This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Adult coloring isn't just a fad, or maybe it isn't a fad at all, I should say. It is clinically studied, evidence-based anxiety relief. You've got wellness apps out there that have breathing timers, journaling prompts, and yes, coloring screens. What does this have to do with today's episode? We've got a caller out there, one of our listeners, who has been making adult coloring books, mandalas, in fact, she'll describe them more, and she's been selling them at retail, but she likes the idea of doing some kind of B2B licensing.
Can she license her designs to one of those wellness apps or mental health providers? This could, in fact, 10x her revenue in one transaction. So she's also thinking, like, how do I go from being a small vendor, you know, just selling to consumers, to being a content partner. In short, she needs to think like a media studio. So let's talk about what that looks like, and hopefully it'll be helpful to somebody else out there as well.
How do you license calming coloring pages to a wellness app? Detailed question and my answer in this episode. [Music]
Hi Chris, I'm Angela calling in with a question I hope you can help with. During pandemic lockdowns, I started drawing intricate mandalas, scanned them, and opened an Etsy shop selling printable coloring pages. They sell steadily at two or three bucks each, but it takes a lot of $2 sales to pay rent.
I've noticed meditation and mental health apps adding coloring features for user engagement, and that gave me an idea. Instead of retail PDFs, could I license entire bundles to those platforms? I have no idea how to price that, what usage rights to offer, or even who to pitch. How does bulk licensing actually work? [Music]
Okay, I'll tell you what I like about this idea and also what I think will be hard.
Okay, so what I like is the thinking. The thinking of like, how can I go from B2C to more of a B2B business, which is licensing, licensing this content to a mental health platform, or it could be something else, meditation apps you mentioned, could be something beyond that as well. So thinking more about like, how can I not just get paid one off, you know, $2 sales, $3 sales, and how can I build something bigger with it? Good thinking. Now, as for what's hard, I think it's difficult to like go to one of these platforms and say, "Hey, check this out.
"You should license this and pay for it." They are already kind of on the lookout themselves for the kind of content they want to add. They have people doing that. They are already sourcing it, or they're creating it themselves, like in-house or through contractors, or sometimes there's like celebrity licensing, like there are existing paths. So they're not necessarily going to be receptive. Like it's a bit more of a cold sales strategy, which could work, of course.
I just want you to be prepared that it's kind of a long road. If you want to do it, I think the best bet, like the way to get the odds most in your favor, are to create a B2B ready bundle. So like where all the designs are kind of tagged by theme, you know, geometric, flora, affirmations, et cetera, include layered files so that the teams can do their own animation and such. Reach out on LinkedIn, perhaps. Maybe LinkedIn is a good way to do it.
Like look for head of content or partnerships at some of these companies. Try reaching out, just establishing initial contact first before sending any kind of proposal. And then, if they're interested, then you can go to the next steps. As I said, it might be tough, but I love the thought process. So I would also go back to the original thought and say, how can I take what I'm doing and do it in a way that provides more passive income or more recurring income?
Maybe there's another approach, but with the same motivation in mind. Just my two cents, of course, no licensing fee. Listeners, let me know what you think. If you have a question or comment, sidehustleschool.com, resources page is there for every single episode, more than 3,200 so far. And all the episodes are available for download or streaming.
New episodes drop every day, of course, seven days a week. Follow, subscribe, give us a little five-star rating. If you don't mind, it helps a lot. Of course, I'll be back tomorrow. My name's Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
