If you’re a creator - whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been doing this for a while - you might be making some big mistakes when you reach out to brands.

How do you connect with brands in a way that ends up with a paid deal or at the very least, a solid relationship with the brand that shows your true intentions?

After all my years of being a creator and helping others do the same, I’ve found what works and what doesn’t when it comes to connecting with brands and building strong relationships.

Today, I’m giving you the scoop on FIVE brand outreach mistakes that I’m seeing creators make right now.

If you’re wondering how to start a business, you first should consider can you start a business. It truly sounds like the dream: Getting to be your own boss, choosing when you work, being in control of how much money you make, etc.

But it can also be overwhelming. There’s so much that goes into running a business that you don’t always think of when you fantasize about starting your business. You’ll probably be doing a lot on your own. Especially at first. Taking on every role yourself and having to put in hours of work beyond a regular nine-to-five.

Starting your own business can be the best thing in the world, but there are definitely things you have to consider before you dive in.

Today, I’m sharing the truth about starting your own business.

So you’ve started to gain a following online and you want to take advantage of the platform you have, but what do you actually need to do to start making money?

You see all of these other people monetizing their content and want to do the same because why wouldn’t you want to have the freedom to do what you love and make money by creating content?

Once people start seeing your content, you could just ride the high of a couple of viral posts for a few months, OR you could turn your influence into a full creator business that makes you money.

Today, I’m diving into exactly how you can monetize your online influence so you can get paid to create great content. This my Biz BFF is Soulcial Scoop.

When you turn your hobby into your job, it is so easy for the fun to get sucked out of it. All of a sudden you feel pressure to create, you’re comparing yourself to other creators and the successes they’re having, and you’re expected to to show up on social media every single day.

You get to the point where you just want to log off, but now that you’re relying on social media to pay the bills, that’s not an option.

So, it’s time we make social media fun again. Even if it is your full-time job.

Today, we’re diving into all of the things that I’ve done in the past year to truly make social media feel more enjoyable — even though it’s my full-time job.

If you’ve opened up that dreaded email from a brand you’ve dreamed of working with saying that they don’t have the budget for a paid collaboration, but would love to offer you free products instead, you definitely aren’t alone. This is something every creator has heard at some point. 

And you don’t want to ruin a potential relationship or future partnership, but you also don’t want to get taken advantage of and create content for free. So, what do you do? 

Today, I’m giving you the scoop on exactly how to handle those offers for nothing but gifted products so you don’t get taken advantage of and can continue to grow your business as a creator.

2023 has been a year full of ups and downs for me as a creator and business owner. My business has changed and evolved and I’ve found more balance by doing less as a creator and getting more personal on my pages. I’ve cultivated an incredible community in Soulcial Suite where I’ve been able to help so many creators achieve their goals. It hasn’t been an easy year, but looking back, I’ve learned and grown so much.

Today, I’m going through my journey as a creator and business owner throughout 2023.

It’s the end of the year. You’re creating content on autopilot. Just going through the motions without any real direction. You might be feeling unmotivated or just generally lost when it comes to the type of content you want to create. When you’re consistently creating content for so long, you’re bound to go through times when you have to check in with yourself and see if you’re intentionally creating content that you *enjoy*. So how do you go about confronting this hard truth that you feel stuck with your content?

Today, I’m giving you the scoop on what you can do when you feel lost with your content and want to find a bit more direction to create content intentionally.

Instead of sending hundreds of cold pitches, you could just be learning how to use LinkedIn as a content creator. You’re likely sending hundreds of cold pitches and barely getting any responses, never mind actual paid deals. As a creator, this is one of the most discouraging things to experience, and yet we experience it every single time we send out pitch emails.

So, in 2021, I decided to create a different method — what has now been coined “The Anti-Pitch Method” — and go straight to the source by connecting with the people *behind the brands.* How do I do this? Well, on LinkedIn. But, how do you get your profile ready to start reaching out? How do you find the people to reach out to? What do you even say?

Today, I’m giving you the scoop on all things LinkedIn — specifically as a content creator — so you can build relationships with brands that lead to genuine partnerships.

If you got into this industry because you love to create and now that you want to monetize your online presence, and now you’re struggling to navigate the business side of it all, you are not alone.

Brands might be asking you for your rates and coming to you with offers and you don’t want to miss out on money by going with the first offer, but you’re also afraid to negotiate too high and scare brands away.

It can be a lot to figure out on your own because you want to be able to secure brand deals with confidence and show them that you’re serious about your business as a creator and have a lot of value to offer, but you just don’t know how to handle negotiating these deals.

Today I’m sharing three different common creator negotiation situations that if you haven’t found yourself in already, you will eventually, and how you can handle them so you don’t miss out on your well-deserved money.

The truth about making money as a content creator? There are a lot of reasons why you're not making as much of it as you want.

If you haven’t wondered why you’re not making as much money as you want to be in your creator business, then you’re definitely in the minority.

Last week, I asked my broadcast channel on Instagram what’s holding them back from making more money and there was no shortage of answers — a lot of them very similar to each other.

Creators were telling me that they're trying to do too many things at once, they're scared of the potential for rejection, or simply, they don't know where to start looking for brand deals and finding methods of monetization.

The hard part about being a creator who is monetizing — it's never consistent, which leaves a lot of room for disappointment, imposter syndrome, questioning your entire business' existence, you know.. that kinda stuff.

But, there are absolutely ways you can get past these hurdles.

Today, we’re diving into why you’re not making as much money as you might hope and how you can change that. This, my Biz BFF, is Soulcial Scoop.

A couple months ago I broke down my income as a creator and entrepreneur, telling you exactly how much I made, so today I figured it was time to share what I spend in a month on my creator business.

I’m not afraid to spend money to help my business run for me - to save my sanity and give me time to do more of the things I actually want to do.

So for me, spending money on outsourcing and software that make my job easier for me will always be worth it.

And after all, you do have to spend money in order to make money.

So today, I’m breaking down exactly how much I spend in a month on my creator business.

With social media platforms being used as search engines more and more, it makes sense to focus on using the right keywords so your content is not just seen by a wide audience, but the right audience.

Because you don’t want all of your hard work creating killer content to go to waste by not being seen.

But how do you know what words are “keywords” and what makes something optimized for search engines?

Today I’m breaking down how you can use SEO and keywords on TikTok and Instagram so all that time you spend on your content doesn’t go to waste and it gets seen by the right people.

One of the biggest debates for creators is whether or not you should have a niche.

Focusing on one topic can help you gain a really strong audience because you’re creating such specific content. But at the same time, it can restrict you to only talking about one topic, which can cause major burnout.

After all, we all have more than one passion or interest and we should be able to feel like we can talk about more than just one topic on social media.

Whether you’re just starting out and trying to decide what your niche is or you have a niche, but it’s left you feeling creatively unfulfilled and burnt out, this episode is for you.

I’m giving you the scoop on niches, mission statements, creator sprints, and personal branding.

Are you tired of sending out countless pitches to brands?

Getting paid partnerships is not easy and can be so discouraging when you’re doing all of the pitching and not getting the responses you want.

But what if you didn’t have to be the one to pitch all the time and instead brands came to you looking to collaborate? What if instead you had brands reaching out to you?

After my years of being a content creator full time, I’ve gotten my fair share of brand deals both ways. And having brands come to me already knowing what I do and what kind of content I can create for them is not only empowering, but it also saves me so much time and effort.

So today, I’m giving you the scoop on how you can get brands to pitch to you instead of always being the one to reach out for collaborations.

I often talk about the importance of diversifying your creator business to create consistent income and prevent burnout. One of the ways I’ve done this is by building a membership program that has grown to over 100 creators.

Having the Soulcial Suite has allowed me to share my knowledge about the creator industry with others, build a community that helps and supports each other, and gives me more control over my income each month.

I am so passionate about coaching creators and building a community so that no one has to navigate this crazy industry alone.

Today, I’m giving you the scoop on everything I did to create this incredible Soulcial Suite community.

It’s no secret that there’s major competition in the creator industry.

In fact, I’d say that’s one of the biggest things holding people back from pursuing a career as a content creator, thinking that there’s too many people already.

And while I know that there’s room for everybody, it doesn’t make it any easier to stand out from the millions of other influencers also trying to land paid partnerships.

But don’t let that discourage you from reaching out to even the biggest brands because you can absolutely set yourself apart from other creators and show them the value YOU can provide for them.

Today, I’m giving you the scoop on different things you can do to set yourself apart from the crowd and capture a brand’s attention.

One of the most fulfilling, but sometimes forgotten, parts of being a creator is creating *connections* with people online.

If you’re struggling with low engagement or reach, it might be time to step back and ask yourself if you’re creating content that CONNECTS with people.

After all, people follow you for YOU, so it’s time to start focusing on creating content that helps your audience get a better idea of who you really are.

It can be intimidating to get real and authentic, but it’s what’s going to help people connect with you and want to follow along and engage with your content.

Today, we’re diving into some ways to create those meaningful connections and how you can build a community.

Having to create content *consistently* can be one of the biggest challenges that creators face. It can be hard to keep up with the amount of content ideas you need. And finding the time and systems to create content is a whole other challenge.

I work with creators all the time who tell me that they’re struggling to consistently put out content. They want to be able to make this a sustainable career, but when they can’t come up with content ideas or feel like they don’t have the time to create content, it can seem impossible.

After years of being a creator, I’ve learned a few tips and tricks that have helped me sustain this as a career and made creating content fulfilling and sustainable.

Today, I’m sharing five things that I tell my students when they’re struggling to consistently create content.

As a content creator, the topic of money can seem taboo. It seems like no one wants to share how much they make and talk openly about the different *ways* they make money.

After all, you should have multiple sources of income when you’re a creator because you can’t just depend on consistently landing brand deals that can cover your expenses.

But I am not one to gatekeep. Because when you’re starting as a creator, you may not know how to diversify your income and what a realistic breakdown of revenue streams looks like.

Last month my income came from SIX different sources. And spoiler alert, brand partnerships were actually my fourth highest income stream.

Today, I’m sharing a breakdown of all of my income streams from last month and how I got each of these opportunities.

There are so many arbitrary “rules for creators” thrown around out there that as a new creator, it can be overwhelming and feel very rigid. Like if you don’t follow certain rules, you won’t land brand deals like you want to.

These “rules” can leave you drained and discouraged because they don’t actually yield real results.

I’ve seen so many creators feel like they have to do certain things, like send as many cold pitches as possible or put way too much emphasis on their media kit that it takes time away from doing things that actually benefit them, like focusing on forming genuine relationships with the brands.

Today I’m sharing three “rules” for brand partnerships that creators should STOP following.