Become UGC Creator 2026: Ultimate Guide to Brand Deals

1. Introduction: Hi, my name is Gabby. And for the past few years, I've been actually focusing lots on video editing, on content creation, and on UDC content creation as well. And during these years, I've had amazing opportunities for myself, and I got a chance to work with very well known brands as well, such as Lial, Ordinary Maybelline, Get your guide and and when I first started UGC journey, I had to gather all of the information myself. I didn't know much. I had to learn from my own errors, from my own mistakes, which was the reason why I decided to create this course for you to save you some time and some effort and to help you get started. So this course is going to be talking about everything from UGC, what it is, where it's used, the types of UGC that exist, how to price yourself, how to create a portfolio, where to find clients, what tools to use, and even more. My aim with this course is to teach somebody who's completely a beginner in this field from scratch. 2. What is UGC?: First lesson, how exciting is that? So in this lesson, I just wanted to quickly touch base on the basics of UGC and explain what it is and where is usually used. I'm sure that since you enrolled into this course, you'll probably know what UDC is and where it's used and all the basics about it. But just in case you don't, I also want to you just so we are on the same page. So first of all, what is UTC and what does it stand for? So it stands for user generated content, and it speaks for itself. It is content, whether it would be pictures, whether it would be videos, any other material created by a person and then given to the brand to use. That means that you're not posting on your own social media accounts, you're simply creating the content and giving it to the brand. And once the brand receives that content, they can use it in either ads or their own social media channels, their emails, their website, wherever and I also wanted to touch base on one thing that was confusing for me before I started UGC and content creation is basically, what's the difference between these two? I was hearing so many terms like influencer, content creator, UTC creator, and I thought it's basically the same thing. But it's actually not. It's basically when you create content and you also upload it to your own social media channels, you engage with your own community. I on the other hand, we have UDC creators who still create the content. I still works similarly to content creator or influencer because you still generate that content, but the difference is that instead of uploading it to your own social media accounts, you're then giving it to the brand to upload to their own social media accounts or use it for other different purposes. But you usually never upload it to your own social. 3. Why UGC?: Now let's talk why UDC got so popular, why is it so important, why brands choose UDC creators or why you should even become a UDC creator and consider this as your career path. So first of all, why it got so popular is because currently brands that don't have a face attached to their brand are not doing well. UDC content is usually very naturally presented content. It's not overly salesy. It's more authentic, so it, of course, receives a higher engagement rate. It makes people informed about the product. It can also be very relatable if you're talking about a problem and how to solve it with that service. Product. It is once again, a social proof that that product or that service works as a client, even. It's nicer to see somebody using that product, seeing how it looks on the skin, let's say, or using that service, seeing what to expect before committing to that cause before purchasing something. And for the brands, it's also amazing to have because they can use it on any platform. They can use it on their website. Let's say you fill in a How to tutorial. They can upload it to their website. They can also use it in their emails. They can upload it to their social media accounts as. Also very cost effective as well because they usually don't need to hire a huge marketing team, social media team. They can literally hire one person responsible for social media and then hire JC creators who are going to create different content for the brand. So they don't need to commit to paying full time salary to somebody. They can also move on to another creator if they don't like your content, let's say. So once again, they're not committing to you full time. It's easier and more flexible for few reasons why you would want to become a UGC creator. The first thing and very attractive benefit is working from home and having that freedom. Of course, it's going to take a while for you to get clients, to get sorted, to build a name for yourself. But once you have these things set up, you can have the successful career. You can build your own schedule, and it's more flexible than a full time job, let's say. What also attracts so many people to work in UGC is because you don't have to have lots of followers. You don't need to be a content creator or an influencer to become UDC creator. That attracts lots of people because you don't need to build something before you start. You can just get started. As long as you have some basic skills, as long as you know how to present the product, how to present the service, as long as you are good talking to the camera, let's say, or you have really good editing skills or anything else, you can get started. You don't need a very engaged community. You don't need to have anything before you start. You can literally start from and this is why we see so many UDC graders. But it's also for a reason because lots of brands are looking for UC graders as well. I don't know if you notice as well. If you're looking for a new job and let's say, social media or content creation or video editing, you're also going to see UGC in a lot of the postings as well that you need to have the skill. You need to know how to present a product, a service in a very natural way. You need to know how to communicate with other UGC creators. So yeah, UDC plays a crucial part in social media right now. And I also feel like with UDC, you can also very flexible income. So, of course, you can leave it as a side hustle and do it, let's say, on the weekends only or whenever you want, just take on a few project only, something like that. But you can also build it into a full time career. Of course, once again, it's going to take time to get all your clients, to get long term partnerships and everything set up, but it can be a possibility. There's lots of UGC creators that are currently doing it and having it as a full time career. So here are a few reasons that I believe UGC could attract people to get started with. So now let's move on to the next lesson where I explain you how everything in the course is going to be structured. 4. Before you start: How UGC works: So in the first lesson, I just wanted to walk you through all the steps that UGC creator actually goes through. So let's say one day you wake up and you say, I want to be a UGC creator. Where do you basically start? What do you do? I just want to kind of explain the entire process because I feel like sometimes before you started something, you may expect things to go a little bit differently, or you may not know what to expect at all. So this lesson is exactly for that. So basically, if one day, you're going to decide that, Okay, this is the day I'm going to start becoming an UDC creator, this is how it's going before you get started, once again, you have to consider a few things such as pricing. You also need a portfolio, media kit. Of course, I'm going to have the entire section talking about portfolios. How could you create one. But you first of all, would focus on that, basically creating some kind of presence for yourself. And once you have established that, you're going to look for clients and people to work with, brands to work with. So how you're going to be looking for them? Of course, once again, I'm going to have the entire section explaining how you do it and which are the most popular ways across the UTC creators. But usually those in short, are either freelancing platforms, outreaching, coal pitching, and social media presence. How does it work once you get a client? What do you do? What could you expect? Basically, it depends on your interaction to begin with, whether you already reached out to them through cold pitching or whether the brand reached out to you and asked if you could do a favor for them and do GC videos for them. Of course, it's going to be different, but usually, first of all, you're going to communicate what the brand actually needs, what are the expectations and everything else. In this step, it's also very different with every single brand because some brands are going to want you to create a specific video saying specific things, they're going to have a script for you. They're going to have brief for you, explaining basically what shots do they expect, how the product service needs to be presented, what you need to tell, the keywords that they want you to use, et cetera. It's going to be very detailed. It's basically not going to be confusing at all because you're going to have everything set and you're not going to need to worry about literally a single thing just filming yourself. But some brands also give you that creative freedom to do whatever you have in mind. So, of course, sometimes they mention what kind of video do they want? Do they want tutorial? Do they want boxing? Do they want I don't know, you talking about the product or you just talking about the problem that you had and, like, the solution that product that service gave you. But the script, the keywords and everything else is up to you. So, of course, if you're given a script, everything is self explanatory. You're just going to film a video and give it to the brand, and everything is going to be fine, right? But if you're given that creative freedom, I feel like there are a few steps that I would take to make sure that the brand is happy at the end of the day. So what I do, I kind of try to clarify everything before I get started with filming because, of course, I don't want to recreate that video ten times. I don't want to have to reflm it. I don't want to to re edit it. So I want to clarify everything from the actual script to the editing that they expect to every single detail like fonts, if they want their logo in the video, if they want any other things in the video as well. And usually, if they give me that creative freedom, I also try to come up with video ideas, send it to the brand, once they confirm the idea that they like, then I go ahead and write a script and once again, send it to the brand before I start filming. This once again, just make sure that we are on the same page. We're happy with what I'm going to say in that video or how I'm going to do it just so there's less chances that I'm going to need to redo it later on. And once the brand is happy with everything I've done, I go ahead and film the video, edit the video, and send it back to the brand. Usually, of course, it's written in your contract, and you're going to need to sign some sort of contract usually. But after you've given it to the brand, they may come back to you and ask you to revise that video. So either change, let's say, captions or text or anything else that they didn't like particularly about that video. And of course, your contract is going to tell exactly how many times they can come back to you to ask to revise it. But usually, it's one to two times. And of course, as a new GC creator, you want to make your client very happy with your work, so you're going to try your best. And, of course, especially in the beginning, you may offer additional time to revise that video, just so at the end of the day, they are happy with it and they're going to give you a good review. That's basically the entire process just so you understand what happens behind the scenes. 5. Before you start: Can anyone become UGC creator?: Now let's talk if anybody can become a UGC creator and how easy it is to do so. So the short answer to this question is absolutely anyone can become a UGC creator, and that's the attractive part of UGC as well. As I mentioned before, you don't need a large following. You can start UDC completely from scratch, and UDC is focusing more about the skill rather than your community or some big numbers. However, I'm not going to lie. I started my GC journey by starting content creation first, and it opened lots of doors for me, as well. So once again, I'm not going to lie and say that social media presence doesn't help when you are a UGC creator. It does help, and it does help a lot. Had lots of cases when different brands, smaller and bigger used to reach out to me and ask me if I can do a video for them, if I can do some UDC for them, just because they've seen my social media presence. So they've seen my real photos on TikTok and Instagram as well. So while you don't need a huge following, while you don't need to have a social media presence, I would recommend having it. I can if you're open to it, of course, you don't have to. It's not the end of the world if you don't want to. You can still get clients through freelancing and through cold pitching outreaching to other brands to other small businesses. So you can still build a successful career and have the successful gig going on. But of course, with social media presence, it's much easier to do so. And if you have no idea, what could I even post if I'm a UDC creator and I want to start my social media channels, right? And let's say on Instagram and TikTok because those are the main the main and most important platforms to be active on. So I would say you can do different type of videos, but I would mostly focus on behind the scenes of UDC Creator Life, if you have time and if you have any interest in it because people want to see that raw material, people want to see how everything works behind the scenes. What do you do for a living and at the same time, it's going to be your marketing because people will engage with your post, brands are going to see your post. They're going to see that you're working with C. Maybe they're going to also see some examples flowing through social media, and they may reach out to you and also try to collaborate with you. Of course, other dozen ideas that you could be posting about on social media. I think I'm going to attach a file actually with all of the ideas that I would post about. Another very important topic to touch base on is the niches for UGC. I'm sure that if you're following already some UGC creators, you've seen that they're specializing in a certain niche usually and that helps them to stand out because brands, of course, want the expertise, want the skill that you have, particularly, let's say, doing UGC about beauty products or doing UGC or fashion products, or if you're really good talking to the camera and let's say you're talking about some sort of service, some sort of I don't know, let's say, insurance or anything like that, and you're only working with businesses, promoting that. Once again, that helps you to stand out. That helps you to get discovered by brands that would be interested in your EDC. And the most popular niches currently are beauty, fashion, tech, travel, fitness, food, lifestyle. But if you have any other niche in mind, that's completely fine. That's going to be and don't hesitate to choose any other one that you like that you're interested in, because at the end of the day, you're going to be spending time creating these videos, working with these brands. So it also has to be interesting for you and also don't be afraid to switch industries as well to work with different products in the beginning, especially, to see what you like, because it's not the end of the world if you decide that you like working with these products or these services more and then switching to that. So if you want to find your unique niche, what I would recommend doing is kind of listing all your interests. For me, it was travel and it was beauty as well. But I've also worked with different apps that made my life a little bit easier as a content creator. So all of these interests made sense to me because I was excited to film and talk more about these products, these services, these recommendations tips. It wasn't anything first. Everything was kind of coming naturally to me. So I would recommend, also, once again, listing all your interests, thinking, what are your hobbies, perhaps? What are the things you're most interested in? What are the things you have mostly in your house and are obsessed with and narrowing everything down to see if this could be a niche for your UTC, as well. 6. Before you start: Skills needed for UGC: I also want to talk about the skills that could be needed for ADC creator or could be expected by the brand as well, just so you know. Of course, skills can be gained over time, and you don't need to have this entire checklist before you get started. The thing is with ADC as with any other business, any other profession is that you learn grow. But I still wanted to mention a few just for you to kind of have an understanding before getting started, and just for you to have this very realistic view and expectations as well. So the first skill is content creation. So if you already notice that you're enjoying taking videos, taking pictures, that your pictures, let's say, look very aesthetic or that you actually love just generally filming things, it's a good sign that could become either a content creator or UGC creator. And as well, what is usually needed is to be very good storyteller. Of course, this is not required for every single UDC creator. We're all special. We're all unique, and some UDC creators are simply faceless and filming the content basically with their hands and not showing their face at all, but a lot of times you need to record either a voiceover or you need to record yourself speaking to the camera, talking about the product, talking how to use the product. Unpacking the video, making everything entertaining, making everything natural. So we want to hook people into watching our video, of course, we want to kind of present the story and make it seem flowing as well. We want to make people hooked still watching our video throughout the end. That's basically our goal because we want better engagement. We want people to be invested because that's business for us. So having those storytelling skills are also extremely important and make you a strong fit for you then another thing is basic editing skills. Of course, you don't need to be a professional, but if you've previously worked, let's say, with Adobe, cap cut, any other editing tools that make you a strong fit once again, it's important to have some sort of basic editing skills because you're still going to need to film and edit by yourself. The brand is not going to do it for you, usually. So you need to know how to do the basic, and I'm, of course, going to show you everything, at least the main basic things that you need to know when editing a video, and of course, we're not going to run through every single editing platform, but I'm going to show you how to do everything because Cap Cut is most commonly used across the creators currently. So I think it's the most important tool to currently master. Then another skill that is good to have is creativity, of course, because as I mentioned before, sometimes you get a script, you get an idea, you get everything told to you beforehand, so you don't need to think need to come up with any concepts. You don't need to come up with any ideas. You can simply just film based on the script and be done with it. But a lot of times brands are giving you that creative freedom. So of course, you want to see maybe you want to incorporate a trend, maybe you want to present a product in a very unique way in your own style. So, of course, having that creativity is extremely important because once again, it increases chances of higher engagement, and that of course, gives us better chances of get this client returning to us to work on more projects and of course, we also want to have very good communication skills. We want to be very transparent. We want to communicate very clearly because we want to have very clear expectations before we start working with a brand. We want to be able to clarify everything. We want to communicate the concepts and our ideas with the brand. We want to communicate the scripts with our brands. We want to have everything said before we get started. And I feel like if you don't have these basic communication skills, you may get yourself into some trouble because you may need to reshoot the same campaign, the same project multiple times. You may need to redo revise the video multiple times as well and you don't want that, you don't want to work on the same project for literally days, hours, et cetera. If it's possible, I would say clarifying everything before is extremely, extremely important. Then another thing, which is also self explanatory is just time management. Time management is extremely important in every single profession. I would say, I'm not going to surprise you that it's important here as well. The reason why it is so important is because you're juggling multiple clients at the same time usually. You need to submit the final product by this and this date. You need to revise it by descend this date. You all the time working with kind of time frames and deadlines. So you need to have everything on point when it comes to that, and for me, at least, it helps to have everything scheduled in the calendar. I want to see the progress on everything, and I'm going to show you the tools that I also use to make everything more organized and easier for me to another thing that I also want to talk about is adaptability. The reason why it is so important is because we're working on social media. Things change so so quickly, and they're super unpredictable all the time. You always need to have that adaptability and be flexible and be able to adjust if needed. In DCA as well, a lot of times you come up with concepts, let's say, for brands, whenever you need to pitch them. And they don't always agree with your ideas. They don't always agree with your concepts, how you want to present everything, how you want to talk about the product or the service. And sometimes they want you to adjust everything. And that once again is completely okay and completely normal. Not everybody is going to like, but tell, how you like to tell it, and the brand is paying for your services. So of course, we want to keep them happy and fully satisfied with the final product. I feel like even though it really humbles you once you get this constructive feedback, it can also be a learning curve, and it can also teach you that flexibility and adaptability is extremely important in this and the last thing that I also wanted to touch on is having this consistency and persistency, I would say, because once you're going to start working as a UDC creator and you're going to be reaching out to these potential clients, you're going to see that sometimes you may reach out to 100 brands, let's say, and you're not going to get a single offer, and I know that it could be super discouraging. It could be super demotivating for you to continue, but that's the reality of it. Not every brand is going to be okay working with you, not every brand is going to want that, but you need to continue and show up, and you're definitely going to find the brands that want to work with you that are excited for that. You just need to continue work on it and you just need to constantly show up. You can just send, let's say, 50 emails and be done with it. You have to come back the next week and send 50 more too. I feel like if you're easily demotivated, maybe this is not an ideal path for you or maybe you need to work on it a little bit further before you start your GC journey. And I don't want to demotivate you at all. There are success stories. I also got several deals from the brands, but I'm not going to lie to you and say that everything is always easy because it's not. And once again, I want to make the scores a safe place, and I want to tell you how the things are. So even though it is really rewarding to be working with let's say, bigger brands, well known brands, it also takes a while to get these customers. It's also not as easy as social media perhaps make it look like. So as with any other profession, you need to work hard, you need to keep showing up, you need to be consistent, to be successful in this field. 7. Before you start: UGC mistakes: Another thing which is not so fun to talk about, but which is important to talk about are the main mistakes that new UGC creators or even existing UTC creators make. So the first thing that I also notice myself doing is trying to be perfect. And from my own experience, I can just tell you that you can spend days editing one single video before you send it to the brand. My advice for this case would be if it follows the guideline of the brand, if it has all the required information and if it is edited, Okay, it's good to go. You can send it to the brand. Worst thing that is going to happen here is that they're going to come back and tell you to revise it a little bit to change some things about it, and that's going to be it. Because the thing is, if you spend, let's say, five days editing and filming one single video and then you send it to the brand thinking it's ideal and perfect, and then the brand comes back to you saying that, Oh, we don't think it's perfect. We think you need to revise this and that. You're going to be super disappointed that you wasted so much of your time and that you still need to work on it further. So I would just recommend trying your best, of course, but keeping in mind that you can be perfect and you can't always know what the brand actually wants. Another mistake that I also done in the past is ignoring the brand's brief, maybe not completely ignoring it, but maybe not following it exactly how it is. So thinking that I know maybe a little bit better than the brand in my case, a brand sent me a brief. I read through it, and I was thinking that perhaps they wanted a voiceover. So I've done a voiceover. And of course, when I send it to the brand, they were very confused. Why did that voiceover if that wasn't in the brief. So I think just to avoid these situations, make sure that you communicate with the brand beforehand if you're not sure what is expected. If the brief isn't completely clear, just to avoid these kind of situations and avoid redoing your job two times. Because usually if the brand sends you a brief, if the brand sends you a script, they want you to follow don't want you to experiment. They don't want you to come up with new ideas. They don't want you to come up with new things to include into that script. They want it exactly how it is. If they don't expect the script exactly how it is, they're going to tell you in the brief or via email when you're communicating everything, they're going to say that, you can follow your you can follow your own structure, but this is something to guide you. Another thing that I also wanted to mention is using the port visuals. This is extremely important. If you don't have a camera, that's completely fine. A lot of us still film with our phones. I'm also currently using my iPhone to film all fridge, and that's usually sufficient. But what we want to make sure is the lighting is right. If we don't have a very good daylight, perhaps we need to use some light, whether it will be a ring light, let's say, because, of course, brands love that crispy content that is filmed in the highest quality. So make sure that your phone settings are also set the right way. If you don't know what settings would be the right ones for your phone, you can always just chat your PD. It's going to explain how to do it with every single step. Another thing that I've noticed is copying other users. So, of course, it is easy to fall into it and try to redo a trend, but we always want to stay authentic. We always, even with trends, we want to kind of show our personality, show our way of editing or add something that would show, once again, our authenticity as well, because I feel like the content that is authentic, the content that is real, who you are, the content that isn't completely copy and paste does the then other things are communication once again, but I mentioned it in the skills lesson that it's extremely important to have it to clarify everything before we start. As I mentioned with my mistake as well, if I would have communicated better, I wouldn't have needed to redo that video. Of course, another one is overthinking everything. Once again. It's kind of tied with the first one, kind of trying to perfect everything and be the best. You can make scenarios in your head of what the brand is expecting from you. If you have a brief, if you clarify some questions with the brand, you're good to go. You don't need to go completely above and beyond and think of every possible scenario or every possible way of what the brand is going to say to you after you send them a video. And I think just generally, feedback is important in this field. So I wouldn't view feedback whenever it's constructive as a bad thing. For me, it's a good thing. It always helps us to improve sometimes it's very difficult to see how the things are from other people's perspective, but it's also very healthy because sometimes we don't even see it as a problem. Let's say maybe the video is a little bit too slow, you're talking a little bit too slow. Maybe for you, it seems okay, but for other person, it may not seem okay, and the brand may want you to revise that. And of course, take this feedback with a pinch of salt. Sometimes brand expect different things, of course, but generally, the feedback that you receive can be super useful and can help you to improve in the long run. 8. Before you start: How many hours to dedicate for UGC: Also often get asked how much time you should dedicate to UDC, when you get started, what is this expectation? How many hours you should be dedicating to, I don't know outreaching, or creating a portfolio or working with brands, blah, blah, blah. This really depends on you and how busy you are at the moment. I don't know what task and what jobs you're handling right now if you have a full time career already, you're also a parent who's juggling everything at the same time. So of course, you're not going to have as much time as other people who perhaps are currently unemployed and looking to make this into a full time career. But I feel the healthy way to start is 5-10 hours a week if you have time for that, of course, because you can dedicate that time to find customers to reach out to, to create your portfolio, to create your pricing, to create your web page, let's say, then when you start working with brands, of course, you're going to dedicate that time and maybe even more maybe 15 to 20 hours a week because it's going to take you time to, let's say, make scripts, to communicate with the brands, to wait for their answer, to confirm everything, then film everything, then edit everything, send it to the brand, revise, et cetera. Of course, in the beginning, while you don't have clients, you're going to spend way less than later on. But no matter how many hours you can spend every single week, I would recommend just staying consistent. So don't think that one week, you can reach out 50 brands, and then you can forget about UDC for a month or two. That's not the case. If you decide that this is going to be your ongoing hassle, you have to keep showing up every single week. Have to maintain that consistency because brands want somebody reliable, they want somebody to work with, probably even long term. They of course, going to prioritize people who do it consistently, who do it perhaps for a living even and who will be there in case a brand needs them. 9. Before you start: Content plan: Now I also wanted to walk you through on how you could be creating a basic content plan before you start reaching out to the brands. So the reason for that in my eyes is because a content plan, some sort of a little bit of knowledge about the brand helps you to stand out from lots of UDC creators and content creators as well. It makes you a stronger candidate. Perhaps you already know what content they liked and how you align to what they're looking for. So, of course, overall, I would recommend drafting a content plan before you send a pitch to the brand you want to so the first thing that I've done in the past is research the brand, whether it would be on Facebook, Instagram, I don't know, YouTube, TikTok, wherever they are the most active. And I look at their content, what worked for them, what didn't work for them, what they like probably because they posted on their account multiple times, maybe, what they've done in their stories as well. Really all the content I kind of scan through them to see what would they expect from me and what could work and what concepts I could suggest to the brand that they would be attracted to. When researching, you can also see what type of content they posted in the past. Was it mainly reals? Was it mainly pictures, any other type of content, what they're basically posting? To once again offer the brand what they would look for, what we think they would look for. Now that you have a little bit more knowledge about the brand, you can go ahead and brainstorm some ideas. For brainstorming, of course, anything that you think could work for the brand, anything that they've done in the past, let's say, if it's a beautiful product, perhaps they already done lots of Get ready with me, lots of boxing, lots of very different B roles, let's say, or anything like that. Just see the pattern and see if there are any ideas on your mind that you could pitch the brand if you don't have any ideas, if you're struggling with it. Don't be afraid to use CHGBT as well. It's not your enemy. It's And although I wouldn't recommend following it 100%, I think it is a very useful tool, especially in content creation as well. So you can go ahead and you can mention a few things about the brands, but work for them, but haven't worked for them? What is their product? What are they trying to achieve? You could enter this information into HGPT and ask HGBD to also generate you some ideas that could possibly work for the brand as well. Maybe you see something that you like, maybe you see something you haven't thought about. So it's always a great idea to kind of see if there's anything else that you haven't thought of that you could include in your pitch as well. Of course, I'm going to have an entire video about how to pitch the brands, what to say in the emails, how to structure it, et cetera, everything in details. But generally, what you want in the pitch is basically an introduction saying who you are, what do you want from the brand. Are you looking for UDC collaboration? Of course, since you already researched the brand, the body. You can tell how it would be beneficial for them to collaborate with you, what you could create, what ideas do you have? So that body is going to make you a very strong fit. That means that the brand doesn't need to come up with new concepts for you, doesn't need to come up with really big scripts for you, right? You can do everything by yourself. You can come up with original ideas by yourself. Maybe they would want to collaborate with you in the future or at least have you on file as well. And then at the end, of course, just encourage them to come back to you to see if there's anything you could discuss further. Once again, this is such a small detail. It doesn't take a lot of your time, but it can be so helpful when pitching to the brand. So always know who are you pitching to and don't be one out of 1,000 UDC creators that are just offering their services completely blind. 10. Before you start: Pricing and earning with UGC: Now let's talk about the main topic. Everybody is interested in how much can you earn from UDC? What do you expect, how you should price yourself, et cetera. Let's talk about all the pricing models, and let's just talk how much you could actually earn per piece. So firstly, UDC is very individual and it depends on your skills. It depends on your experience and other factors as well. You can earn literally from 50 euros per content per piece, per video, per picture, et cetera, up to, I think, 500 plus per single piece as well. Was offered very different pricings by the brands who reached out to me, actually. I was offered either 30 euros per piece, 50 euros per piece, 150 euros per piece, even 1,000 for a few pieces. The pricing was all over the place and what I noticed that once again, it really depends on where the brand is located because I feel like the best paying countries are the bigger ones and the ones that are doing a little bit better. So USA is one of them. And what I've been telling other UTC creators or other content creators as well is that you have to choose who to work with. You have to have your target market, and if the prices that are normal in your country do not satisfy you, don't forget that you can also work with clients abroad don't get limited as long as you can work their hours or at least you can communicate during the time they're on their way, you're good to go. I feel like there is this misconception that you can only work in the country you are located in, work with brands in the country where you're located in. Um, this is not the case. You can work with larly any brand from across the world. You're not limited. At the end of the day, you are a freelancer, a contractor, so you don't have a full time contract that actually forces you to work in the country you are located in, and that's the best part about UGC as well and content creation in general. So right now, before I tell you how to price yourself, I also want to talk about different pricing models that are quite common in UDC. So what I charge for is per piece. So let's say one real is X amount of euros, but there are also other creators charging per hour. So depending how many hours they spend on scripting, on, let's say, filming, editing, et cetera, there are also other creators that have bundle deals. Same as me, actually, if somebody if a brand wants to work on multiple projects, want to do, let's say, three reels with me, then the price is going to be a little bit lower than four piece, because once again, we want to offer an attractive offer that the brand would benefit from and that we would benefit from as well. From my experience, charging per piece is the best because you kind of have the price that you usually charge, and you can just have a range, let's say, from this amount to this amount that you usually charge, and it depends perhaps on revisions. It depends on how much time you're going to spend filming. What are the expectations of the company? If they send you already a script or not, if they sent you some guidelines or not, maybe if you need to create everything from scratch, then you're going to charge a little bit more. So it would give you that flexibility as well depending. I feel like charging per hour doesn't really work for the brands or they don't want to be committed to that because you may be editing for days and they're definitely not going to want to pay that. But of course, at the end of the day, it's completely your choice. It's up to you. How do you decide to price yourself? How do you decide to position yourself in this field. But what I would recommend taking into consideration is once again, your experience, your skills, whether you are very skilled in something. Let's say you're really good at storytelling. You're really good at editing, and editing takes you lots of time. I would always recommend not undervaluing yourself, especially even in the beginning because there are brands that going to reach out to you offering, I don't know, ten euros per video, which in my eyes, is unfair. It shouldn't be happening in the first place. Brands should value your time and effort as well, and you shouldn't be working so so hard for such a small amount. Of course, it also depends on where you're located. What may seem low for me may seem very good for you. So, of course, that is a big factor as well. But what worked for me in the past, once again, going to mention that again is having a range, saying that I charge from this to this amount, and it depends on this and this and this and these things. So once again, revisions, it depends if I need to create a script myself or not. It depends on how much editing do you want? Do you want a heavily edited video or do you want just a video cut a little bit, and that's it and maybe dit captions, right? That is going to take me larly 15 minutes to edit, or is it going to take me I don't know, 3 hours to edit? So you really need to think what the charge is going to include and what you're willing to do for that amount I would also recommend communicating everything very clearly with the brand as well, communicate what is included, what is not included, what they need to pay extra for perhaps. So we don't have any surprises from both sides. And of course, if you are quite flexible, especially in the beginning that you want to reach out more clients, you want to work with clients, you want to gain that experience. I would recommend being flexible and saying that, of course, we can discuss what would work for your brand and see how we can negotiate the rate that both sides could be. I'm talking about my pricing and my experience, I was charging 30-100 euros at first, and it was staying around 50, 60 euros, usually, majority of the times for a real, for a single video, and then I moved on to charging 150 300 euros per video. So I'm still not at the top tier, but I stayed somewhere in the middle. I think that it is fair for me. I think that my skills and my time needs to be valued, and I think this is the value that and I think that this amount is fair for me for my time and for my efforts, as well. But of course, it's going to be completely different to you, perhaps. So what I would recommend doing is once again, researching, research how much UTC creators charge in your area or the country you want to market yourself in your target markets area and see how much you could earn from it. ChaiPT as well. Don't be afraid of it. Once again, see what are the average that they charge and see if you could come up with a number that would fit you and would satisfy you and also not scare the brand from working with. 11. UGC content: Types of UGC: So in the first lesson, I want to start from the basics and talk about different UDC types. The first and most commonly used type of UGC is, of course, video reels. What we've seen all over social media on TikTok and Instagram mostly, and this type is also used very commonly in the ads on Facebook as well. See a lot of this type of content, we consume a lot of it, and that is also the reason why it's so popular. And usually what is expected from this type of content is to create a video that is 15-60 seconds. That's usually the timeline that is requested most commonly. Of course, once again, it's going to depend on a brand, but this is usually what is used the most because what we want to achieve with this type of content is the high views, high engagement. So we need to keep our viewers entertained and we can go around in circles, talk about the product. Need to be very direct, very engaging. Although the video reels is, in my opinion, the main and most popular type of UDC content, there are other content types as well. So one of them is pictures. So I'm sure you've seen it all over TikTok and Instagram as well. Mostly around Instagram as well, because I feel like TikTok is mostly focusing on quantity, while Instagram is more still quality and very aesthetic look. So the pictures are also going to be UDC type, which means authentic, aesthetic lifestyle pictures as well, which is very I'm saying lifestyle, usually, people who haven't done UTC may not even understand what does it mean? Basically, lifestyle is when a product is incorporated into your lifestyle. When it's just presented very naturally, maybe you're using it in your household, maybe you're using it outside when you go to grab a coffee or anything like that. It's just showcasing the product without trying forcing to sell it. Your main aim by that picture is to showcase the product and how it could be used in a natural environment that we see on our day to day basis. A few examples could be, let's say, I need to promote an SPF. So most likely, I'm going to take a few pictures at the beach, let's say, with my little beach bag with a towel, some sunglasses, right, the waves in the background, something like that. Once again, just showing the natural environment and where I would use that besides the pictures and the videos, you may be asked to also do some pictures, videos for the stories, for Instagram or Tik Tok as well or Facebook as well, wherever the brand is the most active, of course, so you could expect to do some Q&As, let's say, or you could be expected to do some even graphic designing if this is something you're good at so once again, sky is the limit, or also the quick video that you created could not necessarily be used for a real, but could be used for a story as well or could be repurposed for an Instagram story instead of the reel. Another type that is not that often talked about or noticed, maybe even is live stream. So I don't know how it is in the country you are located, but the country where I'm from, live streams are still very popular and a lot of UTC creators are asked to do them as well. What you could be doing in that live stream is basically showcasing the product, maybe how to use that product, maybe how it looks on the skin, if it's a beauty product, right, or what to do with that product generally, and you would be just engaging with the audience. Maybe somebody wants to purchase it, explaining how they could do it, et cetera. Now another misconception, I believe, is what people think that UDC is only a video, a picture, something like that. But what they don't realize is that UDC could be also in a written format as well. So maybe you are very good at writing and maybe you want to do a blog DC blog, talk about that product, giving a genuine review. Maybe it's a service, maybe it's a restaurant that you visited and you've done UDC collaboration for. It would also be a simple testimonial or review. So just keep in mind that it depends on your niche, but you're comfortable with, it could be that it could be only written if you're going to go into that field and if that's going to be your niche, you may be focusing only on written content for UDC. 12. UGC content: Content Ideas: Now this lesson is going to be quite closely tied to the first one because I was talking about different types of content. In this lesson, I'm going to be focusing more on those types and talking in more detail specifics. In this lesson, I want to focus on what brands ask for or what type of content you could suggest to the brand to do. Let me quickly walk you through the main types as well. So the first one could be boxing video. So brand sends you some products and ask you to create and then boxing videos, meaning that you're going to give your first impression, your first opinion, maybe you're going to try a product on yourself. Maybe it's a fashion product, let's say, so you're going to wear it. Maybe it's a beauty product, so you're going to just apply it to your skin and show how it looks like, right? This type of videos at lots of viewers and that's why they are so popular. Another type is how tutorial. So once again, it could be for different products or even services. Usually, it's just speaking to the camera or even showing how to use that product without talking or even using a voiceover. It could be very different. But the aim of this type of UGC video is basically explain how to use that product, how to use, let's say, an app another type, which is also very frequently requested is with before after shots. So once again, I'm throwing different examples at you so that you can understand what I'm talking about a little bit more or a little bit better. So let's say, I don't know, Brand sends me some hair products, and I'm going to film a video, I'm going to show my hair before and my hair after and before, let's say, my hair was very dry, very rusty, rusty and after my hair is very shiny, very hydrated, very much different. Like, I can see a change, and I'm also maybe in the video talking about a change or maybe I'm having a voiceover talk about the change. So these videos are doing very well as well because they increase sales, and I'm also been influenced by them as well. When you see the results you want the product more, it makes you feel like you trust that product a little bit more because you've seen another person using it and being happy with it. That also works for marketing and a lot of people, a lot of brands are using this type of content to attract more people to purchase their product, their service, et cetera. Another type that you've probably seen all over Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook is basically problem solution. So once again, you're just talking about what problem have you encountered, how your life was changed by discovering that product or that service. So for example, let's say I had very dry skin, I've been experiencing a lot of irritation because I started using, I don't know, retinal, right? And then this product changed my life because it repaired my skin barrier, it hydrate my skin. Look at my skin now, you can also include before after shots once again and kind of do a bit of a mix video, I would say. And yeah, you basically showing and talking how that product changed something for you and how it improved the quality of life for you. So it could also be used for any type of product, any type of service. And the reason why it works is because people relate to it. People experience the same problems. People have the same pain points, and they want solutions to their problems. So of course, since it is UDC, we can't sound too much like we're trying to sell the product. We want to have a very natural delivery, but we can still talk about the problem and solution that that product gave us. Another type could be a lifestyle video or lifestyle picture as well. It could be just going through your day, using that product very naturally. It could be get ready with me. It could be a day in my life as, and you using that product throughout the day or you using that service throughout the day and how much that service or that product helps you without once again sounding too salesy. And the last type that I want to talk about that you probably also seen all over social media is the product video, the product picture. Maybe I'm going to attach it to the course. Maybe I'm going to attach it somewhere here. I'm not sure, but I'm sure that what I'm talking about is basically those video shots of a product or a service or an app. Basically, if let's say it's a product, once again, let's assume it's some serum. See a video and a good lighting very creatively, you're pumping the product, perhaps, you're showing the consistency, you're showing how you apply it to your face, and sometimes it doesn't even need a voiceover. It just needs some sort of music in the background, right, and it's very satisfying to watch. A lot of times there are also sounds used to make it more ASMR. So this is another content idea that you could be exploring in your future videos as well. 13. UGC content: How to write a caption or a script: Also wanted to walk you through the process of how I get these scripts written and how I also formulate the captions in case you need to do them for a brand as well. So I usually follow the same structure, a very simple structure, which is a hook, a body, and a quote action. So a hook could be a variable, it could be a text, or it could be a visual hook as well depending on your preferences or what you have in mind. I'm also going to list some hooks within the scores for you to take some inspiration from or even copy. That's completely fine. Then in the body, I usually talk about the product. If I mention, let's say, a problem in my hook, then I will talk about a solution in my body too. It depends on the situation and it depends on the video I'm creating. Then at the end, I'm finishing everything off with CLT action because we all know, and I think we've all been in that place where we forget to interact with the video on social media, we forget to engage, we may use some CLT actions like save this video if you want to go there, do this, I don't know if you're struggling with the same problem, et cetera, tag a friend if something something or forward it to somebody, send it to somebody that may find this useful, let's say, something like that. I'm also going to have the most commonly used called actions added. It's easier for you and you could use them when creating your own UTC videos. Of course, this is once again going to be discussed with the brand and you could see what the brand wants from you and how the brand wants you to finish up that video but a lot of times could action is a good way to finish it off. Now I'm going to repeat myself, but it depends what a brand is expecting from you, but of course, it's going to be important to use certain keywords that are CO friendly that could be looked at that could larger audience. Whenever you're creating a video script and if you are aiming to reach a larger audience, I would always recommend checking the keywords that could be relevant on TikTok. You could check it in the search bar. You could also check it in TikTok creator search insight, and you could also check Google Trends even and see what hashtags words could work for that post specifically. Usually, you are not asked to write a caption for a UGC video, but just in case you, you can also once again use these steps to filter all the keywords and all the hashtags that could be relevant to your video. Just generally, I follow the same structure of a hook body called action for my scripts and for my captions too. 14. UGC content: Do I need to show my face?: So another very commonly asked question in UGC is if you need to show your face. And I feel like this question comes up a lot in content creation as well in general. And the short answer to this is no, you don't necessarily need to show your face. You can be creating videos or pictures, just basically focusing on a product. Or as I mentioned before, there are also written UGC content that you for sure, you don't need to show your face. If you have that skill, you can make use of that. But generally, you can be still very successful in UGC without showing your face. You can also be showing just part of your face. Let's say you're applying the product to your hands, you're applying your product to the part face or showing how to and filming yourself from behind perhaps or whatever you're comfortable with. You can also do a video focusing on a product, showcasing how to use it, et cetera, and doing a voiceover if you're comfortable with that, because I understand that not everybody is comfortable with showing yourself in front of the camera, speaking to the camera. Or even having your face around Facebook. I completely understand you and I understand that sometimes you may not feel comfortable with that and I just want to say that it's completely fine and you have to focus on what's best for you and what you're most comfortable with and what you're most excited about. Yes, there's definitely a niche for faceless UGC content as well. Reason why brands often choose creators who are willing to speak to the camera, who are not camera shy or who can showcase their face as well in front of the camera is because that just naturally creates some sort of relationship between me and the viewer. We automatically, I feel like trust that person a little bit more, which also results in trusting that brand or product more is also user generated content. So we somehow feel that that's true to what that person is talking and saying about product. And if they're saying that that changed their life, we may believe it more than if we just see a product and person talking about it behind the camera. But of course, it's up to your preferences, and once again, there are going to be brands that are going to accept you without showing your face as well. So don't get discouraged to start UGC journey if you don't want to show your face. 15. UGC content: What to do with a content brief?: Now let's talk about what to do when you receive a brief from the brand. What do you do after that? What do you clarify? What questions do you ask? Basically, What do you do with a brief? So as I mentioned previously, a beef is usually a structure that a brand wants you to follow when making a video and is generally going to depend on the brand, how specific they are. They may just mention that they want to and this idea. This is how they action, but they also may be very specific and say that the first shot has to have this and this caption, this heading, and this subheading, then the next shot has to have this and that, has to say this and that, blah blah blah. Once again, it really depends on the brand and how specific they are. But the main questions that I always ask if they're not specified in the brief is how long the video has to be. What is the type of the video they want me to do or can I be creative and choose myself? What keywords they want me to use or do they have a script, or once again, can I decide for myself and can I write my own then I also ask, of course, about the fonts that the brand use about if I can use their logo, if I need to use their logo. What I also do sometimes if I feel like I need that clarification is I ask a brand to send a few examples of similar EDC videos that they like. Maybe they saw an idea somewhere and they want you to recreate a similar to that video. Besides that, I also want to ask about if they want a voice over or not or if they want me to speak to the camera. But of course, that could also be kind of discussed when you're asking what type of video do they want so when the brand sends you a brief, you first read, go through it, see what questions occur to you and what questions you would like to clarify with the brand. Think about the points that I just mentioned if this is something they haven't mentioned, or if this is something you want to clarify as well. Once you clarify everything with the brand, go ahead and create some ideas, and what I would recommend doing is passing those ideas with the brand and seeing if they would agree for you to do this and that if they haven't specified it in the first place. Once you know the format, you're going to create your content. In. And once you have your concept as well, and idea, right, you go ahead and create a script and once again, pass it with the actual brand. You don't want to redo a video ten times, and I always do it just make sure that we're on the same page and just make sure that I'm not going to need to redo my work five times. I feel like generally it's better to communicate more it's better to ask more questions than perhaps the brand expected you rather than go ahead with everything, film everything, edit everything, send it to the brand, and for the brand to be disappointed and not understand why you did it. But I feel like once you clarify all of these points, it's easier for you to imagine what the brand expects from you and it's easier for you to create your plan, your shots, and to fulfill the idea they were looking. 16. UGC content: Equipment: Other question that I often get asked and see other people inquiring about is the equipment for a UGC creator. And basically, what do you need to get started? What do you need to film very high quality videos or take very high quality shots? So let me walk you through everything I know and what worked for me, what hasn't worked for me. And let me specify everything. First of all, I don't know if you will think about it, but you don't usually need a very expensive camera or very expensive equipment if you're just starting with. I feel like a lot of UDC creators are still using their smartphones and calling it a day. Remember that at the end of the day, this is UDC content, meaning that it has to be natural, it has to come from the user right. Of course, it's not going to be in a professional HD quality. But at the same time, we want to focus on quality as well. We don't want to deliver very dark, very blurry video to the brand that doesn't present their product in a very nice aesthetic way. Of course, we need to focus on quality, but we don't need to overthink it and we can still use our phone if it allows good quality. The thing, the aspect that helps to achieve the best quality when filming videos, the products, shooting your projects is of course, the natural light. It helps us. It makes us look good, makes the product look good. So whenever you can, if you can film in the middle of the day and if you don't have that chance, if you're let's say working I don't know, a full time job and when you come back home, it's already dark. That's also not a problem. You can just buy a simple ring light that I have in front of me right now. And they're not so expensive. They're, I believe, under ten euros even, and they of course help to make the video look a little bit better to make it look and appear in better quality. Another thing that I believe you would want to consider is the simple backgrounds. Just find a very quiet corner in your house or just find a place where you could be filming these UGC content videos, taking UDC pictures, et cetera, something that wouldn't draw attention from the actual product or from you talk about the product or the service. We want something calm. We want something completely neutral. We don't want messy backgrounds. We don't want a bad first impression, of course. Another thing to consider is the sound of your video if you're creating videos, let's say, talking to the camera or if you're doing voiceovers. So of course, I would recommend highly purchasing a microphone for your smartphone. Very cheap. I have a few of them like this. You can attach it to your shirt. You can also attach it to any other object, and they're amazing. You can literally purchase from even Temo or I don't know, Amazon. For example, for two of these microphones, I paid under 15 euros with delivery, they're really inexpensive, they're really affordable. I believe if you're planning to do UDC content speaking to the camera, these are essential to have. So I already mentioned it, but it's important to update your settings in your camera as well. I mentioned if you don't know how to do it, Shachi BT is going to guide you step by step. It's very easy to do. But basically, another thing not to forget is if you're editing your videos, let's say, in Capcod, don't forget to export in the same very high quality. Don't export in a lower quality because it doesn't make sense to film in high quality and then export in the lower quality. Once again, if we're doing everything in high quality, we're exporting in high quality as well. And lastly, remember that practice makes it perfect. So if your first videos are not looking like the highest and best production, remember that you're going to get feedback over time, and you're going to improve because you're going to get more and more practice, more clients for yourself. So definitely, you're going to improve. So don't aim to make your first video the best one you're ever going to create. Just remember that is a process and it takes time to get better and better at this. 17. UGC content: Repurposing: Now I believe it's also important to touch base a little bit on repurposing content for UGC as well. I know that often we touch this topic when we talk about content creators, influencers, how they repurpose their content to not get overwhelmed to not get burned out. But we could do the same in UGC and they often don't think about. So whenever you're working with specifically physical products, and whenever the brand sends you a product, let's say, to do a video about, and if you're planning to have a long term partnership with that brand or if you're not even planning, but it may happen, I would recommend taking more videos whenever you start filming. I always usually take lots of different type of videos from different angles showcasing that product. And it's also because I could use the same perch in the future if they want me to create more videos about that specific product or if I need to repurpose it or if I need it for my own content creation whenever I'm showing behind the scenes of UDC or showing what I did in a day, right? So I may use the same content in a different format as well. What you may also be asked to do by a brand is basically create the same video with the same script just change the hooks up the videos because they may want to does different hooks, et cetera. I generally love these products because it's less work for me and there's multiple videos. Of course, the bay is a little bit higher. The only thing that you need to work on is basically just filming the body and filming different hooks and then just editing videos including a different hook, but keeping the same body. And you may usually be asked to also change the goal to action at the end. So basically in the one video, it may be save this for your next trip to XYZ, or it could be tag a friend who you would recommend this product to or something like that, right? So it could also be different at the end. So yes, as a general rule, I would recommend taking as many pictures, videos as you can of the product and saving it either in your laptop or your phone. Wherever you prefer for future use as well. I feel like it's also one of the mistakes that I've done in the past that I've deleted those videos, deleted those pictures because they were taking my phone storage, and then in the future, I needed to take more videos of the same product. So of course, it was kind of like double work. So just to avoid it, remember that you can store everything and then later on to repurpose it as well. 18. UGC content: How to stay creative : How do you stay creative during the entire process of UDC or whenever you are a UTC creator? Let's talk about it. As you may know or imagine if you worked maybe with social media previously, as a content creator or as a UDC creator, you're expected to remain very creative, to try new ideas, to generate new ideas, and to always bring something new to the table. And although I feel like people who are getting into this field are generally very creative, very fun, and they know how to generate these new ideas. I can still become very overwhelming. You can still feel a little bit of pressure. You can still feel a little bit burned out because sometimes you really can't think about new ideas that fast. So, of course, just to help you out, I also wanted to share a few tips that help me to stay creative and not overwhelmed or maybe at least a little bit less overwhelmed in general. So for the first step, I always follow the creators that I feel inspired from. And I don't say that just copy their content and their content ideas. No. I feel like just getting inspired, just getting little bits that maybe you didn't think about and recreating it your own way could be a way to generate new ideas. But I also feel like you need to be very careful with that because a lot of times we see and consume a lot of this content and it makes us feel a little bit bad about ourselves that maybe we are not in the same point of creativity. Maybe we couldn't think about these ideas ourselves. Maybe we're not that good at editing, et cetera. I feel like you should always be very careful and feel when to stop and follow the creators who you really aspire to be. Instead of being jealous, try to for them and their success. Now another tip is keeping on top on Pinterest and TikTok. I feel like TikTok is the main platform where all the trends emerge, and it's impossible not to see them. It's impossible to miss them, to be honest because they're really fast, they're rapidly changing, but it's also a platform where we can get inspired. I feel like while I don't recommend jumping on that trend train completely 100%, I still would recommend looking at the trends and recreating it in your own style. That helps you to maintain your own authenticity. Same goes with Pinterest. I feel like Pinterest is great for lifestyle pictures inspiration. If you're asked to do any lifestyle picture, Pinterest is just literally a board of ideas of different things you couldn't even think of. Besides that, of course, we have our lovely CHATPT. If we want any ideas, we can also ask it and of course, not follow it 100%, not copy it, 100%. Just to get some inspiration and some creative juices flowing. What I also do to stay on top of this industry is basically when I see a new trend, when I see a new video editing idea, I also try to recreate it myself. This is useful for me at least, and that's worked for me because I try to edit I learn new skills. I try something new, something more creative, something out of my comfort zone, and of course, I improve over time. And if a brand, let's say, reach out and asks you to do a certain trend, you already know how to do it or edit a certain way. You already know how to do this and that. So I feel like experimenting and playing editing is also very important in this field specifically. So, of course, keep experimenting, stay curious, explore everything. Explore even TikTok trend section or the content idea section. Lastly, and most importantly, remember that you need to take breaks. Remember that you need to recharge and come back with a fresh head. Don't forget that, don't overwork yourself because of course, it's going to be harder to come back with very great fresh ideas if you're overworked and burnt. 19. UGC content: Batching tasks: In any other role in UGC content creation, I feel it is also important to batch your tasks as well. And the reason why it is so important is because we want to avoid the burnout. We want to stay creative. We don't want to get overwhelmed and we want to protect ourselves. So batching the tasks always work. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about separating and dedicating the time of the day to one particular task. For example, you dedicate Monday 5:00 P.M. For only sending your collaboration requests, your pictures to XYZ brands. And the next day, let's say you dedicate for filming three D videos for brand X Y and Z as well and the day after you dedicate for editing only. I feel like separating tasks and doing everything in badge helps you to do everything faster and more efficiently. I feel like every single one of us have a different system, perhaps how we do our task, how we complete them, how we track their progress, et cetera. But in my case, I use Notion and I'm going to have a video showcasing how to use notion. What is it used for, et cetera. But it basically helps me to schedule my content for my social media accounts and also track the progress of the task that I have to do that I have to work on to do list and everything else that I have in mind. But it's super individual and you can use any other platform of your choice. Maybe you're already using something that works for you, maybe you want to use I don't Google calendar and that works for you, maybe you're just going to use your notes and that's going to be for you or maybe you're going to remember everything and that's going to work for you. It's very individual, but I think you should consider this aspect beforehand as well. I feel like what also helps me, let's say, answering emails or even creating emails for them brands is having the templates as well. Of course, I'm going to customize it. I'm going to personalize it based to the brand that I'm outreaching to, but having a structure, some structure, some wording helps me save so much time. I would recommend doing it as well. Then when it comes to editing, I also have my own style. I also have my own fonts that I usually use if the brand hasn't asked me to use some specific ones, let's say. I also have my script writing kind of structure, so I always do hook body conclusion that also helps me to stay on top of things. And I also have my favorite hooks that I can use for any industry as well. I'm also going to share them with you. Two. So these very small things when you think about it, helps you to save so much time, and I would recommend considering them before you start and considering any other aspects that could be useful for you to save some time in the long run. 20. Portfolio: How to create one before real-life experience?: Before I start talking about how to create a portfolio, what the portfolio is showing the process of how to do it, et cetera, I want to address a few things. Previously, I don't know if you know or not, but I've created a course focusing on virtual assistance. During that course, of course, we had a portfolio part two, it was a little bit different, but it was still showcasing your work and having other information. Within that portfolio about you as a virtual assistant. The main question that I got after that course was, what do I do if I've never worked with a client before? If I'm just getting started as a virtual assistant. My answer was clear, use mockups. I feel like in UDC creation, it's even easier to use it because you could literally be creating a video about every single item in your house, whether it's a coffee machine or a cream or a water bottle or a glass or I don't know, coffee beans, anything. You have lots of things in your house and you can literally create a single video about each of these items and you can put those videos in your portfolio as well. I understand that we all want real life examples, and we want to say that we worked with very well known brands that we achieved this and that. But in the beginning, of course, you need to have some sort of examples that the brand would see your style and how you're working. But once again, emphasizing on it, it doesn't need to be real life examples. You don't need to have set collaborations with brands before starting as a UDC creators. Start first, film some videos, film some examples, whether it would be, I don't know how to tutorial or whether it would be showcasing products, so let's say, very close up shots of the product or whether it would be your view of the product you've been using, anything like that. So get creative, check the items in your house and see what you would want to create videos about, and also think about your niche, too, because it's always good to have examples that relate to the niche you want to work if, let's say you want those real life examples and if you, let's say, want to work, I don't know, in very specific industry and you need a service, you need to collaborate with somebody, right? First, before you can create that video, you could also outreach to small businesses in your area or around. I don't know, you can reach out to your friends as well if they have any small businesses or any products or services that they offer and offer them your services for free for a while, just to have that experience, just to make some videos about that service. Product and to be able to showcase those examples in your portfolio or media kit as well. 21. How to create a portfolio using Canva: Right now, we're going to chat about one of the most important parts of the scorse which is a portfolio. And more specifically, how to create one. What do we need to include in a portfolio? And we're going to be doing everything in Canva. If you've never heard of Canva before, just wanted to let you know that it is used to easily create visuals such as social media posts, presentations, posters, fliers, logos and branding materials as well as documents and resumes as well. It is super popular because it is super beginner friendly, and it also offers already ready made templates and works directly in the browser. So no advanced design skills are required for you to create something for something that you're creating to look very professional. So when it comes to UGC portfolio, there are two types of portfolios that you could be creating. So one is in a format of a PDF and the other one is in a form of a website. What works for me and what I would recommend creating as a UGC creator is a website, definitely. The reason why is that most of us are working with UGC content in a form of a video, in a form a that means that a PDF format is not going to work for us because our clients are not going to be able to see the video once they open a PDF. However, if you are a UGC creator specializing in written formats, or you are a UTC creator specifically specializing only in the pictures, let's say, format, PDF format could fit you perfectly, and you could be good after creating that. But I think a lot of us want to stick to different formats. And that includes videos too. So I'm going to show you how to create a website using Canva. And I believe a lot of people don't even know that you can create a website and publish it completely free of charge with Canva. The only thing is that the web link is not going to be completely personalized, so you're not going to have your own domain. It's going to be Canvas domain. But since it's completely free of charge, we're forgiving that, and we're definitely not paying attention to that. And of course, also with Canva, if you want, you can create your own website and you can also use your own customized domain. I believe you can purchase one and later on connected to Canvas website, or you would need to purchase one through Canva. I'm not sure about that. I don't remember to be honest, but either way, Canva offers this option, and it's easily available once you are creating a website. So I know that I've been talking for a while, but let's get started, and let me show you how you could do so. So there are lots of different formats that you can choose from, and how to look for some templates is by typing a website over here. As you can see, already quite a few portfolios came out, and of course, some of them are paid and only available with the pro option. And some of them are completely free of charge, like this one, let's say, without a crown. So you can have a look like this. You can also look for a portfolio, right? And then in a category option, just choose website. So then you're going to get all of the portfolio templates in a form of a website. So feel free to explore those. These are amazing already. They look very professional. They're very easy to edit, as you can see. For example, this one, it includes all the information that you may want to use in your UGC portfolio as well, and it's very easy to customize. All you need to do is click on Customize This template, and then you're going to be redirected to a page where you're going to edit everything yourself. I also looked up UGC portfolio as my keyword just to see if anything pops up when I'm looking specifically for UGC, and it does. You can see there are a few content creator portfolios over here, so you can definitely explore those as well because I believe they're going to have a more accurate format and even the information that you may want to include as well. So it would be easier for you to navigate. Of course, you can change everything. You can customize it to your preferred aesthetics, et cetera, but just having that layout to start with really helps. Now, I also wanted to kind of brief you what could be included in the portfolio and what should be included, perhaps. So always in a UGC portfolio, I would like to see an introduction about me section, just basically explaining who you are. What are you doing? What is your niche. Giving that basic information to the brand. It doesn't have to be long, and I wouldn't recommend it to be long. I would say just a few sentences, and we've also seen about me sections in the portfolios over here, too. So as you can see, there are only two, three sentences, and they basically just say the main topic of who you are and what can you offer. Then what I also want to see is the value proposition. So what brand gains by working with you? So in this portfolio as well over here, it says, what do I do? So am I a writer, am I a product endorser, event host, et cetera. What does the brand get from me from working with me? So for you, that would be different type of content, right? What do you actually offer do you offer to make video reels, do you offer to make lifestyle pictures? What do you offer? What does the brand gain? Feel free to also mention something that you've done in the past that worked really well for the brand just to make them trust you a little bit more than examples of content. So that could be some pictures that you took for UGC, some videos that you previously did. As you can see in the portfolio, as well, they have a previous work section over here, basically explains what work they've done. Then as well, I would recommend talking about results in your portfolio as well. So whether it would be some metrics that the brand achieved with your content, some engagement, conversions, some percentages, some numbers that would really make the brand trust you once again. So this portfolio, let's say, has that section as well. Of course, it is in the different field, but we could have something similarly, talking about the achievements of ours from our UDC journey. Then of course, if you work with brands before, I would recommend including them as well, because once again, I'm going to repeat myself for the ten time. It helps the brand to trust you more. So as you can see in this portfolio over here, they've also added the brand partners they worked with. Then it's completely optional, but you can also include some content packages services that you also offer. Let's say, similar to what this portfolio is showing over here. So client can understand what services they can expect from you. They have certain packages. Let's say you do, I don't know, three UDC videos, plus two story type of videos or pictures plus something else. You don't need to disclose your prices at this point. You can, of course, but you can simply also say that you're offering this and these services and for the prices to contact you then of course, if you worked with the brands, once again, including some reviews, including some testimonials is also very beneficial. So as you can see in this portfolio as well, they have some testimonials included, some good reviews, once again, builds trust. And then at the end, all we want to do is give some contact information, so it would be easier to reach out to us. So usually some social media accounts, some maybe either phone number or email address that you have specifically for you, and that would be it. That would be the most important information to include in your portfolio. And of course, you can customize it. You can include more information. You can also include less information if you don't think that's relevant for 22. How to use Canva: So also, let me quickly walk you through the basics of Canva, basically show you where everything is located just in case you haven't worked with Canva before. So once you find the format you want to use, all you will need to do is click on Customized This template. If you want to start from scratch, you can also do it by creating a blank website over here. But let's say we want to use this template over here, we would click simply On Customized This template. You want to simply select a few designs and choose later on. You can, of course, start it as well. Don't forget about that. Once you click on Customize This Template, you're going to be shown the entire website, and you're going to have the tools to customize it over here. So first of all, you want to change the name. Then everything in Comba can be personalized. So if you want to change the font, you can by just simply clicking on the font. Changing it over here, you can change the size, you can change the color. You can change ar everything about the text. Same goes for any other detail on the website that you're currently seeing. Do you want to change the background to be, let's say, white? Do you want to change or delete the initials over here? You can simply delete them like that. If you want to change the image to yours, of course, you can by simply deleting the image and adding the new one from the uploads section. And you can upload any picture from your own phone or your own laptop as well. You can also change the shape of the picture, and you can simply add a different format by deleting this shape and replacing it with another one from the elements section. Let's say this one, just like that. So everything is super customizable. And I'm sure a lot of you worked with Canva before, so you know all the features over here. But just in case you haven't, let me also walk you through all the features over here. So once again, first, we have the design. Just in case you no longer like this one, you can change it to another one from here as well. You can also, the same way search for some keywords over here. You also have the styles option here. Then we have the elements section. So once again, we have the picture frames. We have the different shapes, different figures, buttons, graphics, polls, stickers, pictures, videos, literally everything else, including mockups that you could apply to our website in case we need it. Then we have the text option. So of course, you can delete the text and add a new one from here. You can also personalize this one by just clicking on the text as well. Then you have a pro option, which is the brand option. If you would have Canva Pro option, you could simply add the colors of your brand, add the fonts of your brand, and all the other information over here, so it would be easier to use, and you wouldn't need to switch the screens basically. Then you have the upload section. So once again, as I mentioned, you can simply upload any picture from here. These are already uploaded from my laptop to Canva. And if you want to apply it, you simply just drag it to the photo frame that you have on the screen on the website. Then what do we have? We have the tools option. I don't really use this one, but you can of course, draw in case you need to do so. Then you have the project section in case you want to jump from this project to another one without exiting this screen. And then we also have the apps option. So all the different effects, different AI features that may also be interesting for you to explore. Then we have the magic media, which is also quite new tool, and it helps us to create some media using AI. And lastly, we have the Google Maps option. So most like you're not going to need to do so. But whenever I was creating, let's say, travel guides, I was using this option to pinpoint the exact location that I wanted to talk about. And yeah, what else? As you can see, everything is in one page, right? So if you're wanting to preview it, everything would look like that, right? Everything one page, the brand simply going to need to scroll down. But if, let's say we would want to make the front page and from that front page, have some options over here to about me section, about my pricing, et cetera, I could also do it as well. What I would simply need to do is delete these ones over here and then create a new page over here. So I'm just going to add the exact same design that we had just in different pages. Right now, what we're going to do is also rename the page. So this one would be portfolio, then the other one would be about me. Then the third page would be called let's say, services, and then the fourth one would be called Partners, right? So just for you to imagine how everything would look like, let's go back to preview. And as you can see, I can scroll down because everything else is over here. So instead of scrolling down, the brand could suddenly click on About Me section to learn About you on services to learn about what you can offer, partners, et cetera. So you can also explore this option if you prefer for your portfolio to look like that instead of scrolling down. And whenever you're happy with the website, all you'll need to do is click on publish website. You will be able to edit your website link slightly bit. So it's still going to include M Canva side, but you can personalize this bit. And once you're ready, you simply click on publish and your design is going to be published as you can see, if I'm going to go and view the website, this is what I'm going to be redirected to. So right now my website is live, and I'm going to be able to see all the sections I was walking you through previously. And keep in mind that if you're not happy with something, you can all the time change it. You can go back to Canva, edit your design, and publish the website once again. But I believe just generally Canva is so amazing for doing that for allowing us to create websites completely free of charge. And although the link isn't completely personalized and we don't have our own domain for free, that's still amazing for us to have and be able to create that quickly and for it to look that professional. So definitely, have a look, explore different designs, see what you like, what you don't like. And I'm also going to be providing some examples of a portfolio and some templates as well. So thank you guys for listening and see you in the next 23. Portfolio real life examples: And right now, I also wanted to share with you my portfolio that I have for UGC and content creation as well, both combined, and it's also been created with Canva as I previously showed you. And yeah, I just wanted to show you another real life example just for you to maybe get some inspiration. Or even a better understanding of how a portfolio could look like because, of course, the sky is the limit, and different portfolios can look very different. And then we can personalize them to our own aesthetics, to our own preferences, et cetera. So this is mine. And once you enter the website, the first thing you're going to see is about me section. So here I have just a few sentences about me, what I'm doing. I've been focusing on the henses I've been focusing on and where they can find me online as well. So I have two links to my social media profile linked over here just in case they want to view it. And, of course, I have my own picture over here. If you scroll down, you're going to be seeing all my past projects. Not all just a few of the ones that I like working on. And if they want, they just simply click on a video and they can see the full video over here. Also, if they click on it, they can be redirected to the Tik Tok page of mine to see it over there too. Then if you scroll down further, I also have a section talking about results just to make the brand feel more comfortable of what I could achieve and the fact that know what I'm doing, and I would love to be a part of their campaigns and to help them as well. And then I have the content team section. So the niches that I'm focusing on at the minute in both of my accounts and UGC as well, everything combined. Then I have a section of the brands I worked with a few key statistics, a few numbers that they may find interesting. And I think, you know, at the end, my contact details over here, and that's about it. It's super simple. It's nothing special, to be honest, but I believe it has all the information that the brand would need to get to know me a little bit better. And I have this portfolio also linked on both of my social media accounts. So if a brand wants to collaborate with me, they can simply review it before sending me an email. And I also wanted to share this template with you just in case you want to use it for yourself. So I've deleted all the information about myself, and I basically made it into a template. So I also created a template for UGC Creator about me section. Here it's going to be a picture. It's not showing up as it is completely blank in Canva right now. But then we're going to have the past projects. Once again, as I showed you, you're going to be able to upload some pictures or some videos you've created in the past, or you've created for this portfolio specifically. Then again, the results section, I adjusted it a little bit because mine was focusing more on content creation. This one could be focusing on, let's say, your previous campaigns, if you've been working with other brands, if you achieved any numbers in the past, just basically focusing on results, but if you're completely new in this field and you haven't worked with a single brand, you can also just remove the section or customize it to your preference. Then we have the content teams section where you're going to list all your niches if you want brands you worked with section, so two are missing over here, but it would be here. Once again, if you haven't worked with any brands, you can skip this section, a few key statistics in case you're also created content besides UGC, but you can also simply remove it or you can change it to something like packages, let's say, what you're offering for UGC. And then at the end, the thinking note once again. So everything is going to be available for you. This template is going to be available for you. I'm going to link it in the resources section. And right now, let me just show you how you could access it. So it's going to look like that, right? I Canva. You're going to get a link from over here and I'm going to be setting it up to only viewing. So what you're going to do is get a link. Go ahead, that link. Once you are there, you're going to be prompt to log into your Canva account. And once you've done that, you're going to want to go on the file section and make a copy of it. Once you've done that, that's going to be your website. You will be able to edit everything as you can see. I can edit everything, whereas in the template section, I could only view. So once you've made a copy, you can literally edit everything, customize everything to your preferences. It's a little workaround, but I believe it's very easy to do. And it can help lots of you to create your good looking portfolios in case you want to use this template. Once you are ready, once you've done everything over here, you can preview it first to see how it's going to look, and then you're going to be able to publish it. So once again, you're even going to be able to create your own link or also use a custom domain if you prefer that. Here are the options as well. So hope this helps and see you in the next lesson. 24. Portfolio: Standing out: Now we all understand how many UGC creators out there. It's also important to talk on how you could make yourself stand out from the crowd. The most effective way is, of course, being authentic and understanding that nobody has the exact same skill set as you. If you have a certain skill, for example, you're really good at editing, you're really good at generating new content ideas that nobody you've seen before, you're very good at storytelling or something else. You have this one particular skill, you're going to be successful in this field. I can tell you that. You just need to consider a few other factors alongside to make sure that that happens. So first of all, having a niche and narrowing it down. So working with brands in one particular niche because then you're going to appear as an expert in that field, and you're going to be more reliable. You're going to see more trustable, and your portfolio is also going to have more examples in that particular field, and that's going to, of course, make a brand more comfortable working with you. Other than that, I would recommend focusing on quality and just perfecting your portfolio as well. Portfolio is the first impression a brand gets from you if you don't have a strong social media presence, make sure that you take the time to film those videos, don't rush all the things just to get into this industry because once again, there's a huge competition out there. But if you have certain skills that other people don't have or if you're doing something uniquely and authentically, you're going to be good. Just don't forget to be curious, to experiment to upscale where possible, and to always ask for feedback because feedback is not our enemy, it's our friend, and it helps us to improve in the long term. And lastly, of course, remain super professional and remain consistent, that's also going to help you to be successful in this field, too. So good luck, and let's see each other in the next chapter. 25. Clients: How much UGC creators earn?: Let's talk about the most interesting topic for a lot of us, which is the salary of a UGC creator and how much realistically you could earn from this. I feel like I get so many questions on this topic, and that's why I also prepared some numbers over here. I'm going to go and look back and forth to the camera and to my tablet. But I basically look for the average salaries in the US, I don't know if you remember or not, but I had a previous video talking about pricing, how much you could basically ask for a video or a picture, et cetera, or some sort of UDC content. And I also mentioned that the best paying clients, at least in my case was located in the US, and it makes sense because they are generally just getting higher paying salaries and yeah. That's why the numbers are also from the US just so you can get some sort of image in your head on how much you could ask, how much you could earn in the long term. So I first look at the average full time salary for a UDC content creator mid 2025. It came up to 116,000 a year in dollars. And me living in Spain saw this number and was a little bit mind blown, not going to lie. And that's why I looked into the entry level full time salaries as well just to get a more realistic view into what we could be earning. I've seen the more realistic view, to be honest. Anywhere 24-54 thousand a year, I believe these amounts are more realistic if you're just getting started and if you're taking it seriously and making it a full time career. The reason I think this way is, of course, the brand is going to look into your previous work, and look into your experience. And of course, if you work with other brands well known brands maybe for two or three years, they're going to be willing to pay you a little bit more. Then, of course, if you haven't worked with literally nobody previously, and you're just looking for your first gigs, but once again, sky is the limit, and you can literally earn as much as you want, because it also depends on how much time you're going to dedicate to this. Is it going to be your side hustle? Is it going to be your full time job? Or are you going to start with it as a side hustle and then try to transfer into a full time position? Once again, you are a freelancer. You're going to write your own book and you're going to see how it goes for you. But once again, I wanted to remind of the prices that are common in the US. So also for a video, it's quite common to us between $100 to $100 depending on the campaign. And for a picture, it starts at $50 as well. So that's why I'm saying that focusing on the markets that are higher paying markets is always beneficial for you. It doesn't matter where are you located. If you speak English, you are good to go. Of course, double check with the brand if they're willing to ship to wherever you are located, if they need to ship if that product is physical and not, let's say, an app or something like that. But yes, hope this helps, and let's see each other in the next lesson. 26. Clients: Can UGC become a full time job: Other very commonly asked question is, if you could make a UDC career, your full time career, full time job, kind of. And the short answer, of course, if you dedicate enough time, if you are consistent, if you are persistent, let's not forget that in this field, it's super important. And if you have a solid client base, once you reach out, you're good to go. Remember, there's always some risk because, of course, it's never certain a full time position employed somewhere. However, there are so many benefits that freelancing brings as well. So it is definitely worth it at the end of the day. I feel like that a couple of tips that I would have that could possibly help you to turn it into your full time career is basically focusing on consistency. Showing up every single week, every single week, reaching out to new brands, reaching out to new small businesses and pitching, pitching, pitching and pitching and creating and coming out with new ideas and doing it all over again the next week. And another thing that could help you transition is offering different services at the same time. So maybe you are a UTC creator, but you can also help other brands and let's say, consult on certain subjects, social media. Maybe you can help them brainstorm ideas for content. Maybe you can help them with their scripts, maybe you can help them, I don't know, reaching out to other creators and yeah, kind of combining your services. Besides that, if you're offer it, I would highly recommend content creation as well because it could result into very good partnerships and it could result into more business for UGC as well. Of course, as a content creator, you get paid per view if you have more than 10,000, for example, in TikTok and if you are located in the countries they pay for, and you can also get lots of partnership, meaning the brand going to send you a product. You're going to create a video or a post about it, and you're going to post it on your social media platforms, and you're going to earn a bit from that. You can also become an affiliate, which is also very often forgotten. So once you are creating content, you can also register lots of different brands, lots of even well known brands are doing it, and you can simply register with them and become their affiliate and then promote their products on your social media accounts and also earn an extra from that. You can also create digital products as I'm doing right now, so maybe courses or I don't know, guidelines, guides, tutorials, anything else. So you can build it up and see if that works for you and if the amount at the end of the day is sufficient for. But generally, social media is definitely a go and definitely a career path. And I feel like it is so wanted these days, and you can actually earn a good amount, a good salary, and it's also quite flexible. So that's always nice. 27. Clients: How to get these?: Now let's talk where you could find your first clients and how to get started overall. So there are a few ways that I always recommend when starting UDC. So the first way is the freelancing platforms. We all know that off work is great because you can bid on certain gigs that are already wanted. Then we have fiber where we can upload our gigs and get hired like that. Or we also have people per hour that also could be useful for a UDC creator. Cons of the freelancing platforms, in my opinion is they don't pay as much as clients who you would reach out to or who would reach out to you. The second thing, the competition is insane if I'm being completely honest with you. So it's very hard to get those first clients. And from my experience, I would rather called pitch 100 brands, and that would be easier for me rather than having a gig on one of these freelancing platforms. But of course, everyone's differently, and there are a lot of success stories for those freelancing platforms. So I'm definitely going to recommend giving it a go and seeing how it works for you. Maybe in the long run, it actually works and it's perfect and you enjoy it. Then the second one would be social media presence. So although we don't need to have followers to be UGC creators, having social media presence actually very much helps and brings lots of clients your way. So if possible, if you're not too shy, if you have some ideas, I would highly recommend creating social media accounts, especially on Instagram and TikTok. These are super trendy, these are super pushy and these are very favorable platforms for DC creators specifically. And I feel that these platforms are such a great tool to just market yourself for completely free of charge. The most important tip that actually brought so many collaborations my way is sharing my email address in my bio, and I know that sounds sketchy, and I can guarantee that you're going to receive lots of scammy emails, but it's also going to bring a lot of new brands, smaller brands, especially your way, and they're going to be offering you collaborations if you're going to have a strong social media presence, for sure, because I can guarantee that no brand wants to look through everything, Google your name, last name, or try to figure out what your email address is. They want very quick, very convenient way to contact you. And a lot of brands, for some reason, don't contact you on social media platforms, too. They prefer to do it via email. So 100% worth adding your email to your Mo and once again, I would recommend adding a separate email that you don't use for your personal use, create a new email completely dedicated for UGC, let's say. The third and my favorite way of getting clients is by cold pitching them. So you can coal pitch through social media accounts, you can message the brands and ask if they would be interested collaborating with you. But of course, I would prefer email communication because it usually reaches the right department and the right people easier, because once again, social media accounts are managed by social media coordinators, usually, or even customer support. And they often just mark that message as done or maybe don't refer that message to the responsible people. So it's always easier and better to contact the person who is in charge of those partnerships, who is in charge of marketing or social media in general. Of course, I'm going to provide some templates after this course and show you how you could structure your pitches. But once again, if you can keep it personalized, if you can talk about the brand like you know what they've been doing in the past, is just going to increase your chances of getting hired by them, so don't forget to 28. How to find clients using LinkedIn: So in this lesson, I'm once again going back to LinkedIn, and I'm going to be explaining how to find the clients in LinkedIn, how to outreach to them, and basly how to use this platform in your favor. So once again, I know that I already mentioned that LinkedIn could be a great tool when trying to find clients. And I was briefly also explaining the ways to do it. But in this lesson, I just wanted to have this presentation visual, basically, because I know that we all have different preferences when it comes to learning ways. So I hope that this is going to be useful for some of so if you are very advanced with LinkedIn and you know all the tips and tricks of LinkedIn, maybe you could skip this lesson, but if you haven't used LinkedIn that much in the past, or you're just curious about the ways to do so to find those clients, keep watching. And let's get started. So the first thing that I always recommend taking advantage of is the search bar. So in this search bar, you can search for post. Maybe somebody already posted that they're looking for a virtual assistant to help with their business needs. Um, you could also be looking for particular people or companies. You can also be looking part time or full time employment as a virtual assistant if at this point you prefer working for somebody rather than yourself. So how would you do so? Let's get started from the first example that I mentioned of somebody posting that they're looking for a virtual assistant. So all you would need to do is enter some keywords over here. I would always say something like looking for a virtual assistant. I just click Enter right. And then I would filter the posts. And as you can already see, there's plenty of requests from people, from recruiters, from businesses for virtual assistance. Some of them have already emails attached. Maybe you could send your CV, maybe you could send your portfolio. It also depends on what you're looking for, right? Are you looking for an employment? Are you looking for some gigs because you want to do it as a side hustle, or do you want to build this business for yourself and you're looking for long term clients so I feel like it's always great to explore these posts and see what people are offering because you already know that they're looking and they're interested in finding virtual assistant. Keep in mind that you can also sort this post by the date, by relevance. Also, if you're a new virtual assistant, feel free to also make a post and say that I am a virtual assistant. I offer these and the services. This is the link to my portfolio. This is I don't know my email address, if you're interested to reach out to. So you could also be proactive and also put yourself out there and say that you are a person who could help with that, right? So feel free not only to text these people and say that you're offering your services, but also to make a post yourself because once again, if someone is going to look up for a virtual assistant, and they may also be looking at the post, and they may find you a little bit easier. Another thing I just wanted to mention is that competition can be high. So I would always recommend making your pitches very personalized and taking your time to draft it, but also not too much because you kind of want to reply as soon as possible as soon as the post is out there is live, so you can get a better chance of being recruited, being hired, that brings me to another tip if you're starting virtual assistance business, keep in mind, once again, that competition is going to be high, but you have to stay competitive and you have to keep checking these posts and always looking for new clients if you're not busy enough and keeping on top of things. And I would highly recommend doing it consistently to just get that client base. Now, for those who haven't used LinkedIn, you may be wondering, how do I tax that person? What do I do? So the first thing I would recommend doing is also leaving a comment, saying that, Hi, my name is D and D. I offer D and D services. I would be interested in helping you. I also DM for further information. Blah, blah. That indicates to a person that you are interested and you could be a potential candidate. Of course, this particular post has a link where you would be applying, right? But let's pretend that this link is not here, and you would need to reach out to the person directly. So if you would go on their profile, you could then click on more. And you could send a message. Keep in mind that with LinkedIn, a simple LinkedIn, you may not be able to do so. It's only for the profiles which have a premium option. My premium option actually expired, so I can't show you how exactly is it going to look, but you would basically look up the person and you would then be redirected to make a message to them. You can try LinkedIn Premium. It's great to have, especially when you're looking for clients and you're planning to outreach quite a lot. It's super useful. And they also offer sometimes to try it for free or sometimes they offer 50% off, so just double check that. Now I understand that not everybody is going to have the finances to buy all of the subscriptions, all the premium plans on all. So there is another way to reach out to that person, and that way is, of course, free of charge. So you could click on more and you could click on Connect button. With the Connect button, you would send an invitation to this person to connect with them. It kind of is similar to I would say, Facebook friends, if it makes sense for anybody who hasn't used LinkedIn in the past. But yeah, basically, you make a connection with person and you can then message them and all and you can see what they posted and so on and so on. So as you can see, I clicked on Connect, and I was given an option to either send an invitation without a note or add a note. So in this case, I would be adding a note. Keep in mind, once again, invitations with notes are limited on LinkedIn, and as you can see, you only get five per month. But I would say it's still better than nothing, right? So you still have to keep it very short and very brief. You can only use up to 200 characters, but you could still be saying, Hi, I'm a virtual assistant. I'm super interested in the opportunity that you posted. If you manage to pop in the link there to your portfolio or contact information, that's great. You could also be asking for their email address or for them to message you depends on you completely, but make use of those 200 characters and make it as personalized as possible, as well. If you can think of anything, I just popped together a little note that you could be using as kind of a template. It says hi name. I saw you're looking for a VA. I'm a virtual assistant with experience in and then mention your niche. I'd love to connect and see if I could support your business. So that still kind of explains what's the purpose of your connection and how you could be helping them, and it still fits in that 200 character frame as well. So once you drafted your message just click SN, and the invitation is going to be sent to them. Now I also wanted to show you how it would look like on the receiver's end, but I can find an example where somebody used that note field as well. But yeah, basically, if you would be on the client's receiving end, you would see it under my network, and let's go back to where I was under the people section. And basically, under the name and their description, there would be a little message over here saying what we just said. So you could quickly just click Accept and you would see their little message in your messaging bar over here, and you could just start talking a little bit now the second way to find those clients would be through virtual assistant groups on LinkedIn, or you could also be targeting certain markets. So maybe your market is small business entrepreneurs, and you want to also get in those groups on LinkedIn, so you can see who is in the group, who is posting a lot, and you could be outreaching to them and offering them your services as well. So once again, just some keyword over here in the sarge bar. So let's say, um, Entrepreneurs in Spain. As you can see, I'm already given group options, but if you don't see group options in front of you, just click here, and you're going to be shown all the groups that there are on LinkedIn. Now you may want to enter the group, which is most relevant to you. Let's say this one, you would just click Join. And you can already see people posting about their businesses, maybe sharing all the beneficial information, all the support, motivation, and also, you could be seeing who is in this group, who are posting. Maybe they mentioned something that they're struggling to deal with tasks and they don't know where to start and that they're overwhelmed. So you could be outreaching to these people and saying, Hey, I can give you a hand. And you could be using the same tactics that I showed you before either to outreach them to them using the private message or just make that connection as well. Some groups also allow you to make a post kind of promoting your business, saying that I'm a virtual assistant, and I would love to work with some of you guys, so if you're interested, give me a shout. But keep in mind that not every group allows it. So before making that pose, check the group's rules and see if you can do it or not so you don't get kicked out. But yeah, groups are amazing, and I would recommend putting yourself out there in all the relevant groups. You can also feel free to go to virtual assistance group. Um, it's a great way to learn from other virtual assistants, see what's working, what's not not working with other virtual assistant because maybe once again, they're working in a niche and maybe they're not your direct competition, and you knowing them could also be beneficial to you because they could refer clients who are searching for a virtual assistant to do the tasks that are out of that other virtual assistance scope. It makes sense, keep in mind that if you already know the person's full name and you know the company that they're working for, you can make use of my other tutorial step by step kind of lesson where I explain how you could retrieve their email address. So you could even get more chance of getting hired because you could be outreaching them by email as well. Um, so yeah, just keep that in mind. Besides these two options, you can also be looking for virtual assistance jobs, part time, full time, just to get some experience, just to get comfortable with everything before you start working for yourself. That's completely understandable, and that's completely fine, as well. So you can make use of LinkedIn for those. Jobs as well. You can look up over here. You can also just go to the job section and just filter by city, by, I don't know, country. You can even look for opportunities worldwide. And there's so many opportunities that are worldwide and are remote. So you don't necessarily need to stick to your country in office work. You can always do some remote work as well. I would always still recommend keeping it to I would say at least your region because it's always a little bit more tricky to get hired by a client who is in a different time zone. So you either need to be willing to work different hours according to that client, or you may be better to work in your region or with countries which have the same time zone as you do. Once again, it all depends on the services that you offer as well, because you may not need to be on the same time zone to do the task for that client. If you're working on a project, let's say, where you don't need to double check with the client five times a day, you may be okay working on different time zones and still looking for clients in different time zones as well. So keep that in mind. So going back, I'm going to say that I'm sticking to May. And then I'm going to change the settings a little bit. So you can just enter the job you're interested in over here. So you're only shown the roles that are relevant to you. You can also filter the date posted, and I would also recommend filling in this field. So if you're wanting a remote role, you can pop this in here as well. And as you can see, you already have some opportunities available in the same region. Of course, you need to check what languages they require, what skills are they require ring. Also, it would be useful for these positions to create your CV as well, not only your portfolio, maybe, so you can showcase that you're really a strong candidate here, as well. So now we went through three ways on how we could be looking and finding these clients on LinkedIn. I'm just thinking, What did I forget to mention? I mean, one other option, I would say, if you already know a person's full name, you could also search that person or just pop in something like business owner, small business, and filter people. That way you may also find some profiles that could match your target market as well. Other thing could be looking up companies. So maybe you already know some companies, maybe you're buying from some companies, some small businesses who may be interested in your services as well. If you are a small business owner, if you are just virtual assistant who is just starting, I would also only recommend targeting smaller businesses as well and not jumping to bigger companies, too, because usually bigger companies have all of the resources to hire a full time employee, whereas small businesses would benefit from somebody who charges per hour, who has more flexible packages as well. So it always works a little bit better with small businesses, at least in my opinion. Just to show you, once again, an example, I just search for some keywords, and I filtered it by people. And you can see I'm seeing some small business owners in their titles, and of course, I can also filter it by country, so my results could be more accurate and more of my target market, right? But this way is also great to just send them connection request or if they have their email address to also email them, or once again message them as well if you have the premium account. Now also keep in mind that if you click on somebody's profile, sometimes they have their email address in the contact information field. So it's always also worded to check here and see if you can find their email directly from LinkedIn. But if not, once again, either connection request either message or you could try to retrieve their email by knowing just their full name and the company they're working for. And now, if I'm looking up for a certain business, this is not a great example because they're quite big, but I can't think of a small business right now. I would just look up their name, right, the company's name. I would click to their profile, and I could message them from here. Quite a few companies on LinkedIn have an allow to message the brands without having a premium account, so keep that in mind as well. You could select the topic and write your message. It also allows quite a bit of character, 750. Compared to our connection request, notice this is quite an upgrade. So it could also be useful to just message the brands directly that you're aware so I believe I mentioned everything what I wanted to in this lesson. If you have questions, once again, make use of the Q&A section or just mess it me, and I hope you enjoyed it. See you in the next one. 29. How to find email address: So now you may be very excited to start pitching and offering your services to your potential clients. But before you start doing it, I want to show you how you could be finding the email addresses of the people you want to reach out to. I know that previously I mentioned that you could be extracting the email addresses out of the social media accounts such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. It's not always the case. Not everybody have their contact details attached to their accounts, so it's important to know other ways on how you could be finding their email addresses, do not get discouraged, as well. So for all of these methods, all you need to do is know their full name and perhaps the company they're working for. Knowing this information can be extremely, extremely effective. So the first way is a very, very basic way. We probably all done that in the past, is searching and Googling somebody by their first and last name and just adding email in the search bar. It can work for people who are bigger ones, who are working for bigger companies, who are more well known because their email address may be in the registry, their email address may be in any article, any other website, so it's always a good thing to check that first. If you can't find an email address this way, don't worry. There are a couple of other ways that I want to show you. So the second one is this one is basically generating all the possible email addresses for that particular client knowing only their first name, last name, and the domain, which could be the company's name, which could be Gmail, outlook, hotmail, Yahoo, I don't know, anything else, right, that you could think of. So let me just enter an example so you can see how it works as well. As you can see, I entered my own example, I entered my own full name, and I'm going to look for any gmail.com accounts. If you don't know a client, you're most likely going to enter more domains, and you're going to list all the possibilities. So the system, the website can generate you more options. Once you've entered all the details, just click on Generate and you're gonna be given all of these options of the email addresses. So what do you do now? You, first of all, just copy them. Once you copy them, go to your regular email and try to compose an email. In the tool box, enter all the emails. You were given all the options, right. And from there, you can see that some of them already have some pictures attached to the email address. So most likely these email addresses are valid, and you could start reaching out to them. But of course, you could also reach out all of these emails and try your luck. But by seeing the picture, it kind of guarantees you that you're going to be reaching out to the person you actually want to reach out and they they are using this account and that this account is active. So you're most likely going to hear back. If that didn't work for you, we have the third option, which is hunter dot IO. It helps you to find the email address by the name of the employee of the person you want to reach out to or by the company as well. So if you don't know the name of the particular person you want to reach out, you can just enter the company's name. And this example, I'm just going to use Tik Tok, and I'm going to be given a bunch of people that I could perhaps reach out to at a later time, so I could be given their full names and their occupations as well. This way is extremely useful whenever you don't know the person to reach out to or who even works for this company, right? Now, you could also use the fine email by name option. So I'm going to use the first name that popped up when I was looking by company. And I'm going to enter tiktok.com into the company's field. And as you can see, the email pops up straight away. It says that it is 99% valid, so most likely it's going to reach the recipient you want your email to reach. What I love about this website that it also provides a percentage. So you kind of know if your email is going to reach somebody you want to reach or not even. And once again, I love the fact that you only need to know the name of a person and the company they're working for because if I, let's say, enter Meta, I'm also going to be given these options to choose from, right? So you don't even need to know their full domain to start looking. You could simply enter their name, and you're most likely going to be given their full domain over here. 30. How to find clients using Collabstr: Now, I'm also excited to talk about another platform that you may find useful, especially for freelancing. And it is very similar to fiber, but it's also a little bit different because it's mostly focusing on influencers and content creators just generally. So first of all, what is this platform? So, as I mentioned before, it's an influencer marketplace that brings brands together with creators and helps the brands to hire content creators and UGC makers across different platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more. How it works, you basically see it in front of you on the screen. You can filter the creators based on the niche, location, gender, price, and even more precise filter. And once again, I mentioned that it's very similar to fiber, meaning that these different creators have their own gigs, and they have their own listings, the prices, et cetera. And once again, if I'm interested, let's say, in this creator, I'm just going to go to their gig. I'm going to read more about their packages, what they're offering, and if I'm happy with it. I'm going to go ahead and purchase their services. As somebody who worked with social media, I find this tool amazing because you can simply go ahead and look at the profile of the creator, look at their Instagram, look at their portfolio, look at their social media accounts. You have all the reviews over here as well. You ally have everything you want. And it just simplifies the creators search. So I feel like being on platforms like this, I'm also include a few others is super useful just to have a profile and just be active there because I feel like it's easier to get discovered by brands like that. So once again, how it works is very easy. I've already had my profile done. But basically, you would have to create it from scratch, so you would have to create a title for yourself. So for me, lifestyle, travel, beauty, UDC, and content creator, upload some pictures, mention your location, mention the followers that you have. Then you're also going to have to do a quick introduction, just summarizing who you are, what you do, where you're located, what can you offer to the brand, et cetera. Of course, you're also going to have to make some packages. So for me, I have it for Tik Tok, and I have a different for UGC because, yeah, it depends on what the brand actually wants from me. Do they want me to share it on my profile so or do they want to work solely on UGC? And then I had my portfolio as well, so just uploaded some videos that I've done in the past, where I work with different brands, just so the brand that may want to work with me has an impression of what I can do, what I worked with in the past and just to get a general feel of my content. So once again, once you're done with it, you're good to go. If you get any orders, they're going to appear over here. You can also share your profile. So let's say you're also doing social media and creating your own profiles on Instagram and TikTok. You could also have a link to your account over here just in case some brand discovers you through, let's say, TikTok and they want to purchase your services, and they find it more convenient to do it through here. So I hope you found it helpful and can't wait to see you in the next lesson. 31. UGC marketplaces: Securing clients when just starting UGC can be quite tricky, as I already mentioned probably before, but there are certain platforms that you can register with to increase your chances of getting hired by the brand. So what I'm going to do now is just show you around these websites, explain where they operate, and what they do. So you can have a look and maybe register with them for the possible gig. So the first one that we have is called Aspire, which is an influencer, creator marketing platform. It helps brands to discover influencers, run campaigns, and it is a global platform. So it's not only limited to the US, but it also supports creators and brands around the world, as well. Then we have Incense, which is a platform for generating UGC creator content. As a brand, you can brief creators, manage campaigns, get content for ads. And it is also a global brand with presence in North America, which is US, Canada, UK, Germany, Spain, et cetera. Third website is called Tri, which is a marketplace and platform that connects brands with creators. Brands create briefs, creators apply or submit content. The brand picks the content. It is also used for campaign management, performance measurements, et cetera, and it is global issh, I would say, but it operates more in countries like Australia where it was founded UK parts of Europe, US and Canada. Then we have a platform called Popular Pace, which is an influencer content creator marketing platform, which helps the brands to get UGC or influencer content matched with creators, et cetera. It is typically a global platform. However, many creators and brands are based in the US. Then there's another platform called Employee, which is an UGC creator content platform. It offers different user generated content, and it also offers different tools and editing options as well. So it is global. It is operating in many multiple countries, and it is also operating in Europe, which is great and not as common, to be honest. Then we have below, which is once again, UGC creator video ad platform. It tells brands to produce test and scale video ads, which are created by real creators. It provides briefs. It matches creators, and it provides the tools to optimize the performance as well. And once again, it is an international brand, and they're working with creators from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, et cetera. And the last platform that I'm going to show you guys right now is called Affluence, which is all in influencer and affiliate marketing platform. It helps with influencer discovery, campaign and affiliate tracking. It helps to manage relationships, paying creators, measuring return on investment. And it is also a worldwide global brand, which is working with ecommerce brands in many different regions. So just to summarize everything I mentioned, these platforms connect basically the brand with creators for influencer marketing and user generated content, aspire and affluence are full service influencer platforms for discovery, campaign management, and tracking results, as well. While incense Try popular pace, influi and below are focusing more on the UGC. So brands post brief, creators submit photos or videos, and brands pay for the content they want to use in ads or social media. And if you have no idea which one to choose, I would recommend Googling each of them and seeing which one operates the most in your location. I would also recommend registering with a few platforms at the same time. So you can apply for those gigs straightaway, and you can find more campaigns for your specific location because although all of these platforms are global, some of them operate, let's say, in the US more. And with that being said, you're going to find lots of different gigs for the US specifically and not for other countries. So yeah, just have a look at your location, have a look at the brands that are operating in your location and see which ones you want to register with. So good luck and see you in the next lesson. 32. How to find clients using Fiverr: I was explaining how to get clients. One of the ways was using the freelancing platforms that we have out there. And the ones that I've mentioned was fiber, at work, people per hour. So I just wanted to take this time and explain you how one of these platforms work. And they need to show you how everything functions over here. So you can get familiar with the platform before you start selling over here. So first of all, if you don't know what Fiber is, Fiber is an online marketplace where freelancers offer services like design, writing, video editing, marketing, programming, et cetera, to the clients worldwide. And the good thing for the people who are looking to purchase those services is that the prices are really affordable usually. But that's also why I am not the biggest fan of these freelancing platforms, to be honest. And that's why I prefer to look for clients by outreaching to them directly via email, phone, or social media accounts. And the reason why the prices are usually more affordable is because there's way more competition out here. And of course, there's way more creators who could do the same things that you're doing just for a little bit lower rate. And I feel like if you want to be successful in these platforms, you also need to keep your rates very competitive as well. So if you want to start very strong, I wouldn't recommend using these freelancing platforms. But if you want to start slowly, get experience, et cetera, I will definitely recommend giving it a go. So how it works is basically you make a listing of the service that you want to provide, and a person who's looking for it is going to be purchasing your services, and then you're going to get a notification that somebody bought your services, and then you're going to bring the final product to them, handle any revisions that you had to handle, you promise to handle in the listing. And yeah, that's going to be it. At the end, you're going to get the payout. And yeah, that's basically how it works. Very easy, very convenient. Now, what do you need to do to get started. So everything is super easy, self explanatory. All you need to do is create your fiber account. Then registering, you're going to need to fill in some details, your name. The languages that you speak that may be relevant if you're creating UGC and you can create UGC in different languages, too. Where are you based about your section. So once again, just who you are, what can you deliver, et cetera, very clear, very short. Nobody wants to read a very long description with lots of different details. Everybody wants to be direct and straight to the point, usually, because our attention spans are also quite low right now, quite short. So yeah, you're going to have about section, then you can add some videos to your portfolio as well. You can add it as different projects. I have it added in literally one link over here. So yeah, basically, once the client clicks on it, they can see the projects that you worked on beforehand and just get a feel of your style and how you edit and what can they expect? Then you can also add an intro video. You can also add information about your education, certifications, skills and experience. Then what we have next are these important bits for us and our sales. So we have the dashboard. We have my business section where you're going to get orders where you're going to upload the new gigs, then you have growth and marketing. So all the bits that are quite relevant to the benefits and analytics as well. So how many orders you got and any other important bits. What you're going to be using mostly is literally this section. I believe so. So the orders and the gigs, keep in mind that before purchasing your product, a person can reach out to you via message and just ask if you're specializing in something. So for example, I got asked if I would be willing to work on the sends project before the client purchased my service. So if somebody reaches out to you, you're going to see the messages over here. And, of course, keep in mind that a lot of scammers also reach out to you, so don't fall into it. Don't provide any personal details. Don't provide the email address because lots of scammers and really popular scam is to ask for the email address of yours and for them to say that they cannot purchase the service because they're missing your email address, which isn't true. So yeah, right now, let me show you how you could create a gig as well. So in the gig section, you're going to have any active gigs, any pending approval gigs before you agree to do the order, to go ahead with the order. Then you also have some drafts, then you're going to have some revision required. Orders, et cetera. If you want to add the gig, all you're going to need to do is click on this button over here, and then fiber is really good at explaining everything literally step by step and basically saying what to do next. So first of all, in the gig title, you're going to need to have some keywords of what are you offering. So I will create, let's say, I usC video for this and that. It has to be only a few words, has to be quite direct and has to be really CO friendly, I would say. Then you're going to fill in all the tags and categories in the pricing section, depending on the category that you chose, you're going to have the option to create different packages, or you're going to have an option to let's say, create a basic package with less revisions than regular package with more revisions. The different packages can also depend on revisions, let's say, on the time of the video. So let's say the basic is 15 seconds, then the normal regular one is 30 seconds, and then the premium is up to 60 seconds. Then you're just going to basically explain what it includes, does it include ithing? Is it drawbridge, et cetera. Then in the description, once again, you're going to explain what the client is going to get from you. In the requirements section, you're going to have an option to create some questions for the client. So whenever they're purchasing, they will be asked those several questions before they can purchase your service. So I usually ask the main ones of what video do you want me to create? What type, do you have anything in mind? You have any videos in mind that worked for you that you're looking for, for me to get some impression. Do you want to use any, I don't know, phones or logos? Is it a physical product? Are you going to send it to me, basically, things like that? And of course, you can clarify these things later on as well by messaging the client directly, but I prefer to do it beforehand because we need to deliver in a certain time frame, and I would prefer to have everything ready before. So, yeah. You enter the requirements, then you're going to have the gallery section over here. So you're going to have to upload some pictures. You will be prompt to upload a video and also a document if you'd like, it's completely optional. So in a document, you can also have some more information of what the client can expect and all the different types of the videos you could do, possibly or any other information that you find relevant to the listing. Then the picture speaks for itself, just maybe of something you've created in the past. Then for the video, you can only upload one video. So I would recommend having it and take advantage of it, and I would recommend having it of yourself, just speaking to the camera and explaining who you are, what you do, what you're willing to do for this listing, for this service, et cetera, providing more information and just making the brand or the person feel more comfortable with you once again. Another thing, I'm sure that you've seen lots of different fiber listings that had several videos including, and you may be asking, Why can I only upload one video when other people can upload 1020 videos? So the thing is that with fiber, you can only upload one up to two videos. I feel like some people we're saying that they can upload too as well. But yeah, you can upload up to one, two, and then whenever you're getting orders from different clients, you will be completing them, and the client is going to have an option to share what you delivered with other people. So if they click on Share, the video is going to appear in your listing, and you're going to end up with several videos in your listing. So, yeah, that's about it. And then the last step is to publish it. So once it's published, it's live, and then you're going to be able to get your orders. So have a look at Five, have a look if you would want to use it or not and get familiar with it. And if you have any questions, once again, just let me know via message or Q&A section and see you in the next. 33. Project management with Notion: As you can see in front of you, we have Notion website open, and if you don't know what Notion is and what it is used for, this lesson is for you because I'm going to walk you through the main questions of what Notion is, what it's used for. What can you do with it basically and who benefits from this platform the most. And basically just going to show you how to get started. So first of all, Notion is all in one workplace for organizing information, managing tasks, and collaborating with others. It combines features from no taking ups, project management tools, databases into one single platform. Everything in Notion is built inside pages, as you can see on the left side of the page in the private section, and every single page can hold either text, images, checklists, calendars or structured databases. Now, what can you do with it? So I already mentioned a few things that you can do with it, but you can also create do list, build project trackers, store meeting notes, plan content, manage databases, or even set up a knowledge base for your team, let's say. You can also view the same information in different formats, let's say, a table, board calendar timeline and filter and sort data to focus basically on what matters most. This platform, at least in my opinion, reminds me Asana and Trello, because those are both project management tools or also confluence because it has the knowledge base that you can share with the team. So I feel like it's kind of holding everything that you could need in one place. And there are a lot of people who could benefit from it, but I see lots of students, writers, content creators benefiting from it. Project managers, freelancers, virtual assistants, startup owners, small business owners is just a great platform to learn how to use and organize everything in. So now, after we learn a little bit more about Notion, what it's used for, what it is basically and who benefits from it most, right now, let's get to the practical part, and let me show you a few functions that you have with Notion and basically show you the basics of Notion and how to use this platform. So before we start, with a free version, I actually don't remember if you only have the first welcome to Notion tab available and everything else blank because this is a paid version. So you may not have these options over here like project planner, job application tracker, personal website, travel planner, et cetera, over here. But I'm just going to assume that you don't have it, and I'm going to show you what you can do with Notion, basically from scratch, right? So let's get started. As I said previously, in Notion, you have everything in pages. So what you want to do first, if you want to get started is create a new page. You can do it by clicking on the pencil icon, and here you have it, your first page. So of course, you have the option to customize it based on your preferences. So either you want to add any type of background, the cover, if you want to add an icon, you can. Then you have the title over here. What you write over here is going to reflect here as well. So right now, let's say we're going to create a to do list underneath it. A options appear when you start by typing a slash. And as you can see, we have a suggested options, which are the ones that we're going to use in this case, a to do list, right. But besides that, we also have other options such as headings, bulleted list, numbered list, toggle list, pages, quotes, translation even options, images, video, literally endless options with Notion, you can do anything you want. You have so many different options to choose from. So I would really recommend having a moment and exploring all the options and all the things that you could be doing with Notion because once again, they're endless and it's up to your creativity. It's up to your preferences. It can be very simple, right, but it can also be something very complex and nice looking, right? So if I want to do a to do list, this is it. I'm going to write a few things here. For example, I need to email my employee. I need to send an email, right. Once I'm done with this list, I can come back to this page and just mark it as done. Then we can also go ahead and create a new page saying, notes on the important project and keep this page basically just for the notes that I want to keep for this project, right? And you can just keep creating these pages, anything that you need. You can also create your own dashboard. I'm sure that you've seen it maybe on Instagram or Tik Tok even. A lot of creators have it, and they really customize it. Very lovely. Looks very neat, looks very unique. And yeah, it's very, very useful to have. So basically, I could just type Gabby's dashboard right over here. Now what we want to do a little bit differently this time. So instead of just typing a slash, we're going to type Ed because we want to redirect and go from this page to let's say my do list or to my notes, right? So I'm just going to enter Ed and I can link it to another page. So what happens in this case, once I have it all linked, it could be a full list, right, but it could be kind of like a table of contents in some sense, and if I would just click on that, it would redirect me to the page of my to do list. So once again, this is a super, super, super useful function as well, because you have everything in one page in one dashboard. You don't need to scroll through all of your pages to find something that you need. Once again, it's kind of like a table of content in a book. Now let's move on to something else that is also very cool about Notion is creating a database. So once again, I'm going to create a new page. And right now, if you just type database, you have these options. I'm just going to create it as a full page. And here's what you have in front of you. It could work for different purposes. Let's say you need to track the deadlines of different projects, or you need to track even your habits of the day or anything else. So if you would click here, it would become a page within this page. So let's say I'm working on one project and I want to have it tracked over here. So let's say I'm just going to type project X. And over here, you can add a property. It can be a status. Let's say I haven't started it in progress done, you can also edit to different statuses as well. You can add another property that could be something like a date, right? So I need to complete this project by this and this date. And you can add all these different properties as many as you want. And basically, it opens a page within a page, meaning that if you click on the actual project, you can also make comments. You can basically add anything else that you need to add about that project about that task. So it is also super super needed and super useful tool to have, especially in virtual assistance or in content creation. Two fields that I'm heavily involved in. And one more thing that I'm really, really excited to show you is that you can see the same database in different formats. So not only as a table, but also, let's say, as a board over here, right, very again similar to Asana and Trello if you work with them previously, or you can also see it, let's say, in a calendar, right? So you can see by which day do I need to complete what and it's just once again, such a useful tool and thing to know. So I think this is all I wanted to show you guys today. Of course, the options, as I said, 1 million times before, are endless, and you can explore all the options. You can have the templates over here and just create new windows based on that helps a lot, right? But yeah, just take your time exploring it, take your time playing with it before. And once you get used to it, you're going to see how useful this stool is. If you have any questions about it, just let me know in a Q&A section or message me, and I'll be happy to answer 34. How to create an invoice: So whenever you're going to start working with UGC, you're going to have to create some invoices for your future clients, most likely, and I wanted to show you a tool that helps me to do so very quickly and very easily. So it is called invoicgenerator.com, and it is clearly the first one I believe that pops up in Google. If you just type Invoice Generator, and it is very easy to use, and it is completely free of charge as well. So whenever you are on the web page, you're going to want to scroll down, and you're going to see all the little sections where you could fill in all the necessary information. So the first thing is, if you have a brand logo, you would add it here, then you would have to fill in your own details over here, so your full name, your business address, any other information that may need to be in the invoice as well. Then you're also going to want to fill in this section which is Bill two and going to fill it in with the details of your clients. So the company name, the address, phone number, anything else that is also client related. This one is completely optional. It's usually used for the physical products. But since we're creating an invoice for some services, we can simply skip it. Then you're going to have the number of the invoice, so the first one is fine, the date of the invoice. So on which day are you creating the invoice, then the payment terms as well over here. So when does it need to be paid? Do you have any other details that are related to the payment that need to be followed, et cetera, the due date over here as well. The PO number, if you need to include it, then we have the description. So most likely you're just going to list something as UGC video, UGC picture, et cetera. You're going to add the quantity and the rate. And it's going to calculate everything for yourself. You're not going to need to calculate and the total. And right now we have dollars over here, but you can also change the currency to your preferred one as well. In the note section, once again, anything that is relevant that we haven't covered in the previous sections to the terms if there's more details to it, right? And then once again, it's going to calculate that subtotal. You can also add the taxes. You can also add special discounts. You have the option for shipping, but since once again, we're creating this invoice for a service we most likely not going to use this section, then we're going to have the total and the amount paid. So if the client already paid the amount, you would simply input the exact same amount as we had over here, right? The total, and the balance would be, of course, zero. Customer haven't paid their invoice, of course, you would simply leave it as a zero over here. Now, let me put some details and show you how everything is going to look at the end. So as you can see, I popped some basic information right now, and once you're happy with all the information that you entered, all you need to do is click on Download and you're going to have your invoice ready. And this is how it's going to look. It looks very professional. It took me larly 1 minute to do, and 100% recommend using the stall in your future as well.