The following expert interviews are full of fantastic tips, insider information and honest feedback about what works and doesn’t work in creating healthy and profitable partnerships and sponsorships.
This is the activation stage of this course, where you take specific ideas and move with them to close some sponsors.
We would love for you to listen to all the Partnership Activate interviews, but please start with the ones that speak directly to your stage of business or area of interest.
If you love a particular interview, let the expert know! We have provided Twitter handles for each person after the description of their talk.
Sit back, sharpen your pencil and take notes — these conversations WILL change your entire business game.
Michael Port Interview
Best-selling author, speaker and marketing expert Michael Port gives specific dos and don’ts for approaching busy and influential people. He also shares lessons of success and failure in many partnerships he has been involved with over the years. Michael is @michaelport on Twitter.
Jay Baer and Amber Naslund co-wrote and co-promoted the best-selling book The Now Revolution. Listen to their conversation to internalize what a deeply respectful partnership looks like, and the specific things they did to ensure they both created a great body of work while leveraging individual strengths and work styles. This is a must-listen for aspiring co-authors. Jay is @jaybaer and Amber is @ambercadabra on Twitter.
John Jantsch has created a deeply respected and well-known brand in his company Duct Tape Marketing. In his down-to-earth and completely ethical manner, he has mastered closing extremely profitable corporate sponsorships. In this interview, John breaks down 5 key steps to approaching potential sponsors. He also shares how he got corporate sponsorship for an e-book series, a six-figure sponsorship for his podcast, and greatly expanded his reach and impact in new markets. John is @ducttape on Twitter.
Desiree and I call Nick Reese “Mr. Sunshine” due to his massively positive outlook on life and sunny demeanor. He is also an exceptionally smart 20-something entrepreneur who closed close to a million dollars in affiliate revenue in a year. He is the co-author (with Chris Brogan) of Trust and Traffic which details effective affiliate strategies. Listen as he describes what it takes to set up great affiliate relationships that sell. Nick is @nickreese on Twitter.
Danica is a seasoned media expert (Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live are two shows of many she has worked on) and talks about what sponsors are looking for in working with non-profits, using the partnership she worked on between Macy’s and the Heart of Haiti campaign as an example. Even if you are not a non-profit, there is great wisdom in this interview that applies to small business. Danica is @danicakombol on Twitter.
Robert Egger is a massively energetic and passionate social activist who founded the Washington, D.C. non-profit DC Central Kitchen which feeds thousands of hungry people each year. His whole approach to social change is based in partnerships, and he shares great wisdom about creating massive impact by looking for mutual benefit. Robert is @robertegger on Twitter.
Adam Baker started his blog Man Vs. Debt as a means to share lessons about his path toward a debt-free and simpler life. His audience and message grew, attracting fans (like Pam and Desiree). He eventually was inspired to travel the U.S. with his wife and small daughter, and outlines how he got a sponsor to support his trip. Adam spills very specific numbers and approaches, which will be very helpful for folks wanting to live and work unconventionally. Adam is @manvsdebt on Twitter.
AJ and Melissa Leon are a husband and wife team with a huge amount of marketing savvy and social soul. They are committed to business excellence, as well as providing direct services to people who need it around the world. In their interview, they describe how they have gotten sponsors to support their travel and service around the world, while providing great value and information to the non-profit and small business sectors. AJ is @ajleon and Melissa is @melissaleon on Twitter.
Susan Hyatt is a Master Certified Life Coach and author. She landed a wonderful sponsor deal with O Magazine and Seattle’s Best Coffee to create a custom life design program that was featured in 3 issues of O Magazine, as well as oprah.com. This brought revenue, exposure, and stellar brand harmony. Listen in as she describes how she built the relationships which led to this great opportunity. Susan is @susanhyatt on Twitter.
Sunir Shah, Chief Handshaker Freshbooks – Interview
Freshbooks is known as one of the most customer-focused and customer-friendly businesses on the web. Pam often checks the #Freshbooks hashtag on Twitter and rarely sees one complaint (most Tweets gush about the responsiveness of the customer service team). They have spearheaded a big partner network of complimentary small business applications called The Small Business Web. Sunir Shah describes the very strong culture of values at Freshbooks which drives win-win-win partnerships for the company, their partners and most importantly their customers. Sunir is @sunir on Twitter.
Guy a massively popular author, speaker and venture capitalist. In this interview he talks about how to be an enchanting partner, based on the ideas in his New York Times bestselling book Enchantment. Guy is a good friend and a straight shooter — expect a lively interview! Guy is @guykawasaki on Twitter.