So you want to partner with (company)

September 26, 2011

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Having the incredible privilege of working with an amazing brand, I get a lot of people asking about partnerships of one kind or another. If you are considering approaching any company about a partnership, sales pitch, joint venture, etc, then I hope this will help you.

 

First, keep in mind that managers are very busy. Time to evaluate partnerships are not built into their schedules. And unless you are coming from a very strong reference, then they usually will not even have 15 minutes to meet and talk.  So how can you prepare yourself to have the greatest chance of success?

 

1. Do your homework
Make sure to research both the brand and the person you will contact. Show that you have taken the time to educate yourself through what is currently available online, so that you use any conversation time for highly relevant questions and proposals.

 

2. Know what you want
Don’t ask to brainstorm or find ways to collaborate.  As leaders, we do not have time to look at your business or product and then figure out how it connects with ours. That is not mission critical for us. That’s your job to figure it out, and relate it back to our business needs.

 

3. Be passionate
If you’re not thrilled about what you have to offer, why should we be?  My rule for considering any proposal or project is – If it’s not a “Hell yeah!” then it’s a no. Time and resources are too precious to spend on anything less.

 

Remember, there may be several steps before getting to a yes (in fact it’s better to start small). Consider what those might be in advance. Prepare for success.  But if it’s a no, then you may want to ask for feedback as it can be incredibly helpful for future proposals.

What fear really is…

April 14, 2011

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I’ve developed a new relationship to fear.

 

To understand it, I first had to realize that I am neither my thoughts nor my emotions… If you don’t believe this, just think about when you were 8 years old. Think about your thoughts and emotions back then.  Did they stay the same up until now? No.  That means our identity goes much deeper. I believe our identity is simply our ability to observe, and our ability to take action.  Those are the only two things that have always been present (at an ontological level).

 

So to truly understand a thought or emotion, we need to separate ourselves from it, and simply observe it, find it interesting, and get curious.  Because why take it seriously if it’s only on its way out?

 

The second thing I had to understand was that every time I had a fear and faced it, there was some sort of growth that came as a result.  Some might consider this obvious, but the next part was not so obvious…

 

I’ve found that fear is excitement about something we have judged as harmful to us.

 

Just think about that for a moment: “Fear is excitement about something we have judged as harmful to us.”

 

Afraid to quit your job and start a business? It’s because your mind took something that’s very exciting to you, and told you all the reasons you might starve and die and if you do this. Afraid to ask out that girl?  You’re excited at the notion, but your mind has convinced you that the rejection could be completely devastating.

 

Let me give you the most base example.  My mother does not have a fear about skydiving. But the reason is not courage. The reason is she’s never been skydiving and never wants  to go skydiving. It’s not even on her radar.  Thus she spends absolutely no time being afraid of it.  But people who think about it and get really scared are those would love to do it, but they’re worried they’ll die (or they’re just afraid of fear itself).

 

Now that I know what fear is, I start to get excited when I feel it, because I know there’s gold there. And as they say, courage is not the lack of fear. It’s feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

 

It’s my hope that you’ll think of this post the next time you’re afraid, separate your identity from the emotion, and smirk because you know what’s up.  🙂

The Two Kinds of Relationships

March 14, 2011

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I’m no relationship expert, but I do see patterns.
In my own life, and my friends’ lives I see two types of romantic relationships:  Growth relationships and partner relationships…

 

Growth relationship
A growth relationship is anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. It’s exciting, it’s spicy, it’s all kinds of unpredictable. It’s the one that your friends didn’t want to tell you, but they knew it ultimately would not work out.  But you were still drawn to it, like a moth to the flame.  The flame of passion is the draw, but the source is different. We find the person attractive largely because we admire qualities that we actually want for ourselves. But instead, we believe we can simply acquire them in the other. In psychological terms, it’s a positive projection. It’s our own gold hiding in what see in others.  But if we get honest about it, through the relationship we can become the person we actually want to be.

 

Signs of a growth relationship:
  • Strong highs and lows
  • Desire to analyze the situation constantly, and control the outcome
  • Second guessing the other person
Benefits:
  • Exciting
  • Highly passionate
  • Potential to learn a lot about yourself
Challenges:
  • Triggers all your insecurities and deep fears
  • Makes you question your own instincts
  • Hard to deal with if one person wants it to become a partnership relationship (see below)
Advice: 
Enjoy your time because it will end sooner than you think.  Don’t delay the progress of the relationship. Stay real, don’t shit yourself, and be thankful for all you’re learning. Grow fast because whoever learns those deep lessons first will then lose the attraction for the partner.

 

 

Partnership relationship

 

All relationships involve growth, but in a partnership relationship, the commitment is to the relationship itself, rather than to each of the individuals’ personal growth.  These last from 9 months to a lifetime. The couple feels like a cohesive unit, or best friends. There tends to be less drama, and more stability. Taking out the notion of the “soul mate” one can have many partnership relationships in a lifetime.  A partnership relationship can develop out of a growth relationship, but not vice versa.

 

Signs of a Partnership relationship
  • Feels like your best friend
  • Immediate comfort
  • Total acceptance
Benefits:
  • Very stable
  • Great for taking on bigger challenges in life (kids, saving the world, etc)
  • Support allows each person to live into their larger purpose
Challenges:
  • Not as exciting as growth relationships
  • Can be unhealthy and co-dependent if the partners are not stable in their individual lives.
  • Tendency to settle into boredom without consciously creating new experiences
Advice: 
Focus on developing the friendship. Constantly build in new experiences. Go to a tantra class.

 

I’ve had many of both types of relationships, but I have not had this particular distinction until now. I used to think the distinctions were either a) soulmate or b) total friggin confusion.  Neither ended up being particularly healthy.

 

Seeing relationships in this light, I feel much more prepared, and I have to wonder what would happen if I brought this into the conversation BEFORE starting a relationship rather than only seeing it afterward.

 

POST NOTE: I’ve shared the concept with a few people who think there could be a larger book out of this. I’d love to get your opinion and especially YOUR STORIES. I think there are more patterns to discover and more wisdom that you may have.

 

Please let me know what you think in the comments, and if you feel like sharing your own story, email me at Robert@Richman.LA

 

 

Art of the vision board

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Richmanvision

Why do a vision board? Why do anything? Because it’s fun…. if it’s not fun, you’re doing it wrong.

One school of thought says to find the images of everything you want and and place it on a board. I think that’s too boring. I like to mix in the process of simply grabbing a ton of magazines, flipping through them and ripping out any image that sticks out… for whatever reason.

The above is what I created.  The below explains what I love about some of the images, once I thought about them…

Richmanvision_board

There’s no one way to do a vision board. In fact, my friend Charles (my co-conspirator/co-founder of The Affinity Lab) has a different take.  Check out his…

Charlesvisionboard

Whatever your desires, your goals, the things that keep you up at night, the ideas you want to make real, the irrational hungers, the imaginary friends, the future lovers, and the movie in your mind…

…get it out of your head and into the world.

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