186: Licensing 201 — Q&A (Part 1) on Product Development, Attracting Clients, and Sales Process
“A shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it.”
—Deloris Jordan
When negotiating Michael Jordan's famous shoe deal with Nike, his mom Deloris “made an additional demand: Her son must receive not only a $250,000 fee, but also a cut from every sneaker sold,” making her case with that mic drop moment above, as retold in the movie Air via The New York Times article ‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits.
That, my friends, is the power of licensing :) Today’s episode is the first of a two-parter — an in-depth addition to 140: How to License Your IP (Intellectual Property), thanks to a set of wonderfully thorough follow-up questions from BFF member Al Dea.
Al is the founder of MBASchooled.com, author of MBA Insider, and host of the MBA Insider podcast. He asked a series of questions across five categories, and in this episode I’ll be addressing the first two: product development, go-to market strategies, selling and packaging, delivery and legal.
A caveat, as always, when it comes to this notoriously opaque arena: what I’m sharing is not the way, it’s just what I’ve learned along the way in nearly a decade of building out licensing as a revenue stream.
Be sure to check out the previous do-not-pass go episode first that lays the foundation: 140. These go well paired with 016: IP Licensing with Lee LeFever and 185: How Licensing Helps Serve the Queen Bee Role with Mike Michalowicz.
📆 Join us in our private BFF community for a related workshop coming up! We’ll be diving deeper into Certification and Licensing on Thursday, May 11 at 1pm ET. Even if you can’t make it live and/or if you’re listening after May 11, you’ll get instant access to the entire private podcast feed with years of special content archives.
In this special BFF bonus workshop, my longtime friendtor Pamela Slim—who taught me the early ins-and-outs of licensing—will walk us through:
How to know if/when adding a certification to your business makes sense (B to Small B)
How to know if/when adding a corporate licensing offering is a fit (B to Big B)
The first steps involved in creating an IP certification or licensing program
Ways you can work with her and her team of instructional designers on the build-out
. . . and anything you can think to ask and would love to know during Q&A!
❤️ Learn more and join us at http://itsfreetime.com/bff (apply promo code PODCAST)
📝 Permission: To be overwhelmed. Even if you need to listen to this three times, even if you're still scratching your head, it will start to make more sense, slowly over time.
✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Join us in BFF to learn (and develop your materials) alongside fellow Heart-Based Business owners who are also on the certification and licensing journey!
📘Books Mentioned
Built to Sell: Creating a Business that Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow
Inked: The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Closing and Sales Negotiation Tactics by Jeb Blount
Value-Based Fees (3rd Edition): How to Charge What You're Worth and Get What You Charge by Alan Weiss
Million Dollar Consulting Proposals: How to Write a Proposal That's Accepted Every Time and Million Dollar Consulting, Sixth Edition: The Professional's Guide to Growing a Practice by Alan Weiss
The New and Complete Business of Licensing: The Essential Guide to Monetizing Intellectual Property by Craig Battersby
One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs: Live Your Dreams and Create Your Own Profitable Company by Stephen Key
Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld
🔗 Resources Mentioned
Community: BFF (apply promo code PODCAST) to attend Pamela Slim’s upcoming workshop on Certification and Licensing on 5/11 at 1pm ET (you’ll get the recording even if you listen to this in the future :)
Articles: NYT—‘Air’ and the Argument for Letting the Talent Share in the Profits and Hollywood’s Newest Stars? Nike, BlackBerry, and Cheetos
Movie: Air (Trailer)
Attorney: Francine Love at Love Law Firm
📓 Examples of Certification and Licensing Programs
Pivot Programs: Rollout Options, Pivot Workbook, Companies (Overview), Pivot in the Classroom, and Pivot Programs Overview (Made in Canva)
Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Courses: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, Coaching New Managers
Assessment Certifications: Sparketype, MBTI, Kolby, #lovework, True Colors, Gallup Strengths
The Energy Project: Licensing tracks—LeaderFuel and PeopleFuel
Others Mentioned: Box of Crayons and MBS.works, Getting Things Done Practitioner Certification, John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing Certification, Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First Professionals Certification
🎧 Related Episodes
135: How to Rapidly Prototype a Course (Pivot Replay from Dec. 2019)
117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim + Jenny on Widest Net 005: From Friction to Flow and Finding Joy in Systems
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