the mistake every beginner makes when starting ugc . . .

I've been teaching a couple of friends from HS how to do ugc, and it's funny looking back. the same mistakes I made. they're making them in real time.

I woke up this morning to the gc blowing up. all of them getting excited, fighting over the same 5 dream brands:

"Let's find a way to work with Glossier."

"Drunk Elephant!!!"

"Summer Fridays."

"Ouai is hiring creators rn"

"Rare is the move"

I read it and didn't say anything. just sat there scrolling.

I didn't tell them what their mistake was. because I wanted them to learn first-hand the same way I did. life's the best teacher anyways when it's like that.

here's what they don't see yet.

every UGC girl in the country is pitching those same 5 brands. 100s of pitches a day. maybe 1 reply. budgets capped at $300 per video. one-off deals. no power. they're about to spend the next 6 weeks getting ghosted and not understand why.

meanwhile.

There are a bunch of creators getting paid $3-10k per video working with personal injury law firms, medical practices, debt relief services. boring stuff. the kind of brand you'd be embarrassed to tag in a story.

I did so many blue collar boring ugc videos for a bunch of different ad agencies and those are some of the most high paying, low effort to make videos.

a beauty brand running UGC? it's competing with 14 other beauty brands for the same girls who post about gua sha. their content is replaceable. their price gets pushed down.

a law firm running UGC? they've never worked with a creator before. they have NO clue what the the normal going rate is. they're burning money on fb ads with boring stock photos. they want a real person, they have a real budget, and there's basically zero supply of girls willing to pitch them.

that's the gap.

beauty = high supply, they can't charge much.

boring B2B = low supply, you can charge whatever you want.

so when my HS friends finish pitching those 5 dream brands and get the silence I know they're going to get... I'll be there to point them somewhere different.

the boring brand. the company you'd be embarrassed to put on your portfolio. that's the brand that signs you for a year and pays you double what beauty does.

(open the Meta ad library, search "personal injury" or "tax relief" and watch what comes up. brands BEGGING for content who haven't even heard the term "UGC" yet.)

money lives where the competition isn't.

every crowded market got that way because somebody zigged there first and the herd followed.

you don't have to follow the herd.

zag.

38 comments

the mistake every beginner makes when starting ugc . . .