How To Approach People For Collaboration (Follow Up Question)

Ok, today we will do a follow up question. We’ve been talking about working with the team, and how to choose people to work with, so the question was — how to make them choose you as well.

The trick is, to show that you are cool and nice, but not to sound like “Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons” — you know what I mean:)

Below is my cold email structure — borrow it, change it, improve it and tell me how it went (aliona.kuz@gmail.com)

Hello (_Name or if it’s a brand “_Brandname’s team”),

Who are you? My name is _YourName, I am a fashion photographer. You could see and, hopefully, enjoy my portfolio here:
_YourMainSiteLink and _YourBestSocialMediaLink

What is the project/opportunity? I am visiting _Place _Date. While being there I am planning to do fashion editorial (personal project, story about, tests with) with the local team.

Your homework about them. In order to do so I am looking for (_WhoThisPersonWillBeInA Team) to work with. (Tell wow did you find the person and what do you like most about him/her) I was wondering if you would be interested to hear more about my project and if you would consider joining my team.

Perks of the project/compensation. I do not offer compensation for this project, but the resulting pictures will be published (_ListOf YourPreviousPublications to show you will follow through) you can use the resulting pictures in your portfolio (for your own promotion — think about the use you will allow here, it might be crucial especially when you as approaching a boutique as i mentioned in the main tutorial) and of course I will reference you every time we use pictures on social media or in print.

Call to action. Please let me know if it sounds interesting, I would be happy to share with you project’s details.

Thank you,
My best,
Aliona

That’s it, I don’t send a mood-board right away, don’t send the shortlist of magazines I would like to target, no story description or meet-up details. Normally they ask about this stuff in the reply and it’s better to be helpful answering their questions, then send the letter so long, they won’t even start reading it.

Next Up: Team Tutorial: Assistants