Here are 11 tips to make it as a full-time, self-represented creator, with established influencer, Rachel Serrano.
Rachel Serrano lives in Miami and has been a full-time creator for two-and-a-half years. Rachel represents herself and when the pandemic started, she took off and had to learn a lot of things quickly. Learn about community growth, content strategy, and brand pitching with one of the very best, @rachelove!
In a Rush? Here are the Key Takeaways
- To grow your audience, focus on consistency (post every day) and authenticity (act and talk to your audience as if they were a friend).
- When plateauing at a certain follower count, step out of your comfort zone and try something new, a new format for instance, to get unstuck and keep growing.
- To build an authentic community, feel comfortable to let your personality show and give your honest feelings to your audience about a product, as you would with a friend.
- For better productivity, batch your tasks. For instance, shoot all your content for the day early in the morning and dedicate the rest of the day to editing.
- Consistency is key. Are you a full-time worker in addition to being a part-time creator? Consider batch-shooting your content on the weekend mornings, and use that content throughout the week. Dedicate one hour a day to growing your name.
- When promoting a product, learn to talk as you normally would in real life.
- When reaching out to a brand for the first time
- Send them an email. It’s more professional than a DM.
- Tell the brand what you have in mind and what you have to offer.
- Talk yourself up.
- If they want to put you on their PR list, start the relationship like that and after a month or two, try to move to paid collaborations.
- When pitching a brand you've never worked with, you should expect to work for one or two months for free.
- If you represent yourself, ask around to other influencers in your niche to determine your rate and set a base price.
- Everybody’s always going to negotiate back with you. Go high and expects slightly less.
1. Growing Your Social Audience
There were two things that I really focused on to grow my audience.
- The first is consistency. When I first started, I thought that I was being consistent by posting three, maybe four times a week. I really picked up when I started to be out there every single day.
- Post every single day.
- Push yourself to post between 10 and 20 stories a day.
- Record, take photos, videotape yourself doing whatever you're doing, and just put it out there.
- The second was authenticity.
- Be just like a friend. Imagine you're talking to a friend on the phone, instead of talking to a larger audience.
- Be as real as you could. That grabs a lot of people’s attention for the good reason.
2. Building an Authentic Community
Let’s take the example of brand partnerships and the products that you present to your audience.
- Always make sure that you take a brand partnership that you actually believe in.
- Brands will be happier if you’re promoting something you genuinely love.
- To me building an authentic community goes back to feeling comfortable to let your personality show and give your honest feelings to your audience, as you would with a friend.
I always ask a brand if I can use their product first before promoting it. Most brands will say “Yes, absolutely. We want you to love it.” You also build a better relationship with them by doing that because they trust you and they may want to work with you again.
3. Do This if you Stay Stuck at a Certain Follower Count
I think it’s pretty normal to plateau. Everybody gets to a point where they’re stuck to a certain follower count for a little bit. It’s happened to me multiple times.
4. Market Products to Your Audience Without “Selling” Them
Learn to talk as you normally would. So once again, be as authentic as you can. And that includes detaching yourself from the brand’s brief. Usually, the brand your partner with sends you these decks to read off of. They want you to mention all kinds of points. When I focus too much on these points, I get really nervous and I just can’t explain everything I was asked to within 30 seconds, let alone in an authentic way.
When I remember to breathe and to be a normal human, that’s when the content comes out right. So just be natural and take a breather. And again, remind yourself that you’re talking to your mom, to your friend, etc. <
5. Pitching a Brand for the First Time
The more professional you are, the better.
- Send an email, not a DM. I personally do not like receiving DMs, they get lost in all the messages. Emails feel much more pro.
- If the email is clean and straightforward, it shows brands that you are on top of your things, and that you’re good to work with.
- When crafting an email, explain to the brand how you can help them. Tell them what would be your plan and how you would use their product.
- Explain the different types of content you could generate for them. Tell the brand what you have in mind and what you have to offer.
- Talk yourself up. Tell them you have X amount of women for X age range following you from all over the world. Tell them you connect with them at a deep level, if that’s the case.
Sometimes they’ll say no or won’t even reply. Just move on. Other times they'll say yes, and it feels like the best thing ever.
If you sent the message first, expect the brand to want to do gifted content at first. Start with that and build a relationship with them from there.
6. Going From PR List to Paid Deals
If you sent the message first, expect the brand to want to do gifted content at first. Start with that and build a relationship with them from there. After a few months, when you find that you can’t do it for free anymore, and the items are not worth keeping going without payment, just say your content calendar is full at the moment. I would say:
“Hey, my content calendar is getting full and I don’t really have room for unpaid collaborations. Let me know if you’d like to move forward. Here’s my media kit, let me know if you’d like to work together.”
When you’re reaching out to a brand and you’re pitching yourself to them, you should expect to work for one or two months for free. Personally, I’ve never immediately started working with a brand that I reached out to. It’s really rare to reach out to a brand and get a paid collaboration just like that.
7. Setting Your Own Rates
There is no set number that fits all. Nobody really knows how much they should be getting paid. Talking about it was one of the things that helped me set a base price.
- Ask other influencers in your niche if they think your rates sound fair. Usually, they will give you honest feedback.
- Another thing was trial and error. I recently raised my rates, like a big jump. At first, I was nervous and I thought nobody would work with me. But everybody accepted and from there it was just a negotiation to lower the rates from that higher rate, which worked for me.
- Everybody’s always going to negotiate back with you. Give a rate that you know is too high so there is room to come back down. Go high and expects slightly less.
8. Putting the Good Stats in Your Media Kit
Put as many good stats as you can in your media kit:
- Your follower count, of course
- A breakdown of your followers:
- The percentage of women that follow you
- Their location
- Their age range
- Include your rates
I’m 30 and I’m trying to reach a more luxury market, and the segment that buys in that area is older. That’s my audience, and I add that to my media kit. That way brands I reach out to know I have an audience that will spend the money on certain items.
A brand once saw my audience stats and told me I was too old for them, and that they were reaching more for the 18 yo audience. I respect that, it’s better than just doing the work and not getting them the results they want.
Everybody’s always going to negotiate back with you. Give a rate that you know is too high so there is room to come back down. Go high and expects slightly less.
9. If You Represent Yourself, Source Out
I don't have an agent or a manager but I actually source out a chunk of my work. I felt too overwhelmed and I couldn’t handle it all. I got an assistant, and she has helped me so much. I realized I needed help with multiple things, so an assistant was the best role.
- You can source out specific things you’re not the best at, YouTube editing, graphic design for stories, etc. Pay people to do something that you can’t do, things you need help with. And keep the rest for yourself.
- If you can’t afford somebody that does multiple things, start by sourcing out smaller things (emails, negotiating, editing, etc).
- Sit down and determine what’s the roadblock or the pain point that’s holding you up from creating.
10. Balancing Your Full-Time Job and Being a Creator
When I first started my dive into blogging, I was working full-time. I had my boyfriend go shoot with me on the weekends. We’d wake up really early on Saturdays to shoot as much content as we could. Then I would use that content throughout the week. That’s what I call batch-shooting.
At the end of weekdays, I answered emails and focused on my website. Allot yourself one hour or two a day to focus on your brand and your blog. If you don’t, then it’s not going to grow. There was a time when I thought I was doing everything I could, but looking back, I really wasn’t. Just say “Okay, from seven to nine or from nine to 11, I'm going to sit down, no distractions, and just work on my blog because this is what I want to focus on.” And hopefully, you’ll grow to the point that you’ll have to pick between your two jobs
Today, I still batch-shoot my content. I always try to shoot my content as early in the morning as I can. If I sit for too long, I find myself not wanting to shoot that content, not wanting to go outside and put on different outfits.
For that reason, I wake up, do my makeup, do my hair and just bang it out. Then I have the rest of the day to just edit and relax. I really enjoy that part of my job, versus waiting it out. It shows too when I didn’t enjoy shooting the content, it performs less. Other than producing early mornings, I don’t really have a schedule.
11. Avoiding Content BurnOut
I feel like it’s unavoidable, just because nowadays everybody wants content every single day. It’s hard to be on all the time and to always have an idea. When I feel burnt out and I’m lacking inspiration, I usually allow myself to take a seat and I do two things.
- I usually film a lot of reels. So when I'm in a funk, I listen to music. Whenever I hear a good song, I add it to my playlist called The Reels. When I feel burnt out, I go to this playlist and it pumps me up. I listen to that and see if I can beat the slump.
- Another thing I do is online-shop. I just pretend I shop for a trip and fill out carts. I don’t actually buy everything, but the items I find inspire me, so I can pull out outfits with what I already have and style something. That helps me get my groove back.
- I also text myself whenever I have an idea, for instance before going to bed, or if I think of an idea for the next day.
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