1:36
  That was Michael.
• 1:37
  I was like, "Let me look after you, my dear." So I was in full nurse Ruby mode, and luckily me and Teddy stayed relatively healthy.
• 1:46
  I had a little tiny wobble on Saturday, and I'm like,"No, I speak health into my body. I speak vitality into my cells. I refuse to have this become anything bigger." And what do you know?
• 1:57
  The next day it was, like, back to normal.
• 1:59
  So don't forget to do these things.
• 2:01
  Anyhow, I've got a great episode for you all today, because I wanna open your eyes up to secondary income streams, and something that I was very intentional about this year.
• 2:12
  And it took a little while for it to actually, you know, kind of come through in, in real life, in 3D, but I think what this is gonna start doing for me is giving me a lot more creativeness, and also just something fun.
• 2:27
  It almost just feels like a side hustle within my main job.
• 2:30
  So let's talk about it.
• 2:31
  You already can see the title.
• 2:33
  What we're gonna be discussing is secondary income through brand deals and collabs.
• 2:39
  And before you go, "Ugh, this is just not for me," listen to the whole episode.
• 2:44
  Open your mind.
• 2:45
  I think some of you are going to be in… Box one, where you may think your audience just isn't big enough to attract brand deals, and/or box two, where you think, "Oh my gosh, I just don't know how I would go being a, air quotes,'influencer.'" It's not that at all, and I wanna show you what that big picture looks like.
• 3:04
  So I'm, I'm really happy, because this is something that I know a lot of coaches in the online space completely sleep on.
• 3:13
  And, you know, the truth is you may not have the energy or the… could be bothered to do something like this.
• 3:21
  This is one slice of the secondary income stream I wanna highlight today.
• 3:25
  There are others which I might do in future episodes, like affiliate income.
• 3:29
  But this is getting paid for sharing another brand on your platforms, is the kind of vibe that we wanna go with.
• 3:37
  And I want to start with a bit of a wake-up call, because a lot of us that are in a bit of a funk at the moment with coaching sales, I really wanna speak to you specifically and to wake you up to the fact that coaching sales is not the only way your business can make money, and that posting on Instagram or on LinkedIn or on TikTok and praying that leads turn into one client is not the only way you can monetize here in 2026 through to 2027 and beyond And this is something that I took a little while to come around with because, uh, first, honestly, I really thought I was that I'm- I don't wanna be an influencer and/or I don't think my audience is big enough at the moment for brands to even want to be a part of my platforms.
• 4:28
  But I've just come to realize something, and I know that I have to share it with all of you.
• 4:32
  When you build a real personal brand, you're not just selling one core offer.
• 4:38
  You're actually creating digital real estate across an entire ecosystem.
• 4:44
  So for instance, if you've got a YouTube channel, a podcast, an Instagram page, a LinkedIn account, an email list, what happens is that you actually have created a multi-channel shopping cart of opportunities.
• 4:57
  You will know this by now.
• 4:58
  If you have multiple channels, every single channel of yours will have slightly different nuances.
• 5:04
  You will have slightly different clients.
• 5:06
  You will have different ways that you speak to them, different ways that you interact with your people, and that's what brands ultimately love.
• 5:15
  If you only have one platform, all power to you.
• 5:18
  That means you are, like, so signaled in and so dialed in to this one audience that you're dedicated to, and that's also a vibe for brands.
• 5:26
  So today I'm not just gonna talk about client sales.
• 5:29
  I'm talking about secondary revenue streams that are sitting right under your nose, and specifically high-ticket brand partnerships and sponsorships.
• 5:40
  Now, before you start thinking,"I don't have 20,000 followers like you, Rubes. This isn't for me," I wanna do a very quick humility check with all of you.
• 5:51
  And I'm cool with keeping things humble, and I'm gonna keep things very honest with you because I honestly don't have a massive audience.
• 6:00
  I know it might look like that from a numbers perspective.
• 6:04
  I can't even tell you where my numbers have come from, and I, I can honestly say hand on heart I think if I'm being even slightly generous, 70% of my audience numbers are dormant.
• 6:15
  They are either bots, people that have connected with me yonkers ago and don't anymore, and I just don't even show up on their feed, and or maybe they're sort of like dead accounts.
• 6:25
  You know, people who started an account, they forgot their passwords, they don't log in anymore.
• 6:30
  It's, it's that.
• 6:31
  And I've said this many times over, my Instagram account is basically quite stagnant for the size of followers that I have.
• 6:39
  You can go and have a look.
• 6:40
  I have maybe two to 10 likes per post.
• 6:45
  Maybe 20 if I'm having a great lucky streak post.
• 6:48
  I might get 900 views on my reels.
• 6:51
  Again, 20,000-plus account.
• 6:54
  I have lost followers, a lot of them, over the last little while, and, you know, they did, like, a big bot sweep, so off they went.
• 7:02
  And I have lost pr- probably 1,000 subscribers off my email list this year.
• 7:08
  I have lost probably 2,000 followers off LinkedIn.
• 7:12
  My YouTube hasn't grown.
• 7:14
  My podcast has stayed pretty steady.
• 7:16
  So they're, they're my metrics.
• 7:18
  Like, you can go and see them.
• 7:19
  I'm not trying to be anything else than what things are at the moment.
• 7:23
  And I think if anyone who was, like, a real social media influencer looked at my accounts and they would see my data, they would probably feel quite sorry for me.
• 7:33
  Like, "Oh my gosh, how do you stay so positive through this?" But I actually don't give a shit, in the most respectful way possible, because I know that I'm still a very, very successful business owner despite what those statistics are saying.
• 7:47
  I've literally just come off the back of a $100,000 week a couple of weeks ago, and then even last week was a 10, 20… Uh, no.
• 7:55
  Was it 10, $10,000 in cash received week, $20,000 in signed new clients.
• 8:03
  So I'm cool with that, and I know that this isn't gonna be a forever thing.
• 8:08
  I'm talking about how my social media engagement is low right now.
• 8:11
  Next week I could go viral.
• 8:13
  You know?
• 8:13
  So I'm not saying I'm stuck here and I'm here forever.
• 8:16
  I'm just saying how it is.
• 8:18
  But the secret is, this is the secret that I've come to realize with the brands that I'm working with, brands really do not care about vanity metrics anymore.
• 8:28
  I can tell you, I have signed five-figure brand deals, and they have not once asked for my metrics.
• 8:35
  Not once.
• 8:36
  They've not asked for what are, what's my audience doing?
• 8:39
  What are my follower count?
• 8:41
  What's my engagement?
• 8:42
  What's my click-through?
• 8:43
  What's, what's my watch rate?
• 8:44
  I, I don't know if that's just me, but I can only speak from experience that they have not asked for any data or statistics.
• 8:52
  Big brands in smart companies, that's who I like to work with, aren't looking for viral scrollers who click a heart icon and keep scrolling.
• 9:00
  They are actively hunting for potent micro-communities like yours, and they want small, hyper trusting, highly educated audiences who actually listen to recommendations and take action.
• 9:15
  So for example, I've worked with some amazing finance-based companies, and they are so happy that, you know, five, six people signed up off my link.
• 9:24
  It's different to the beauty influencers and through, I don't know, like, even, like, large, large, um You know, uh, I don't know, like those million follower accounts who have 20, $30,000 sales within the first one hour.
• 9:40
  That's not what I'm going for.
• 9:43
  The brands that I'm going for, they want hyper trusting communities, a tiny audience of decision-makers that, you know, is worth 100 times more than a brand of 50,000, you know, teenagers watching a trending dance video, for example.
• 9:57
  So that's the point I wanna make here.
• 9:59
  It doesn't matter if you've got a small, tiny micro audience, you can make a lot of secondary income using the current, you know, social media platform that you have.
• 10:08
  So if you've been holding yourself back, and this is of interest, this is something that you'd be keen to explore, you know, we're in this conversation today, and I just don't want you to throw any excuses at it and write it off because I think that there's some good money to be made here and some awesome brands to partner with and some networks that you can open because of it.
• 10:29
  Now, before we get into the story of how I negotiated these deals, I wanna do a very quick diagnostic, and I want to talk about who this is for and who this is not for.
• 10:42
  And I, I literally want you to think about this right now.
• 10:45
  You may be driving or on your walk.
• 10:48
  Literally ask yourself, is adding brand partnerships to your personal brand actually exciting for you right now?
• 10:56
  Is there some kind of, "Ooh, I'm curious," or is there just a hard no, a hard out?
• 11:04
  I wanna discuss who brand deals are not for first.
• 11:07
  So if you are a coach, mentor, educator, healer, teacher, and you use any kind of brands, but you hate the idea of talking about anybody else's brand on your platform and it makes you feel ick even just thinking about mentioning a third-party brand on your platform, then honestly, brand deals are not gonna be for you.
• 11:31
  If you can't imagine jumping on your podcast and saying,"This episode is brought to you by mm company.
• 11:38
  I am so excited to partner with them because they are a company that XYZ.
• 11:44
  I'm so grateful.
• 11:45
  Thank you for sponsoring this episode," and then you're off on your merry way.
• 11:49
  If there's not a single dollar that you could justify saying that on your podcast or on your Instagram reels, then don't do it.
• 11:57
  Okay?
• 11:58
  Don't do it.
• 11:59
  However, who brand deals are gonna be for are for coaches, mentors, and educators who love experimenting with creativity in different forms.
• 12:09
  If you are someone who naturally uses software, tools, beauty, tech, travel, services that makes your business and your life better, and you love the idea of like, "Ooh, I'd love to get paid to mention them.
• 12:22
  I'd love to do some sort of an exchange with them where I get to go and test out their thing and then still get paid for it." If you wanna create additional income streams, so the income stream that I was calling in this year was an additional $50,000, just like a, a little amount there that I could kind of tap into and go, "Ooh, wouldn't it be cool if I had $50,000 worth of brand deals come in?" And, you know, this doesn't disrupt anything else.
• 12:47
  It doesn't take away from my client calls.
• 12:49
  It doesn't take away from me living my best life.
• 12:51
  It's just fun income.
• 12:53
  Then you literally know that this is gonna be for you.
• 12:56
  This is fun to explore.
• 12:58
  And, you know, you may just wanna do it for six months or a year and then hang up your hat there, but it could be just something different.
• 13:06
  And what it's done for me is that it sort of lit me up a lot where it's not just the same, same old, same old where, you know, I'm posting on Instagram, I'm trying to get leads, I'm signing clients, and then working with amazing people, but there's this other outlet that I get to have also.
• 13:20
  So let me tell you what happened at the start of this year.
• 13:23
  I sat down and set an energetic intention I do this every year.
• 13:28
  I'm sure you guys do as well.
• 13:29
  There's a lot of spiritual peeps here, visionaries here, and you're… Imagine, like, sitting down and you're doing your business plan for the year.
• 13:37
  Every year I write a playbook, and in that playbook I wrote that I wanted to bring around$50,000 in additional revenue this year strictly through aligned brand partnerships.
• 13:48
  Now, this isn't my first, you know, ring around the rosy with partnerships.
• 13:52
  I've done it before.
• 13:53
  I've learnt a lot, and I stopped doing it for a little bit because it was distracting, and now I've come back going, "Wow, I've actually built a passive income business with daily sales.
• 14:02
  I have the best clients ever that don't need a lot of hand-holding.
• 14:05
  They're not so needy." So I can have a little side secondary arm to my business where I work with brands.
• 14:13
  But there was a catch, right?
• 14:15
  Like, for me, my, my catch to the universe was I do not want to send a single cold pitch out to a brand.
• 14:23
  I also don't want to work with a PR agency, because I feel like they kind of pimp you out to a lot of brands that aren't really your people.
• 14:31
  And I definitely didn't wanna, you know, do the whole, like, putting out my one sheet and hoping someone out there is gonna grab my account and wanna advertise through me.
• 14:43
  As someone who is highly creative, and I've always got so many creative thoughts in my head, my, my creativity is not visual creativity.
• 14:51
  It's very much about how I can market somebody's brand, which is what makes me such a great coach, 'cause I always think about how I can market your brands.
• 14:59
  I knew that I wanted to monetize things that I already would naturally want to use or have used or love to use.
• 15:08
  So I literally wrote down my dream categories on a piece of paper, and I want you to do this as well if this is appealing.
• 15:15
  So I wrote down finance, 'cause I'm a finance girly at heart, so I would be very happy to partner with, you know, um, anyone who's in, like, the card space or the finance or the banking space.
• 15:28
  I could talk to you guys a lot about that.
• 15:30
  Travel, obviously, so obviously, you know, we think about big flight carriers and whatnot, but anything to do with travel, like s- travel suitcases, travel points, um, y- lounges that I could partner with, cars that take me to and fro airport lounges and airports and transfers and all those sorts of things, you know.
• 15:51
  So thinking bigger than that.
• 15:52
  Co-working spaces.
• 15:54
  Like, I love a co-work space.
• 15:56
  Hotels, hotel lobbies, tech, cameras, beauty, these things.
• 16:02
  I started to write down all kinds of different brands and I set the energetic standard.
• 16:07
  I said I'm only working with ethical, values-aligned brands that I'm going to let come to me and find me.
• 16:17
  When they come to me, they're going to see my Instagram page, they're gonna feel my account, they're gonna understand who I am.
• 16:23
  Maybe they're people who are long-term followers who now work for these brands, and they understand who I am, how I communicate, how casual I am, how familiar I am with my peeps.
• 16:35
  So therefore, I'm not needing to follow their scripts, but they're happy to give me creative control on how I work that into my own content.
• 16:41
  And it sounds like a lot, it sounds a bit diva-like, but I don't think it is because it's what you decide you want in any case, whether you're working with a client, whether you're working with a, someone that you're hiring on your team, and brand partnerships as well.
• 16:56
  Now, I know that this can sound a little bit woo-woo, and I'm sorry guys, but not sorry.
• 17:01
  I don't have any other way to explain it around how I got these partnerships.
• 17:05
  But within weeks and months My Instagram DMs in particular literally started to light up with inquiries from companies in those exact categories, in the exact categories.
• 17:22
  The first one I got was a camera company, Insta360.
• 17:25
  You guys have seen my collab with them.
• 17:27
  I got webcams and cameras from them, and that was unbelievable.
• 17:31
  What a dream.
• 17:33
  It is one of my favorite cameras to use.
• 17:35
  I've always wanted to purchase them.
• 17:36
  Now, these cameras are powerful cameras.
• 17:40
  They are so fun to vlog with, and the webcams, like the… Since I've started using their webcams, I mean, the quality is amazing.
• 17:48
  They sent me their webcams that I could trial and test.
• 17:51
  I made content for them, and they've gone ahead now, and they've used it for advertising and whatnot.
• 17:56
  So, fantastic.
• 17:57
  I was very happy with that.
• 17:58
  I- in that case, I got the cameras all for free.
• 18:03
  I got that sent.
• 18:03
  Now, each camera is a lot.
• 18:05
  You know, have a look at insta360.com.
• 18:07
  You'll be able to see how much their cameras are, and I got sent a lot of their cameras to test and trial, and I got to keep them, which was awesome.
• 18:15
  And then I also got, you know, some other little, um, what's it called?
• 18:19
  Like spon- like fun little things on the side that I could also continue using.
• 18:23
  So, that was a pure swap of services and their expensive cameras, and that was a great start.
• 18:30
  I was very happy with that.
• 18:32
  Next up, I got finance.
• 18:35
  So I got finance companies reach out to me, and this was where it really started to become a big income stream.
• 18:43
  Before I go there and go into, like, what I did and how I negotiated it, I want to share that your energetic signal needs to be clear when you are calling in anything that you want in your life and your business, right?
• 18:56
  So for me, I could literally see me jumping on the podcast or recording a reel and feeling elated, like so happy to be partnered with these brands, and so ecstatic that it almost didn't matter whether they paid me or not.
• 19:11
  I mean, obviously I wrote down that I wanted to make 50 grand in income, but in saying so, it felt awesome in my visualization to be partnered with a brand whereby my coaching company was also in collaboration with these guys, and it uplifted my brand, it uplifted their brand, and it felt like an equal partnership.
• 19:33
  It felt like I was accessing their networks, they were accessing mine, and it just felt equal, not like I was answering to them or they were telling me exactly what I needed to do.
• 19:43
  It felt just very easy and very flowy to be in that space So think about it.
• 19:48
  When you're positioning yourself in a way where you wanna attract these awesome brands, give yourself some time to really think about what would feel natural for you to speak about.
• 20:00
  And your audience is gonna call you out on your bullshit anyway.
• 20:03
  You guys are gonna know.
• 20:03
  If I'm partnered with a brand that is so off-kilter, you guys are gonna call me out on that.
• 20:09
  You're gonna be like,"That is so weird, Rubes.
• 20:11
  Like, why did you partner with this brand?" I've not had a single one of you go, "That was strange." In fact, I've had a lot of you go, "That was a vibe. How did you get that partnership? That is amazing." So your energetic signal needs to be clear.
• 20:22
  Your personal brand is positioned in a way that draws in your people, and that to me is how my aligned brands have found me.
• 20:31
  But, and this is a massive but, getting the email in your inbox is only 50% of the game.
• 20:38
  I wanna share a story about a massive household name.
• 20:42
  It's a financial organization that reached out to me this year.
• 20:47
  You would all instantly recognize their name.
• 20:49
  They are a giant corporate fintech platform.
• 20:53
  That is all I'm gonna say.
• 20:54
  On paper when they reached out to me, it looked like a dream opportunity.
• 20:58
  I was jumping up and down in the lounge room.
• 20:59
  I was so excited.
• 21:01
  And I asked them for what next steps.
• 21:05
  Now, as soon as we started communicating, so I got the email saying, "Hey Ruby, we'd love to partner with you," yada, yada, yada.
• 21:11
  I said, "Yep, cool.
• 21:12
  Send me what you need me to know about.
• 21:14
  What is the scope?
• 21:16
  Give me the contract, what you're thinking." As soon as we started speaking to each other and communicating, the red flags were literally popping up everywhere.
• 21:26
  Their emails were extremely cold, formal, rigid, transactional.
• 21:30
  Like, I could tell immediately that working with them was gonna feel like having a corporate boss again.
• 21:36
  They wanted really strict, very scripted control over what I said, what I couldn't say, the words that I couldn't use.
• 21:44
  There was zero creative freedom.
• 21:46
  They wanted me to meet with their entire marketing and influencer team many times a week.
• 21:50
  They treated the interaction like a cold transaction rather than a partnership.
• 21:56
  And I was toiling over this one, guys, because it was a really good sum of money.
• 22:00
  Like, really, really good.
• 22:01
  It would've taken me halfway to my goal kind of good.
• 22:04
  Uh, it was long-term.
• 22:06
  They have a huge platform, a huge network.
• 22:09
  They sponsor a lot of sports teams, so people know them.
• 22:12
  They're very reputable.
• 22:14
  But as soon as I saw the contract, as soon as I saw what they expected of me, I said no.
• 22:20
  I turned them down.
• 22:21
  I said no.
• 22:22
  Funnily enough, they chased me about three times after that, like trying to make it better, make it fit.
• 22:27
  But eventually it got to the point where they said, "We just cannot make any more changes." And it wasn't unreasonable ones that I asked for.
• 22:33
  Trust, it wasn't.
• 22:35
  And they said, "We just can't." I'm like, "That's cool.
• 22:37
  It's just not meant to be." My personal brand is built on trust and values alignment, and there just wasn't that alignment there.
• 22:46
  The brands that I do work with are, A, as a big indicator, super chill.
• 22:53
  Like, you wouldn't think it because I have continued to work with financial organizations and amazing big brands like pay.com.au.
• 22:59
  You guys know that.
• 23:01
  Really, like so cool.
• 23:03
  They were just so easy to work with, and my liaison there, Christina, shout out, amazing.
• 23:08
  Like, she's just so… Like, sh- her and I could have a coffee, and we would be like work besties type of vibes, you know?
• 23:15
  They're lovely.
• 23:16
  And I think when you have a chat with them on the phone, 'cause a lot of them wanna jump on a Microsoft Teams call, a Zoom call, whatever, you get a sense.
• 23:24
  They get a sense for you, you get a sense for them.
• 23:26
  And, you know, it was just so nice.
• 23:28
  Like, immediately with pay.com.au, we got to chatting about creative direction, and they were just like,"Yeah, like love this idea.
• 23:37
  Can we just add this?" And I'm like, "Oh my God, yes.
• 23:40
  Okay.
• 23:40
  I, I didn't even think about that.
• 23:41
  Let's add that." And it was such an easy back and forth that… I mean, they respect the fact that I obviously know you guys a lot better, my audience a lot better, but they know their brand a lot better, and we found like a really nice in between.
• 23:56
  So here are three… I actually wanna offer you three very quick brand deal red flags to look out for.
• 24:04
  One is if they are super rigid with what you're meant to deliver on, and you can just ask them for the scope.
• 24:11
  So the, the wording around that is, "Can I have a look at the scope of the project?" So it's usually that.
• 24:17
  If a brand won't let you speak in your authentic voice, if the scripts they give you sound just so AI'd or so completely stuck in the olden days, your voice and your audience will literally repel, right?
• 24:32
  Like, your audience will smell the ad from a mile away.
• 24:35
  I mean, obviously we need to be very open th- with the fact that we are partnering with brands, that it is an ad, but the ads can still sound like you.
• 24:43
  You know what I mean?
• 24:43
  Okay, so number two, vibe and connection.
• 24:46
  Oh my gosh, dudes, this has to be the main thing.
• 24:50
  If there is a mismatch, if it's painful or cold during the negotiation stage- It's gonna be a complete nightmare.
• 24:58
  I've just come out of negotiation with another brand, which I can't talk about just yet, but I will very soon.
• 25:04
  Dream brand, like you wouldn't even believe.
• 25:06
  They were like, "Hey, yeah, so," email back and forth,"thinking about this.
• 25:11
  We'll give you this in contra.
• 25:13
  We'll give you this in cash.
• 25:14
  Are you cool with that?" And I was like, "Oh my God, that's so generous.
• 25:18
  Very cool with that." And they're like, "Sweet as.
• 25:19
  Do you want a contract?
• 25:20
  Do you not want a contract?
• 25:21
  Do you wanna send us yours?
• 25:22
  Do you want us to send… Like, do you just wanna keep to emails?
• 25:25
  Do you want us to send ours?" Like, do you know what I mean?
• 25:28
  It's, it's just like a normal human being conversation.
• 25:32
  And I knew that from that moment that I started speaking to this new brand, it was gonna be easy.
• 25:38
  It was gonna be a collaboration.
• 25:39
  Number three, over complex contracts.
• 25:42
  You need to read your contracts.
• 25:43
  Nowadays it's easier.
• 25:45
  You can run it through Claude and/or Gemini, whatever you're using to be like,"Is there anything weird or outstanding here that we should be calling out?" If there is, then you need to really speak to them about that.
• 25:58
  The main one that I really want you to watch out for, because now a lot of brands want you to create content for them, and then they use it to run ads because they want it to feel organic, right?
• 26:08
  So just watch out for brands trying to sneak in perpetual global ad rights or any sort of exclusivity clauses for a tiny fee.
• 26:18
  Just read the fine print there'cause, you know, you might not want to have your face on a company, whatever, um, that you're promoting in that moment in like three years' time.
• 26:29
  So like for me, generally, I'll be like six months is my maximum.
• 26:32
  Anything beyond that, we need to renew the contract or we need to update the creatives, and I need to make sure I'm still wanting to promote you guys, you know?
• 26:39
  Like, what if they go through some shit and you can't exit out of that contract and they're still using your face everywhere?
• 26:45
  So some things to think about.
• 26:47
  Okay, let's go to the tactical execution.
• 26:50
  Hope you guys are enjoying this episode 'cause I'm enjoying talking to you guys about it, and I know like that a lot of you won't be fully ready yet, but for the handful of you that are, I really hope this is useful, and you can always DM me about other questions.
• 27:03
  Totally cool 'cause I was sort of feeling around in the dark myself, you know, around what do we negotiate here.
• 27:09
  And because I was doing it all myself, I didn't have anyone else, a PR team or an agency or a manager doing it for me.
• 27:15
  It was all me.
• 27:16
  So feel free to pick my brain.
• 27:18
  I wanna talk about how I make the deals go a lot further, and it's a vibe because you know me, I love to sell, and I do it in such a easygoing kind of way that before you know it, a brand's coming to me with a certain dollar amount and I've literally 10X'd the whole deal.
• 27:35
  I'm not even kidding, so.
• 27:36
  Okay, so for example, I had a brand reach out earlier this year, and they had an offer for me to do something for them and it was about 600 bucks, um, USD.
• 27:50
  And now most creators will look at that $600 offer and do two things.
• 27:54
  They would take the deal and be like, "Wow, that's awesome for what they're asking for, 600 bucks US, yes." Or they get offended and they say that's too low and they slam the door shut.
• 28:04
  In this case, I was actually really happy to take the 600 because of what they were asking me for was next to nothing for, you know, almost like so much money for not much energy and effort, but I was very happy to do that.
• 28:18
  But I took that 600 bucks and I pitched them back a $6,000 deal.
• 28:25
  And it was so… It was just very playful.
• 28:28
  It was very chill, and it was easy to have that done.
• 28:31
  So effectively, I 10X the value of the campaign.
• 28:35
  I gave them many different angles, and I showed them all my other platforms that they were initially only interested in my Instagram reel And then they said, "Well, if you've got any other ideas, let us know." And I was like, "Well," like a big scroll just rolled out.
• 28:53
  I was like, "Here is everything." Poopoo, poopoo, poopoo.
• 28:56
  It's like those cartoons when the scroll just keeps going, and going, and going.
• 28:58
  And I was like, "Here are all of my other ideas." And not once have I been told no.
• 29:05
  That's the thing, which makes me think I'm pitching too low.
• 29:09
  Damn it, now that I think about it, I could have gone maybe to, like, 10 or 20 grand, and then have, like, three brand deals and be done with my yearly goal.
• 29:17
  Anyhow, but in saying so, we, we go through it.
• 29:20
  It's always hard when you're pricing, right?
• 29:22
  'Cause it's like, do you price yourself out the market?
• 29:24
  What's the benchmark here?
• 29:26
  Honestly, it doesn't really matter.
• 29:27
  I think you just gotta start somewhere and then work out, like, what is more from there.
• 29:31
  So anyway, this is what I did.
• 29:33
  So this is my, my sort of framework with the brands that have come to me this year so far.
• 29:39
  All of the brands that have come to me are… They're paying me into the thousands, if not into multiple five figures.
• 29:44
  So I just wanna give you that context, not just little $600 deals.
• 29:48
  Okay.
• 29:49
  So I always get on a call.
• 29:51
  In fact, they want it, so it… That's easy.
• 29:53
  They want it, I want it.
• 29:55
  I do my research before every single call, so I… It effectively feels like an interview.
• 30:01
  You know, when you go to a job interview, you're interviewing them as much as I'm being interviewed.
• 30:05
  So I do all of my research.
• 30:07
  Again, it takes five seconds.
• 30:09
  Ask AI, "Tell me about this company," and you'll be able to get articles on them and stuff.
• 30:14
  Don't be lazy, guys.
• 30:14
  Like, this is a good deal.
• 30:16
  You know, if you're getting paid 10K, 15K for something, do your bloody research.
• 30:20
  And they love it.
• 30:21
  You know, like, a- and there's stuff in there that when I'm in an interview, which fun fact, every job interview I've gone for I've gotten in corporate life.
• 30:30
  I've never been rejected for a job . And I think it comes down to this, where you do your research, and then you weave in your own perception of their brand that you've had with their brand.
• 30:41
  So all these brands I've had interactions with as a customer and/or maybe I've worked with someone who's worked for that brand, or I've experienced it in some form.
• 30:50
  So, you know, let's say I'm working with some brand that, i- like a financial brand, like Pay… We'll use pay.com.au'cause they, they've been amazing to work with, and you guys know I partnered with them.
• 31:01
  So, you know, we were already using pay.com.au to get points for airlines, and it was easy to be like,"Hey, you guys are so chill.
• 31:11
  You're so easy to work with.
• 31:12
  We're paying a big tax bill anyway.
• 31:14
  We run everything to the system." And it felt natural for me to be able to talk to you guys about it like an ad. But when I was speaking with the team about it, I was like, "Oh, yeah, I'm so familiar with you guys.
• 31:24
  Like, this… We love the platform because you guys have this feature, and it's very easy to then use this feature." And they were just so happy to hear that.
• 31:32
  Okay, number two- This second step is going to seal the deal.
• 31:38
  If they already love you and you're having great conversations, I really want you to ask this question, okay, guys?
• 31:45
  The question is, "What does campaign success actually look like for your team? So if I were to run the most successful campaign for you, what would that look like?" Another way to ask it, if you were to look back at the year and think about your most successful organic campaigns, what did that look like and why?
• 32:09
  I wanna replicate that.
• 32:11
  I wanna get as close to that as possible and become your most successful campaign.
• 32:15
  They will love you for that question, and it opens up a lot of conversation, a lot of creativity, you know?
• 32:23
  There you go.
• 32:23
  There's my hot tip.
• 32:25
  And then, uh, the third thing that I would also look at are obviously timeframes, deliverable.
• 32:32
  You know, so you wanna be able to get the most out of it for them as well.
• 32:37
  And like, for example, with the$600 deal, I said to that brand,"Hey, guys, so I'm thinking instead of just one short video that gets lost in the feed in no time, obviously you guys can take that and run ads to it.
• 32:51
  I would like to suggest that we build a more complete multi-touch point ecosystem around this campaign, and the way that I would think about it rolling out with my audience is because I've got long form and short form, we could do a long form strategy where it's an integration into the podcast as a sponsorship and an integration into my YouTube videos as a sponsorship.
• 33:15
  And then as well as that, we would do a couple of short form pieces like what you originally reached out for.
• 33:21
  Is that something that you guys are keen on?" Almost every single time, guys, they're keen on it, okay?
• 33:27
  Like, they're happy to pay for more integrations.
• 33:30
  So don't feel like the offer on the table is the final offer.
• 33:35
  Maybe this is just me and my negotiating skills having come from, you know, all those years back in corporate, but I just never take that first offer as the done deal.
• 33:44
  It can always go a lot further.
• 33:46
  So I hope you loved this episode because I want you guys to really think about secondary income as a really fun way of opening up your networks, associating with brands that take your brand a lot further.
• 34:01
  And like, for example, what I mean by that is, um, I've had people come through saying,"I saw your ad on pay.com.au." That is so amazing, groups.
• 34:10
  Like, that your brand has been elevated to a point where a huge national brand like that is working with you.
• 34:16
  Same with Insta360, same with two other brands that are coming in and possibly reworking with another brand who's come into my life before and has partnered with the business before.
• 34:30
  So that's just so fun.
• 34:32
  But think about how it can also expand out your reach without you needing to constantly hustle and peddle for the algorithm to get you out there.
• 34:41
  A lot of brands these days- Will also run their own ads off your platform.
• 34:47
  So that's actually such a benefit because you're not putting ads behind your platform, but brands that you're partnering with are.
• 34:53
  So then people come to your platform and get to know you.
• 34:56
  So whilst I've, you know, kind of stagnated with followers this year, I've also received a lot of new followers from brands that are boosting my posts.
• 35:05
  So that's kind of a fun little thing on the side as well.
• 35:08
  But I want you to decide today whether or not this is something that you want.
• 35:13
  Then I want you to go ahead, write down the brands that you'd love to work with.
• 35:16
  So I've ticked off, uh, travel with pay.com.au, finance with one that is coming through.
• 35:24
  Also co-work, one that's coming through.
• 35:27
  Also cameras and tech.
• 35:30
  Oh, and like another tech company's just reached out, so I need to come back to them as well, and it's one that I'm already using.
• 35:36
  You guys always ask me how I do my iPad shares.
• 35:40
  Da da da, so that's coming in.
• 35:41
  Um, and I'm still waiting on something beauty related, which I'm so excited.
• 35:48
  Like, I wanna work with more beauty.
• 35:50
  I used to work with a lot of hair beauty companies, and I wanna bring that back in and do like get ready with mes and that kind of thing.
• 35:56
  So anyhow, w- write down your list and then think about how much secondary income you would love to make from these brands, and go bigger than what you think 'cause they are willing to pay.
• 36:08
  Brands have a lot of money for their brand partnerships and their marketing.
• 36:11
  Trust me, you're a lot cheaper than Kim Kardashian, so y- they're happy to do, they're happy to do more organic pieces of content as well with native creators.
• 36:19
  So go for it.
• 36:21
  Enjoy.
• 36:21
  Come to me with any questions.
• 36:23
  Give it a go.
• 36:24
  Think big picture.
• 36:25
  Build your personal brand ecosystem.
• 36:28
  And this is also something that I've, like, it's full circle.
• 36:31
  I love it, that, you know, I've spent all these years building out the podcast, building out YouTube, building out Instagram, LinkedIn, and email list, that now companies are seeing value in that also.
• 36:42
  And I just think there's something just so satisfying about that.
• 36:45
  So if you loved this episode, take a quick screenshot and I'd love for you to share it to your stories.
• 36:52
  Tag me.
• 36:53
  I will always reshare you.
• 36:55
  That's always been such a nice way to gain new followers as well, guys.
• 36:58
  When you tag creators and then they reshare you.
• 37:01
  I will always follow people reshared on other platforms that I find interesting.
• 37:06
  So anyway, please do that.
• 37:07
  Send me a DM asking me any questions about, you know, brand deals and whatnot.
• 37:11
  I'm an open book.
• 37:12
  I'm very happy to share with you as much as I can, so long as it's not under contract.
• 37:16
  But thank you so much for listening, and I hope you have an amazing week ahead.
• 37:20
  I'll catch you in the next episode.
• 37:23
  Bye, my loves.