UNEMPLOYED TO CONTENT CREATOR/MODEL IN 3 MONTHS

Hi zesties 🍋

A little while back, I shared about how my job offer got rescinded and it eventually left me jobless and unemployed.

Thankfully, I’ve managed to find some freelance work and used this time to bolster my content creation journey. I thought I might share about my experiences for those who are thinking of becoming a creator themselves :)

1. 𝓘 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝔂 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓳𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓮𝔂 𝓲𝓷 𝓜𝓪𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓻

It’s only been about 3 months since I started my content creation journey. Initially, I just started off on Lemon8 writing about all the lobangs and my own personal experiences when I travelled. I love writing a lot, and felt heartened when I saw there were about 10-20K views for majority of my posts (like thank you for reading!! 🥹)

I chanced a post on UGC thanks to @ave🦋 and joined the community as a UGC creator without much knowledge of what it was. I decided to explore all niches such as skincare, lifestyle, fitness, beauty etc. (I don’t limit myself to any niche)

I eventually got sponsored and paid collabs through the community, and did outbounds and received inbounds. I’d say inbounds which came in were mainly through Lemon8! It’s so important to keep posting content and just putting yourself out there. I also leveraged onto TikTok and Instagram, especially TikTok, because most brands are there if you want to get noticed.

It was quite fun and I was shocked at how much PR I was getting at first. I didn’t need to be an influencer to receive PR. But overtime, I realised it’s not really PR per se because in exchange, I would have to do a video or a post in return for receiving the sponsored item.

I now prioritise paid collaborations over sponsored collaborations due to the time and effort spent to shoot for a campaign.

There’s a lot of work behind the scenes where you have to do scripting, filming b-rolls, voiceovers etc. Hence, I only think it’s fair that creators are properly remunerated for their time and effort spent in creating a good piece of content.

2. 𝓑𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪 𝓶𝓸𝓭𝓮𝓵 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓫𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓼𝓱𝓸𝓹 𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓼

This was also where I decided on my personal branding — midsize creator. I got offered a paid role as a content model for Supergurl, and subsequently I got more confident to try out for other brands as well who were looking for try-on/live models.

I’m currently modelling for Supergurl, 3inute, The Mad Theory, Eltwine and I have a collab with Love and Bravery.

A few people on Lemon8 asked me how I got those gigs. It’s quite simple, you can drop them an email or DM to ask if they are looking for models. For me, I was fortunate enough that the brands I did outbounds for mostly responded to me.

Perhaps as well there isn’t much competition in terms of UK12 models, so it was also easier for me to get replies!

I was super thick skinned and just emailed a lot of the brands. It’s okay if you don’t get a lot of responses but it’s more important to take the initiative to try. Because if you don’t, you’ll never know.

3. 𝓖𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓪𝓵𝓼

Testimonials are SO SO important! They make a huge difference. I would use the testimonials I get from my clients as evidence that I’m able to create high-quality work. If you’re not getting paid for the work you’re doing, I think at the very least you should try get a testimonial from the client that you’ve provided the work for.

Most importantly, it’s a testament of who I am as a person, and how I am as a creator. It’s a great way for new and prospective clients to understand my work ethics, how I can empathise with their brand and to ensure that I deliver their intended objectives in the content piece.

𝕺𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘:

It’s only been 3 months for me and I’m enjoying the process as a content creator. There are days where I have really bad imposter syndrome. I doubt myself and my capabilities, question if I’m doing this right, afraid of judgement and so on.

But when I look back at the work I’ve done — the positive testimonials, the high number of views from my videos on TikTok and Instagram, modelling for blogshop brands, new inbounds etc.

A smol creator like me with below 2K followers on each platform was able to work with big brands and only been in it for 3 months.. I think I should not undermine my efforts and credit myself for doing a pretty decent job so far 😅

It is a reminder to be gentle to myself and know that giving my best and my best is definitely showing up, one way or another.

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