I Am That Content Creator Podcast

Ep#58 Navigating Brand Deals: A Guide for 40+ Content Creators

• Kristen Werner & Mia Steel

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Join Mia and Kristen as we explore effective strategies for women over 40 to navigate and succeed in user-generated content (UGC). Discover how to transition from working with agencies to forging direct brand partnerships, ensuring you're compensated fairly for your creativity and expertise.

Key Highlights:

  • Agency vs. Brand Collaboration: Evaluate the benefits and challenges of working with agencies and when to shift to direct brand deals to enhance earnings and creative control.
  • Mastering Negotiations: Learn essential negotiation tactics to secure contracts that respect your rights and worth, including how to avoid common pitfalls like restrictive ownership clauses.
  • Leveraging AI for Efficiency: Utilise AI tools to streamline content creation and negotiations, allowing you to focus more on creativity and less on administrative tasks.
  • Empowering Mature Content Creators: Tips for leveraging your life experience to create authentic content that resonates with brands and audiences, making you a valuable partner to businesses targeting mature markets.

Tune in for a deep dive into transforming your content creation passion into a profitable venture. Whether you’re starting in UGC or looking to optimize your approach to brand collaborations, this episode offers valuable insights for women over 40 aiming to thrive in digital spaces.

Subscribe now to join Mia and Kristen on this journey, and don't miss out on expert advice tailored for mature, creative entrepreneurs.

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Speaker 1:

Know your worth, charge your worth all the things about your worth and you.

Speaker 1:

Today, on the podcast, we're going to have a cheeky little chat around. Do you choose going with an agency versus straight to a brand as a user-generated content creator? We want to talk to you about some of the ups, the downs, the red flags that you need to look out for when it comes to working with the brands or potentially working through an agency, and maybe, if you're a very, very new content creator, what you can look out for and, if you're a seasoned campaigner, things you might have learned or things you may be still thinking about. We're just touching a few things today, so Buckling is a little quick one, but I think it's going to be incredibly worthwhile. Let's go. I'm Mia, a mum of two, a former burnt out ambo who sold it all to travel Australia in the caravan and turned a single TikTok idea into a six-figure content creation business Leveraging UGC. And I'm Kristen, also a mum of two, with over 15 years experience in branded marketing. I went from the corporate world to being made redundant and decided to back my idea of starting a branding business and a successful wedding venue side hustle generating six figures, all whilst living on the vineyard. One random DM between us sparked more than just a friendship. It ignited a passion to mentor women online around the world. We know what it takes to make it work online and we're here to show you what's possible. In less than 12 months we built a six-figure membership together. And here's the kicker we have not met in person yet. That is a kicker. We're here to show you the power of reoccurring revenue and how achievable it really is. We don't sugarcoat things around here. We talk about the real shit, the good shit and the bullshit. So buckle up, let's go.

Speaker 1:

I am dot dot dot podcast, the podcast for busy creators who want to consume useful shit for their biz and their life. I'm joined by Mia Steele. I'm Kristen Werner. What up? Sup, sup, what's happening? I don't know, but you've frozen. So there we go.

Speaker 1:

We are having one of those technical mornings where Mia started with her microphone around the wrong way. We started the podcast halfway through, about five minutes in. I was like this is boring, we're going to start again Boring, and if my mic is really soft we apologize. Just this stuff happens, you know. But the main thing is we get content out for you guys to learn from that is correct. So today, mia, we're just going to have a quick chat about just this whole space around content creation. And you've got in the UGC space, you've got content creators, you've got agencies, you've got brands and there's a relationship between all. And today we're going to have a conversation about knowing your worth as a content creator and also as a brand, what you are investing in with a good content creator, because there's a bit of an agency middleman that sometimes is really great, sometimes it's really not great, and so let's just have a open conversation about this.

Speaker 1:

Sure, now I've been with agencies in my time and they're great. It can be this place because it can be hard to try and find jobs out there in the wild. And so you go to an agency and they've got brands on their books waiting for this content. So you're like, great, I'll put my name down on an agency and my chances of getting a job are probably higher because they've got work sitting there. The thing is, when you don't, when you're beginning in this space and you don't really understand your worth and these agencies, you know they're a business, they've got to make money, but they're making money from your content. When you look back on it. It can be like oh man, that content made that brand a lot of money and I got paid. So we need to bring that to light. So, if you're a UGC creator and you're with agencies or these platforms where you know the pay is not that great, yes, do these jobs. It's great learning and it's a good way to get more jobs. But just understand that your content is worth so much to these brands and that working with brands directly it's going to be a better outcome for everyone. And sometimes these agencies, yeah, they kind of like take a lot of the money out from the creator who's actually doing all the hard work.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think there's like there's a bit of a go between here that, when you're first starting out with any job, I remember, like I'm a graphic designer by trade and when I first started out, I did a lot of free jobs. I did a lot of jobs for friends of friends, a lot of like oh, like, I'll give you a hundred dollars if you can create my logo, do my business cards and do my signage, like that'll be really helpful for you. And as, like a junior designer, you kind of go yeah, I'll do it, I'll do it. Do it Now, that's fine. And so if you're just starting in this space and you kind of never done this before and you're trying to build your confidence and you're trying to build your portfolio, yeah, sure, like that's totally fine. You do need to start somewhere.

Speaker 1:

But what Mia and I are trying to just explain and share with you, that at some point you need to realize your worth in this space and understand what you bring to the table, whether that be your background, your authenticity, your personal brand, your knowledge, your love for that product and that brand and what you're actually giving to them, because, at the end of the day, you are creating something for them that then they get to yes, put money behind, to share with their audience and grow their brand and get more customers from. But there's still a spot in there where you as a content creator, you as a woman, you as a person, are part of that process, and so you do need to be paid for that. And if we really go and break it all down like I know we've had conversations about this in the past, mia, but you know we charge if you charge by the hour and you go, yeah, no great, I'll do that job I've now done. Let's just say I've done six jobs because that's you know, you're comfortable with that and you're like, oh, I'm getting pretty confident in this, like my videos are going quite well and you know I'm starting to build up, and then all of a sudden you go hang on, those few jobs. They took me like maybe six, seven hours once I'd done all the admin, all the emails, all the back and forth, all the editing, all of that, blah, blah, blah, and you go, I got paid $150. That's the difference and I suppose we're just trying to highlight the time it takes your worth and what it is that you do in this process for the brand to understand where you can sit in this space. So I suppose, in terms of, say, somebody is just starting out very first time and they go with an agency and they build their portfolio, at what point do you think me or someone should say hang on a minute, I think I need to be charging more. Hang on a minute, maybe I'll step away from the agency experience and start to kind of take this on my own. Do you have any suggestions for that? Yeah, it's a little bit like taking on gifted collabs. It's not a bad thing. You get great stuff and you get some great practice.

Speaker 1:

But there comes a time where you're like, wait a minute, like these brands need my content and it's actually making them money. If it's a good video, I think after a few months or like you said, you know you've got a handful of jobs. Now you might have a brand coming back to you for more content. Then you can kind of gauge like all right, my videos are getting better. Now I'm getting a little bit more confident. The brands are coming back to me to get more content. That means that they like my content and it's performing well.

Speaker 1:

Then you should think about upping your rates, and every time that I've upped my rates I've never had much pushback at all. So I think you know brands are pretty cluey as well. They could probably tell a beginner UGC creator you know in the wild and I mean for them they're better off spending a bit more money on a creator with a bit more experience and can get them a better result. But not all, not all brands can afford, you know, that higher end. So I think after a while you've got you've got a little bit of confidence. You know all you can do is test. If you up your rates and then you get pushback, oh well, maybe you're charging a bit too much.

Speaker 1:

But I think the main thing is it doesn't matter. There's no sort of timeframe when you should up your rates, it's just when you feel confident enough. But the big part is is to stand by your rates and say this is what I'm worth. If that doesn't suit with you, you might be happy to negotiate a little bit. But being confident enough to say this is my rates and this is where I stand and this is why, and standing behind that you're going to get a better result. Because the minute the brand kind of feels that, oh, she's a little bit, not so confident about this, I can talk her down quite easily. Then it's going to happen. So there's no real timeframe, but it's all about you and your confidence and you'll know when your videos are getting better and you're getting better results. So don't be afraid to up your rates.

Speaker 1:

But just remember, if you break everything down down to how many emails it takes to get this brand deal, the time it takes to do up the contract, the time it takes to script, edit, all the programs that you're using to run your business, you know you're paying for your domain name. You're paying for maybe it's CapCut Pro, your taxes, your super, your time, it all adds up and when you look at it and you've been paid $150 for a video, you're like, wow, I've got to pay like $5 an hour, so it's not really that worth it. Yeah, and can you just talk us through without naming names, unless you want to name and shame. But your experiences? I know you've had experiences where you've worked with agencies and then you've kind of taken a step back and be like, holy shit, they took me for a fucking ride. Do you? Can you share kind of, I suppose, your tips, if somebody feels like that they're in that position, and even just kind of your experience with that people can really understand.

Speaker 1:

Like I come from the branding standpoint, I've worked with agencies more advertising agencies not so much in the UGC space wasn't around when I was in the agency space. But agencies do have to charge a lot because they have a lot of overheads, they have a lot of people in their team, they have a lot of running around and all the things right. But there is also a space where in sitting that I was like, wow, we can charge this client, whatever we want, because at the end of the day, you know you are adding and providing a really big service. But from the other standpoint, I think it's really important to maybe show some red flags for people that may be unaware, maybe kind of feeling not as confident to go like hang on a minute, I think I'm being taken for a ride here. Have you got some tips and freaking trips, trips, ticks, whatever you want? I've definitely been taken for a ride and that's and people, it's fine.

Speaker 1:

I was naive, I was just starting out. You know I'm not going to name names because some of these agencies are quite well known, but you just have to read your contracts because a lot of the time these agencies will say we own all of your content. I was just going to say you're about to name it, but have you got some red flag things to look out for in contracts? Yep, so if they own all your content afterwards, they want it in perpetuity. So, which means that you know they can run your content in any way that they like forever. They want your raw files for free and remember, with raw files, they can chop that up in any way that they like without your permission, put any voiceover over the top of your face, and that can be a little bit. If you see one of your ads and it's your face and there's a voiceover saying something that you do not agree with and've got that footage in that b-roll of you forever, yeah, like, wait a minute, I don't. I don't want to give my content away forever, and I think it's.

Speaker 1:

And it comes down to the rates too. So I had to do a little bit of digging around to see what they were, what they were paying me as a creator and what they were charging the brand. And this is not to run the ads, like, obviously, with agencies. If you're running ads, that's a whole big beast in itself and that can be really expensive and, like you said, overheads and whatnot. But if you're with an agency and you're coming up with the concept, coming up with the script, you haven't been given a brief, you're filming, you're editing, you're signing contracts, you're going back and forth, and then that agency gives you a couple of hundred dollars but have charged the brand a lot of money for this content. When you've done all of the work, you kind of start to think like, wait a minute, if the brand just worked with me directly, they would have saved a boatload of money and we would have had this relationship directly. They would have saved a boatload of money and we would have had this relationship where we could perhaps work with each other in the future.

Speaker 1:

I just think it's better for both sides. But I understand where the agencies are, because you know we want to create a platform where brands can find our creators. But I would hate to think that you know, like we would never take a chunk of money from our creators or charge the brands thousands of dollars. There's got to be that in-between, that negotiation space, like I think we both know both sides, so we're so aware that you know we don't want to take from the creators. But you know brands need the help as well because they're out there scrolling and they don't have time to do the back and forth. So agency makes sense and I suppose you know all we're really saying is if you're listening to this as a creator, just be aware. If you're listening to this as a brand, hey, come join us, hang out with us, we can lead you to some incredible creators and we're not going to charge your buttload.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I understand both points. I think is the most important thing to get across. It's just being aware, if nothing else, like it's just an awareness piece. It's just being aware, if nothing else, like it's just an awareness piece. Yep, yep, yep. And I had a conversation with brands that I'd worked with through an agency and then they came back to me directly and we had a conversation about it and it was kind of mind-blowing to hear from the brand side and how much money they were charged and what they got out of it and what have you.

Speaker 1:

But obviously you know agencies are great for brands because you know they advertise. They've got, you know, a created database, database, database, the brand time going out and scouting creators individually. So yeah, there's always two sides to it. But yeah, if you're educated and you're aware and you know your worth and you read contracts with a fine tooth comb, then you're going to be okay. And look, we all make mistakes. I've been ripped off, like whatever it happens. But it's a learning thing and that's why we wanted to bring this episode to you, just so you know that you know when you break it all down and you look at the terms and conditions and you actually figure out how much you're going to get paid per hour. It's got to be worth it for you.

Speaker 1:

And, yeah, and we've also produced some tools that help you with saving time with your scripting and negotiating and writing emails and all that sort of stuff with our AI agents. Yeah, and that's the beauty, even the question agent that was created, like you can ask it questions and it gives you answers that are very legit, that make a lot of sense, that answer. So you've even got that at your fingertips. Basically, with these AI agents we've created for UGC, so it's just such an incredible tool to save you time. And, if nothing else, it's kind of like oh okay, cool, I've got that support, I've got that knowledge. We've built it with all of our knowledge to actually help you. So that's an incredible part of this process for you. But if you're not utilizing it's in the show notes, grab it. It's also in our Stan store, go grab it. And it's certainly something that, with our creators, we share that with them and show them how they can use this to their benefit so that, yeah, if you're feeling kind of overwhelmed with script writing and things like that, you can turn to these agents and they help you create the scripts you know, negotiate emails, all those things that are part and parcel of the job that you need to do. So I think then it just helps you streamline things so much better.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, and don't be afraid to negotiate with agencies or brands. Say, look, you know, we've got an agent to help you with negotiating as well. Look, this is my usual rate and this is why I charge this much. And don't be afraid to. You know, stand up and say this takes a lot of time, a lot of effort and my content is really valuable. Yeah, absolutely. So this is a little short little tidbit. Will we say tidbit? I don't know, is that it? It's not a titbit, it's just a little nuggy today. Little nuggy, but I suppose, if nothing else, if you've got any questions or you're curious about that kind of space, then please reach out in the DMs or whatever, and we'd love to help you with it.

Speaker 1:

But what we really wanted to do was just make you, like we've said, aware that at the end of the day, you get to choose who you work with, you get to choose your rates, you get to choose what this all looks like for you and you've got to be comfortable with it. So if you're comfortable with your rates, amazing. If you're comfortable with the agencies, amazing. But just be aware of it. And or just ask the question, because at the end of the day, people can always say no, or they can say not today, or they can negotiate with you. But it's better than kind of sitting back and not doing anything about it and then getting into a situation where you actually feel uncomfortable and you don't want to do the work because that's the last thing we want. We want you to do the work, we want you to enjoy the work and we want you to work with brands that light you up. So that's kind of where we're at, and we're about to do our loves don't loves, knowing full well neither of us have prepped for this. So we're going to see how this goes.

Speaker 1:

Never do my homework. You can go first. I didn't do my homework either, but I do have a love that I will share. I can't remember if I shared last podcast or not, but I'm going to do it. Put me onto the elmic festival, what's called wellness, co. Well, co, well. And so she put me onto that and I was like I hate, I don't love a juice and I don't love a protein shake or anything. It has to be really specific.

Speaker 1:

I'm very funny when it comes to drinking food, basically, and I'm glad that you told me she gave told me the blood orange one, but I can't drink it in a glass because it's still green, so I have to drink it in, like I've got something that I can't see the colour of it and then it's delicious. With some earth and cold water it's the best green Like. I'm really bad with vegetables. I don't eat a lot of vegetables, so that's why I bought it. I'm like beautiful a greens powder. My mum had it and I'm like this doesn't taste that bad. You know how some greens powders are fucking. It's not too bad but it's bloody expensive. But yeah, it kind of just gives you a little pep, a pep in your morning. It's not expensive but worth it. Like I'm here for buying it again, like it's made me feel so good.

Speaker 1:

So, if you are a woman this is not a paid collab, because I don't believe she does when we've tried absolutely amazing, my don't loves there's just I can't think of any to be perfect. Oh no, I'll tell you my don't loves Instagram. Seriously, I don't know whether, like, we've pissed the Instagram gods off and maybe it's like I'm saying it too much and so karma's come to bite me or something, but it just feels like we post and it's like cool, you're going to get 70 views and that's fucking all. Yeah're just entertaining enough, I know. But then but I just watch some of the shit that gets massive views and I'm like it's fucking terrible, like it's just b-roll with people like here's how I made a million dollars in 30 seconds. Read my captions, fuck off with your captions. 7 000 comments saying, oh, show me how I know. And then so anyway, it's a love, don't love relationship, basically, but we've.

Speaker 1:

Personally, I think Mia has to turn that to TikTok. I fucking love creating that. I forgot how much I love it. Yeah, it's easier and it's just like I go to TikTok to get educated. And it's funny because the amount of things I don't know about you, but if you listen to the news or you listen to podcasts, how many times do you hear people say, oh yeah, yeah, I learned that on TikTok. Oh yeah, that was on TikTok. Oh yeah, that's on my TikTok feed. Like, not many people go. Oh yeah, I saw that on Instagram. Like it's really. It interests me a lot that the news feeds and podcasts and stuff that I listen to. They always turn to anything they've learned, been educated with the trend, whatever. It all comes from TikTok. So, yeah, I've gone back to TikTok.

Speaker 1:

So, anyway, that's my don't like on Instagram. We're going to be living on TikTok for a while. Even the views there aren't as good as they used to be, but at least the content isn't easier. Like you're posting, like cool, at least 25 people Wicked. Yeah, I don't really sit on Instagram and scroll. I get into TikTok doom scrolling holes, but that never happens on Instagram for me anyway.

Speaker 1:

Yes, my loves this week. Oh, look, can't go past that elixir either. Let's just go a double love for that. I bought the lemon and ginger one and that's pretty good too. I think it's better than the blood orange, to be honest. So there's that my don't loves this week.

Speaker 1:

What happens today in the world? Oh, are we talking about Trump? Yeah, what's going on in the world? What the fuck Like if we have some American listeners? Yeah, hopefully what we say doesn't offend you. But what the fuck is wrong. But I just think this world is just like. It's almost like just watching a movie. I can't turn the news on anymore because I'm just like what am I going to see?

Speaker 1:

And even like last night, my son, who's not even eight yet, he said to me he said, oh so who's Trump? And is Trump going to get into presidency? And he asked me some questions and I couldn't answer them. He's like why don't you want him to be there? And I was like I got nothing. Mate, I can't give you my honest truth because I don't know how to articulate it, because he's seven and he takes a lot in. He's got this beautiful mind, but I'm like I don't want you to regurgitate stuff that I'm just not sure how to process it yet. Mate, like this is fucked. All we can do is just sit back and just watch this unfold. It's, I know, you kind of go. I think the scary thing is is you go? How is this? And it will affect us? How like it's? What's going to happen?

Speaker 1:

And even the other thing that I had that blew my mind was that apparently they weren't allowed to go into the polling booths with like I vote for Trump or I vote, you know whatever T-shirts with stuff on them, but you could carry your firearm in Into the voting booth. Yes, that was fine, not a problem. Please take your guns, don't wear a t-shirt. What the fuck? Oh man, crazy, crazy, crazy world we live in? But, uh yeah, watch the space. And um, actually don't watch this space. I'll just tell you, just listen to our podcast. With some little, some tit bits, we gotta go. Yep, we're out. So many good ones too.