Two travel creators landed Google through LinkedIn — with fewer than 1,300 followers.

Juliana and Martine are a husband-and-wife travel creator duo who turned every brand campaign they complete into a public portfolio piece. In this episode, they break down exactly how they use LinkedIn to get on the radar of marketers at major brands — and why follower count has nothing to do with it.

• Why posting about your creator business on LinkedIn feels cringe at first — and how to push through it
• The "post-campaign summary" content strategy that gets brands to repost your work for you
• How to think about LinkedIn as a portfolio, not a social platform
• Why they pitch outbound every single week even as inbound starts rolling in
• What joining a sponsorship coaching system did for their confidence and deal quality

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com

Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

00:00 Why Travel Creators Should Be on LinkedIn
01:56 Pushing Through the "Cringe" of Posting
03:18 How to Approach Your First LinkedIn Post
04:49 Juggling LinkedIn With Your Normal Content
06:10 What Content Performs Best on LinkedIn
08:30 Working With Non-Travel Brands Like Adobe
11:37 Thinking About Every Campaign as a Portfolio Piece
12:36 Balancing Inbound vs. Outbound Pitching
14:04 Why Follower Count Doesn't Matter on LinkedIn
15:00 The Cold Connection Request Strategy
15:22 How Sponsorship Coaching Changed Their Business
17:27 Building a System vs. Waiting for Deals
20:27 Advice for Creators Just Getting Started on LinkedIn

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

You have a 700,000-person newsletter and almost zero sponsorship revenue. That's exactly what's happening at footballguys.com — and it's one of the biggest opportunities I've ever seen.

• Why reactive sponsorship strategies keep you stuck working with the wrong brands
• How to build a dream brand list that actually serves your audience
• The psychographic survey trick that turns a pitch into a no-brainer for advertisers
• Why CPM pricing is killing your leverage — and what to do instead
• How sponsorships can become your most predictable revenue stream

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com

Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

00:00 Leaving Money on the Table at Footballguys.com
01:16 Why They Only Took "Easy" Sponsors
02:52 Editorial Standards and Saying No to Bad Fits
04:02 The Problem with Reactive Sponsorship Strategy
05:24 Building a Dream Brand List Around Your Audience
06:12 Psychographic Surveys and Audience Segmentation
08:18 Reversing the Survey to Engineer Your Pitch
09:44 Overcoming Internal Resistance to Change
11:29 Why Sponsorships Can Be Your Most Predictable Revenue
13:08 AI as a Strategy Tool for Sponsor Outreach
14:08 Sponsorships as Audience Service (Not Just Revenue)
15:34 Every Revenue Stream Has Its Version of Hard

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Learn how to use a book to build your brand: https://www.creatorwizard.com/lulu

Thanks to Lulu for sponsoring this episode!

Brands like Nestlé, Unilever, and General Motors are spending millions on creator partnerships right now - but most creators have no idea how those decisions actually get made. Today, I’m talking with Gabe Gordon, CEO of Reach Agency, about…

• Who really controls the short list of creators that get picked for campaigns
• Why "here's my rate card, where's the brief" is the wrong way to approach agencies
• How brands are using creator content far beyond a single sponsored post
• The uncomfortable truth about AI slop - and influencer slop
• Why LinkedIn might be the most underrated tool for landing brand deals
• What actually earns you a long-term brand partnership (hint: it's not your follower count)

Follow our guest: Gabe Gordon - [email protected] | reachagency.com

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com

Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

Brand deals feeling slower and more unpredictable lately? You're not imagining it… and there are 5 specific reasons it's happening (plus what to actually do about each one).

• Why AI slop pitches are killing your cold outreach (and the video pitch fix)
• How niche creators are weathering this market while generalists get hit hardest
• The macro forces (tariffs, budget freezes, layoffs) tanking brand marketing spend
• Why your rates might need a reality check (and smarter deal structures to try instead)
• The warmest leads you're completely ignoring: how to re-pitch past sponsors

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com

Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

00:00 Why Brand Deals Are Slowing Down

01:16 AI Slop Pitches Are Flooding Marketer Inboxes

03:52 Niche Creators Are Winning Right Now

06:27 The Macro Landscape: Tariffs, Layoffs & Frozen Budgets

10:38 Your Rates Might Be the Problem

15:01 Your Best Leads Are Already in Your Inbox

20:18 Mindset: Default to Action, Not Victimhood

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

31 ways to make a brand absolutely hate your guts…and how to avoid every single one of them.

Including:

• Why ignoring a brand's goals during negotiation kills your chances at repeat deals
• The production and revision mistakes that make your contact look terrible to their boss
• Post-campaign reporting errors that cost your contact their promotion
• Why ghosting after the deal is the fastest way to end a long-term brand relationship

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com

Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Most creators walk past potential sponsors at conferences and do nothing. Or they walk up and say "hey I have a podcast, you should sponsor me." Both are wrong.

In this video, I'm walking the floor at Google Cloud Next and showing you exactly how I use AI to generate walk-up briefs for sponsor booths in real time — so you always know what to say before you open your mouth.

• How to turn a photo of a sponsor's booth into a full research brief in under 3 minutes
• The exact conversation openers that signal you've done your homework
• Why competitive wedges are the most underrated thing to bring up at a booth
• How pre-event research protects your reputation (the Cloudflare example)
• The upgrade: doing all of this before you even walk in the door

This works whether you're at a massive tech conference or a niche industry event with 200 people. If sponsors are there, this is how you approach them.

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com

Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

00:00 Walking the Floor at Google Cloud Next
00:36 The AI Research Setup in Claude
01:16 Infosys: Building a Walk-Up Brief in Real Time
02:57 Snowflake: Using Competitive Wedges
04:28 Cloudflare: When Research Protects Your Reputation
05:47 The Upgrade: Prep Before You Arrive

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Most creators think sponsors care about their download numbers. They're wrong.

I went booth-to-booth at a 30,000-person event and asked sponsors directly: why do you shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars for this? What I got back was a masterclass in how brands actually think about ROI, and it should completely change how you pitch.

• Why sophisticated brands filter out irrelevant leads even when they're walking right past their booth, and what that means for your pitch
• The two ROI buckets every marketer uses internally to justify sponsorship spend (and why most creators only pitch one)
• How a single booth conversation turned into a 7-figure deal... four years later
• The "Super Bowl" question you need to ask on every discovery call
• Why 6 months is the real window to get into a brand's biggest budget
• What your post-campaign report needs to show if you want a brand to double down

The brands who kept renewing? They weren't chasing vibes. They were looking for one thing: proof they reached their ideal customer. Here's exactly what that looks like, and how to give it to them.

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com

Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

00:00 Why Sponsors Shell Out at Events
01:46 The Two ROI Buckets Brands Use Internally
03:47 The 4-to-5 Year Sales Cycle You're Ignoring
05:43 Spray and Pray vs. Fit-First Thinking
09:45 The "Super Bowl" Hierarchy and How to Find Your Place In It
13:29 Why Budget Decisions Are Made 6 Months Out
17:55 Retention Mode: The Sponsorship Goal Most Creators Miss
18:55 The Post-Campaign Report That Wins Renewals

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Google flew me out to Google Cloud Next and I made a mistake on day one that still bothers me. Here's what went wrong, what I learned, and the exact playbook for turning brand trips into long-term partnerships.

Here's what we cover:

• Why being even 4 minutes late can set the wrong tone with a brand (and how to avoid it)
• The real-time posting mistake that kills your chances of getting reshared by the brand
• Why a LinkedIn thank you post is your secret weapon for landing future deals
• How to get crystal clear on deliverables before you ever board the plane
• The post-campaign report strategy that positions you for a bigger partnership

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com
Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

Chapters:
00:00 The Mistake I Made on Day One
01:45 Why First Impressions Make or Break Brand Relationships
03:35 Post in Real Time or Miss the Window
05:15 The LinkedIn Thank You Post Hack
07:00 Get Clear on Deliverables Before You Go
08:30 The Post-Campaign Report That Unlocks Future Deals

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Five brands sponsored a conference most people have never heard of, and it revealed exactly where sponsorship money is hiding right now.

I stumbled onto this at the Minnesota Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (yes, really) while watching my mom get honored for 50 years as a dietitian. What I saw on that sponsorship slide changed how I think about niche authority, and then I turned around and ran into one of my own coaching clients, Anna, who's living proof of everything I'm about to tell you.

Here's what we cover:

• Why small, niche conferences attract serious brand dollars (and what that means for you)
• How Anna went from "not a creator" to being flooded with brand deals — and the exact move she made at this conference
• The real reason traditional brands don't pay creators at first (and how to flip that into your biggest long-term advantage)
• Why being a big fish in a small pond beats chasing mass audiences every time
• How to introduce predictability into your sponsorship income, even when deals take 12–18 months to close

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

Chapters:

00:00 Where Sponsorship Money Is Actually Hiding
01:32 Anna's Story: From Practitioner to In-Demand Creator
03:15 Lessons from a Niche Conference's Sponsor Slide
05:00 Paul Jameson & Dr. Alex: Big Fish, Small Pond
06:35 How to Educate Brands Who've Never Paid a Creator
08:45 Playing the Long Game: Seeding Deals 12–18 Months Out
09:50 A Message for Professionals Afraid to Bet on Themselves
11:30 Ready for Help? Here's What Wizard's Guild Does

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

I lost $10,000 on Sponsor Games this year. And I'd do it again.

After fumbling the sponsorship strategy at Year 1, I made it a mission to fix everything—the pitching, the pricing, the activations, and how deeply brands were integrated into the event. Here's exactly what changed, what worked, and what I'm still figuring out.

Here's what we cover:

• Why requiring physical presence from sponsors is non-negotiable (and how it almost cost us a deal)
• The mistake I made by keeping sponsors off stage—and how fixing it made Kit's Haley say she'd "never gotten so much stage time"
• How giving away live brand deals at the event unlocked something most conferences can't replicate
• Why bespoke sponsorship packages beat tiered decks every single time (straight from our title sponsor's mouth)
• How I used the post-campaign report to pitch an ongoing ambassadorship—and why you should too

Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com Get early bird tickets to Sponsor Games: https://www.sponsorgames.com

00:00 Why I Lost $10K on Sponsor Games (And Don't Regret It)
01:22 Lesson 1: Physical Sponsor Presence Is Non-Negotiable
04:08 Lesson 2: Stop Keeping Sponsors Off Stage
07:19 Lesson 3: Give Away Real Brand Deals at the Event
11:21 Lesson 4: Bespoke Packages Beat Tiered Decks Every Time 16:51 Lesson 5: Use Your Post-Campaign Report to Pitch More 19:01 What Year 3 of Sponsor Games Could Look Like

For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]