How to Negotiate Like the Other Side
NegotiationĀ strategy and tips for creators, athletes, tradespeople and small business owners.
A National Brand Wants You: How to Negotiate a Brand Deal When You Have Your Own Brand
Big brands are not just paying creators to post anymore. They are handing out titles like creative director and chief creative officer, according to a September 2026 Loeb & Loeb analysis of these "creator C-suite" deals. Here is the reframe: the bigger the offer, the more of you it is trying to buy. If you already run your own business on the side, learning how to negotiate a brand deal when you have your own brand is how you make sure that business stays yours.
Jada Built Something First
Ja...
When a Client Asks for a Discount: How to Respond Without Losing the Deal
By Nicole Carter, Founder of NEGOTIATiā
A discount request is not a rejection. It is a question about value, and the business that answers it well usually keeps both the client and the price.
If you own a small business, you have heard some version of it: "Can you do any better on the price?" "Our budget is a little tight this year." "Another firm quoted us less." The request often comes from your best client, at the worst possible moment, with the expectation of a quick yes.
Many owners give...
How to Raise Your Prices as a Contractor Without Losing Your Best Customers
By Nicole Carter, Founder of NEGOTIATiā
Most contractors do not lose money because they charge too little on a single job. They lose it because they keep charging last year's price long after last year's costs are gone.
Materials cost more than they did. Insurance costs more. Good help costs more, if you can find it at all. Yet many trade shops hold their rates steady because raising them feels risky, especially with the customers who send them the most work.
That hesitation is understandable...
How Much Should You Charge for a Brand Deal? Start With What They Are Buying
By Nicole Carter, Founder of NEGOTIATiā
Most creators ask how much they should charge for a brand deal. The better question is what, exactly, the brand is buying.
When a brand reaches out, the email usually leads with excitement and ends with a number. In between, often in a single sentence, are the parts that matter most: how long the brand can use your content, whether it can run your video as its own ad, and whether you can work with anyone else in the category while the deal is active.
Th...
How to Negotiate an NIL Deal: What to Prepare Before You Say Yes
By Nicole Carter, Founder of NEGOTIATiā
An NIL offer feels like a reward for what you have already done. It is actually the opening of a negotiation, and the other side has run it many times before.
If you are an athlete, offers can come from anywhere: a local car dealership, a national apparel brand, a collective connected to your school, a startup that found you online. Some are generous. Some are not. Most arrive with a number, a deadline and paperwork that was written long before your name...
The Big Brand Already Has the Budget. Prepared Creators Negotiate
Most creators don't leave money on the table because they quote the wrong rate. They leave it there because they assume the brand holds every card.
Earlier this month, Advertising Week New York set out to broker $100 million in creator-brand business, and its chief creator officer, Dhar Mann, said CMOs had already pledged more than that (Digiday). The headline number got the attention. The detail that caught mine was quieter. Mann pointed out that brands set their Q4 budgets back in Q1 or Q2, a...
When a Power Four Athletic Program Says "This Is All the Money We Have"
By Nicole Carter, Founder of NEGOTIATiā
Most college athletes don't leave money on the table because the school has none left. They leave it there because they hear "we're at the cap" and stop asking.
The numbers behind that sentence are real. In the first year of direct revenue sharing, 68 schools reached or came within 5% of the $20.5 million cap, according to figures released by the College Sports Commission. Across 307 schools, $1.77 billion went to 34,915 athletes. The cap has since moved...
They Want to Buy Your Shop. They Have Done This Before. Have You?
By Nicole Carter, Founder of NEGOTIATiā
The call from a buyer feels like a finish line. For the buyer, it is the first move in a process they have run dozens of times.
If you own an HVAC, plumbing or electrical company, you may have already gotten the call, the email or the letter. Someone admires what you have built. They would love to talk about a partnership. The number they float sounds like more money than you have ever seen in one place.
You are not imagining the interest. Private equit...
You Finished the Job. Why Are You Still Paying for It?
By Nicole Carter, Founder of NEGOTIATiā
The hardest part of a commercial job usually isn't the work. It's waiting to get paid for work you already finished.
If you run a trade shop, you know the rhythm. Payroll goes out every Friday. Materials get paid on delivery. And the check from the general contractor shows up whenever it shows up.
That gap is not a small annoyance. In a May 2026 survey of nearly 500 construction finance professionals by Siteline, 92% of subcontractors said they had floa...
The General Contractor Has the Paperwork. You Have the Crew.
By Nicole Carter, Founder of NEGOTIATiā
Most small trade shops don't lose money because their rates are too low. They lose it because they accept the big contractor's number before they ever name their own.
That habit is getting more expensive. In its third-quarter 2026 cost report, ENR reported that construction unemployment fell to 3.1% in August, an all-time low, as contractors struggle to fill openings amid surging data center demand. Large contractors reported average electrician wage inc...
