#34: Getting Paid through Strategic Sponsorships with Sheila FG

Having sponsors or strategic partners can be a really good way to kind of leverage your, your connections and bring more into your business, bring more value into your business.

Hey, Coach, my name is Lindsay, and I'm here to help heart-centered women like you build the money-making coaching business of their dreams. I've been coaching since 2019, and this pod is about is so much more than building your business. It's about using your gifts to build a life and business you're 100% obsessed with. I went from working 50+ hours a week as a first grade teacher to building a sustainable business that replaced my job salary and gave me back 30+ hours a week of my time. Tune in to join the ride and learn from other coaches and experts along the way. Hello, welcome to the Aligned Coach Podcast. Welcome on if you're a first-time listener, or welcome back if you are returning for more of of our interviews and fun that we have over here. I have a really awesome guest today. I have Sheila FG. She is a, oh, I'm gonna butcher this. She is a sponsor. Okay, Sheila, just introduce yourself.

You have the first half. So I'm a sponsor and strategic partner expert.

Okay, sponsor and strategic partner expert. What she does, y'all, is so cool. I'm actually really excited for this interview and like just for this conversation. Because she helps you get paid by people before doing the work, right? Kind of the, because whenever she came on, I was thinking it's like an affiliate and it's very different. So I'm excited for this conversation and to see how I can maybe entwine this into my business or how any of you could. So let's dive in, Sheila.

Awesome. Thank you. Well, thank you very much for having me on here, Lindsay. I'm really happy to be here and this is going to be a ton of fun. I can tell already.

Yes, yes. Yeah. We just, we have a lot of fun here. We do.

Cool.

All right, Sheila, so tell us a little bit about you, what it is that you do, how you got here, like spill the beans.

Sure. So I started kind of my entrepreneurial journey about 25 years ago. You can probably hear from my accent, I'm Irish. I moved over to the States right after college. I moved, I thought, for a year. My big fear was I'd meet an American and get stuck over here, which is basically what happened. Um, but after I got married, about 2 years later, I was, I had my first child, Aisling. Um, and I knew when I was pregnant with her, I knew I didn't want to go back to work. I was working in the biotech industry, didn't want to go back to work. I wanted to just have the freedom to be with her, spend time with her, you know, be there for all the kind of kid things that you can get to go to and all that kind of stuff. And so I had to figure out something to also earn money. So I ended up, it's pretty bizarre, but I ended up starting a company doing remanufactured toner cartridges and laser printer repair. And I did that for about 8 years and actually managed to sell it. And then I did a couple of other companies as well. And that kind of journey, even though they all seem disconnected, all led me into the last business I had before this was Affiliate Mastermind Group, which was a group that I founded with Deanna Rogers, who we were doing a ton of like JVs and affiliate management and speaker management together. And what we found was that most of the people doing that, they didn't have like a resource. They didn't have somewhere to come and network. A lot of them were kind of hired and given a Rolodex and say, hey, go have at it. And they were like, what? I don't know what I'm doing. So we created that group and ran a couple of events every year just for networking and education and stuff like that. And towards the end of that, Deanna got recruited out by Digital Marketer, which runs a huge event called T&C, along with about 30 other events. And she became their director of events and runs all of their events. She's amazing. And for T&C, she had asked me to come in and help out with sponsorship for the— just for the first couple of years, which I did. And people saw what I was doing and they're like, oh, can you do that for me too? And it just kind of happened like that. It wasn't like a planned thing or anything. It just kind of organically happened.

Oh, I love that. Yeah. And it's the best whenever it organically happens, right? Where your path just like unfolds and you just trust the process. I mean, it's definitely some up— there's definitely ups and downs in the middle, but that, that's the best way to find your path, right? Or create your destiny, right? Is to trust the process and, and, and as it goes, like it will change and being okay with that change.

Exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. So cool. Okay, Sheila, so tell us a little bit like about what it is that you do now. Like how did you end up like in the online space? Like what do you do for as far as like connecting people with sponsors? And like what does that really mean? Especially like as a business owner, like why is that important? Why should I be interested in that? You know?

Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's just a way to kind of leverage what you're already doing to bring in strategic partnerships or sponsors. To kind of reinforce kind of what you're doing in your business, to help you find more business. It always has to be kind of like a win-win situation. So in terms of sponsorship, you have, you know, the sponsor, you have the host of whatever the platform is, and you have the audience. So your audience are coming to you usually for some—

Okay, so let's— I'm gonna just get us back to where we were. Okay, Sheila, if you could just tell us a little bit about it, what it is that you do, kind of how that entwines into why Why would I be interested in having a sponsor? Why is that important to a business owner or to— yeah, why is that important?

Yeah, sure. So having sponsors or strategic partners can be a really good way to kind of leverage your connections and bring more into your business, bring more value into your business. So I think of the whole kind of triad of sponsors, host, and audience in terms of, you know, if sponsors Sponsor is looking to get access to the list of people that you've gathered who are following you. They're in their demographic, they're a good candidate for them, so they're looking to get in front of those. You as a host, your, your people are probably following you because they're looking for some sort of transformation. So they're either looking to learn something to improve their business, they're looking for some sort of change in their life, and you're kind of the vessel that's going to bring that to them. But at the same time, there's only so much you can do. They may need some sort of resources to help them implement what you're teaching. So bringing sponsors in that are those resources is really going to help your students be really successful as well. And then your students get the value of having, like, the pathway laid out for them. So they're learning what you're learning— they're learning what you're teaching. And in addition, they're getting all the resources that they need. So there's really kind of no excuse that they can't succeed because you're giving them everything they could possibly need to get to the next step of wherever they're going. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Yeah. So it's like, it's benefiting the people that are learning from you, the people that you're serving. So just, I guess, for like an example, okay, let's just say for example, you wanted to start a podcast. So like if I had a sponsorship with Anchor or I had a sponsorship with like Toner, right? The microphone. Yes.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, you know, if you were teaching people how to start a podcast, so you've kind of been through this journey. I'm sure when you started your podcast, you weren't probably really sure what you were doing. I'm sure maybe the first couple of episodes were a little kind of ropey, and then you kind of got there. So now you have all this experience. So you as the host, you kind of have to look back to you then when you didn't know anything, because now the stuff you know, you kind of take for granted because it's like, Well, everyone knows that, but everyone doesn't know that because they, you know, you didn't when you started. So go back and look at the things like what gave you those huge leaps, like when you discovered the toner microphone or when you discovered Anchor, like what change did that give you? How exciting was that for you when you're like, oh my God, this does all of this. I don't have to do it myself or whatever. So yeah, so think about you at your beginning journey and now the different things that you use in your business. If you had them all then, Would you have gotten there quicker? Would it have been easier? There was less like trial and error, that kind of thing. Yeah. So what you're doing is you're bringing in the resources for them to really be successful. Yeah.

Yeah. That's awesome. And then so you would partner like with the companies, right?

Or partner with— Right.

Okay.

Yeah. Yep. And you'd mentioned affiliates earlier as well. Sometimes when you're starting out, that can be a good way to start is just like, you know, especially in podcasts and stuff, if you don't have like the downloads and the listenership yet, You can start with an affiliate and just say this, you know, like nobody knows your business. So if you say this, this podcast is sponsored by Anchor, nobody knows that. And Anchor's your affiliate and they're paying you. They're like, hey, thanks for the free publicity. We love it. Here's your affiliate commission. You know, nobody knows where you're at, but it's impressive. You know, if you have a podcast that's sponsored by anyone, it's impressive. Like, oh wow, that must be a really good podcast. 'cause she has sponsors who want to be part of it, you know? So sometimes it's like starting like that, or like I've seen people at events, they'll do like a very low sponsorship amount or no sponsorship amount and just do, you know, let's pay me commission on what you get at the show, just to kind of get that start and also to prove to the sponsor like what they're gonna deliver. So the sponsor has a great show and they're like, okay, so next year I want you to actually sponsor it, you know? So they'll come back and if done right, these partnerships just go on for years and years because everyone's winning, everyone's eating out of the deal.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. That's so good. I think it does, it does show credibility. And it shows that, hey, like, I can serve you in my area of expertise. And I can help you with these resources or like these extra things that you may need along the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's a win-win for everyone.

And that's it. And that's how it works the best is like, if everyone is winning, if everyone's gaining, that's, you know, and you want to go in with the kind of servant heart of like, I want to help you first. I'm not like, okay, so these are the things I need. And then if I get these, I'll help you with that. It has to be totally the other way around with no expectation.

Yeah. Yeah. I like that. That's so good. Cool. So how— so if someone, for example, like most of our audience listening, most of the listeners here are coaches, online coaches. I have a few VAs that listen, a few service— or I mean, sorry, product providers. So how, like, how could they start with that? If you were to give them like a tangible piece of advice, how could they start finding a sponsor? Like, where would they even start that process?

So for all of those people, I'd nearly start with like a resource list. So VAs, when they take on a new client, you know, as entrepreneurs, when we take on a VA, we just kind of want to get it done. We're kind of abdicating, not delegating. So if they kind of came to that new client and said, you know, I suggest you use X, Y, and Z, and these are the links and I can set you up with them and it's an affiliate link. So they're monetizing it that way. For the product producers as well, you know, you can push resources in your product that, this is the way I did it. I used, you know, this software. I use this merchant processor. I use whatever it is that you use to get to where you are. So at least, you know, the people don't have to use it, but at least it gives them something. And the fact that you're using it gives it credibility. So they're probably gonna go use your thing because that's what you're using and you're successful. So it's a great way to start, and then as you start to grow and grow your listenership or your audience, then you can kind of come back and say, you know, this has kind of grown into a bigger thing and I'd like to get you more involved. What would make this a no-brainer for you? So you're asking the sponsor like, how can we get you more access and what would that look like? And they'll come up with, you know, they'll tell you what they want. Because a lot of times I see people try to put together sponsorship packages and stuff, and they're just making it up in a vacuum. And you can't do that. You really need to talk to the sponsors and say, well, what's important to you? Because they're probably not as— they probably don't care about some of the stuff that you think is really important. I have this keynote speaker coming, and he'll be speaking at this, so you would sponsor because of that. They're like, no, I don't care who's speaking at it, if anyone. I just want to get access to the people. You know, it's just kind of asking first, I guess, rather than just trying to get it done.

Yeah, that's such a good point of view to build the relationship with the sponsor, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And to create that relationship and the dialogue and just like let it be flexible again, right?

There's that thing.

Right.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

There isn't a manual out there that's like, this is Sponsorship 101. You have to do it this way. It's just, you know, it's a relationship, it's a negotiation.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I think that you've inspired me. I just wrote it down. A resource list. That is something that I get asked all the time of like, Lindsay, what do I use for email service providing? Lindsay, what do I do for this? You know? And I'm like, I should just like make a list and put the links in there. And that could be like a free lead magnet, you know?

Exactly. Exactly. And then you're monetizing it as well with the affiliate commission. So, you know, why not? I don't think we think about that enough. And I think you strike me that you're kind of like me. You're caring. You just want to give and you don't think of like the back end of it. It's like, okay, I can still give, but I can make as well.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's passive income. That's something that you do one time and it's done.

Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. And I am about that life.

Yes, me too. It drives everything I do.

Yeah. Work less, make more over here.

Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. That's awesome, Sheila. Cool. So That is— that all sounds really good. How has it been? I'm just curious. How has it been your transition into like the online world? Because now you're doing like coaching and consulting? Yeah. You have— yeah, like tell us about the transition. Because I think that it helps to hear other people's journeys and to know that like, the transition is normal and having these ups and downs, these bumps in the road, like that's part of the process. So could you tell us a little bit about your journey into going from your corporate position and like, and being the person, like the liaison, I guess, to now you're the consultant position?

Yeah. So the journey from the corporate position was, I mean, that was, I had a very huge why. I wanted to be at home with my daughter and the second child a couple of years later. So, you know, that was like a big why that overshadowed any reason not to do it. So that was, I guess, easier. I just, I just, I was also younger, so I just kind of jumped in with two feet and said, yep, Here we go. Now bringing what I was doing, so I was hands-on, I was working with event owners, I was bringing them in sponsors, I'd be at the event, you know, making sure everything was going well, to kind of stepping back from that a little bit. It's like I'm an expert and a beginner at the same time. So I'm an expert in what, in the sponsorship piece of it, 'cause I've done it for so long, but I now have to go back and start the things like email marketing and building a list, and things like that. I'm like, you know, so I'm just at the moment, I'm just eating up all the information I can get. I'm trying to implement things as fast as I can do them, you know, because I never really did any of that piece of it before. So that's different. But it's also exciting. I mean, I'm super engaged in what I'm doing because it's just like exciting. And every time I listen to a podcast or hear a piece of information, I'm like, oh my God, I'm like humming inside. I'm like, this is awesome. I'm going to do that next. And, you know, it's just, it's exciting. It's, I think as entrepreneurs, I know for me, that's, like the payoff of being an entrepreneur is just being like totally excited about what you're doing. So nothing is drudgery, nothing is kind of like, oh, I gotta get up and go to work today. It just doesn't feel like that, you know? Yep.

Yeah, you're 100% right. That is, that's the best part of entrepreneurship is that like you, everything is so exciting.

Yeah. And then you come home, I tell my husband, he's like, yeah, that's nice. He's like, I don't really know what you're talking about, but that's great.

I know, I know. My husband Daniel, he's so supportive, but half the time he doesn't, he's like, what? Yeah, he tries to hang in there though. He does.

Mine does as well. It's funny, like, I record things in here and I'll say to him, I'm recording, don't come in. And next thing, out of the corner of my eye, I can see his head like around the door and he's not saying anything, but I'm now losing my train of thought. I'm like, okay, what, what do you need? But yeah, he's super supportive as well.

Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. I love what you said about, um, you know, I'm having to do all these things for the first time and I'm an expert in what it is that I do, but now I'm like figuring out, okay, I've got to put a list together and I've got to like do these things and you're a beginner and expert at the same time. I think that that was, that's critical to know and to embrace that, you know?

Exactly, and be okay with it. It's like, I don't know everything. I will never know everything, but just being okay with the fact that, okay, this is, I may need help with this. I may need to find a coach for myself or whatever while coaching somebody else. It's weird, you know?

Yes.

Yeah, absolutely.

I know I— a lot of my clients are just people that I talk to, you know, they're like, well, how can I help someone else? Like, whenever I still need help, you know, like, especially I think that mindset coaches and like, even relationship coaches put a lot of pressure on themselves. They're like, well, my life isn't perfect. Like, my relationship isn't perfect. Like, who am I to coach someone? And then it's like, you just have to remember that people don't want perfect. Right? People don't want to learn, like you don't want to learn from the guru because they're almost unrelatable, right? Like they're untouchable. And in that fact, so it's, I think owning that, yeah, owning that part about it and being okay with it. And like, it's okay that I'm learning as I go and, and I'm two steps ahead of the next person. And yes, being coached and coaching others, like that's good. That, that shows like your dedication to the process and your dedication to bettering yourself.

Exactly, yeah, and just, you know, be vulnerable about it and be you. I mean, don't kind of say, oh, I'm this expert in everything, or like, if you are, good for you, say it, but, you know, just be honest about where you're at and what you can do, because otherwise it's just like, you know, it's not worth it. But that whole imposter syndrome, I like, that kills me all the time. It's like, who are you to do this? And who, like, this is the voice in my head telling me that. I'm like, shut up, I can do this.

Also, it's like what you said earlier, um, it comes second nature to us, like, if it's our area area of expertise, we're like, oh, everybody knows that, who am I to speak on it? But really, we don't, like not everyone knows those things. We're just so used to speaking about it and learning about it and knowing it every day, you know, so we do have the authority, we do have like, we do have higher knowledge than, you know, the other people, right, in that area.

So yeah, and I always try and remember as well the excitement when I do learn something new. And it might be something, something that somebody's known for decades. And when it's new to you, you're like, oh my god, that's so amazing. I didn't know I could do it this way, or whatever, you know. That's what you're bringing to your coaching clients as well, is like, if you can, if you can shift wherever they are and kind of get them into the next stage, that's just amazing to be able to do that. And that's a challenge as well, to be able to kind of look at them and see where they are and see where the obstacle is and help them to move that for themselves.

Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful. And just that little piece that you said on the end, how to help them move it for themselves, right?

Right. Yeah.

Teaching them, you're giving them tools.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You're teaching them to fish.

Exactly. We're not handing them the fish. We're teaching them to fish.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Oh, that's so good. That's so good. I think that sometimes it's, especially when you're first starting out, you want things given to you step by step. Tell me exactly what to do. Just this way. Do this, do this, cross it off the list, check the box. And then you And you wonder why it didn't work or why you didn't get the results that you thought you would. And a lot of it is taking the tools, taking the checklist, right, and making it your own. You know, like you said, there's no, there's no one way to find sponsors. There's no one way to create these partnerships. But I'm sure that you being a coach and consultant and expert for that, you can teach people, hey, here is what I've done. Here's what my clients have been successful by doing, right? And then they can implement it.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yep. And every situation is a little different, but if you have the perspective of having a lot of experience in it, you can kind of key in on some things very quickly when somebody is talking to you and saying, you know, that I did this, that, and the other. And it's like, well, if you just change that maybe a little bit, it's usually not like huge things. It's not like change everything you're doing and do this. It's like, you know, just tweak this one little piece. And I think that will help.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So good. And that's the power of having a mentor, everyone. There it is, right there.

Exactly. And also, as entrepreneurs, we sometimes just need a friend, you know, because like nobody gets us. You just mentioned your husband doesn't get you. My husband doesn't get me. But sometimes just having that sounding board, and sometimes, like, I sometimes I'll talk to a coach and I'll just talk for the whole time and I'm like, I'm good, I got it, and I'll leave. And the coach hasn't said a word, you know. But it's just like, yeah, but it's just having like the, the the luxury to just like throw it all out there and say, I'm so confused. I'm like that, blah, blah, blah, blah. And as you're going through it, you start to, you know, and sometimes it's just like a couple of good questions from the coach and you're like, yes, that's it.

That's it. Thank you for digging that out. Yeah, exactly. And things like having the safe space to, you know, having the container to pour it out and to talk to.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Cause it's, I mean, as entrepreneurs, it's difficult. It's, it's, um, you know, you really don't have, unless it's you meet another entrepreneur and you can like, go up and talk about it. But like a lot of the time you really don't have kind of somebody who really understands where you're coming from and to go and explain the backstory and everything. It's just like, it's too long. So you just don't bother. You say nothing.

Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. 100%. Ah, this is such a good conversation, Stiva. Thank you. Yes. So I, you mentioned that you had a resource, right?

Yes.

Yes. Can you tell us about that please?

Yeah. So I have a resource. So just a little bit of backstory. When I first started out, I joined BNI, which is Business Business Network International, and one of the things that struck me about it is like how immediately people were helping me with my business and just like giving and giving and giving. And that's where I kind of started leaning into kind of strategic partnerships right from the get-go. But one of the things that we used to do at BNI is we would have visitor days as we're trying to grow our chapter, and one of the tools that they gave us was just follow your checkbook. So if you are in business, and you are paying somebody to help you with your business, be it, you know, a merchant account or CRM or an email provider or whatever, those are great people to look at first off for sponsorship because A, you're doing business with them, so there's reciprocity. But if you're using them, chances are your students or whoever you're bringing through that transformation will probably need them as well. So it's a great place to just kind of just get a list of low-hanging fruit and figure out that So what I did is I put together, it's called a one-pager, it's a kind of a PDF that's editable, and there's a little video embedded in this where I kind of teach you how to go through each of these things and start making lists of prospective sponsors. So it's just kind of like a cool little thing. So I'd love for your people to have it.

Yes, thank you, thank you. I will put the link for that in the show notes, so if you're listening, you can just go to this episode's page and then find the link there and go grab that one-pager and help you go ahead and start collecting passive income from the people that you already have relationships with.

Exactly. There you go.

Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for that, Sheila.

Oh, no problem.

Oh, this has been so good. I know that our listeners are taking away nuggets. I definitely have just about that. I mean, it's really like free money sort of sitting on the table. Like, as far as, you know, having— and I'm thinking, like references that you— okay, I will refer you to this bookkeeper, I'll refer you to this person, you know, those are very low-hanging fruit, like you said. Yeah, yeah, you already have those established. So yeah, such a good, such a good, a good way to get started with those partnerships.

Exactly, exactly. And then it just grows from there. And yeah, it's, yeah, yeah.

Thank you. Awesome, Sheila. Thank you so much for coming on today. I— oh, actually, before we go, can you tell people where to find you if they want to come connect with you and learn from you?

Absolutely. So if they go to connectedsponsors.com/finding-sponsors, that's actually going to bring them to that one-pager, and then they'll be on my email list, which means that if they need to just reach out, they can just reply to any of the emails that go out. The emails are automated, but I do read all the— when people respond to me, I do read them, and I will answer as many as I can. I'm always like, I'm still pretty new with this as well. I just ended this, you know, creating the product and all the rest of it. So I'm, you know, just kind of desperate for feedback. It's like, so what do you think of that? Should I change anything? So very, very approachable and available for people.

Perfect. Yes, I will definitely give you feedback. Thank you for that, Sheila. And I love that you've like owned the fact like, hey, I am new in this area. Please tell me what you think. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

I love that. Thank you. Thank you for coming on, Sheila. I have enjoyed this conversation.

And thank you. This has been great, Lindsay. I've really enjoyed it as well. A lot of fun. Awesome.

Cool. All right. Well, Aligned Coach podcast listeners, I will see you in the next episode and have an awesome day.

Bye.