S3E5: Collaborations & Partnerships: Expanding Your Brand’s Reach

0:00Welcome to Brand You, the ultimate personal branding podcast. I'm Kaz Grant and I'm Toby Lee. Together we're here to help demystify personal branding and to make it accessible and effective for everyone. Follow along as we guide you through creating your own personal branding journeys. So let's get started. Let's brand you.

0:25Hi everybody and welcome back to the Brand You podcast proudly sponsored by Sparkhouse. Spark House is a fantastic office space in Lincoln. If you are looking for something with a city centre location, come and check out Spark House today. We'll pop the details below in the show notes. So today we're going to be talking about using collaborations and partnerships to grow your personal brand's reach by working together. And I feel like this is a good one for us, isn't it, Toby? It's not a bad example, is it? It's a good example, isn't it? Exactly. I think there's so much to be gained from working with other people, particularly if you are alone in your business, because it gives you opportunity to meet like minded people, not only help each other on a business level, you know, when it comes across as, you know, I'm having this particular challenge in my business.

1:14How do you deal with that? And we can help each other. But certainly those collaboration sides where we can be put in front of each other's audiences, essentially, is a real benefit, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. And I think with personal branding, it is quite a solo journey sometimes, isn't it? So you can feel very alone, even just doing it and just showing up yourself, whether you're with people in your business or not. So again, it's having that other person to bounce off of or have that moan to about if someone does send you a nasty comment or if something happens, like you just have that like outlet of someone that knows what you're going through and that sort of thing.

1:49So yeah, I love it. I feel like as well sometimes when you're on your own you can only grow trust so much but when there's like that validation from having another person with you as well it's like oh they must be who they say they are because this other person is also saying that they are how they are so there's that element yeah yeah yeah it's always like building helping build trust in you and your your personal brand isn't it and that power of association as well of well I know person A very well so if person b is associated with them and they seem to like each other then i'm going to like person b as well yeah they can't be that potentially yeah exactly yeah yeah yeah well they must be trustworthy yeah we value each other's perspectives and opinions of people don't we yeah i mean it's a bit like when you get referrals isn't it you know i could recommend somebody to you who i've never worked with or paid for their services but because of the person they are i really trust them and therefore you're probably going to go you know well I'll go get go work with them go get a quote because if Toby thinks they're a decent person then you know and it goes a long way doesn't it yeah absolutely yeah and I think you did send someone my way the other day and again I just instantly I was like this person's going to be a great fit we're potentially going to be a great fit for working with each other I don't know if they are or not but again I value your opinion I value that you maybe know them a little bit and you see something there that would benefit both of us yes yeah so it's like oh yeah let's have a chat and let's see yeah yeah and a lot of times when I look back through my my like previous clients of the last say six months and I go you know so so what where have they come from so I can work on future clients and and outreach and a lot of it is like well actually it came from an introduction from that person and then that person came from a referral of a previous client and there's all these like little connections that actually it might not necessarily be my my you know actual marketing efforts to reach new business that has brought them in it's actually a power of offering an experience and keeping up my personal brand and you know making sure that that's as as polished and friendly as I want it to be you know that people then are happy to be associated with it it's the it's the combination of so many different factors normally isn't it and like them all working synergistically together to get you that one person but like you say it's it could be because and most of the time it is because of the connections that you've made and that's the thing your personal brand might have opened a connection with one person yeah and they might have found you through that but then they've referred you on to another person so again it's like I like LinkedIn because it has that first second and third doesn't it so it's like it gets you thinking bigger than your sphere of people around you it's like well they're there but then they also know those and they also know those i'm hoping i'm not the only person who doesn't really know this but can you explain what the second and third connections are yeah so so the first one is is you're connected with them first one is i'm connected with yeah so like you i'm connected with you yeah a second generation is they're connected with you but maybe not me.

4:59A third is then they're connected to somebody that you know. This is, I need, like my brain doesn't work like this. I need like a graph on a page to, I need a whiteboard. Can we just bring some light diagrams? But then the third is like three down from you. So they know you. Is that right maths? See this is how my brain, I need to draw it. So they're third generation to you because I'm connected with them or I just know one of them? But they'd be second generation to you. Right, oh, okay, okay. I think I'm good. I need a whiteboard. I hope I'm not the only one. Please comment if you're in the same position.

5:35I know, I know. Because I see that and I just ignore it. And there probably is huge value to be gained from knowing what kind of connections there are. I just look at mutual connections, if anything, and that's a huge thing for me. I don't really connect with anyone unless we have a good 30 or 40 mutual connections. Because that way I know that I'm hopefully going to come across as valuable to the other person because of the amount of mutual connections we have but a lot of that comes down to geography you know the chances are it's because you're all based in the same area so you're going to know each other but there is that trust factor as well isn't there yeah and your personal brand you are working on the people in a locality yes because actually you can go further afield true yeah it's it's more time it's more budgets it's more the you know logistics side of it so you are working within the geographical area actually if i guess for quirk like we're anywhere that's online yeah So I don't necessarily look at geographical locations, but definitely, like, do they know someone in my vortex?

6:33Like, is there some connection there? I think that's quite an important one. But even then, online, just because somebody is connected with someone or they have five connections together, still doesn't mean that they have spoken ever to those connections or know them. Because, again, if it's global, we could have thousands of connections. Like there's just a certain point. There's no way you're going to speak to all of them, is there? So again, I think there's an element of trust maybe sometimes when you're building something online as opposed to in person. You're going to have to maybe work a bit harder to get any mutual benefits from it, but also do more checks and build more relationships before you finally get to a point where can I help this person or not?

7:18Maybe, maybe not. So I guess next we could talk about the kind of ways that people could collaborate together because it's OK. saying oh it'll be really beneficial for your personal brand to go and collaborate yeah but how do we collaborate with others and what kind of things could we work on and do and I think like we said before this is a great example of something and actually I think something like a podcast or longer form content perhaps potentially is a great one because it takes a lot of effort to create produce get out there edit and all that stuff actually we love that while working together we're halving the time of it all aren't we you've got stuff that you're great at that you do and you take care of with the podcast I've got stuff that I'm great at that I take care of with the podcast and then between us it magically gets it it's easy then isn't it yeah yeah no absolutely you're absolutely right and I think that's the true sort of point of collaboration isn't it like how can you bring your skills together like because you know if we were to talk about the podcast still that content-wise, a lot of the messaging we will share about personal branding probably is the same.

8:25The difference is our own spin on it. And coming together is about, well, actually, this is going to work because of the skills you have from a marketing perspective and the skills I have from a kind of visual perspective. We can bring this together quite easily. Yeah. And I think that's where it's nice that our perspective on personal brandings can sometimes, we offer different viewpoints, don't we, and different advice. Yeah. Given the different ways we kind of work with people and our services are offering people different things that are going to help them with their personal brand as well, which is quite nice.

9:00Yeah, absolutely. So again, it's like choosing people as well when you're collaborating. Yeah. That you're going to have that mutual values with... You don't have to agree completely on absolutely everything, do you? And that's the right thing about collaborations. It's that other perspective. but you have to like be able to work together yeah and be able to again skill share and bring something to the mix it would be difficult i think for a collaboration or a partnership especially something like a podcast where what two different sides to a podcast isn't there there's somebody that you'll collaborate with on one episode so we have guests in don't we we collaborate with those and then we share the message not too hard to work with because it's a one-off thing yeah we can work together for that hour we can share it all afterwards all together pretty seamless but then there's the collaboration like we're doing creating a podcast longer term that actually like we've got to work together all the time yeah absolutely yeah it needs to have that longevity about it doesn't it yeah definitely if you were doing more than me or i was doing more than you and there wasn't an even distribution of the workload or like you know it was just too much on one side I think it would be difficult to maintain that longer term absolutely it would lead to some sort of burnout yeah it would come to some sort of gradual end I think yeah yeah or a bit of or a bit of that yeah the race should end up changing and not being the same yeah yeah yeah I think there's always that dangerous so I think picking people that you know you could and again that's that's a that's a risk in itself because there might be someone that you really well with but until you are working together constantly you know you might you might find actually you do start to grate on each other or it's not so so it's I guess the goal of the collaboration is like the most important part isn't it like keeping that in mind yeah um you know whether it be like brand awareness or you know bringing in more business or you know whatever that is just keep that focus and make sure that both parties are aligned on that because sometimes collaborations come about from you know well you've got a massive following so will you promote my product for me yeah yeah let's do it oh gosh you've got a massive following i've got a massive following yeah let's combine and and it's like where okay like you you chat well you you get on but what's the where does this mean what does this offer yeah how are you going to work together do your values align are your end goals the same yeah are they you know do you both have the same amount of time to put into it, energy, all of that kind of stuff that it's really just great to get a grasp of and sit down and work out beforehand, isn't it?

11:35Maybe something we should have done. Should have contracted in. Yeah. These are the terms of working together. We chose to do the jump in and learn as we go. Yes, yeah. Which is doable as well. And actually I think - It's working so far. Yeah, it's working so far. Yeah. Season three. I think we're doing pretty well. But I think you can gauge whether people are going to be all right to work with anyway, can't be, most of the time. So it's all right. But also, I think the great thing that we have with the collaboration of this as well is that we're both like, we're both quite, what's the word? Like, not compassionate with it, but empathetic to each other.

12:12As in, we both understand that this isn't just the one thing that we've both got on. Yeah, that's an important first base to be on, isn't it? of like being on the same page. This is an extra thing. So sometimes you might have work on that takes over that and we need to juggle. Sometimes I might have work on we need to juggle. That's completely fine. We don't blow up each other and go, well, no, you said we were booking and that's it and this is all. You know, we work together quite well like that, don't we? Yeah, absolutely. You need someone that can be flexible. Yeah, that understanding is so important, isn't it?

12:44Yeah. And I guess, again, that kind of comes into when we're talking about the exchange of skills that you know a good collaboration a reason for partnering with someone would be that they have something that you can't provide to yourself because otherwise you just crack on and do whatever venture it is on your own yeah whereas the point is is i've got this to offer you've got that to offer that i can't do so together it's it's going to be something that's successful um so hopefully that helps like negate those kind of challenges yeah definitely so i think it's easy for us to talk about collaborations in regards to like podcasting because we are here we're doing podcasts if you're not here for that you're on the wrong you're on the wrong station maybe choose something else but so that's easy for us to talk about but there are lots of other ways to collaborate together isn't there as well like i think when i look at maybe social media just for a starter point like i've collaborated with other people before on going live sometimes because again like to my private audience on Instagram like I'm building a network marketing business like I want others to hear from other people it's not just my type of people but do that business there's a broad spectrum of people so I want to showcase some of those other people as well and get their views on it and then so I've gone live with other people and again I feel like podcasting going live with other people if you're quite nervous about going live on your own as well I found it really really beneficial with somebody else because the conversation never dries up does it interesting yeah it always has to flow yeah it flows it bounces if if I have a brain fart and forget about something we have a moment but then you've got something to interject in that yeah keeps it going again and I guess it then leads it to being more conversational as well because of those exchanges rather than And if I sat here on my own now, you know, talking to the camera or talking to listeners, eventually I'm going to get to a point of like, how do I connect to the next bit I want to say?

14:49Or where is it just helps it flow? And also the conversation changes, doesn't it? You know, because you might bring something in that I wasn't expecting in this part of the conversation. We go down that route for a bit. And I mean, that happens a lot. How many times do we ever go down that route? to be fair we kind of start off with a bit of a starting point don't we and we talk and we weave around and then we get to a point where we go yeah i think we've both said what we need to say on that let's move on um and and i think that's something that keeps it nice and conversational and informal but yet valuable at the same time um yeah rather than being here's a load of information or here's my view on this yeah um which we see all the time on social media like we don't we want to be different you know and that's why this like podcasting is picking up and people are loving youtube because it's just people yeah on sofas being real like again having those actual connection conversation that you'd have with them if you were there as well and like it makes people feel like they're next to you yeah and again how much trust does that build yeah i just yeah i love it you can't you've never lived in a better time for people to grow their trust in you because they can literally feel like they're on the sofa next to you yeah yeah absolutely that's crazy so yeah so that's a good one so live also i think sometimes when you're live you feel like you have to have like a script or something to say as well and it can feel very robotic yes yeah but again that conversational side of it just takes out the robotics completely doesn't it yeah um and then And it's thinking about the goals, isn't it, of what you want to achieve.

16:29So for bringing your audiences together, things like events, whether it's hosting a networking event or a fundraiser, partner with another business. Double up on the efforts. Because, again, it's actually ticking a lot of boxes. It's not just brand awareness and crossing over audiences. It's that your values align. So say you both have a connection over a certain charity that you want to raise money for. Do that joint event. Get both your audiences together. raise some money everyone knows that is aware of what you're doing through doing that yes and again split the time yes just shared responsibilities and yeah absolutely yeah we're all busy it is hard to create personal brand to do all these things to build communities to get people to know like and trust it is hard so if you can do it with another person and just lighten the load a little bit and to be fair collaboration on events where you've got tickets to sell or you want to get bums on seats it's a good idea isn't it because you know if you've got a room of 50 people to to get in i know i've only got to do 25 now and you're responsible 25 it might not work out that way but that's that's the aim suddenly i'm not trying to fill the room with everyone so there's there's so many benefits to that aren't there yeah so many benefits yeah so we've got events we've got podcasting we've got social media lives things like that whatever sort of things i I guess you could collaborate on a book.

17:52A book, yeah. If there's like information again that you both align with each other and your end goal is to, I don't know, draw people into what you're offering, the value that you give by creating a book, you might not be able to create one on your own. No. Maybe you could go in with somebody else. And again, they've got a different expertise for you. So that side's covered and then that side as well. So I guess we've kind of like categorised that as like shared knowledge, couldn't we? because there's but then under that there's loads of potential of crossover of i might have some knowledge but not the resources to produce a book you know but another business might have the the funds and the the means to do it but not necessarily have as much input on the advice you know so you can collaborate in that sense it benefits the two parties under that shared knowledge also workshops and courses you know is there is there ways that you can collaborate together you know we could potentially host a personal branding workshop because you can be advised on the marketing side I can be advised on the visual side together there's opportunities there yeah and that's something I've seen other businesses do that can be really profitable depending who your market is you know if you're going into corporate businesses to offer training sort of b2b or even if you're just offering the public services you know yeah if you're starting a business or just want a space that helps you focus and grow then you will want to check out Spark House at the University of Lincoln.

19:20It's right in the heart of the city with creative energy and practical support. They've got flexible office spaces, specialist business mentoring with physical tenancies and they even have virtual office options if you're not quite ready for a full-time desk. Having supported over a thousand businesses since opening Spark House has a track record for helping startups succeed. If you need an office space in Lincoln, email sparkhouse at lincoln.ac.uk and check out the show notes for that email address to get in touch. So it's worth having a little think, isn't it? Like your industry, who are the other potential partners that you collaborate with and what avenue does that collaboration look like or go down?

20:05um but similarly it's also a great opportunity to think outside the box of your industry and actually you know how can you bring two businesses or two audiences together that might not necessarily cross over usually but through the means of whatever this event or collaboration is that you're supporting one another and help each other to grow and reach a further audience yeah yeah I guess like we're doing here with Sparkhouse as well. So we've recently got a new drink. A new, what are they called? Sponsor. Sponsor. I guess like what we're doing here with Sparkhouse as well. We've recently got a new podcast sponsor, Sparkhouse.

20:51They're not in personal branding. They're an office space in Lincolnshire. Yes, we work here. So there's that tie-in. but actually again they're nothing to do with what we do no you thought outside the box and thought actually we need a sponsor maybe we could help spark house get more people within the offices make it more thriving in here again help them that then helps us because we get sponsorship money so then we get to spend that on more podcasting features and things that we get to help us create this because it does cost money yeah exactly yeah and then there's that win-win isn't there yeah absolutely and and through that if we delve a little bit more into that there's you know with we've got the the shared values in terms of we're offering advice to small businesses and supporting their growth through personal branding and Sparkhouse want to support these businesses particularly in that early stages and help them through the growth um with with their office spaces um you know and then in terms of the way they support us with the podcast you know they also put on other events and courses and workshops and anything that can help and support other businesses as well so actually like there's that kind of alignment there of sharing knowledge and bringing audiences together bringing people together so i think sometimes it just go again through your personal brands through the networking that you're doing just having these conversations yeah and opening and expanding your mind to it yeah go for coffee with people chat to people if you're if you suddenly think a thought of like oh they'd be great to work with on something but you don't quite know how that's going to look like go and have a coffee with them and explore that with them because you might not have the collaboration idea exactly either but you have the spark to it you put that spark into their head and they actually have an idea as well and then suddenly your snowballing starts and you've got a really great idea of what something that can help you both yeah and something i'd add there is when a collaboration conversation comes about it can usually be from somebody saying i have a challenge with this and if you can solve that challenge for someone they're never going to say no to collaborating if it takes away off them off you know something off their plate yeah yeah and i can think of a couple of individuals right now when you just mentioned about going for a coffee that if i was to say i'd love to do this but you know it takes time or I'd love to do this but I haven't got the money or I'd love to do this but I've got the skills that they would instantly go well I want in on that idea because that's a great idea and those people who always look like they're really busy they're doing this they're doing that with that person they're doing that with that business all these collaborations and links going on whether that be local community or all the way up to you're looking at CEOs and how can they always have a finger in every pie when they're so busy but it is because they're just working with people on collaborations all the time you know they're helping each other and that you only have to have a few of those to then step back and go wow there's a real ecosystem being built here where it's all working for itself you've got that little bit of input of your share but yeah suddenly the picture is so much bigger than your first thought when you started trying to yeah plan that little idea you have to do a workshop or do a book or and anything you could create on your own because like you say we're we're busy yeah you're already busy you don't want to plan a whole entire thing then yourself instantly the barrier's there you can't visit can you do it you haven't got the time you haven't got the money whatever whatever but again just opening those doors to the collaboration ideas yeah suddenly again it's like 10 people doing an hour yeah is better than you doing 10 hours yes yeah yeah yeah yeah so who can you collaborate with how can you help each other and like you say how what problems can you solve for other people yeah and how can you work together on that and those kind of those kind of longer term collaborations as well are so much more beneficial and valuable then sometimes you might do a little you scratch my back i scratch your deal a little like for like exchange and they're great but they're not ongoing support of each other's businesses whereas if there's a way you can collaborate with those businesses that's you know what let's work together on this going forward at the same time i'll do some photos for you you know or you know and you do this for me and we have this ongoing back and forth because we're working together on this bigger picture thing you know that is going to be really valuable to both our businesses and that's going to generate the income that we don't get from paying for each other's services yeah rather than i'll do you a freebie if you do me one so it's always worth thinking if anyone ever offers you something is there a bigger bigger picture here for us yeah what can we actually create together and achieve and how much bigger could that goal that we're going to smash be by working together on it yeah so much bigger than just you on your own and again it takes it back to the mindset bit at the start as well because i think there's that there's that energy and there's that bigger thinking when you're with other people doing it yeah so again you might only think a certain up to a certain point with another human in the mix who has another bigger vision yeah both together yeah yeah absolutely before you know it like the plans and the the things that you are actually achieving are so much bigger than you ever thought you could do on your own and it's just nice to have that other person there to do that with yeah and to go through it with and to push through it with and and again there will be bad times and there's like times that maybe I'm a bit like more stressed and then maybe times that you're more stressed or there's different stuff I can help you when you are and you help me and I am and again it's that uplifting of that yeah and I think a good example of that is sometimes like if I messaged you an idea of you know what about we do this event or we do this together as a podcast thing and you might not have thought about the podcast last week or so or you know it definitely happens the way around as well where I've been too busy at work too too stressed with something else not thought about the podcast and it doesn't feel like oh I really don't want to deal with this right now it feels like oh yeah it's a great idea if you want to run with that and get started i'll catch up in a bit yeah but in terms of sharing responsibilities another good example i can share happened recently so the business companion magazine you know i've i'm really pleased with how the you know the start of that journey in the first year has gone and putting a magazine together never done it before i've learned a hell of an amount from the design to how do you actually editorially bring all those inputs together and put them into one one magazine now I'm working on the next issue and the website with a design party number 75 designer call on board and we're going to be collaborating on future issues that just suddenly feels like one like a weight off but two like I'm so excited for where the project can go now having the input from a skill set that I don't have yeah from that design eye of how do we bring something together in an editorial manner that I can't do on my own and it's like that's something really exciting and I've got like this reignited excitement and passion and momentum about the project now yeah so instead of like slogging it out on your own and trying to get all of this stuff yeah and then eventually people do quit and they do you know the companion magazine could have just ended yeah if there was no future collaboration yeah it could easily fade it out it's a lot of stuff for you to do and it's not necessarily for a return on anything either so you've got to think with your business head as well but actually again that inject of someone new with that skill set is like oh reignite in the fire and you can get excited about it again because you started it because you were excited about it it was a passion project yeah it was an idea that thought oh wouldn't this be cool and then as soon as you start following that up it yeah gathers momentum quickly yeah but it becomes hard work yeah on your own but now like yes fresh eyes fresh skill set fresh energy in it and that'll shine through in the work that's created yeah absolutely yeah so people see i think again with when the audience so from the audience's point of view watching collaborations it's always better as well isn't it yeah like what's created is always better because there's an energy in it there's an excitement and energy and enthusiasm that maybe on your own you wouldn't necessarily get yeah yeah i'm just gonna add on yeah and then in my own personal interests collaboration my favorite collaborations run clubs and coffee run clubs and coffee whenever anything like that pops up on instagram like i'm about that i yeah i need some of that like there are two things that you know coffee and leisure and the social side of it and you've got running yeah the social side of it but the exercise and the health and all those kind of things they almost kind of like a slightly juxtaposition juxtapose each other if you think about them in isolation but bring them together why not like what a great way of of getting people into your coffee shop and getting people down to your own club yeah people get a healthier balanced life because of all of it yeah and they get the socialization as well because that's great for health as well so it's yeah there's so many people in running gear with a coffee in their hands you do one once you took the photos for it the video yeah yeah the run club there that was brilliant i loved it and then when i was in barcelona a couple of weeks ago i was out on sunday morning for a run on my own and the amount of clubs like the amount of groups of runners outside coffee shops that i saw just like yeah I was just like oh this is too cool it's such a great time to live in isn't it I feel like there's so many great collaborations like this happening though and it's just good for everybody and it's good for our mental health as well because I think again we've survived the COVID years the time we shall not mention and there was a lot of isolation there was a lot of on your own but actually we're through that now it's the time to build communities get together help each other out yeah we're in it we're living that now so why not create some of these things and do it definitely why not so I guess I know we've just said to you know go and grab coffee with people and just open up conversations with them but I want to be very mindful that sometimes when people approach you about collaborations because you have something that they can collaborate on or an idea sometimes it might not quite be a fit for them and it or it might not align to what their messaging is or the values that they've got or anything like that it's nothing personal but sometimes we've got to be mindful that they could say no to us couldn't they yeah yeah absolutely and it's being okay with that like do you know what I mean it might not align how you hoped it would they might not view it how they hoped you would um and just just take that and yeah pinch yourself go find someone else go find someone else yeah exactly they might not be the right fit you might not be the right fit but that might then bounce you off to somebody else who is a better fit who it would be good for well that's it if anything thank them because you know it's if they said no if they'd have said yes when they really weren't sure it's probably not going to be a success is it so it's it's it's thanking them for being honest and and being okay because it's much harder to say no to people isn't it than it is to i find anyway i'm terrible at say no to people I hate it so on the flip side of that then I guess as well it's it's from the other point of view of the person who the person wants to collaborate with you don't always have to say yes to everything either do you no exactly and then that's so important as well because you can so easily get wrapped up in yeah I'll do that with you do that with you do that with you and suddenly I haven't got time to actually push the business forward in the way you want to because you're working on all these things with other people um whilst it can be beneficial it's just try and mind yourself what are the goals of doing this like you know make sure it's still in your best interests i think it's the best way to do it isn't it yeah um and a no doesn't mean a no forever it just means that that period of time it doesn't align with everything it doesn't quite fit you can't quite achieve it all or say yes to it but actually again a year down the line two years down the line business changes you change something happens oh they're the right person again now let's get back in touch and see if they fancy doing it then so yeah absolutely be a no forever either yeah and i think sometimes it can be because you maybe don't know the person as well as you think you do or the relationship's not quite there yet that there's that trust that you know if somebody would say to me would you contribute some services on this collaboration for free in the hope that it puts me in front of their audience wherever it is if I already know them I'm not going to say yes at this point because it's a big commitment for potentially no reward yeah whereas if I've built that trust that relationship that person I'm more inclined to maybe you know think about it and consider it and it's just trying to be really realistic with yourself isn't it don't let the opportunity outweigh the reality of what the situation is or or the perspective that they might have around that.

34:06Does that make sense? Yeah. So back to the person that originally asked about the collaboration as well then. Yeah. Don't get annoyed and pissed off at them and then blow the relationship up. Yeah. Could actually. Because they said no. Because they said no. Well, they didn't want to do it. They don't want to do it. So it's like, okay. It's not that. Yeah. Not right now. That's cool. Keep the relationship going, flowing. You never know in the future. Yeah. And don't lose track of your goal and idea. You know, if they're not the right fit. like we said thank you find someone else who might be the best fit to drive it forward for you so today's action step then we would like you to write a list of either collaboration ideas that you might have or you might be able to think of or people that you might like to collaborate with and just write a list for now see what ideas come up see what people come up and if you maybe want to book in a coffee with them great booking the coffee with them if it's not the right time right now for you to do that just let those ideas sink in and get on paper and see what comes of them later down the line you never know where this can go and that's the bit i love about it you could be on a dog walk driving around when these ideas pop into your head so always make a note so you don't forget them but the other thing is try and resist sending a message to someone you think of straight away because it's much better to have that coffee and deliver something that's got a bit of a plan got a bit of a thought around this is what's in it for me this is what's in it for you so let those ideas just evolve and uh perculate yeah yeah let them build and grow yeah yeah thank you very much for watching this episode stay tuned for future episodes that will continue to drop weekly thank you again to our sponsor spark house if you're looking for an office in the city centre of and check out their link in the show notes below.

35:52Here's to branding new.