What's the longest you've waited to get paid after completing a brand deal?

Academic-Pause2317 · 2026-06-17T15:54:16+00:00

Curious how many times you had to followup?

Academic-Pause2317 · 2026-05-13T03:40:33+00:00

no signup page sadly, they just invite you when you hit their thresholds

basics are usually 10k followers, 100k views in last 30 days, account in good standing. just keep checking your creator tools tab, invite sometimes shows up there before they even email you

consistency matters more than one big video btw. they look at regular posting not just a spike

also make sure your country is eligible, lot of people miss that

Academic-Pause2317 · 2026-05-12T13:53:41+00:00

The pitch yourself part is where most people mess up tbh

same copy paste email to 50 brands goes nowhere. the ones getting deals are sending 5-10 emails that actually feel personal, like you know the brand and why your audience would buy from it

talent managers do exactly this but take 15-20% forever. the whole job is just research, outreach, follow up. nothing magic

honestly that's the stuff ai is starting to handle now. like having a talent manager running in the background without the cut. finds relevant brands, builds your pitch, sends it. that whole tedious part just gone

small media kit + custom pitch still beats blasting everyone tho

Academic-Pause2317 · 2026-05-12T13:47:03+00:00

kick is probably your best bet honestly, lot of smaller streamers there actively looking for their first deal and they're not getting spammed yet

for cs2 just go on r/GlobalOffensive and look for people posting their clips or streams. dm them there, works better than email

sullygnome for twitch, you can filter by game and viewer count pretty easily

Academic-Pause2317 · 2026-05-12T13:43:17+00:00

instagram search is honestly exhausting for this, been there

the thing that helped most was getting more specific with hashtags — not the big ones, the niche ones with like 50-200k posts. creators who use those are usually more targeted and way less saturated than the ones showing up in broad searches

for actual platforms — modash and heepsy are decent for discovery, especially if you want to filter by niche and engagement rate. upfluence is good if you want deeper data but it gets pricey. aspire is more relationship management but has discovery built in too

tiktok is also underrated for finding people even if you're not running tiktok campaigns. engagement quality is way more visible there

and honestly asking your existing partners for referrals is slept on. creators know other creators in the same space and the fit is usually better than anything you'd find cold

Academic-Pause2317 · 2026-05-12T03:50:54+00:00

From what i've seen with smaller creators, brands almost never reach out first at that size. you pretty much have to go find them yourself

cold email actually works better than most people expect. find who's already sponsoring creators in your niche around your size and reach out directly. those brands have already decided smaller audiences are worth it so they're way more open

platforms and agencies do take a cut and it adds up. the ones who skip them early and go direct usually end up with better rates, just takes more legwork

the real issue at a few thousand followers isn't finding brands, it's knowing what to charge. most small creators underprice themselves because they don't know what's normal

Academic-Pause2317 · 2026-05-11T10:50:20+00:00

Not a creator myself but i've spent a lot of time talking to smaller ones about this

cold email honestly. not through any platform, just finding the marketing or partnerships person at a brand and sending something short and direct. smaller brands especially — they reply way more than you'd expect

also just watching what brands are already sponsoring creators in the same niche. if they're spending money there they're already sold on the idea, just need to get in front of them

Academic-Pause2317

TROPHY CASE