Latest / Influencer Confidential / How to Get Signed & Scale as a Creator | Talent Manager Ali Grant Explains

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How to Get Signed & Scale as a Creator | Talent Manager Ali Grant Explains · Influencer Confidential

0:00
Speaker 1: You guys are in for such a special treat because
0:03
Speaker 1: our next guest is an og in the influencer space
0:07
Speaker 1: and in the creator space. Especially if you are curious
0:11
Speaker 1: about getting a manager, getting represented by talent doing brand campaigns,
0:16
Speaker 1: Ali Grant is your go to. So Ali Grant is
0:19
Speaker 1: the co CEO and CMO of the Digital Department. They
0:22
Speaker 1: are a full three sixty influencer agency, and what's so
0:26
Speaker 1: cool about them is that they do talent management, brand strategy,
0:30
Speaker 1: and campaign execution.
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Speaker 2: So think about it.
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Speaker 1: They actually have creators over two hundred and fifty that
0:36
Speaker 1: they represent, but they're also working with some of the
0:39
Speaker 1: world's best brands to build and execute influencer campaign So
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Speaker 1: I'm going to dig deep with Ali. I'm going to
0:45
Speaker 1: be able to ask your talent management questions, especially because
0:48
Speaker 1: I know so many of you want to get representation,
0:50
Speaker 1: and then we're also going to talk to her about
0:52
Speaker 1: brands and campaigns and what brands look for. She is
0:55
Speaker 1: super unique because she's not just the talent side negotiating,
0:59
Speaker 1: she's also on the brand side. And I think you
1:01
Speaker 1: guys are going to learn so much from today's episode.
1:05
Speaker 1: You've ever wondered what do talent managers do, how do
1:08
Speaker 1: I get one? What are brands thinking about influencer marketing?
1:13
Speaker 1: How to position yourself for bigger and better opportunities? This
1:16
Speaker 1: is going to be such a valuable conversation and I
1:18
Speaker 1: am so excited for y'all to meet Ali Grant. All right, well, welcome, Ali.
1:22
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to have you here on today's episode
1:25
Speaker 1: over at Influencer Confidential. You're an OG in the space.
1:29
Speaker 1: You have so much knowledge to share and I'm so
1:31
Speaker 1: excited for our community to get to know you and
1:33
Speaker 1: also just see all the magic that you've whipped up.
1:36
Speaker 2: So welcome. Yeah, I'm so excited to be here.
1:38
Speaker 3: I haven't done a podcast in a while, like definitely
1:40
Speaker 3: have not done one since after maternity leave.
1:43
Speaker 2: So okay, we get to be a referr.
1:46
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, we get to bring you back into
1:50
Speaker 1: the into the latters. No, I'm excited, but I know
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Speaker 1: so many creators like and when I say OG, like
1:57
Speaker 1: you've been in this space and you've touched it in
1:59
Speaker 1: so many Like you've touched the space, like you've been
2:01
Speaker 1: brand side, you're like agency side, you had your own
2:04
Speaker 1: company for people that are like just getting to know
2:07
Speaker 1: you and like maybe listening in and are learning about
2:10
Speaker 1: you today, Like can you talk to us a little
2:12
Speaker 1: bit about like just like your overall experience in the
2:14
Speaker 1: influencer world and the creator world, because you were, like
2:17
Speaker 1: I say, og been doing this forever, So I love that.
2:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, since about like twenty thirteen, which is like a
2:24
Speaker 3: long time ago. Yeah, I mean it's like it's changed
2:27
Speaker 3: quite a bit since then. I started in the industry
2:31
Speaker 3: more on like the brand side, so working with content
2:33
Speaker 3: creators and like gifting them and getting them to post
2:37
Speaker 3: when a lot of it was done on blogs and websites,
2:40
Speaker 3: and then that kind of took us into social media
2:43
Speaker 3: platforms obviously, starting with like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and then
2:47
Speaker 3: that was just like a huge beast. It was like
2:50
Speaker 3: a snowball that kept moving and kept growing. And I
2:55
Speaker 3: think I really started in the industry at a really
2:58
Speaker 3: good time, Like it was just it's kind of the
3:00
Speaker 3: wild wild West. I mean it still is today, but
3:03
Speaker 3: it was just very foreign for so mini brands and
3:07
Speaker 3: not understanding like how to really get into influencer marketing.
3:11
Speaker 3: So it was just a really good time to start
3:13
Speaker 3: a business in the space. And I was super young
3:16
Speaker 3: at the time, like freshly out of college. But that
3:19
Speaker 3: worked because, like I was, I was the consumer. I
3:23
Speaker 3: was the person who like consumed content from these you know,
3:26
Speaker 3: bloggers and influencers, and like I understood the space more
3:29
Speaker 3: than someone who had ten to fifteen years of marketing experience.
3:33
Speaker 3: So I feel like I grew up in the influencer
3:36
Speaker 3: industry and creator economy, like you know, it has grown
3:40
Speaker 3: with me, and looking back at it today in twenty
3:44
Speaker 3: twenty six, like the difference, I mean, it is so
3:47
Speaker 3: wildly different. Like I don't think I could have ever
3:50
Speaker 3: imagined that this industry would be so big today and
3:53
Speaker 3: that there would be so much competition and so much
3:56
Speaker 3: content creators. Like it's just so booming, and there's so
3:59
Speaker 3: much to do in it, right, Like you can be
4:02
Speaker 3: someone like me who's behind the scenes. You can be,
4:04
Speaker 3: you know, a content creator you get there's just I mean,
4:07
Speaker 3: this guy's the limit. So I just find it to
4:09
Speaker 3: be such an exciting space and it continues to excite me.
4:13
Speaker 1: I love that you mentioned too, the idea of like
4:16
Speaker 1: the space that you can be because sometimes people be like, oh,
4:18
Speaker 1: I want to be an influencer, and they're like, wait
4:20
Speaker 1: a second, I have to post every day, Like what
4:21
Speaker 1: a nightmare? And they're like, well, I really love like
4:24
Speaker 1: this piece, so let me try something else in it,
4:27
Speaker 1: you know, maybe figuring out like your own footing. So
4:29
Speaker 1: I really love that you mentioned that there is so
4:31
Speaker 1: much opportunity, especially for those listening in, Like you think
4:34
Speaker 1: you want to be forward facing and on camera, but
4:36
Speaker 1: maybe there is opportunity to touch the space in a
4:39
Speaker 1: different way.
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Speaker 2: So I think that's super cool.
4:41
Speaker 1: When did you kind of get more into the talent
4:44
Speaker 1: management side of things? Like when did that kind of happen?
4:46
Speaker 1: Because don't you guys like represent you know over like
4:49
Speaker 1: two hundred something now creators, So like, holy moly, guacamole,
4:53
Speaker 1: Like how did that happen?
4:54
Speaker 2: Yes?
4:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, So that kind of evolved with me and the company,
4:59
Speaker 3: so essentially building relationships with content creators, having a handful
5:03
Speaker 3: of friends that were starting to get into it. They
5:07
Speaker 3: kept coming to me with questions. They were like, you know, hey,
5:10
Speaker 3: so and so brand say Mabeleen reached out to me
5:13
Speaker 3: and wants me to do this blog post and Instagram
5:16
Speaker 3: how much should I charge? So basically had some friends
5:19
Speaker 3: that were doing it kept asking me questions about it.
5:22
Speaker 3: I was consulting for them for free, and I literally
5:25
Speaker 3: I think I was on a flight to Chicago for
5:27
Speaker 3: some like job that we were working on on the
5:29
Speaker 3: influencer social media side, and I was like, I'm going
5:31
Speaker 3: to put a business plan together to do the talent side.
5:34
Speaker 3: There was maybe like a handful of agencies, you know,
5:39
Speaker 3: kind of doing this. Some of the big agencies like
5:42
Speaker 3: the UTAs and cias were starting to obviously do it too,
5:46
Speaker 3: and I just felt like there was a really really
5:47
Speaker 3: big potential and I was like, influencer marketing is like
5:50
Speaker 3: the next thing, Like this is going to be just
5:52
Speaker 3: as big as like publicity and PR with traditional media editors,
5:56
Speaker 3: and I just saw a really big opportunity. So just
5:59
Speaker 3: started signing a handful of clients slowly and just built
6:02
Speaker 3: that roster, got into like a great friend group that
6:06
Speaker 3: kept preferring me clients, and it just continued to build.
6:09
Speaker 3: And now today that is about eighty percent of our business.
6:13
Speaker 3: So we are mostly a talent management company, have almost
6:16
Speaker 3: four hundred content creators that we manage. We have a
6:19
Speaker 3: team of eighty plus employees, so there's been a lot
6:23
Speaker 3: of growth over the past decade.
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Speaker 1: Amazing, amazing, amazing, and like you said, your younger twenty
6:28
Speaker 1: thirteen self is like, you know, think of like where
6:31
Speaker 1: you are now.
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Speaker 2: That's just wild. No, I couldn't even imagine.
6:34
Speaker 3: I think one of the first like experiences I had
6:37
Speaker 3: in the creator economy where I was like whoa, I
6:39
Speaker 3: went to a conference called Beauty Con and I was
6:43
Speaker 3: just seeing all these young girls like lining up to
6:47
Speaker 3: see a neat content creators and YouTubers, and I was
6:50
Speaker 3: just like, this is wild. This is the new celebrity.
6:54
Speaker 3: Like there is no other way to explain this. And
6:57
Speaker 3: it really has become that. And you know, young gen
7:00
Speaker 3: z like content creators, influencers are their celebrities. You know,
7:04
Speaker 3: a lot of the like traditional entertainment celebrities are not
7:07
Speaker 3: as interesting to them anymore.
7:08
Speaker 2: So it truly has become that.
7:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I co sign that even just
7:13
Speaker 1: like who I consume right versus like traditional like you know,
7:17
Speaker 1: just even our kids, like we would get the.
7:18
Speaker 2: Tabloids in this and like that's just a different world.
7:22
Speaker 1: So I want to ask you, like about the talent
7:25
Speaker 1: management piece, particularly because a lot of people listening in,
7:29
Speaker 1: you know, they have that as maybe a goal or
7:32
Speaker 1: a dream or something like, oh, I want to be
7:34
Speaker 1: represented I want management, and you coming from this side,
7:39
Speaker 1: you know, maybe you could share some insight, like what
7:41
Speaker 1: do you guys look for when you are thinking of
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Speaker 1: signing someone on or bringing someone that you would want
7:46
Speaker 1: to represent on. I think that would be really helpful
7:49
Speaker 1: for the people that are Again, a lot of our
7:52
Speaker 1: influencers are doing this. They're working full time, they're making
7:55
Speaker 1: six figures in brand deals, and now they want to
7:58
Speaker 1: take it to that next level. So what do you
8:01
Speaker 1: words of wisdom do you have for people who are
8:03
Speaker 1: looking to kind of get signed.
8:04
Speaker 2: What do you look for? Yeah, it's a great question.
8:06
Speaker 3: I feel like most people probably think we're looking for
8:09
Speaker 3: a following number, and that is actually it's important, but
8:13
Speaker 3: not the most important thing. You've had micro creators make
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Speaker 3: more money than macro creators on our roster, so I
8:21
Speaker 3: would say following number is not the biggest indicator of
8:24
Speaker 3: someone who's going to be successful, especially with a management team.
8:27
Speaker 3: So really, what we look for, first of all, you
8:30
Speaker 3: must be nice and good to work with this industry
8:35
Speaker 3: is it may seem big, but it is small and
8:37
Speaker 3: everyone talks, so we're looking for good and nice people
8:40
Speaker 3: to represent. It is such a close relationship, like you're texting,
8:44
Speaker 3: you're talking all the time, Like it is very intimate.
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Speaker 2: So that's important.
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Speaker 3: I really like to see that someone has a vision
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Speaker 3: for themselves, like they have goals and they have things
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Speaker 3: they want to achieve.
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Speaker 2: That is so important.
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Speaker 3: So you know, maybe they have a plan for themselves
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Speaker 3: like I want to write a book, or I want
9:01
Speaker 3: to get my YouTube subscribers to a million, or just
9:04
Speaker 3: something that shows that they're really invested in this and
9:07
Speaker 3: they have goals that they want to attain and they
9:09
Speaker 3: need a team to like help them. Like that's great,
9:11
Speaker 3: that's where we can come in and help them meet
9:14
Speaker 3: those goals.
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Speaker 2: It's hard for.
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Speaker 3: Us as someone's like, hey, I just want to make
9:17
Speaker 3: money on social media, Like that's not that interesting to me,
9:20
Speaker 3: Like everyone wants to make money on social media. Like
9:23
Speaker 3: what do you want to do that makes you different
9:25
Speaker 3: in this space and how can we help you achieve that?
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Speaker 3: You know, engagement is important, like really showcasing that they
9:31
Speaker 3: have a community that cares about the things they post about.
9:35
Speaker 3: And you know, the way we look at that often
9:37
Speaker 3: is you know engagement share like comments and things like
9:40
Speaker 3: that on content reels, et cetera. Story views, link clicks
9:44
Speaker 3: is a really important data piece. If you are a
9:48
Speaker 3: content creator that wants to work with brands, having strong
9:50
Speaker 3: link clicks is important and you can do that through
9:53
Speaker 3: sharing affiliate or you know, just sharing content frequently with links.
9:58
Speaker 2: So looking at that.
10:00
Speaker 3: We like to look at what like revenue you've done,
10:02
Speaker 3: Like who have you worked with, what brands are reaching
10:04
Speaker 3: out to you, what projects and collaborations have you done
10:07
Speaker 3: in the past, and like do we feel like we
10:09
Speaker 3: can build upon that, you know, like do we feel like, okay,
10:11
Speaker 3: you're undercharging we can really help you get more money here,
10:15
Speaker 3: or you worked with brand X, we feel like you
10:17
Speaker 3: can also you know, work with brand X, Y and Z.
10:21
Speaker 2: So kind of looking at that.
10:22
Speaker 3: For our agency and team and our talent managers are
10:26
Speaker 3: looking to represent new creators. We definitely have a revenue threshold,
10:30
Speaker 3: but we are flexible with that. We like to see
10:33
Speaker 3: someone making at least one hundred thousand dollars on their own.
10:36
Speaker 1: That's the number I told I have said on you know,
10:40
Speaker 1: very boldly that I would take to represent Like I'm like,
10:43
Speaker 1: I wouldn't personally because I am asked all the time,
10:46
Speaker 1: and I'm just like, it wouldn't even be worth it
10:48
Speaker 1: for us truly if you weren't at that level. And
10:51
Speaker 1: I don't say that to be it's not a mean thing.
10:53
Speaker 1: It's just think about it right, Like a manager, it's
10:56
Speaker 1: like a lot of it is a commission based job.
10:58
Speaker 1: They're going to want to see that there is revenue coming.
11:01
Speaker 1: So I think that's an important thing to mention. So
11:03
Speaker 1: thank you for being so transparent around that and not
11:06
Speaker 1: skirting it and just being like they're are revenue, you know,
11:09
Speaker 1: and that's when you maybe know you're ready to jump in.
11:11
Speaker 1: So for the creator who is hitting those numbers, they're
11:14
Speaker 1: making one hundred thousand dollars plus a year in brand partnerships.
11:18
Speaker 1: When a manager does kind of like onboard, and let's
11:21
Speaker 1: just say you're ready to take that next step with
11:23
Speaker 1: talent management, what typically like what pieces of the business
11:28
Speaker 1: should that creator kind of expect the manager to overtake.
11:31
Speaker 1: So I'll give you an example. If a girl is
11:34
Speaker 1: already doing brand deals, but maybe her you know, affiliate
11:37
Speaker 1: business is not really big yet. Do you technically see
11:40
Speaker 1: like our managers involved in strategy, are they like, oh,
11:44
Speaker 1: we need to grow your LTK sales or we need
11:46
Speaker 1: to grow your Amazon storefront? Like are they involved in
11:50
Speaker 1: monetization strategy or is it just like transactional we're going
11:54
Speaker 1: and getting you a partnership, or are you guys kind
11:57
Speaker 1: of involved in over and helping this person think bigger
11:59
Speaker 1: of about their business too.
12:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean every company works differently. I can only
12:03
Speaker 3: speak to the digital department, but we are three sixty
12:06
Speaker 3: in our approach. So we are trying to grow that
12:10
Speaker 3: pizza pie and make it massive. So that involves every
12:14
Speaker 3: piece of your business as it relates to Yes, you're digital,
12:17
Speaker 3: but also off platform too, So that could be helping
12:21
Speaker 3: you launch a brand or a product or you know,
12:24
Speaker 3: a different platform like a podcast, whatever it might be,
12:27
Speaker 3: so helping with that part of your business as well
12:29
Speaker 3: as things like affiliate. We have an entire team that
12:32
Speaker 3: is dedicated to affiliate strategy. So the more making the
12:35
Speaker 3: more money you're making on affiliate, you know, the more
12:38
Speaker 3: opportunity for brand partnerships one offs. So I think that's
12:42
Speaker 3: a really important piece and it goes back to also
12:45
Speaker 3: like growing your link click. So we really think of
12:47
Speaker 3: it holistically and it's really important that we are part
12:50
Speaker 3: of every piece of your business. We say, like signing
12:52
Speaker 3: with us, like we are providing you essentially an assistant
12:55
Speaker 3: and a talent, a coordinator who's scheduling and doing all
12:58
Speaker 3: of your calendaring and your project management. You have a
13:01
Speaker 3: manager that's thinking through your whole entire business. You have
13:04
Speaker 3: myself and our other CEO like looking at your business
13:07
Speaker 3: as well, an affiliate team. You have legal, you have lawyers,
13:12
Speaker 3: even accounting team, Like you should be focused on content
13:15
Speaker 3: creation and creating content and like thinking about your goals
13:19
Speaker 3: because we're helping you with every aspect of your business.
13:22
Speaker 1: I love that you mentioned this legal piece because I
13:25
Speaker 1: think that's a question people ask like, Okay, well if
13:27
Speaker 1: I have this, you know my management they're helping me,
13:30
Speaker 1: Like is there someone in the department that can also
13:33
Speaker 1: review the contract or is that an outside expense? Like
13:36
Speaker 1: so technically with the digital department, you guys offer or
13:39
Speaker 1: you have those sort of solutions, whether they're built in
13:42
Speaker 1: or whatever however that may be.
13:44
Speaker 2: But that's that's a current offering. That's so interesting. Yeah.
13:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean a lot of other companies I hear
13:49
Speaker 3: like the manager will just be like redlining and doing
13:52
Speaker 3: the contracts themselves, which I feel like is often the case. However,
13:56
Speaker 3: we have invested in entire legal department. So we have
14:00
Speaker 3: about three team members in there that are just focused
14:03
Speaker 3: on redlining contracts and that allows our easy manager to
14:07
Speaker 3: find more opportunities and not be like drowning in redlining contracts.
14:11
Speaker 2: And also, you know, if you don't.
14:12
Speaker 3: Have a legal degree, you really shouldn't be redlining contracts.
14:16
Speaker 2: I appreciate that.
14:17
Speaker 1: And I don't know how much you know about us,
14:19
Speaker 1: but we started off similarly like brand side, putting you know,
14:21
Speaker 1: campaigns together, working on the agency side, and then how
14:26
Speaker 1: we would give a lot of free advice too, but
14:28
Speaker 1: we actually want the course route, Like we started developing
14:31
Speaker 1: educational programs so far, you know, memberships and things of
14:34
Speaker 1: that nature, being like, okay, well I'm literally the one
14:37
Speaker 1: you're negotiating again, so I'm gonna put these into you know,
14:40
Speaker 1: teachable things. And I think, what's so interesting when we
14:43
Speaker 1: talk about like just redlining and the amount of time
14:45
Speaker 1: that takes. Like we, funny enough, are also doing brand partnerships,
14:49
Speaker 1: which is so like weird and like I don't know inception,
14:54
Speaker 1: Like I'm like, I teach brand partnerships, but I'm doing one.
14:56
Speaker 1: It's just like a whole because that's the world we live,
14:58
Speaker 1: and like I'm sure you probably we're doing brand deals, right,
15:01
Speaker 1: so I am yeah, yeah, which is wild right, But
15:04
Speaker 1: the redlining, the time it takes just to go through
15:07
Speaker 1: the contract is so laborous. Like my business partner was like,
15:11
Speaker 1: we just we just signed a partnership now, and she's like,
15:13
Speaker 1: we probably already spent eight hours on this and we
15:16
Speaker 1: haven't even gone into production. Like that's why we just
15:18
Speaker 1: have to charge more because of the time that creators
15:21
Speaker 1: don't even realize. And I love that you're saying that
15:24
Speaker 1: also allows you, the manager on the account, to not
15:27
Speaker 1: be in the weeds. But you know, kind of giving
15:29
Speaker 1: that to legal Speaking of redlining and negotiating, you must
15:33
Speaker 1: be a pro at this point. So any sort of
15:37
Speaker 1: things for the creators listening in, you know, maybe any
15:41
Speaker 1: thing around negotiating, is it common practice? Like should creators
15:45
Speaker 1: kind of expect that going into the conversation, Should they
15:49
Speaker 1: have buffers like talk to us a little bit about
15:51
Speaker 1: the negotiation piece that you see any strategies or thoughts
15:55
Speaker 1: around that. And then also like maybe things that you
15:58
Speaker 1: have seen in contracts that you're just like absolutely not
16:01
Speaker 1: see you never I'm walking away.
16:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's definitely a lot of that the negotiation piece.
16:07
Speaker 3: I mean, that's a huge part of what we do
16:10
Speaker 3: day in and day out. And I think once you
16:12
Speaker 3: form these relationships with these brands and agencies that have
16:16
Speaker 3: these opportunities for your talent, you learn to know how
16:20
Speaker 3: they like to work, and you also learn, Okay, the
16:23
Speaker 3: offer they're bringing me really is firm and final, and
16:25
Speaker 3: I'm not getting much more out of it, but I
16:27
Speaker 3: always try.
16:28
Speaker 2: I always try at least once to get a little.
16:30
Speaker 3: Bit more, or if I can't get more money, like
16:33
Speaker 3: can we adjust the statement of work? Like can we
16:36
Speaker 3: do less for the same amount of money?
16:38
Speaker 2: You know, that's still a win to me.
16:40
Speaker 3: But I always say there is room for negotiation, like
16:43
Speaker 3: never take the first offer, always try and get more,
16:46
Speaker 3: always trying to adjust it a little bit. And in
16:49
Speaker 3: terms of contracts, like I said, we have a legal
16:52
Speaker 3: team that's looking at ours. However, these these contracts are
16:55
Speaker 3: not the most like difficult ones to understand. They're pretty base,
17:00
Speaker 3: Like the clauses are pretty simple. There's a lot of
17:03
Speaker 3: things like usage, which is like how they're using the content,
17:07
Speaker 3: you're going to have your deliverables. You know, there's a
17:09
Speaker 3: handful of other things that are some legal jargon, they
17:12
Speaker 3: are not so complicated. So I think really red flags
17:16
Speaker 3: I've seen before is the deliverables are more than what
17:20
Speaker 3: we discussed over email, So like, always be checking that
17:23
Speaker 3: because that is like the sneakiest thing I've ever heard
17:26
Speaker 3: or scene.
17:26
Speaker 2: As well as usage.
17:28
Speaker 3: You know, you don't talk about usage being you know,
17:31
Speaker 3: in perpetuity, and they've added that in there, So that
17:34
Speaker 3: is something that I find really sneaky too. So you
17:37
Speaker 3: definitely want to read a contract all the way through.
17:40
Speaker 3: Don't want to sign something without reading it and realizing
17:43
Speaker 3: you're you're stuck to whatever it might be that they
17:46
Speaker 3: snuck in there. So I highly suggest reading all the
17:49
Speaker 3: way through.
17:49
Speaker 1: So you mentioned the little nasty P word perpetuity, and yeah,
17:54
Speaker 1: sometimes people will have like a really hard stance on
17:57
Speaker 1: this or like if it's in there, we're not doing it.
18:00
Speaker 1: And then sometimes you know, creators will be like, well,
18:02
Speaker 1: there's a price for everything, like if you're willing to
18:04
Speaker 1: pay me, you know, I'm willing to do it. Yeah,
18:07
Speaker 1: do you have like an opinion on perpetuity in a contract,
18:12
Speaker 1: Like are you going to be one that's like it's
18:14
Speaker 1: a hard no for you? Is there a gray is
18:17
Speaker 1: there a pace that can be paid for it. Any
18:19
Speaker 1: kind of thoughts around this controversial word.
18:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we obviously always try and avoid it,
18:24
Speaker 3: Like any usage of our talents likeness is valuable and
18:28
Speaker 3: worth something, so it is always something we're negotiating out.
18:32
Speaker 3: I think it's very rare that we'd ever signed something
18:35
Speaker 3: like that. But if you really take a step back
18:38
Speaker 3: and think about that, you're working with some brand and
18:41
Speaker 3: they're asking for a perpetuity, Why in the world would
18:44
Speaker 3: they want to use a piece of social content in perpetuity? Like,
18:48
Speaker 3: the whole thing about social media is that it's like
18:51
Speaker 3: in the now and relevant in the time. So if
18:54
Speaker 3: you create a piece of content for them, there's no
18:56
Speaker 3: way they're using that in ten years or even one year,
18:59
Speaker 3: because this is no longer relevant. So I find that
19:02
Speaker 3: clause in there pretty silly. I think a lot of
19:05
Speaker 3: the times they put that in there just for their
19:06
Speaker 3: own safeguards for like internal presentations or things like that,
19:11
Speaker 3: so they just don't, you know, get in trouble for it.
19:13
Speaker 3: But my recommendation would be to always try and get
19:16
Speaker 3: it out, negotiate it out.
19:18
Speaker 2: I love that.
19:18
Speaker 1: I agree totally aligned there. So I think this has
19:21
Speaker 1: been really great to kind of see a little bit
19:24
Speaker 1: the back end of where managers are involved, things that
19:27
Speaker 1: make you want to sign a creator, and also in
19:30
Speaker 1: terms of just overall negotiations and rates.
19:32
Speaker 2: And all of that.
19:34
Speaker 1: One of the things that I see a lot in
19:36
Speaker 1: our community is this you mentioned usage, but a lot
19:39
Speaker 1: more creators are getting higher paid partnerships because of usage.
19:43
Speaker 1: So they're like, you know, maybe this time three years
19:46
Speaker 1: ago it was more sponsored posts or like just deliverables.
19:49
Speaker 1: Now they're like, oh, yeah, I'm making my money because
19:52
Speaker 1: this has a three month ad usage for paid ads,
19:55
Speaker 1: or I'm making my money on whitelisting. You know, they're
19:58
Speaker 1: like really leaning in and do you see that on
20:01
Speaker 1: your side that rates are going up because of usage.
20:05
Speaker 1: Maybe creators and managers are getting a little bit more
20:08
Speaker 1: you know, nimble and notch letting it that slide, but
20:11
Speaker 1: actively like charging for it in terms of how much
20:15
Speaker 1: they can make. Like, our partnership's getting bigger because now
20:17
Speaker 1: we're being smarter about how much we charge for usage.
20:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think usage is a huge piece,
20:22
Speaker 3: especially as organic social reach just becomes lower and lower,
20:26
Speaker 3: Like it's hard to create an organic piece of content
20:30
Speaker 3: as an advertisement.
20:31
Speaker 2: And for it to perform well.
20:33
Speaker 3: So brands have become smarter and more savvy and they
20:36
Speaker 3: understand that boosting is a requirement and so therefore that's
20:40
Speaker 3: an opportunity for you to up charge. The more eyes
20:43
Speaker 3: and use of your likeness is an opportunity to make more.
20:47
Speaker 3: So definitely be charging for that. And I think we're
20:50
Speaker 3: only going to be seeing more and more of that.
20:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, agreed. I know that the dream for a
20:56
Speaker 1: lot of the creators in our community is retainer based
21:00
Speaker 1: work and longer term partnerships. Like you're like, you don't
21:03
Speaker 1: want the one night stand, right, you want the three
21:06
Speaker 1: month six month Like you're like, well, looking for that
21:08
Speaker 1: yearly ambassadorship as someone who is you know, talent, So
21:13
Speaker 1: in the industry from the talent side, are you seeing
21:16
Speaker 1: more brands wanting to do longer term partnerships?
21:20
Speaker 2: Is this a pipe dream? And what do you see?
21:22
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm reporting from like as an anker,
21:24
Speaker 1: I'm like, what are you seeing on the inside alley,
21:26
Speaker 1: but like truly like what are you seeing?
21:29
Speaker 2: Because that's what we want? We want long term. We
21:31
Speaker 2: don't want one offs. You know what's happening?
21:34
Speaker 3: I know And Unfortunately, I'm seeing a huge shift moving
21:38
Speaker 3: away from like ambassador programs. I think as we evolve
21:42
Speaker 3: in the influencer industry and more and more content creators
21:46
Speaker 3: are in it, like brands are wanting to spread their.
21:49
Speaker 2: Dollar a little bit more, you know.
21:51
Speaker 3: I think a lot of times ambassadorships were utilized so
21:55
Speaker 3: the consumer was like, uh, this is a really organic partnership.
21:58
Speaker 3: They are talking about this brand and consistently, but I
22:01
Speaker 3: almost feel like it's a little bit tired now and
22:03
Speaker 3: they'd rather work with multiple content creators to talk about
22:07
Speaker 3: their brand and to reach new audience and eyes versus
22:10
Speaker 3: one person for one year. But with that said, there
22:13
Speaker 3: still are ambassador programs. I'm seeing a lot of them
22:16
Speaker 3: kind of close at the end of the year for
22:18
Speaker 3: the start of the next year. So it's not something
22:20
Speaker 3: that's gone away completely at all, like it'll still always
22:23
Speaker 3: be there, but I'm just seeing you know, a lot
22:25
Speaker 3: more one offs, and I think, you know, the reason
22:28
Speaker 3: behind that is the amplification. So getting to be able
22:31
Speaker 3: to you know, boost content from various different audiences I
22:35
Speaker 3: think is important to them and just like testing to
22:38
Speaker 3: see what works, you know, when you get stuck in
22:40
Speaker 3: a year long relationship with a content creator and they're
22:43
Speaker 3: not producing anything for you.
22:44
Speaker 2: That's really you know, moving the needle. That's tough.
22:47
Speaker 1: I feel like there is a correlation between what you're
22:51
Speaker 1: saying and then the rise of UGC and the rise
22:54
Speaker 1: of UGC being like brands want different ages, races, genders,
22:59
Speaker 1: like we want seven year old that looks this way,
23:02
Speaker 1: and we want they want to hit all the markets
23:04
Speaker 1: because of their ads and because they want to diversify
23:06
Speaker 1: talent pools. I mean it kind of makes sense because
23:09
Speaker 1: how could you GC be booming, which we all know
23:12
Speaker 1: it is, but then also influencers getting longer term deals.
23:15
Speaker 2: So oh, I mean it makes total sense. I get it,
23:18
Speaker 2: I see it.
23:19
Speaker 1: But you're like sorry, no, And it's good for people
23:21
Speaker 1: to also understand that, so then they can get prepared
23:25
Speaker 1: in terms of maybe how they're pricing themselves or in
23:28
Speaker 1: their outreach strategy or things of that nature, to be like, listen,
23:31
Speaker 1: maybe these longer partnerships are not as frequent or even
23:36
Speaker 1: when you have one, okay, nurturing it and like thinking
23:39
Speaker 1: about retention, like how do I reserve this client and
23:42
Speaker 1: things of that nature.
23:43
Speaker 2: So I think it's important to good point.
23:45
Speaker 3: I think that is something that is so overlooked with
23:48
Speaker 3: content creators is nurturing the relation the brand relationships and
23:52
Speaker 3: partnerships that you have instead of always finding new partners
23:56
Speaker 3: like really nurturing those and going above and beyond every
23:59
Speaker 3: time you have a partnership, because that is going to
24:02
Speaker 3: want them to resign you or work with you again.
24:05
Speaker 3: So I think it's a really important point.
24:07
Speaker 1: Well, it's what you've said about being nice, like people
24:10
Speaker 1: try to make things complicated. Yeah, but like a human
24:14
Speaker 1: like I don't know because I'll never forget when this
24:16
Speaker 1: influencer set me like gummy bears after I center on
24:19
Speaker 1: this like press trip and it was like a handwritten
24:21
Speaker 1: note and I was like, are you an alien? Like
24:23
Speaker 1: this is beyond? But yeah, it really made me be
24:26
Speaker 1: like wow, like think you note? Like how kind of you?
24:29
Speaker 1: You know, like just this energy?
24:32
Speaker 2: Right? Yeah.
24:34
Speaker 1: So you also have brand side, a lot of brand
24:37
Speaker 1: side experience, like putting these influencer campaigns together. And I
24:40
Speaker 1: think something that probably your talent sees I've seen in
24:44
Speaker 1: my space with my students and our community. I've seen
24:47
Speaker 1: it on my brand side is this idea of gifting. Now,
24:51
Speaker 1: when I think of gifting or gifted partnerships just definitionally,
24:56
Speaker 1: you guys. You know, we've talked about this in my
24:58
Speaker 1: Influencer masterclass. Taxes I brought in a CPA. Like traditionally,
25:02
Speaker 1: you guys, if there's a gift, there isn't deliverables required, right,
25:06
Speaker 1: It's truly just a gift and you're getting something, and
25:08
Speaker 1: whether you choose to create around it is a choice,
25:11
Speaker 1: but there's no deliverables. Once there's deliverables, then it's considered
25:14
Speaker 1: as income, at least in the eyes of the irs.
25:16
Speaker 1: One question I have for you ali around gifting. We
25:19
Speaker 1: see so many brands asking creators to work for free,
25:24
Speaker 1: you know, or doing things for free, and maybe you're
25:27
Speaker 1: not getting that as much because the agents or the
25:31
Speaker 1: managers that are you know, your employees, they have rapport
25:34
Speaker 1: with their clients and they have this understanding that it's paid.
25:37
Speaker 1: But on my side of the fence, creators who are
25:39
Speaker 1: direct pitching two brands that don't have representation are getting
25:43
Speaker 1: inundated with free gifted partnerships. You know, the brand doesn't
25:48
Speaker 1: want to pay, they want to see a free something
25:50
Speaker 1: in exchange for a post. Are you also kind of
25:53
Speaker 1: seeing that in this space? And then any sort of
25:56
Speaker 1: strategies or thoughts around pivoting from you know, gifted to paid.
26:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're seeing that all the time.
26:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, even though, like it's clear that we're a management
26:06
Speaker 3: company and we're working on partnerships and you know, that's
26:08
Speaker 3: how we make money at the end of the day. No,
26:11
Speaker 3: that is often a response is yeah, no, we're not
26:14
Speaker 3: working on paid partnerships, but would they like something from
26:17
Speaker 3: our website? And I think where it gets tricky is
26:19
Speaker 3: when there's like deliverables involved, as like you said. With
26:22
Speaker 3: that being said, though, one of the things that we
26:24
Speaker 3: always talk about in our strategy when working with a
26:27
Speaker 3: content creator and they're looking to tap into different brands
26:31
Speaker 3: working with those brands on paid partnerships is well, let's
26:34
Speaker 3: reach out to them and get get gifted. Let's get
26:37
Speaker 3: them on your radar. Like, they don't know about you,
26:39
Speaker 3: they don't know who you are, So why don't we
26:41
Speaker 3: first step introduce ourselves and our media kit and ask
26:45
Speaker 3: for some gifting, get that gifting and do something organic
26:48
Speaker 3: with it. And that is our like entry point to
26:51
Speaker 3: this brand and building a relationship with them.
26:54
Speaker 2: So I mean you could go both ways.
26:56
Speaker 3: I think it's a really good tactic to try and
26:59
Speaker 3: get more or brand interest and relationships.
27:03
Speaker 2: So I'm not against it and it's awful and this
27:05
Speaker 2: is so, this is.
27:07
Speaker 1: So refreshing because to you, you're really seeing the big
27:11
Speaker 1: picture here. You know, even though you guys are like
27:14
Speaker 1: the bulk of your income comes directly from the creators
27:17
Speaker 1: in the sense of from the management side. To hear
27:19
Speaker 1: a manager say, hey, let's warm up the lead, let's
27:23
Speaker 1: create a space where we are on their radar. You
27:26
Speaker 1: guys are thinking so intentionally and you're doing this like saying, hey,
27:30
Speaker 1: you know, we're looking to pivot this. So it's not
27:33
Speaker 1: like no, I think it's actually really refreshing to hear
27:35
Speaker 1: that as a strategy to get brands to even know
27:40
Speaker 1: who you are.
27:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you have to like if a brand wants
27:44
Speaker 3: to gift you, like, that's a win. Like that means
27:46
Speaker 3: that they think you're interesting and can be a fit
27:49
Speaker 3: for like working with them.
27:50
Speaker 2: So I don't see it as a negative.
27:53
Speaker 3: I think it does get tricky when they're like, okay,
27:56
Speaker 3: you know, I'm requiring deliverables. But like I said, if
27:59
Speaker 3: you're reaching out to them and want to work with
28:01
Speaker 3: this brand anyways, you should be doing something organic.
28:04
Speaker 2: To build a relationship from the get go.
28:06
Speaker 1: So yeah, what about different types of partnerships that aren't
28:10
Speaker 1: necessarily like sponsored content. Well, for example, let's just say
28:16
Speaker 1: an influencer wants to do a I don't know, an
28:19
Speaker 1: itinerary to Toronto, and they're working with a partner to
28:25
Speaker 1: put together this resource. So it's kind of like this
28:28
Speaker 1: resource was brought to you by you know, hello fresh,
28:31
Speaker 1: I don't know, making this up. Are you seeing different
28:34
Speaker 1: types of partnerships kind of unfold where brands are paying
28:39
Speaker 1: creators for more experimental types of deals versus traditional sponsored
28:45
Speaker 1: posts on the platform, but maybe getting involved in their
28:48
Speaker 1: businesses like hosting a meetup for them or paying them
28:52
Speaker 1: for a resource. Or are brands like kind of interested
28:55
Speaker 1: in these funky ideas or are they just kind of like, no,
28:58
Speaker 1: we want a video where you tag and men and
29:00
Speaker 1: all of that.
29:01
Speaker 2: Yeah.
29:02
Speaker 3: I think it like depends on who you're working with,
29:04
Speaker 3: like on on the brand's side, or if it's like
29:07
Speaker 3: an agency. I think if you're brand direct, you can
29:09
Speaker 3: be a little bit more flexible and creative with what
29:11
Speaker 3: you're pitching. I mean, we've done you know, brand partnerships
29:14
Speaker 3: where it's like a meetup and they go go for
29:17
Speaker 3: a run and then afterwards there's like snacks and like
29:19
Speaker 3: all these brands are involved in some capacity, so more
29:22
Speaker 3: like IRL type of you know, partnerships experiential if you will.
29:26
Speaker 3: But you know, the majority of what we do is
29:28
Speaker 3: really like the social media posts and content is like
29:31
Speaker 3: is the biggest part of it. But you know, we
29:32
Speaker 3: have clients who do like podcast tours and we're selling
29:35
Speaker 3: in different like activations that way. I think that you know,
29:39
Speaker 3: these brands are often running out of ideas. If you
29:42
Speaker 3: have something that's creative that resonates with your audience, Like
29:45
Speaker 3: you know, my thing is just pitch it, try and.
29:47
Speaker 2: Make it work.
29:47
Speaker 3: Everyone's probably all of these brands would be willing to listen.
29:51
Speaker 3: It's just a matter of getting across the line.
29:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, And speaking of ideas, when you guys are pitching,
29:57
Speaker 1: maybe a partner that is new your influencers, like I
30:00
Speaker 1: really want to work with like this type of brand.
30:02
Speaker 1: Speaking of pitching ideas, are your guys's pitches do you
30:06
Speaker 1: find your you are providing ideas and values inside of
30:10
Speaker 1: the pitch, like concepts that you want to produce or
30:12
Speaker 1: series that's on the way. Are you guys adding, especially
30:16
Speaker 1: for cold pitches, like when you guys go out and
30:19
Speaker 1: the brand doesn't even know about your maybe you don't
30:21
Speaker 1: have that established relationship. Do you see that when you
30:25
Speaker 1: are working and your team is outreaching on behalf of
30:28
Speaker 1: your influencers that they're putting love into their pitches in
30:32
Speaker 1: terms of ideas and research.
30:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. I mean it depends on the talent you're pitching.
30:36
Speaker 3: If it's like a household name talent and like often
30:38
Speaker 3: we'll just kind of go in with the name and
30:41
Speaker 3: you know, here's the link to their instagram. If we
30:43
Speaker 3: have to get creative with like different concepts, we do
30:46
Speaker 3: that working alongside the creator of like okay, is there
30:50
Speaker 3: a serialized piece of content that we can sell into
30:53
Speaker 3: and come up with some concept around that. Is there
30:56
Speaker 3: what I call like moments that are happening in your life,
30:59
Speaker 3: like are you having a bait? Be?
31:00
Speaker 2: Are you moving?
31:01
Speaker 3: There are different things that we can get creative with
31:03
Speaker 3: our pitching. That is like a huge trend I'm seeing.
31:06
Speaker 3: I'm seeing so many castings that are like, hey, we're
31:08
Speaker 3: looking for creators that are going through interesting life moments.
31:11
Speaker 3: So telling your manager about those things is super important
31:14
Speaker 3: to you know, better sell the brands. But yeah, I
31:17
Speaker 3: mean like our whole our whole thing is trying to
31:20
Speaker 3: get in front of these brands in a creative and
31:22
Speaker 3: unique way.
31:24
Speaker 1: Is it always virtually or do you do you guys
31:27
Speaker 1: find that you're also like going to events or like
31:29
Speaker 1: going to conferences, like also doing in person pitching because
31:33
Speaker 1: I just like, I'm such about the in person like
31:36
Speaker 1: I just love it. I feel like you can just
31:38
Speaker 1: kind of skip the line in a way because emails
31:40
Speaker 1: are just so email email, you know, versus like vibing
31:44
Speaker 1: and having a copy and be like, oh, do you
31:45
Speaker 1: find that that's like a part of the strategy is
31:48
Speaker 1: in person you know?
31:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, yeah, definitely. So after maternity leave, I've kind
31:54
Speaker 3: of stepped into a new role, which is, you know,
31:56
Speaker 3: overseeing kind of our brand relations. I'm an agency partnership,
31:59
Speaker 3: so it's a huge part of it. You know, talking
32:02
Speaker 3: to our like top fifty vendors and you know, asking
32:05
Speaker 3: to meet up, go get coffee, like hang out, like
32:07
Speaker 3: getting to know them one on one is like super important.
32:10
Speaker 3: We're doing a brand ship at the end of this
32:13
Speaker 3: month in New York, where a lot of these brands
32:15
Speaker 3: are located. And just having like a happy hour and
32:18
Speaker 3: meetup and you know things like that is super important.
32:22
Speaker 3: So FaceTime is something we're always always looking for. But
32:26
Speaker 3: in this like work from home environment, it's a little
32:28
Speaker 3: bit different. But again I think it goes a long way.
32:31
Speaker 1: So you mentioned that your brand side client. So I
32:34
Speaker 1: know you mentioned about eighty percent of your business is
32:36
Speaker 1: talent management, so I'm assuming when you mentioned this, these
32:39
Speaker 1: are the brands that you guys are doing like influencer
32:41
Speaker 1: activations for correct.
32:43
Speaker 2: Yeah.
32:43
Speaker 3: So we have a team that works on you know,
32:46
Speaker 3: always on influencer gifting programs as well as paid programs,
32:50
Speaker 3: and then we have a team that does events and experiential.
32:53
Speaker 3: So if you know, for example, Cox is a client
32:55
Speaker 3: of ours, we'll put together an influencer brunch for them,
32:58
Speaker 3: and so there's different kind of.
33:00
Speaker 2: Like activations we can put together with that team. Yeah,
33:02
Speaker 2: it's nice being on the other side.
33:04
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's so smart because you literally have like the
33:07
Speaker 1: client and then the talent pool, like they literally don't
33:10
Speaker 1: need to go anywhere else, like you're the one stop
33:13
Speaker 1: shop in many ways.
33:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it gives us insight on both ends, right,
33:18
Speaker 3: Like we have the lens from both angles. So it's
33:21
Speaker 3: you know, it's under really really understanding what the creator
33:24
Speaker 3: wants as well as the brand, And I think it's
33:26
Speaker 3: super helpful that we have those of those pieces of knowledge.
33:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, something that I was like, you know, towing around
33:33
Speaker 1: with because I kind of sit similarly. I'm not on
33:36
Speaker 1: the talent management side, but I have thousands and thousands
33:38
Speaker 1: of students. You know, we have our big creator community,
33:41
Speaker 1: and what's interesting is we also have brands that we
33:43
Speaker 1: would do some consulting for a lot less now, but
33:47
Speaker 1: having that dual perspective something that I was like, oh,
33:50
Speaker 1: I wish there was almost like a way for brands
33:54
Speaker 1: to have that creator microphone or understanding the true wants
33:58
Speaker 1: of these creators to kind of foster those win win partnerships.
34:02
Speaker 1: And I think that the fact that you guys have
34:05
Speaker 1: within your company like both sides, I'm sure it just
34:08
Speaker 1: makes for better partnerships all around.
34:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm also seeing the influencers.
34:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, there's often ideas that you know, these brands
34:15
Speaker 3: want to do where we're like, no, like you're not
34:18
Speaker 3: going to get very.
34:19
Speaker 2: Far with that, Like that'll never work. I'm sorry.
34:23
Speaker 3: And I think that's just because we have the lens
34:24
Speaker 3: on the other side, and we see so much of
34:27
Speaker 3: what's going on in the space and how these creators
34:30
Speaker 3: respond to it.
34:30
Speaker 1: So good, so good, and I'm happy that you're like
34:33
Speaker 1: say the no and you're really vocal about setting those expectations.
34:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's crazy, very very crazy. Like it's
34:42
Speaker 3: still like I said that in the beginning, that it's
34:43
Speaker 3: the wild, wild West. I mean it still is, and
34:46
Speaker 3: there's still such like a lack of understanding of how
34:49
Speaker 3: this relationship the creator and the brand should work and
34:52
Speaker 3: what is the best way for it to work, and
34:54
Speaker 3: people have so many different opinions on that, so it's
34:56
Speaker 3: a lot of expectations.
34:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, and just having to be the person to say
35:00
Speaker 1: no to both sides, like also seeing influencers who maybe
35:04
Speaker 1: are like at their pricing does not make sense, or
35:07
Speaker 1: like you know, just in general, like having to manage
35:10
Speaker 1: both sides of the space to set those sort of
35:13
Speaker 1: clear expectations. I totally feel you on that. Before we
35:17
Speaker 1: wrap up, I don't know if you have like a
35:19
Speaker 1: moment or a story or obviously without sharing any sort
35:24
Speaker 1: of personal information, but like just so that the creators
35:26
Speaker 1: listening in can hear some of the partnerships that you
35:30
Speaker 1: have seen kind of gone through. I think it's so
35:32
Speaker 1: eye opening when they're like, wait, this was a partnership.
35:36
Speaker 1: You know, whenever I share we were involved in, you know,
35:39
Speaker 1: a two hundred thousand dollars creator yearly ambassadorship that we
35:44
Speaker 1: helped her negotiate and get and that was like a
35:47
Speaker 1: major win because she was one of our students and
35:49
Speaker 1: it was really exciting. And people are like, wait, what,
35:51
Speaker 1: Like that's wild, Like I had no idea you could
35:54
Speaker 1: do that. I'm sure you've seen really crazy partnerships or
35:57
Speaker 1: deals or things that have kind of come through, maybe
36:01
Speaker 1: even budget. You know, something that you could share without
36:04
Speaker 1: again giving away anything that would feel private, just for
36:08
Speaker 1: the creators listening and can kind of expand and see
36:11
Speaker 1: the type of partnerships that you guys are dealing with
36:13
Speaker 1: and maybe what could await them one day.
36:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
36:16
Speaker 3: Sure, I mean god, I feel like what we've touched
36:19
Speaker 3: at our agency is crazy. Like there's multiple partnerships coming
36:23
Speaker 3: in every single day, and some of them still to
36:26
Speaker 3: this day blow my mind, whether it's like the amount
36:28
Speaker 3: of money or the budget or just like how cool
36:30
Speaker 3: the opportunity is.
36:31
Speaker 2: But yeah, we've we've.
36:33
Speaker 3: Done tons of different things, from you know, creating a
36:37
Speaker 3: clothing line with Macy's for a client, to a client
36:40
Speaker 3: creating her own sweatshirt with Gap, or one of our
36:44
Speaker 3: clients becoming like the face of Gatorade water. Like these
36:47
Speaker 3: are content creators doing really really awesome things. And I
36:51
Speaker 3: always say, like the sky's a limit, like if you
36:53
Speaker 3: have an idea, like work for it, and there's an
36:56
Speaker 3: opportunity to make it happen. For sure, the space is
36:59
Speaker 3: booming and there's so many different ways that you can
37:02
Speaker 3: make money in it to be frank, yeah, so yeah.
37:06
Speaker 3: I mean whether it's like six seven figure deals that
37:08
Speaker 3: I'm seeing or for me that like that's of course,
37:11
Speaker 3: that's exciting, sure, like that's you know, how our company
37:14
Speaker 3: makes money, that's how we hit our goals for our clients.
37:16
Speaker 3: But for me, it's really like the creative partnerships that
37:19
Speaker 3: I see that I'm just like, this is so cool,
37:22
Speaker 3: Like how I could have never imagined that this could
37:24
Speaker 3: come to life and it has.
37:26
Speaker 1: I know, you get to be a part of it,
37:28
Speaker 1: like even like you said just at the very beginning
37:30
Speaker 1: of today's episode, like even if you are not involved creating,
37:34
Speaker 1: you know, getting to be like kind of masterminding with people.
37:37
Speaker 1: It's such a creative space. It's exciting, and it's just
37:40
Speaker 1: always different. It's always changing. I mean there's new platforms,
37:43
Speaker 1: there's I'm sure that part is always like oh my god,
37:46
Speaker 1: there's something new, like stop it, make it stop, yes,
37:50
Speaker 1: but also keeps things fresh in a way, right, Yeah.
37:53
Speaker 3: Like I always say, I'm like, whenever I'm like interviewing
37:55
Speaker 3: someone that like wants to work at our company, they're
37:57
Speaker 3: always like, what's your day to day? You know, you
37:59
Speaker 3: have a bit of information, and like I could, every
38:03
Speaker 3: day is different. A decade in, I'm still excited to
38:05
Speaker 3: wake up every morning and be in this industry and
38:08
Speaker 3: work in it. Like and I think that's like kind
38:10
Speaker 3: of a rare thing to say, right, And I think
38:12
Speaker 3: because it is so evolving every single day that that's
38:16
Speaker 3: the reason. Like it's like a new job every every quarter.
38:19
Speaker 2: Is what I say. It's like we have something new
38:21
Speaker 2: in front of us. Yeah.
38:22
Speaker 1: And to give you credit, you're also really great at
38:25
Speaker 1: the content side. Like I find like just the business
38:28
Speaker 1: owner hat and then also having to make content. I'm
38:31
Speaker 1: always like telling they're like you have a content shoot,
38:34
Speaker 1: I'm like, I just want to hide.
38:35
Speaker 2: Under a hole, like don't make me do it.
38:37
Speaker 1: But I feel like you have been able to also
38:39
Speaker 1: like manage all these hats in your business while also
38:41
Speaker 1: like creating content. It feels like natural for you, And
38:44
Speaker 1: I know that's not an easy feat. Like being a
38:47
Speaker 1: you know, a business owner and also creating content at
38:51
Speaker 1: the same time is something that I don't think us
38:53
Speaker 1: business owners maybe get enough credit for because there's like,
38:57
Speaker 1: in addition to everything we have to do, we have
38:58
Speaker 1: to also like post a body. It's like, I'm sorry, what,
39:01
Speaker 1: like what is happening?
39:02
Speaker 3: I know it's challenging, and I think I just like
39:05
Speaker 3: I if I had to do that day in and
39:08
Speaker 3: day out as a like a full time influencer.
39:10
Speaker 2: It is a difficult job.
39:12
Speaker 3: You know, it is really hard being by behind the
39:15
Speaker 3: camera and coming up with creative concepts all the time
39:17
Speaker 3: is not easy.
39:18
Speaker 2: But I enjoy it.
39:19
Speaker 3: Like I there's that like creative piece to me that
39:22
Speaker 3: I like crave, and so for me to like create
39:25
Speaker 3: content and like come up with ideas, it's like it's
39:28
Speaker 3: just fun.
39:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it.
39:30
Speaker 1: I love it. Well, thank you so much Ali for
39:32
Speaker 1: being here. I'm going to go ahead and the show
39:34
Speaker 1: notes drop in all the links. But if you just
39:36
Speaker 1: want to share where people can find you or connect
39:39
Speaker 1: with you, just like audio, you could share that. But guys,
39:43
Speaker 1: I will include all the links in the show notes.
39:45
Speaker 2: Yeah.
39:45
Speaker 3: I think the easiest place is my Instagram, which is
39:48
Speaker 3: just Ali Grant.
39:49
Speaker 2: Ali.
39:49
Speaker 3: I respond to dms like I would love to engage
39:52
Speaker 3: with you here for questions at any time. And then
39:55
Speaker 3: I'm on TikTok and that is Ali Grant but with
39:58
Speaker 3: no A so Ali gr n team and on there
40:01
Speaker 3: I do creator tips and tricks.
40:03
Speaker 2: So yeah, I love it.
40:04
Speaker 1: And are you still accepting? Are you accepting talent? Like
40:08
Speaker 1: is there a space where people can or is that
40:11
Speaker 1: something that's ongoing for people?
40:13
Speaker 3: We're always maybe yeah, we're always accepting talent. We have
40:18
Speaker 3: a survey on our website that you can fill in
40:20
Speaker 3: and that goes actually directly to myself and our VP
40:23
Speaker 3: of Talent, Natalie, and we are looking at that constantly
40:26
Speaker 3: and we're basically shooting it out to our team and
40:29
Speaker 3: there's a relevant fit.
40:30
Speaker 1: So fe oh my gosh, I feel like I need
40:32
Speaker 1: to host like a private meeting greet or something like
40:35
Speaker 1: with like my top people and be like I would
40:37
Speaker 1: love to having great, like a little coffee or like
40:40
Speaker 1: virtual and like do little intros or something, because I
40:42
Speaker 1: have some amazing people, really niche, really cool, big numbers,
40:48
Speaker 1: you know, really great results.
40:49
Speaker 2: So who knows this guy's limit? Yes, so good?
40:52
Speaker 1: All right, well, thanks Alie so much for being here.
40:55
Speaker 1: We appreciate you, and guys make sure you check out
40:57
Speaker 1: Ali below and you guys can connect with her. She
41:00
Speaker 1: is amazing and on TikTok she's so very helpful as well.
41:03
Speaker 2: So thank you so much, Thank you. Bye,