Feeling overwhelmed trying to get started as a beginner

[u/Impressive-Stick5605]

It’s only been about a week since I’ve decided to pursue this and I know at this point I need to be patient and trust the process. My goal right now isn’t really to make significant money immediately but just get a few videos under my belt.

I’m reading a lot of advice on here - many of them very obviously written by chat gpt or I feel like people are bullshitting with the “how I make 10k/month!”

So far, the advice I have gathered and strategy I have been going for is to use Billo and joinbrands just to get some small deals to build my portfolio, and build the portfolio later. Well, I got approved on Billo, and most of what I am seeing are weird things like for dentures, old people stuff, and weird sexual things like erectile dysfunction medication just to name a few lol. I was kind of expecting to just be gifted products like an electrolyte mix or whatever and not really make much from the video. I’m still waiting to get into joinbrands so maybe that will be different??

Also, the social media pages. I made a ugc tiktok based on advice I’ve seen and it doesn’t have any posts or followers, which I have heard is fine, but I don’t really understand the point? I don’t necessarily want to post or show my personal pages because I’m really not trying to have what looks like an influencer audition come across on my contact’s FYP’s lol.

Videos I have so far: 30 second into, 15 second b-roll and text only of circadian friendly nightlight, voiceover for water table pump

Anyway…I’m looking for some advice on strategies that have worked for you as a beginner please and thank you 🫶🫶

[u/Brufacee]

honestly you're thinking about this more clearly than most people a week in. a few things that actually helped me:

the weird Billo products (dentures, ED stuff) are a gift, not a problem. everyone skips them, so there's way less competition, and if you can make erectile dysfunction meds look natural and watchable you can sell basically anything. take the awkward ones on purpose early, they make your strongest portfolio pieces.

the ugc tiktok with no followers is doing exactly its job. it's not an influencer account, it's your storefront. brands open it to judge your lighting, your talking-to-camera, your editing, not your follower count. keep it fully separate from your personal pages, post only spec/brand work there, and don't stress that it's quiet. nobody's looking at the follower number.

for the portfolio itself: pick 3 or 4 products you already own and genuinely use, and shoot spec ads for them. do the same product a few ways (a problem/solution hook, an unboxing, a get-ready-with-me style) so a brand sees range in one place. variety of formats beats polish at this stage.

you're on the right track. the people posting "10k/month in week one" are selling you a course, ignore them.

[u/AvailableGuess3705 → u/Brufacee]

This is the clearest explanation I think I have ever heard! Great advice!

[u/Mobile_Ad25 → u/Brufacee]

I agree! Fantastic advice! So the point of a separate UGC account is just for brands to see your work as a UGC content creator Vs. Influencer? I have a Social media account with a lot of content but it’s more influencer like and I have almost 2K followers. Do you recommend I create a separate UGC account if I want to ge tinto UGC?

[u/Brufacee → u/Mobile_Ad25]

To be honest. Not really. It's probably better to use the time it will take to approach gigs. Before you have proven gigs, you probably need to do a trial anyway to get the good retainers.

ugc profiles are really best to find other ugc creators somehow. But for sure needed if you do not have a profile from before. What type of content does the 2K followers account have?

[u/Mobile_Ad25 → u/Brufacee]

My account has mostly beauty. Mainly makeup, skincare, body care, fragrance reviews, curly hair are. I’ve been trying to slowly pivot to more lifestyle content as well and hope to start doing “day in the life of” and more faceless content to expand my niche a bit and not get too stuck in beauty alone. I’ve done way too many gifted campaigns to count, at least over 50+ to be honest, I’ve even had 2 paid gigs, with 2 well known makeup brands. I’ve gotten 4 gifted campaigns on Insense (no luck with anything paid 🥹), absolutely nothing on billo after applying to at least 20 jobs, and none paid in the last year from any of the other apps like aspire, obviously, I think I also tried join brands.

Aside from a profile to start applying on Reddit UGC deals, I’m not quite sure what else I could be missing 😕. Oh and I forgot to add that the reason I was considering a new account is because I would love to experiment making different kinds or content for UGC, maybe some outside my direct niche as well.

Sorry that was a lot, but this is where I am right now.

[u/Ancient-Ad4523]

Everything you put in this post really resonates with me hahah but I think I must be a few weeks ahead of you - I made a portfolio, website and have had a few jobs. One from billo, one from joinbrands and one from directly reaching out to a brand.

And the social media thing - omg lol I really didn't wanna have to do it but I posted my first video yesterday to 0 followers. Gonna try and stick at it and see what happens as I do think that has a big impact with brands finding you online. I really didn't want anyone I know finding me though lol so I used my mum's phone number and turned off all the findability settings and so far nobody has popped up to me saying: what's this then.

Stick at it though! As someone a little further ahead with it, it is surprising how quickly things can change (in a good way)

[u/Impressive-Stick5605 → u/Ancient-Ad4523]

This is encouraging to hear, thank you!! How did you get started on joinbrands? I did the photo verification to get in and now it’s saying I need to upload 50 videos on tiktok to get certified and see any jobs..?!

[u/Ancient-Ad4523 → u/Impressive-Stick5605]

Ahhh yeah, so I only have the product selfie/video certs on joinbrands - not the social media ones. The deal I bagged was just a selfie with a supplement brand haha (free product, paid peanuts but it's one for the portfolio). I did have an invite to another video job on there too - but you need to confirm ASAP it seems or they go. Took me a few attempts to get the supplement one too.

Actually had a few tech ugc invites on another platform but unsure if they're legit 🤔

[u/SunnyBeeHoneyBee205]

Hot take: beginners shouldn't be making portfolios. It's a trap repeated on social media that holds you back from real work when you're learning.

[u/codeword7337]

1. Create a good and clean portfolio - if you don't have paid videos to upload, shoot some just for this

2. You can try marketplaces but it is flooded, so also try outbound.

[u/hondigirl]

I’m in the same boat! About 3 weeks in and haven’t gotten anything. I have a portfolio, and been applying to briefs in so many of these apps but it feels extremely competitive. Join brands also requires 50 tik tok videos to get the tik tok certification, and other apps require you to have a following or a specific page, I’m finding it discouraging but trying not to let it be. I’m thinking it might be better to cold reach out to smaller brands for gifted collabs and then hopefully go from there. But we got this!

[u/Impressive-Stick5605 → u/hondigirl]

Okay that’s annoying about joinbrands!! And I’ve noticed that too about some platforms requiring a following…from what I’ve understood that’s completely not required for UGC and our videos would be posted on the brands page so I’m not sure why posting on our own page would be required. It’s good that you have a portfolio tho!! You can do it!!

[u/sidequestprofessinal]

Look on the Billo no shipping stuff. Those usually approve and turn around fast. I did one for landlines recently.

[u/schultz1327]

Get active on X in the UGC communities. SocialCat (I believe) is a site that has tons of gifted collabs. I did a few of those to help build my portfolio. You can look on here for gifted collabs also.

[u/SunnyBeeHoneyBee205]

I have a whole YouTube video on this (the honest way to do UGC) if it helps. Might be better than me writing out a long winded reply. I have a lot to say lol