The $12 Million dollar Studio I Walked Away From

Welcome back to Selling with Sabine. I’m Sabine Taylor, your host. I’ve spent years working in sales enablement, cybersecurity, and telecommunications, helping large sales organizations train B2C representatives to confidently sell complex products using real-world experience and practical storytelling. If you’d like to connect or explore sales training support, you can reach me at: [e-mail]

In this episode of Selling with Sabine, I reveal why I walked away from a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity involving a $12M studio and a massive platform. On the surface, it looked like the ultimate break—but a single question about the contract changed everything.

Transcript

Hi, everyone. This is Sabine Taylor, your host of Selling with Sabine. Thank you so much for giving me a little bit of your time today. In this episode, I explain how prior exposure to contracts and licensing terms turned a flashy opportunity into an easy “no” for me.

So, this is how it went down. A couple of years ago, I reached out to a company to ask them about pricing for software simulations. They called me back and quoted me something like $70,000 per minute. I thanked them and let them know it was outside of my company's budget.

The conversation shifted, and the vendor—I don't remember his name, but he asked me if I'd be interested in creating sales courses for his company. The pitch sounded exciting. He told me all I had to do was write for thirty minutes a day, and his editing team would polish it. They would produce the course, distribute it across major platforms, and it would increase my visibility.

I was like, "Wow, this is an awesome opportunity." It just seemed to fall in my lap. So, I said, "Okay, I want to learn more. But first, let me ask you this question: Is there a licensing deal?"

He goes, "Well, you'll get access to our $12 million studio. We'll provide you hair, makeup, lighting, and the full production—but there's no licensing deal."

My response was, "No, thank you. Not at this time."

That raised all sorts of red flags for me. No licensing meant that I would be providing all of my intellectual property while they collected the revenue every time the content was watched, downloaded, or sold—not me. They would get the licensing deal, not me. It also meant that I could potentially limit my ability to create similar content in the future.

So, again, I just said no. Not because I'm against partnerships, but because the deal did not make sense. I was thinking, "I don't need someone to give me a video for my website. I can create professional content myself or hire someone to help without giving up my ownership of the work."

The only reason I knew to ask about licensing is because of my prior experience. You see, in a previous role, I had supported vendor contracts and had heard leaders discussing licensing terms ad nauseam. That experience and exposure helped me to quickly recognize when a deal was unbalanced, and that one wasn't.

That realization is part of what pushed me into podcasting. It reminded me that my knowledge has value and that exposure alone is not a form of payment. So, what does it mean to you?

Before you are ever faced with a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, you need to have a foundational understanding of how your value is protected. If you wait until the contract is in front of you, the excitement of working with a big brand could cloud your judgment.

So, here is how you get ready: What you want to do right now is research what the standard agreements look like in your industry today so you can spot what seems off. You want to research things like standard agreements, but you also want to look at speaking and other unique opportunities that could be presented to you. You want to be ready before those opportunities come.

You also want to know exactly what you're willing to share and what is strictly off-limits before the negotiation begins. Now, back then, I said no. Today, maybe I'll say yes because I've had time to think about the whole scenario. Now, I would be more strategic. I would probably produce a course, and I would not give them my best; I would give them "good enough."

So, with that said, I'm going to stop here and say thank you for listening. Make sure you do your homework. Again, get prepared ahead of time so you're ready when the deal lands in front of you.

I would love to talk to you if you would like me to come in and help train your sales team. Specifically, I focus on business-to-consumer sales. You can contact me at [e-mail], and you can also go to my LinkedIn profile to learn a little bit more about me.

With that said, have a great day.