This episode is for those in Phase 2 – 4 of the Lifestyle Entrepreneur Roadmap™
Who is this episode for?
Established entrepreneurs with proven methods and coaching programs who are ready to go from selling to individuals to selling to companies through bulk access deals
This Episode is Great For:
This is a great show for established entrepreneurs who are interested in learning how to scale your business exponentiallythrough licensing your content, course or program.
Summary:
If you’re an established entrepreneurs with a proven programs, courses, or content, and you’re looking to grow exponentially, then this episode is for you. By creating content to license you can demonstrate thought leadership in your space, increase credibility across your audience, expand your business to B2B or create a dual business model.
This an intro to licensing for entrepreneurs those want to know how content licensing works, those who want to demonstrate thought leadership in your space through Licensing, those interested in transitioning from B2C to B2B in some capacity. This show will give you a good foundation and knowledge base to consider your options.
At the end of this episode you will:
- know what licensing is and how to make money doing it
- know the business model of licensing and if it’s right for you
- know the prerequisites to license your content
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Full Show Transcript:
270
[00:00:44] Hi friends, and welcome back to the show. This is episode number 270 and you are listening to the Sweet Life Podcast in April Beach, and we are gonna dive into a really hot topic.
[00:00:56] I feel like this is really hot topic because I received literally hundreds of phone [00:01:00] calls a year about how to do what we’re gonna talk. On today’s show today we are talking about how to license your IP to scale your coaching business. And as a little bit of a background, if this is totally new to you, just pause here and go back and listen to Sweet Life Entrepreneur Podcast, episode number 230.
[00:01:23] Five, because in episode number 2 35, I talked about licensing 1 0 1 in some of the basics of licensing. And so that’s actually where you should start. And then you can come back to this episode two 70. So if you’re here and you have somewhat of, of an idea of what licensing is and you’re wondering how to take these next steps in, what to do, in how to strategically think about licensing, and maybe you’re just wondering whether or not this is even a good option for you, I’m gonna unpack that for you.
[00:01:50] Today’s show. As always, I do have a ton of resources for you to help you implement what we’re talking about today. So let me give you where you can go grab those [00:02:00] resources first. The first thing is you can text the word license to the number 8 0 5 2 5 4 0 8 8 0 and in there it will give you a download of all the things that you can grab or take action on when it comes to licensing.
[00:02:17] So that’s first and foremost. Lemme make sure that you have those resources and we’re gonna talk about some of those resources here in the show and how you can actually squeeze out the golden, those resources for your business. Also, of course, you can always listen to the. Of this episode by going to sweet life co.com.
[00:02:33] Simply click on our podcast link and this is episode number 270, and we have articles about this and resources. If you’re interested in licensing to scale your coaching business, you are certainly in the right place. That’s what we help clients to do. So now let’s talk about who this episode is actually for in, I hate to use the word qualified, but I’m gonna use the word qualified.
[00:02:56] If you’ve been listening to this show long enough, you know, I don’t beat around the bush. There are some [00:03:00] people who are ready to talk about licensing and there are some people that maybe that they just aren’t there yet. My job in this is to help everybody who chooses to move forward in this direction.
[00:03:10] Take another step, whether that’s the first step or whether that’s your 50th step towards license. So that’s what we’re gonna do today. So in today’s show, this is for those of you guys who are ready to take maybe step number 5 67. Again, if you were totally new to licensing, go back and listen to episode number 235.
[00:03:30] So if you have thought about licensing, you think this is a good idea, but maybe you’re not even exactly sure what this is. This show is for you. So this show is for entrepreneurs who are coaches, consultants, or experts. For those of you guys who. Proven methodologies, proven frameworks, proven courses and trainings in programs that have gotten people results.
[00:03:55] If you haven’t done that yet, then that’s where I actually want you to start. If you [00:04:00] haven’t created a transformational course or a transformational training program yet, I can also help you with that. That’s what we help businesses do to take this longer term business journey. So just cruise over to sweet life co.com and we can hook you up with how to build a transformational online course and training program.
[00:04:17] But this show is for those of you guys who have already done that, you know that you’re good at what you do, you are super confident it your ability of getting people results, and if you feel like you are in this place, You’re kind of tired of online marketing. Some, I mean, some people love online marketing.
[00:04:35] If you’re feeling like I’m a little tired of online marketing, I’m, I’m a little tired of selling, uh, individual, two individuals, one-to-one. Uh, I’m a little tired of launches. Um, little, little sick and tired of funnels. Shh. We’ll whisper that quietly. , actually, I think, I think there’s a lot of people that are, we’re ready to just like cut the funnel in a million pieces and shorten it as much as possible.
[00:04:56] Then you’re in the right place. So [00:05:00] if you are in that stage where you have had a coaching and consulting business, you’re an expert, you’re a teacher, you’re an author, Speaker and you have been serving individuals or even smaller groups, and now you want to change the way you do business. So you want to not have to hustle so much to sell your training or your course, or your program, or your mastermind or whatever it is to individuals.
[00:05:23] And instead we wanna sell it in one bulk swoop. Times a hundred bulk swos, then content licensing, program licensing could be a good option for you. So let’s first of all dive into what you can expect at the end of this episode. So if this is for you and you’re ready to dive into this, lemme tell you what you can expect at the end.
[00:05:45] At the end of this episode, you are gonna know exactly what course or content or IP licensing. . It’s different than licensing photographs for photographers, right? So you’re gonna know exactly what this is. You are gonna know the business model [00:06:00] of licensing in whether or not this is a road that you wanna walk down.
[00:06:04] But unlike episode 2 35, where we really go in depth about those in this show, I’m also helping you guys know. Five things that you have to figure out in your business to move forward in licensing. So we’re gonna go even deeper in this, and these are decisions that you need to make in your business in order to move forward and build your first licensing package.
[00:06:26] So we’re gonna, we’re gonna go a bit deeper in here for you, so if that sounds good, then stay here. We’re in the right place. So first of all, let’s talk about what actually is content licensing. So content licensing is allowing other c. To utilize your training, your program, your course, your systems, and to distribute it to their people.
[00:06:50] Okay, so let me say it again. Allowing other companies or organizations, nonprofits can be huge corporations, it can be even smaller businesses to [00:07:00] utilize your trainings to distribute to their people. It this enables them to make more. because they can increase what they charge because they’ve increased the value of what they do for businesses, that that applies to, uh, provide better services.
[00:07:16] So for corporations, for example, if your training helps somebody level up a skill, they can provide better training services to their employees or provide better employee benefits to the people that they wanna take care of. And even. Top talent to their business and it can help them to deliver superior content.
[00:07:37] So licensing is a win-win, especially for the businesses that are looking. And there are, I will tell you, there are businesses out there that are constantly searching for great programs like yours because it makes what they do even better, easier. It makes what they. , uh, emphasizes what they already do. It helps people to be more [00:08:00] successful at what they want people to be successful at, and frankly, you can make a lot of money on it.
[00:08:06] So those are the things that we’re gonna dive in today, that is the end result of what you can expect today. But the true legal definition of licensing is not selling your course. Okay. So when we license, And by the way, I’m gonna say this as a disclaimer. I am not an attorney, but I’ve licensed my own content for over 13 years now.
[00:08:27] And so we talk about this a lot when we talk about licensing. It’s the legal structures of it. It’s allowing somebody else to like rent your training. It’s like renting your content, having access to your genius, your frameworks, what you’ve been teaching. Probably for a really long time and allowing them to distribute it so you’re giving them a pass for a certain period of time.
[00:08:52] we’re gonna dive into that today. You’re giving them a pass for a certain period of time to distribute your training, and it’s a beautiful thing when [00:09:00] you do that. So again, let me just make sure I’m being really, really clear that licensing does not mean that you are selling your content. You still own a hundred percent of the rights to that content, and that’s a really important thing.
[00:09:11] One of the things that we do run into with our clients as people come to us for help with licensing, I’m just gonna tell you up front, so please don’t make this mistake. Oftentimes a company will approach you and they will love your stuff. Maybe they hear you speaking on stage. This is literally true story times three that’s happened to people who’ve come to us, they’ve spoken on a stage, somebody in that audience loves what they have to say.
[00:09:36] That executive comes up to them and says, Hey, listen, we really want you to come and bring your program. into our ecosystem in, into our corporation, and it’s really flattering and super exciting, especially if you haven’t thought about this before. When companies approach you and you start talking about what that could look like, cuz you’re excited about it and they’re excited about it, and nobody realizes that maybe in those [00:10:00] conversations, w we’re kind of giving them your stuff and you don’t mean.
[00:10:06] So what I mean by that is if you have been approached by a company who’s super excited about what you’re doing and they wanna bring you in, it’s really important that we take a pause and make sure it doesn’t become what we call, you know, work made for a hire where you’re creating a program for them instead.
[00:10:22] And why you’re here is I wanna help you structure your program so that not just one company can. So that tons of companies can have it and you can make a lot of money and be a lot, a huge blessing to all these companies to get access to your program. These are true things that happen. The other thing I wanna say is at beginning to what we’re about to talk about, Because I really love to tell you guys everything in a very short period of time on these podcast episodes is that if you are here, and you’ve already started down the road of talking to a company about licensing and maybe you didn’t realize that you needed to have some certain legal protections in place, it’s okay.[00:11:00]
[00:11:00] About 80% of clients come to us after they’ve already started talking to a company about licensing, or they’ve already been down the road and they’re really excited about the conversation and they just come to us because the only question they know to ask is, how do I price this? And what I’m gonna explain to you here is the answer to pricing is five steps into our project plan of licensing.
[00:11:22] We can’t even answer that question until we build the parameters on the package of what you’re giving. . So please don’t make a mistake and quote a price until you’ve had an opportunity to gain wisdom on what the value of your program is, and that comes with, yay, what we’re talking about here today. So let’s go ahead and dive into it.
[00:11:40] So as we are talking about the benefits of licensing, if you are not familiar, again, go back and listen to episode number 235, but this can really move you forward to that next level of, of, of your business. This is getting you into that thought leadership space. and it also helps us to move you from [00:12:00] that B2C, if you will, type of business.
[00:12:02] Even if you were selling to other businesses, we’ll call it business to individual sales, um, to to business, to on a grander scale, right? So we’re selling, the way we are selling your program is different, so we kind of end up with two different branches of your business. Some of our clients actually create a whole different sub-brand for the licensing side of their business, and that works really well too.
[00:12:25] Let’s go ahead and talk about these decisions that need to be made as you are going through the licensing process. So as you were working towards packaging it, a couple of things you need to think about and this leads us to you selling your program. This leads us to you pricing your program. The first one is brand.
[00:12:47] What do I mean by branding? There are three different ways that we can release your training to another company for licensing. The first one is As is as your content. So it’s your logo all over [00:13:00] it. It’s your name all over it. You’re branding colors. They’re just literally taking what you’ve already done in your course, in your training program, and they’re just putting it into their lms, some.
[00:13:13] Okay. That is super easy. It works really well. Number two is co-branding. Co-branding is probably the most popular way that our clients license their content. So co-branding is where we can have your logo on it, but also their information as well. So it could be April Beach’s licensing course for Comcast Cable or whatever it is.
[00:13:34] So we can use the name of your program and bring it in with theirs and they can actually co-brand it and co-branding works really well for you, and I like it for you. I’m protective of you guys. As you know, those of you guys have been listening to the show for freaking six years. I’m really protective of you.
[00:13:51] The reason why I like this is because I still want people to know who you are, especially if where we’re going in the future requires you [00:14:00] to be a thought leader in your space. So that’s why co-branding or having it branded as your own is a really great idea. The third is called white labeling. White labeling.
[00:14:09] Nobody knows who the heck you are. It doesn’t matter that you created this program. Nobody is going to know that it came from you. Now, the levels of branding. Match how much value your program can be licensed. . All right, so they’re gonna pay you more money to white label it and call it their own than they would to have it just as your brand.
[00:14:32] But the question that I ask our clients is, is it worth it? In most cases it’s not. Now, I have eight online courses that I have licensed since 2009, but they’re in my parent coaching industry. You guys, I could care. Anybody realizes that I created the parent coaching industry, I’m totally in a whole different generation, decades later.
[00:14:56] It’s ridiculous, right? So I could care less if [00:15:00] anybody knows they’re my classes, because that’s not what my business is. That’s, that’s literally, it’s an entirely separate company than what I operate in now. So think about that for you when we’re thinking about white labeling, but they will pay you more money.
[00:15:15] So question number one. and just be thinking about this to yourself is how do you wanna brand it? What is important to you in the delivery of the way this program looks? Number two is reach. Reach is really important, and you might not know the answer to this upfront. Oftentimes we talk about reach when we’re in sales.
[00:15:37] Conversations with companies reaches how many people are gonna have access. All right. How many people in a certain geographic area are gonna have access to it? Or even how many people within a certain niche. So for example, if a company wants to license your training, but they don’t want you to turn around and license it to any of their competitors, That’s [00:16:00] reach, that’s how far your program can reach, and so your pricing is going to match accordingly.
[00:16:08] So first one was branding, second one was reach. The third one is, the third one is length of time. How long do they get to access your training? How long do they get to distribute your training? How long do they have to actually utilize your training as part of their program? And so length of time is number three.
[00:16:32] And then the fourth one is I want you to think about whether or not you are interested in or willing to provide updates. Does that apply to what you’re doing? Some of our programs, you guys, we have to provide updates, especially if it’s something that might be more technical or even medical. There are some things we constantly have to update in order to keep that program accurate.
[00:16:56] Or what you also can do is you also can send [00:17:00] updates to the licensee and require them to update the program. Are you gonna deliver this beautifully packaged thing with a silver bow on it every time an update comes? Is that included in the price that you are giving them? Now, let’s kind of pause for a second.
[00:17:16] Have a little sidebar over here. I want you guys to create your curriculum for longevity . I really don’t want you building licensed curriculum. Then we’re gonna have to go back and record all the time. All right, so how we package your licensed curriculum? how we extract the content from your license curriculum, from your course.
[00:17:40] What we choose to take out of a course you’ve already had is dependent on your long-term goals on how we want to move forward with licensing. . There is no right or wrong way, and I say this to our clients all the time. They come to us and they’re like, April, just tell me what to do. Listen, I have [00:18:00] no problem telling you guys what to do.
[00:18:01] I actually do that all the time with our clients. But my job is to present the options to you and to help you understand how the decisions that you make, they’re not my decisions, they’re yours. How you guys make these decisions are going to affect your business and your profit and your. Okay. And so there are no right 10 steps to license your stuff.
[00:18:24] I mean, you see those articles, places, we even have articles written on our website. And here I am recording this podcast teaching guys how to license your stuff. But I wanna be honest with you that in each one of these decisions is a choose your own adventure. On what you want this to look like. There is no cookie cutter way to do this because a licensed package, although it comes from a framework, a course, a program, although we have a systematic project plan to release it to every company.
[00:18:58] When it comes down to [00:19:00] how you do that, how much you include in it, how many people have access to it, how it’s branded, how, how long they have access, That is totally up to you, and you have the power to make that choice, and there is no right or wrong way. So our goal here today is for me to talk about these things that I want you guys thinking about.
[00:19:23] Okay? Now let me unpack totally behind the scenes of the Sweet Life Company now, and I’m gonna be really, really, really honest with you guys. I want to help people license their content. I get paid a lot of money to coach entrepreneurs how to license their content, but when people first come to me, they usually aren’t ready to have that conversation.
[00:19:45] So part of my goal in this podcast is to help you guys get ready so that I can work with you, so that I can help you in getting your business, not even like to the finish line we’re talking about here, getting [00:20:00] your business to the starting line. For us to be able to have a project plan and walk you through these strategic decisions.
[00:20:09] That’s the point of this show because you guys, this is a hidden secret. I, I’m not everywhere on social media. You guys know who you follow me? I’m on Instagram. I’m like posting pictures of my kids. I’m not some big online social media influencer. So I’m not out there screaming from the top of the mountains how profitable and simple the business model of licensing is.
[00:20:32] And I want to be able to do that for you. I want to be able to share this with you and give you guys this secret. And so this show in my goal here is getting you to that place where I can have a conversation with you again. Say, here you go. Here’s our project plan. Let’s start checking. And that’s what we’re talking about here tonight, today in this show, whenever you’re listening to it.
[00:20:56] So let’s recap. These are the things that I want you to be thinking [00:21:00] about, and you do not have to make these decisions by yourself. You should not make these decisions alone, but you do know that they’re decisions that are going to come. your direction when you work on licensing. So I want you to be thinking about them now.
[00:21:15] These are the things that I work with our clients to make these strategic decisions, and again, it’s different for every one of you. So let’s kind of recap the four decisions that you’re gonna wanna make for us to get you to the starting line. for the licensing process. Number one is decide how you wanna brand this.
[00:21:33] Is it branded as you? Is it co-branded? Is it gonna be white labeled? Do you have other programs that maybe you don’t sell anymore that it doesn’t matter that we totally can white label and we can sell those for more? Think about that. Number two is how much reach, how many people are you comfortable allowing to access your training or your program at a time?
[00:21:54] We have clients that license their program to smaller businesses with only 20, 30 [00:22:00] employees. , and then we have clients that license their program to businesses with over 10,000 employees. And so where’s that comfort level for you and really what does that look like in your parameters of what you’re doing professionally?
[00:22:16] The third thing is length of time. How long can a company have access to your course and your. . And then the fourth one is renewals and updates, right? Are you gonna be willing to do that in, what do we need to do when we look at your curriculum to actually package it for longevity? Or is that something that you can actually charge more because you have such an amazing high level gold standard licensing package?
[00:22:41] What if you drop new content to them and it’s part of your agreement every 90 days or every six? Companies will pay you a lot of money to do that, especially, especially when you do it well. And that’s what we’re talking about here and it’s totally up to you. And let me leave [00:23:00] you with one more thing that I want you guys to think about.
[00:23:02] Again, the goal is getting you to the starting line here so that you can think about whether or not there’s a good option for you to move forward with. The last thing that I want you to think, is understanding what you wanna be known for. So let me clarify that. What do you want people to say about you?
[00:23:24] When somebody is talking about you and they’re saying, Hey, listen, April’s a person to go to for licensing, or Sarah’s a person to go to. , I don’t know, intermittent fasting or meditation or how to generate high value leads from LinkedIn. Whatever it is you guys do. Okay. Do you still wanna be known for that three to five years from now?
[00:23:50] Because when we engineer licensing correctly, you can build your Nick’s level known. On a mountain of licensing, [00:24:00] you can choose what you want people to say about you, what you want that book to be about, what you want that tag talk to be about. And if in particularly if we are doing co-branding or branded as you, you’re gonna wanna think about that.
[00:24:14] If it’s white labeled, and this is totally separate the way I do it. It doesn’t matter, but give yourself permission to actually think about that, to consider what you wanna be known for in the next 2, 3, 5, 10 years, because we can certainly accomplish that when it’s executed correctly through licensing.
[00:24:31] But I want you to think about that ahead of time. So in summary, today we went a little bit deeper on licensing. . The whole purpose of this show is getting you guys to that starting line so that you can be ready to move forward in packaging your license product. And again, you need to think about how do you want it branded?
[00:24:50] How many people have access to it? What is the length of time and will you provide updates? And to wrap it all up together, let’s make sure that the answers to those align with your long-term [00:25:00] goals and what you wanna be known. . And when you are to this place where you’re at least thinking about this, you know, people say to me, April, I just, I don’t know what I don’t know.
[00:25:10] And so my goal here through this podcast is I want you guys to know what you don’t know, and this is where to start. These are the things I want you to start thinking about. And then, We can move forward and craft a custom project plan for you. So let me tell you where those resources are. We have a totally amazing free resource.
[00:25:28] It’s a 40 minute video on foundations of licensing 1 0 1, where it’s much more in depth to what I talked about here today. You can tap into that free video at any point in time. It’s always on demand, and you can access that. We have a one day workshop called License to Scale, where I actually roll up my sleeve with you and help you build your first license package.
[00:25:49] And then of course we have our licensing accelerator, which is called Amplify. Whatever works for you guys, you’re all in a different place. I’m here to serve you in all levels. . So please use this [00:26:00] podcast, share this podcast, take notes on this podcast, shoot, transcribe this podcast. We actually already have it transcribed for you.
[00:26:07] Whatever you need to do, please do it. because this is the hidden secret that not enough people are talking about that scales coaches, business of coaches in Expon exponentially, and I can’t even talk anymore. It’s at the end of the day here. Um, one thing we are not talking about today that we’re gonna be diving into in future episodes is how to combine coaching on top of content licensing.
[00:26:29] That is a different conversation, and I’m not gonna be able to get into it today, but I just wanna let you know that that is. something that you should be thinking about to help companies implement even. All right. Thank you so much for listening to this show. All right, so let’s talk about where you can get these resources and where you can tap into these things.
[00:26:49] First of all, just text the word license to 8 0 5 2 5 4 0 8 8 0, and then you’re gonna be texted back these three links so you can just pick and [00:27:00] choose whatever you wanna eat up. All right. Number two, go over to our website if you click on sweet life co.com and then click on the podcast button. This is episode number 270, so you can find all of the show notes, the transcription for this, and all the links and all the resources that we’re talking about here.
[00:27:18] If you go to our website, and then if you want to jump in our next workshop, you can very simply just go to license. And then the number two and then the word scale.com. So you can go to license2scale.com when you are ready to dive into that workshop. I teach it three times a year. It is live and live only.
[00:27:40] It’s not something that’s gonna be recorded. I wanna work with you on your first licensing package. Depending on when you’re listening to this, we do have one in January, 2023 coming up. If that’s you, make sure that you go to license2scale.com and you jump in that. Otherwise, you can always send us an email to podcast@sweetlifeco.com and we’d [00:28:00] be happy to redirect you to any of these resources if you forget.
[00:28:03] Okay. Thank you so much for listening to this show. I’m so glad to be back with you guys. This is the second generation of the episode. Your implementation for this is to dive into these five questions that I gave you. Even if you only think of one of them. Give yourself permission to think of one of these branding length of time updates, and you’re already gonna be further than you were when you first started listening to this show.
[00:28:27] I wanna see you guys make progress and I wanna see you make fast progress. That’s the point, guys. All right, you guys be awesome and I’ll talk to you next week.