Collaborate To Dominate: Effective Strategies to Grow Your Business

What's going on everybody? Welcome to the First Class Founders podcast. My name is Yong-Soo Chung and I'm the Founder of Urban EDC, an e-commerce brand selling everyday carry gear, and GrowthJet, a Climate Neutral Certified third-party logistics company. For the past 7 years, I built an 8-figure business in e-commerce and now my goal is to help you build your business.

Today, we're talking about a growth strategy that not a lot of creators are taking advantage of especially in mediums such as email and podcasting where there is no algorithm to help you grow. I'll tell you what it is and how you can do it effectively to grow your audience and increase your authority at the same time.

This is a powerful tactic that I'm using personally in my own e-commerce business to supercharge our growth.

By the end of this episode, you'll be well-equiped with a new tool for taking your business to the next level.

I'm also excited to announce a new Ask Me Anything segment at the end of episode where I'll answer one question from a member of our First Class Founders community. Super pumped to add this segment. Stay tuned for this week's question later in the episode.

Let's dive right in.

So let's start with a quick behind-the-scenes story on why I chose this particular topic.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to chat with a friend I connected on Twitter. We had a 45-minute video call scheduled, but ended up with an amazing conversation lasting 90 minutes.

So what did we talk about?

The idea for this episode came to me after speaking to Kevon Cheung of Public Lab. If you don't know who Kevon is, he's a well-respected creator advocating for building in public.

Kevon and I went down a deep rabbit hole of how to scale a 5-figure creator business into a 6-figure business.

Our conversation led to the topic of collaboration.

Since I come from the e-commerce space, collaborations are quite common between brands to grow together.

In my opinion, there is a big missed opportunity right now in the creator commuity to use collaboration to grow.

Let's dig deeper now into the most underutilized growth tactic for creators.

So what is a collaboration in its simplest form?

A collaboration is simply a value exchange between two parties to create more value for both audiences.

Let's break this down with an example.

So let's start with Bob, a content creator with an audience of digital nomads who love to travel.

Over the past several years, he has built a cult-like following for his unique hacks for finding the best airline deals and perks at luxurious hotels around the world.

Bob has a remarkable way of capturing his audience's attention while educating them on all the latest travel hacks through his storytelling abilities.

Now, let's meet Jill. She's also a content creator.

Jill is an expert on productivity including the popular software Notion. She creates beautiful Notion templates to optimize every part of her life.

Her audience loves her practical, easy-to-use templates.

Now, let me ask you first. 

How could Bob and Jill collaborate together?

Bob is a content creator for digital nomads looking for the latest travel hacks and Jill is a productivity expert specializing in Notion templates.

Remember our definition of collaboration: it's a value exchange between two parties to create more value for both audiences.

I'll give you a minute to think about it.

Okay, let's brainstorm some collaboration ideas for Bob and Jill together.

They could cross-promote their individual channels to each of their audiences.

They could set up affiliate links to promote each other's products.

They could co-create content together by making a guest appearance on each other's channels.

Last but not least, they could co-create a product together.

The last option takes more work but it's the most engaging and impactful collaboration.

Imagine Jill creating a beautifully designed Notion template for Bob's audience of digital nomads.

Bob could also add travel tips and hacks into Jill's templates.

Both Bob and Jill could sell this co-created product to both of their audiences.

A successful collaboration is beneficial for both parties and based on the strengths of each creator.

For example, Jill is a Notion expert so she can design the templates while Bob has amazing travel hacks that he has developed over many years of traveling.

By co-creating a product together utilizing both of their strengths, this is a win-win collaboration benefiting not only Bob and Jill, but also each of their audiences.

Now, let's do a real world example from my own e-commerce company, Urban EDC and how we utilize the power of collaboration to supercharge our growth.

But before I go any further, I have one question for you. Aside from collaborating with other content creators, what do you think is the single best method to grow a podcast?

If you guessed sharing this episode with a friend, give yourself a pat on the back.

The reality is that each podcast episode like this one takes a ton of resources to make, so I would really appreciate sharing this episode with just one friend. It would mean the world to me.

Okay, let's get back to how Urban EDC was able to grow so quickly over the past 7 years.

So Urban EDC is an e-commerce brand I launched back in 2015 selling everyday carry gear.

For those of you who aren't familiar with everyday carry gear, these are things that you carry on a daily basis like your wallet, a pen, a notebook, maybe a flashlight or pocket knife.

There are two main ways we use collaboration as a growth tool: distribution and product.

Let's talk about distribution first.

We work with content creators in the everyday carry niche to help spread the word about our new products.

We have an affiliate partnership with most of them so they get a percentage from any sales that they bring us from their audience.

Distribution is the simplest form of collaboration between a brand and a content creator because it's nearly just plug-and-play.

We establish a mutual partnership with each creator, find out what their audience likes, then send them a few products to showcase to their audience in exchange for affiliate commissions.

This is nothing revolutionary. Affiliate commissions are pretty common.

Now, with a couple of content creators that have larger audiences, we went one step further.

Instead of just promoting our products, we co-designed a product together to be released through our brand Urban EDC.

This is a product collaboration.

Now, they can promote their own products that was brought to life through our partnership.

Co-creating a product together is definitely more challenging but at the same time, it drives higher brand loyalty and engagement.

When we map out our growth, the big leaps happened with these product collaborations.

Remember that each party is bringing in their own unique strengths as part of the collaboration.

The content creator's strength is their talent to showcase gear in a way that creates trust and authenticity with their engaged audience of everyday carrry lovers.

And Urban EDC's strength is not only building products through our network of suppliers, but also our rock solid fulfillment operations powered by my other company, GrowthJet, which is a Climate-Neutral Certified third-party logistics provider for fast-growing e-commerce brands.

By bringing two strengths together, we can deliver a unique experience for both of our audiences.

Aside from content creators, we also work with other brands in the same industry to co-create a product together.

This way, we promote the same product to each other's customers to amplify the product's reach.

These product collaborations have been quite popular and the combination of bringing two recognizable brands through one product boosts awareness like no other marketing tactic that I've seen.

You can take this one step further and collaborate with creators on distribution and collaborate with a brand to co-create a product together at the same time.

This means that we can boost the launch of a new product by coordinating distribution through our network of creators while promoting the co-created product with each of the brands' audience.

This is a more complex multi-party collaboration that requries careful planning to pull off successfully, but if executed properly, it's a huge boost.

Now, how do we apply these strategies as a creator working with other creators?

Before I get into these strategies, I want to tell you about a podcast that I recently discovered that I think many of you will like. It's called The Success Journey Show hosted by Marlon Madden and Ricky Venters. Both Marlon and Ricky are fantastic hosts asking great questions to their guests to bring out the best stories and tactics from their journey. My favorite episode is episode 141 with guest David Selinger who was an early employee at Amazon working directly under Jeff Bezos. He was also the Co-Founder and CTO at Redfin, the multi-billion dollar real estate company. Go check out episode 141 of The Success Journey Show. I'll link to it in the show notes.

Okay, we're back.

Now, let's talk about how you can collaborate successfully to grow your business working with other creators.

As mentioned before, you can collaborate on either on distribution or product.

If you're just starting out, I recommend starting with distribution first.

Then, if there's a great fit, work your way up to product after establishing a deeper relationship with the other creator.

So what are some tactical strategies for collaborating on distribution?

One way of thinking about distribution is cross promotion.

You can plug each other into each others' newsletters or podcasts.

You can work out affiliate deals for your products.

You can engage with each other's posts on platforms such as LinkedIn or Twitter to increase the reach on each others' posts.

You can run an event together on Twitter Spaces.

You can even organize a meet-up in real life and invite both of your audiences to the event.

Get creative about how you can share audiences in an organic way so that everybody wins.

Okay, now let's move onto product collaboration.

This is next level collaboration and I only recommend this when you have developed a strong relationship with the creator that you're collaborating with.

You're putting your reputation on the line and you don't want to associate yourself with someone you don't fully trust.

So here are some ways to collaborate on a product together.

If you're a content creator, your content might just be your product.

So invite other creators onto your YouTube channel or your podcast.

Then, be a guest on their podcast or YouTube channel.

If your main content is a newsletter, you could have them write a short guest post within your newsletter.

If you have offer courses, why not co-create a short mini course together?

As long as there is an overlap in your audience's interests, anything is fair game.

There's a reason why so many New York Times best-selling books are co-authored.

Each author brings in their audience to promote the book when it launches.

Just be sure to provide real value to each of your audiences so the collaboration doesn't feel fake, like another growth tactic.

Your audience can see right through a fake collaboration.

Okay, here's a quick summary of today's lesson.

Collaboration is an underrated tactic for building an audience especially if you're bootstrapped and don't have a lot of money to spend on marketing.

There are two primary ways to collaborate: distribution and product.

Distribution is simpler and requires less additional work.

Cross promote each other, set up an affiliate partnership, run an online event together.

You want to do this organically so both of your audiences feel that there's value-add.

Product collaborations are more involved but they can be extremely powerful.

The goal is to co-create a product that you'll be sharing with both of your audiences.

Focus on each others' strengths to build out a unique product for both of your audiences.

Just be wary about choosing the right partnerships.

When you do a larger product collaboration, you're putting your reputation on the line.

Make sure you each party of the collaboration is aligned not only on their goals but values as well.

One last important note.

Collaborations should not feel transactional.

I cannot stress this enough.

They should be based on real relationships that you've built with each individual creator.

Come up with interesting ways to add value to each other and for each others' audiences.

It doesn't have to be a 1-for-1 type of transaction.

In fact, it's pretty rare that your audience size and engagement are the exactly same.

So get creative especially if you're trying to collaborate with someone who's much further along than you.

Give value first. Prove to them that you aren't just reaching out to extract value out of them.

Okay, before we end, I want to leave you with a few action items that will kickstart your collaboration efforts with other creators.

First, come up with your dream list of collaborators.

Then, dig into their social profiles and find out what they're currently working on.

Are they coming out with a new book? Do they have a new podcast they're trying to promote?

Figure out what their goals are and start by giving them value first.

Never be afraid to ask.

The worst thing that can happen is a 'no' while the best outcome is limitless.

Don't worry if they say 'no' at first. 

Genuine relationships are not transactional. They take a long time to build.

And if you're not getting 'no's, it means you're not shooting high enough.

Be patient and be persistent within reason.

Who knows?

You might find yourself working with one or several dream collaborators on your list.

Okay, it's time for our first ever Ask Me Anything segment.

This question was submitted by a community member of First Class Founders.

With everything you have going on with your e-commerce businesses and now the podcast, how do you manage to get everything done?

This is a great question. The truth is, I struggle to find balance in my life all the time. I love building businesses so my default state is working on something related to my business. I know this might sound crazy but when my wife Sandy is out of town for a weekend and I have nothing planned, I'll work straight throughout the weekend.

But at the same time, I know that I can't neglect the other parts of my life for obvious reasons.

The best trick that I've found is scheduling weekly, predictable routines to highlight the other important aspects of my life. For example, I used to have shoulder and back pain because I was working so much. But after I discovered pilates, I no longer have back pain or shoulder pain.

Once a week, my wife and I go to our pilates class. It's scheduled at the same time each week so I can easily plan around it. Pilates has helped me with not only my core strength, but flexibility and general well-being. Now, it's become a fixture in my life. Plus, it's a good opportunity for some quality one-on-one time with Sandy.

Another example is date nights. Sandy and I go to a local wine bar on Monday evenings for a wine tasting. It's something we both look forward to and it helps get through Mondays which tend to be our busiest day of the week.

One thing that I would like to start doing is traveling more. So I plan on scheduling one trip each quarter.

So if you're struggling to find balance in your life, I recommend scheduling in whatever you want to add into your life as part of your routine. This can be weekly, monthly, quarterly, whatever works for you.

All right, that wraps up today's show. If you want to ask me a question like this, you can sign up for our membership at FirstClassFounders.com/join.

In the next episode of First Class Founders, I'm going to debunk the myth of solopreneurship. Yup, that's right. I'm going out on a limb to tell you how I really feel about solopreneurship. This one's been on my mind for a while and I can't wait to share my thoughts on this topic.

All right, one last thing before you go. If you're a new listener and you enjoyed this episode, you can follow the show by going to FirstClassFounders.com and clicking on the link that matches your preferred podcast player like Apple Podcasts or Spotify. If you're a repeat listener, I would really appreciate a 5-star review.

I know every single podcast show asks you to leave a rating and review, but since this is a new show, I really appreciate every single review. You can head over to FirstClassFounders.com/review to leave us a 5-star review. Thank you so much!

If you want to connect with me, I would love to hear from you. You can follow me on Twitter at @YongSooChung and let me know if you enjoyed this episode. I take feedback very seriously and would love hearing your thoughts on how to improve the show. You can find links to all my social accounts in the show notes.

All right, I’ll see you on the next episode of First Class Founders.