#180: 7 Ways I’ve Collaborated with Friends & Influencers to Increase Profits

Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want to Miss: On today’s episode I’m going to walk you through seven collaborations that I’ve done over the years that range from my very first time collaborating, and even feeling a little shy (but learning so much!) all the way to collaborations with some of the biggest names in online marketing. I’m giving you the inside scoop into how those actually came to be, and some of the lessons I learned from each of these amazing experiences. And here’s a BIG note to remember: The key to successful collaborations is found within your relationship with the person – not on what that person can do for you or what you can do for him or her. [13:24] I know this from experience: Building your business for the long term is much easier when you can find peers and collaborators that you can build amazing relationships with. When you’re first starting out and you may not have much of a list or presence, you want to find collaborations that can help you find an audience for your business. So I hope you enjoy as I walk through my own experiences, and how I cultivated some of the best business relationships I have to this day. The freebie for this episode is SO GOOD: I’ve got the Top 10 questions you should ask YOURSELF if you’re considering any collaboration. It’s a checklist of sorts, where I talk about the criteria I personally use when I think about partnering with someone. If you get honest with these questions, you will save yourself a lot of stress and potential “business heartache” - it’s a thing, trust me. Download it here and run through them the next time you’re thinking about a collaboration. Check out these highlights: Collaboration #1: My very “first time”: how I went in, what I learned from it and what I wish I’d done differently [4:14] Collaboration #2: When and how I learned the real special ingredient for collaborations (here’s a hint: it’s all about trust) [9:50] Collaboration #3: How I landed a key influencer [15:37] Collaboration #4: The most successful affiliate marketing relationship I’ve ever had. (Spoiler alert: It’s all about B-School with Marie Forleo!) [20:50] Collaboration #5: How I moved things into the real world (think small live event) with a weekend workshop collaboration [24:42] Collaboration #6: I get asked all of the time about adding guest experts inside of your paid course…here’s a full explanation of what I typically do, with Jasmine Star as my shining example [32:24] Collaboration #7: And I just couldn’t leave this one out… If you’ve ever wondered how Rick Mulready and I started working together, maybe you’d like to hear about the coffee date I didn’t really want to go to. [39:10]