#97: How he gets brand deals with a small following ft. Lloyd George

Lloyd George (00:00.28)
Of creators just like disqualify themselves.

Rhona Pierce (00:03.554)
been in the room where those brands decide how millions of dollars get spent.

Lloyd George (00:10.03)
There's so many people who like at first glance may look like they don't even have that many followers. Like, how did they get to work with this large Fortune 100 company, or their content isn't that great? You may get the gig because someone likes you and that was all it took, or you may get the gig because there weren't enough people in your demographic that applied. The illusion that you need a lot of followers to work with brands, which just obviously isn't true. There are so many other factors that can contribute to you getting brand deals, like for instance.

Rhona Pierce (00:31.576)
They don't care.

Rhona Pierce (00:38.958)
Most creators have never been in the room where a brand decides who gets a deal and who gets passed over. Lloyd George has. He ran campaigns for brands like Coca-Cola, Kevin Hart, The Rock, and worked at one of the biggest agencies in the world, all while building his own creator business on the side. Now he's full time, he's launched a podcast, and he's ready to talk about everything creators are missing about the business they're in. Lloyd, welcome to Workfluencer.

Lloyd George (01:05.538)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited I love talking about this kind of stuff. So I'm thrilled to be here talking about this today.

Rhona Pierce (01:11.726)
Amazing. So for folks who haven't met you yet, what's the Lloyd George story in like 30 seconds?

Lloyd George (01:18.35)
Yeah, absolutely. So I moved to the US from Zimbabwe in two thousand and six, finished school here, and then started working for social media agencies here in Atlanta and kind of bounced around a bit before discovering the creator economy. And since then, that has been most of what I do. By day I work for digital agencies as a project manager, sort of helping them with social media campaigns and moving the work forward. And then by night I'm a content creator as well, working on my own content.

Rhona Pierce (01:47.67)
Amazing. So you like you said, have been a creator this entire time while working, so like doing b both sides of things. what's it like living in both of those worlds?

Lloyd George (02:02.946)
That's such a great question because I think like I've every time I'm on the other side of the fence, I constantly feel like the side I'm not on is better. And so it's like when I have a day job and I'm doing content, I'm like, man, if only I could do this full time, I'd be able to have so much more content and make so much more progress. And then in the same vein, when I don't have a day job and I'm trying to give content a a a chance as a full time creator, it's always like, man.

If you had a day job, you could actually travel to these conferences, you could go to events, the money would be so nice. So I I would say it's always feels like the grass is greener on the other side. But I think the one common thing I see between the two worlds is they both need some sort of belief that, like, hey, this is gonna work. It's like going to the gym in that way where it's like, Hey, you may have to do this for three hundred and sixty-five days before you start to see progress, but you have to believe that at some point you're going to see progress. And so

Whether you have a job and you're full and you're not a full time content creator or you are, I think that's the one similarity that is always top of mind for me.

Rhona Pierce (03:04.2)
I love that that perspective because yes, it's easy to be always think like, this is better on this other side or the other side. what made you decide to like step out and go all in on your thing? Because now yes, you're doing both things, but you're like freelancing. So it's like you and you.

Lloyd George (03:26.03)
Yeah, 1000%. I think for me, what it was and for the listeners, most recently about a month ago, I left my full time W2 job working at Oblavy. I was doing social media for the Coca-Cola business. and I decided to go out on my own as a freelancer and spend 100% of my time developing content. the biggest difference for me was I was getting to a point where I started doing content on the side as a side hustle, but each year the amount of

money I was making as a relatively small creator kept increasing and increasing. And it got to a point where last year I made more from content than my actual day job. And still part-time like that, I literally was only spending maybe 10 hours a week on it. and so to me, that just kind of signaled like, man, like if I had 40 to 50 hours per week to work on this, I would love to know like what would happen. and so that was like the primary driver for just saying like

Let's give it a try. Now I will say in addition to that it's been terrifying, but that was the the primary reason.

Rhona Pierce (04:26.136)
Amazing. And we'll get into more of that later. I kind of want to slightly switch gears, and this is going to make sense to listeners later. But so you've been in the room where those brands decide how millions of dollars get spent on content and in creators. But what do you know from those rooms that most creators have no idea about?

Lloyd George (04:51.16)
Yeah, you know, I think the biggest thing is like I I see a lot of creators just like disqualify themselves before, you know, they even like go for the opportunity. And I think that's like the big thing I've realized. There's so many people who like at first glance may look like they don't even have that many followers. Like, how did they get to work with this large Fortune 100 company? Or their content isn't that great. And it's like none of that stuff matters. I think it's like

You may get the gig because someone likes you and that was all it took, or you may get the gig because there weren't enough people in your demographic that applied. But it's like I see a lot of creators disqualify themselves way too early for a number of different reasons. So I would say that's like the biggest observation that I've seen. Another one is the illusion that you need a lot of followers to work with brands, which just obviously isn't true. and I think I am proof of that. I think there are so many other factors that can

contribute to you getting brand deals like for instance, how great is your relationship building, right? If you live in a a major city, you likely have an organization, a marketing organization here in Atlanta. It's called the Atlanta Marketing AMA, which stands for Atlanta Marketing Association. And they have monthly events. And when you go to these events, a lot of times those are the decision makers that are like hiring creators and influencers. And so I think like putting yourself in those positions to meet people like that.

is just as impactful as growing your following. And so there's a number of different things you could do just like that.

Rhona Pierce (06:14.734)
If you've made it this far into the episode and you're not subscribed yet, now's a good time. I love that you mentioned that because it it's it's been my experience as well. I'm a relatively small creator. and I don't even live in a major city. I am stuck in Oklahoma somewhere where there's no, I mean, yeah, obviously there are decision makers here, but not the the brands that we're thinking. So yeah, it's like relationship building is really at the core.

Of being a creator and being a successful creator.

Lloyd George (06:48.298)
One thousand percent. I'm curious to sort of like how you've navigated like building relationships in Oklahoma, just because I think a lot of people will make that excuse that like I'm not in a major city. So what's been like your experience?

Rhona Pierce (06:59.946)
Really, I spend money on going to conferences. So I'm in the HR and TA niche for the most part, obviously also creator economy. But like I can go to these conferences and sometimes I spend my money, but most of the time I get a brand or someone to pay something. So because of my relationships in corporate, I know some people and then I will be like, Hey, are you going to so and so conference? I can go.

I can capture some content and I can extend like I show them the the value of extending the reach past being at the conference. And then they're like, well, at first, right? we can't pay your rate, but we can pay your conference ticket or we can pay your your flight. And it's just like someone would pay for one piece of everything and I would get myself there however. And when I'm there, it's go time while everyone's hanging out.

I am making connections that then I come and nurture from here, right? 'Cause I can't be in the cities, but you met them in person, you started that connection and then you just go in with a plan though. Don't just go to hang out.

Lloyd George (08:10.818)
Yeah, one thousand percent. I love that so much. And you hit the nail on the head. And I love just even how you approach like messaging brands because like to your point, like I think the brand may not necessarily like the brand may know that like sending Rhona to the conference is the perfect move for the brand. They just may not know that yet. And I think it takes you emailing them and saying, like, hey, are you gonna be at this thing? Like, I would love to message you, or can we do this? You know, I that's like perfect. Like even with my podcast, like before I even launched it, I was emailing a ton of people, like, hey.

I think there's not enough conversations about this. What if I put your ad right when this person says this? And I think like brands need those like ideas. They may want to work with you, but they're they're not they don't have time to think about how to work with you.

Rhona Pierce (08:52.526)
Yeah, I I love that and I wanna highlight it too. Most people, most creators that I speak to are always thinking like, their pitch is, this is my dream brand. Hey brand, I'd love to work with you because I have X amount of followers. They don't care. Like that my follower account comes into the conversation so late. Yeah. That it's like I mean, by all means, I I don't have that many followers.

And my first brand deal, I had less than a thousand followers with my first brand deal. And I always tell people this. And there were so many mistakes in that negotiation, but I had my first brand deal with less than a thousand followers. yeah, yeah.

Lloyd George (09:31.918)
Crazy, right? If you think about where influencer marketing started like years ago, to where it's like grown to now and what's possible now, I I don't think that there is like a better time to be like a content creator right now. Especially like I think we'll probably see an emergence of like middle class creators that don't need to make millions of dollars. They need a hundred thousand dollars and they're perfectly fine and they can make a living, you know. and so to hear you say that it's inspiring.

Rhona Pierce (09:58.104)
Thank you. So you spoke a little about your podcast and I know it's about the business side of content creation. Like what conversations did you feel nobody was having?

Lloyd George (10:09.976)
Yeah. so my co-host and I, Warren, well, I guess like my producer and I, so Warren is the producer, I'm the host. we I would say are just like very curious people. And I feel like we're like the nosy person that I was always asking inappropriate questions that no one should ask when you're hanging out with people. And so we found ourselves just like talking to people and saying, like, how much do you make? How did you do that? Like specifically, like who'd you call? And what did they say? And we were just bringing up all these random questions. And so we decided, like, yo.

We should start a podcast to ask all of the things that we are curious about as content creators. for example, like our first guest, Kiki Walker, is a podcaster who's done a live show. and she sold out like she's sh sold out multiple live shows. And so we were even curious, like, how did you book the venue? Did you have to put your own money? Did you get money first? How does that even work? so there's just so many conversations that I think I think creators as a whole are constantly praised for their creativity, but aren't often

looked at with the business acumen that they have because most of them are like business geniuses, even though it looks like they're just creative people. And so we're excited to have those conversations.

Rhona Pierce (11:19.776)
I love that. And I am a total like, yes. I love speaking to other podcasters. And I love when you when you say things like this, it's like the reason why I started my podcast and most of the people I've interviewed is because you're nosy and because you just ask questions and you wanna know. And I I have an entire series called Because I'm nosy. and it's that's really it. I am nosy and I want to know. And I also believe that.

People need to have these conversations and need to know what's really possible in the creator economy. Because so many people don't know. They see the the influencers, like the big influencers, and they think like, come on, I won't, I don't have the money to ever have like this type of podcast, or I don't have a million followers, or I don't want to be sharing about my life. Look, I've never done a get ready with me, and it's never gonna happen because I've tried and it's just, it's not my thing.

But it's like there's so many other things that you can do and there's so much in the creator economy.

Lloyd George (12:23.234)
Yeah. And I I'd even add to the like to that that like I think brands love that. Like my favorite brands that I've worked with for years, like they love when I call them. I'm like, yo, it's another crazy idea. And that's kind of like our running joke now that you're gonna get one crazy idea from Lloyd and it's like, Hey, what if we did this on LinkedIn? Or what if we did X? and so I think finding

the thing that you love creating to your point, it may not be get ready's with me, it may be vlogs, it might not be vlogs, it may be conference content, it may be once you find your thing, I think finding a way to like convey that to brands is like the crazy idea. You will be very shocked on like who takes you up on like wanting to work with you for that crazy idea.

Rhona Pierce (13:01.75)
Yeah. And the people who say no to your crazy ideas, it's never like no 'cause you're crazy. It's no 'cause I couldn't get it approved. No, not right now, but they come back to you. So like share the crazy ideas. Like part of being a creator is being creative and offering them things that they hadn't thought about.

Lloyd George (13:24.088)
Yeah. One thousand percent. I love that so much. And that's like that is like a great mindset to have every day. Like as a creator wanting to work with brands. I think that those like that's how we should be thinking.

Rhona Pierce (13:34.786)
Yeah. So when you talk to creators on your show, and I know you just started, but even not on your show, what surprises you about how they think about money?

Lloyd George (13:46.314)
Yeah. You know, I think the biggest thing has been like, I would say, like I I when I hear people say this, it makes me almost want to rename my podcast because it's such a recurring theme. Most of them just get stuff done. And it's like I think a lot of times when I'm like for me, it's like I overthink things. I want it to look good, I want it to come across a certain way. And they're just like, no, just like send it out, like get it out. and so I think that is like a model that I'm starting to adapt in my life where it's like, yo.

This may not look exactly how I need it to look right now, but let's just get it out into the world and I'll refine it over time. Same with like brand deals. Like, man, like I don't have time to send the perfect email and do a ton of research, but this is the email I can send or these are the number of brands I can email this week. Just like get it done and get it out the way and less overthinking. And that has been like a recurring theme across every single guest so far.

Rhona Pierce (14:37.678)
It's amazing. and it's true. And and I think it comes when especially when you're doing it full time, you have that pressure of you have to make money and you're not gonna make money until you do the thing, right?

Lloyd George (14:53.326)
Sure. I it's so funny because I think that like that is the one thing this is going full time that it has with like a rude awakening. It's like you don't have the luxury of saying, like, I'm gonna wait a day to edit this video to make it a little better because I need to live right now. So it's like this video needs to go out today. and so I think it it it not to the extent where it compromises like the quality I'm comfortable with, but to the extent that I'm not gonna overthink this one.

like I don't have the room and time to do that. and so I find that like that structure of it being do fast so that you make a living has been like helpful to me.

Rhona Pierce (15:32.972)
I saw that post that you shared with a call from your wife where she's reminding you to charge your worth. Like, how important has it been to you to have people like your wife and who have that type of support system?

Lloyd George (15:48.77)
Yeah, that's such a great question. So that has been like the dynamic between my wife and I, literally, for the last ten years. It's constantly her saying, like, you should charge more. You should charge more. And this even started like when we were dating and I was negotiating like my first corporate job and she was like, You should ask for a little more and just see what they say. And they end up saying, Great, right? And so I think it's been like so great to have an advocate in your corner that sees your potential and your worth even when you don't.

and for me it's just been so reassuring. I one of the things I meant to share was create another post saying like when I sent that email to the brand with the updated price, they disagree to it. Like they didn't touch back, they didn't say anything. So it's like, you know, it's like those will be the times we're scared to take a chance on ourselves and having someone like that constantly remind you that like, nah, I think you could do a little more is like it's so impactful and so helpful, you know.

Rhona Pierce (16:42.632)
I have a similar support system. My husband, he's been a business owner for many years and he's always like, nah, you need to charge more. And and then he's like, No, no, no, you charge more. And and like you s it always like it helps having that. What would you recommend for someone who maybe doesn't have that? How do you find that type of support?

Lloyd George (17:03.914)
Yeah. I think it's important to build relationships with other content creators. I would love to see people have a great balance of like creators that are a little bigger than you, creators that are about your size, and creators that are smaller than you. And for me, what that has looked like is you know, I shared a story about this on TikTok and just saying like, Hey, my very first brand deal, I published content I published a video on TikTok just saying like, Hey

Guys, my goal this year is to make $20,000 from brand deals. This is my first year. I just got my first partnership, but I want to make $20,000. This larger creator, Nave Austin, saw it. He DM'd me and was like, Hey, my name's Austin. I'd love to help you get your next brand deal. He literally just referred me a friend of his that had a brand deal that I think he had worked with them or knew them. So he referred them to me and that became my largest brand deal that year. And so I think like building relationships with creators that are a little bigger than you, number one, they can help you, but number two,

There's probably a lot of brand deals that they get that are way too small for them, but are probably too big for you. And so you want those relationships flowing down. and then secondly, creators that are in your sphere of following and earning will allow you to have accountability and people that can say, like, man, you can do it. Like you should charge more. You should do, you know, that's that support system. And then I think creators that are smaller than you so that you're reinvesting back into the ecosystem and that's how, you know, we keep growing and evolving using relationships.

Rhona Pierce (18:28.386)
And that's what I love about the the whole creator industry, the creator economy, because I have those group chats where it's like, Hey, did we all get this email from this agency? So what's how much did you negotiate? How much did you negotiate? And when you it's like, but really this is this is how you do it. And that's where smaller creators are like, wait, this is how much you guys are charging? and and immediately people are like, I can't charge that because I have less followers than you. And I'm always like, No.

Stop it right now. This is what you're gonna charge. This is what you're gonna say. But like having that, it it's just I love this because working in some in industries that I've worked in and HR and TA is a great industry. Never gonna knock it. That's and I before that I was in tech. Great industry as well. But the the we're all competitors as creators, but we're all it's a lot more collaboration over competition.

Lloyd George (19:26.936)
For sure, totally agree with that. I I think like that's one of the most beautiful things about our industry, that the people generally speaking are more prone to help you and support you. I it's rare that you come across someone that doesn't want to help you. and and so I I couldn't agree with you with you more. one of the questions I wanted to ask you is how did it feel when your husband pushes back on your pricing structure and what you're thinking is your worth in your mind? Like, how does that feel to you when someone else is telling you that you should charge?

Rhona Pierce (19:56.128)
Initially it's like, well, you don't know anything about this. You're not you're not there, blah, blah. But then it's like, no, he sees me. He he's he sees all the work that I put in. He sees how much it really goes into and a lot of times he helps me because he's very, very good at this as well.

So many times he's helping me while filming and he's like, nah, or he'll hear me say a line and he's like, Don't say it that way. He'll open the door. He's like, What if you say it this way, type of thing? So it's like he gets it and he knows the value I bring. He knows how much I work for these brands and how much I'm thinking at night, like, my gosh, this video, if we did this, this would work better and stuff like that. And he wants to see me compensated. So does it feel great?

Initially no, but at the end of the day I need that because Yeah. Otherwise I would be here not being able to pay my bills 'cause it's like well, if that video doesn't work like everyone has that. Everyone goes through that.

Lloyd George (20:59.502)
I c I so agree. It feels terrible, in the moment. But I do think there is a moment of like retrospection that you get to where it's like not only were you likely right, but I now see what you see as well. So I I couldn't agree more.

Rhona Pierce (21:13.63)
And there's never been a time where he or anyone else, any other creator friend has told me, charge more that I've gone back to the brand and they've said no. They always say yes. So you need someone seeing what you're not seeing for yourself in that moment.

Lloyd George (21:32.27)
Yeah, one thousand percent. And what's weird about that is like I'm always that person to other people. but when it comes to me, I always feel like I have like an excuse that's so good why I need to charge low, like, you know, I'm I'm full time now, so I like every dollar matters. I need I'm just gonna charge whatever and just get the deal. But to your point, I think like sticking to your guns and seeing your worth is really the way you set yourself up for long term success.

Rhona Pierce (21:57.9)
And it's just, I think something I've noticed with us creators is that most of us just we don't know how to half ass anything. Yeah. We're always gonna give like above and beyond. Yes. So you might as well get what you know what you're pro like offering them is worth because they're a hundred percent gonna get more. Because by the time t I don't know, maybe this only happens to me. You can tell me if it happens to you, but

Lloyd George (22:05.442)
Yeah.

Rhona Pierce (22:24.94)
I have the idea, I pitch it, we negotiate, everything deals locked. By the time we're executing, I already have a better idea of that idea that they're gonna get.

Lloyd George (22:34.232)
Yeah. Exactly. One thousand percent. I think we I do that all the time. and I'll even sometimes like I obviously want the campaign to be a success. So even if they pay for one video, I'll make an additional post. I'll I'll boost, I'll reshare it, I'll send it to my newsletter 'cause I want it to succeed. so I I totally agree with that.

Rhona Pierce (22:53.934)
And that's where my husband comes in and he's like, Well, remember you charge by media property. And it's like, Yes, but

Lloyd George (23:01.774)
Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's so spot on.

Rhona Pierce (23:06.424)
So you made this switch to full time. In your opinion, when do you know that you're ready to go full time?

Lloyd George (23:17.71)
That's such a great question. I've always believed that like I think having a job for the bulk majority of your time as a creator is probably the right move for most people, partially because I think being a creator requires money, right? Like whether you're buying camera equipment, phones, tripods. there may also be times where you're traveling at conferences, or in my case, you may even be a lifestyle creator. So it's like, I want to be at coffee shops, I wanna be at hotels. I

There's just the lifestyle aspect of it that costs a lot of money. So having your day job allows you to do that. And having your day job also takes the pressure off of your brand deals. There was a moment where I thought I was ready for full-time entrepreneurship about two years ago. And what I ended up finding out was that like I was getting brand deals that I didn't necessarily like love the product, but I was trying to make it work and trying to force it. And it's like you don't want to be in a position where this passion project and thing that could be beautiful.

Is being suffocated by the need for you to survive. And so for most people, having a day job will circumvent all of that. As you have that day job and continue to be as successful at your content, eventually you'll get to a point where you're making money and that money will hopefully continue to increase. and if you get to a point where you figure out that you're losing money now because you don't have adequate time to pursue it, that's when I would start exploring like being a full-time creator. And even then, I would still only do it if I felt like I had a clear

monetization plan. So in my case, I know that like, hey, I do brand deals every month. I can make $10,000. That's what 10 hours. And if I had another 10 hours, this is what I would do. I would be emailing these people and I'd be at these events. So I just need to do more of that. But there's people who they they may not necessarily know like how like if they had more time, what would be the thing they would do to increase that revenue. And if you don't have that yet, it's not worth quitting just yet. But that's how I think about it.

Rhona Pierce (25:09.58)
That's amazing advice. What did you do to prepare to go full time?

Lloyd George (25:17.312)
for me, like I wish I had more preparation time. I kind of felt like to me, I felt like preparation time started to feel like I was prolonging and making excuses to leave because I was scared. And so I kind of just felt like, you know what, like most of my brand deals are recurring. So if I get to a point where I have thirteen thousand dollars in recurring brand deals every month where it's negotiated for the whole year.

I will quit. And each time I would get to 8,000 or I'd get to 9,000. Then I'd go back down to six. Then I'd go back to 10. And it never got to the point where it was like the perfect scenario. And I kind of just felt like, you know what? I'm just gonna give it a go. And I'm gonna give it three to six months. And if in three to six months I feel like this isn't working or it's difficult, I can always just go back and get a job and continue what I was doing. But let's just see what happens. and I not to like I think a big part of how I look at content.

is a faith journey and I kinda feel like sometimes like God just needs room to do s like you don't even have a thing for God to bless. and so I kinda just wanted to give space for God to do something amazing. And I think like for me, having something that he could bless, like this was my content, you know.

Rhona Pierce (26:34.092)
I love that. And it just all goes back to what we were saying about how creators are people who G S D like get stuff done and just like yeah, we're perfectionists and we're overthinking. But it's just like everything in your answer is like a description of what it is to be a creator. And you have to believe that you're that you can do the thing. 'Cause if not like I

That's such a big part of being a creator is I say my Dululu confidence. This is gonna happen.

Lloyd George (27:05.548)
Yeah. Like

And that's why I think it's so important to surround yourself with bigger creators. Cause I think it's for me, if everyone gets to that point differently. I think for me, I saw two instances. I had friends who were larger creators, and I was like, wow, you're actually like making a living doing this. That's kind of crazy. And then the second thing was I got a job as a talent manager working at an agency. And I saw like, you declined how much money for one video? okay. That's all. That's all I needed to see.

If that's all I got from this job, that's more than enough. And so I think like we all need like I don't know if you saw the clip of Oprah talking about like your subconscious beliefs in terms of being successful and just like the role that it plays in helping you get there. I so agree with you. I think we all need to get there, but I think how we get there is different.

Rhona Pierce (27:55.264)
Yeah. and and and even if you are not a believer or anything, just having that confidence gives space to whatever you believe in to do the work and like bring these opportunities and make you successful.

Lloyd George (28:11.854)
Or and sorry, one last thing I wanted to add to that is just that like even when we're not talking about brand deals, when we're just talking about content innately, when you think about the fact that you create this video, you publish it and you put it online and you have no control of what's gonna happen to it. Like it could flop or it could go great. So it's like the level of belief even needed in doing that is still like

It's still there's still some level of belief. And I love I heard this one of my friends say this a long time ago that like every time you publish a piece of content, you're one piece of content away from like your life completely changing. Like that could be the video that somebody sees that somebody sees and shares with somebody and something amazing happens. And just the fact that that's a possibility is more than enough for me to like keep going, you know.

Rhona Pierce (28:57.27)
And I loved that you you touched on also like seeing what other people are rejecting as far as like money. What's what's the biggest single piece of content offer that you saw someone get or reject or just like that a brand offered someone?

Lloyd George (29:15.768)
Yeah, I remember one time I was working and this guy got an offer and he wasn't like a super big creator. He maybe had like a hundred and eighty thousand followers. and he was a lifestyle content creator, and they offered him like forty-four thousand dollars to make a single video, and he was like, Nah, I don't think I wanna do it. And we were all like, Why? Like, why don't does it not align with you? Do you not like the brand? And he was like, Nah, I just don't feel like it. And we all were just like

That's valid. That's actually I get it, you know. But that was the thing, that was the specific moment I needed to see to say like that is crazy. That's wild. That was all I needed to see to know that like you can make money doing this.

Rhona Pierce (30:01.64)
Yeah, I love that. I just thought of a question. So how do you keep yourself I'm trying to I'm gonna say humble, but in a way we're we're not saying that he wasn't humble or whatever, but I have this thing where I am starting to feel that at some points where there's a deal, it's just like, yeah, I just don't feel like it. But how do you keep yourself from

Doing that in a way that hurts, that's going to end up hurting you in the end, right? Because sometimes I've noticed that I do that when I'm scared of the deal. I now tell myself, no, I don't want to do it, but I'm actually scared that I will be able to perform and do what someone else, the brand, is seeing and thinking that I can do. So how do you like balance that, the mindset piece of that?

Lloyd George (30:54.688)
Yeah, you know what I think it is? I think part of it is like generally speaking, like if you're a creator, right? you're getting like br deals of the same size, right? And then sporadically there may be one deal that's a little more than what you currently make, and then that kind of becomes your norm and it just kind of keeps increasing, right? I think part of what I saw when I was working in that capacity was that like a lot of these influencers get offered fifty thousand dollars, eighty thousand dollars all the time. Like that's just normal to them. That's not even like a let's like

that that's part of like what I feel like I took from working there, the spirit of just even like talking about those numbers so normally and just saying like, yeah, it's $120,000. Can you do or can you can't? Okay, cool. No problem. We'll come on when we have another deal. And just being in an environment where people were throwing deals like that around so casually for me subconsciously made me start to think that that's like possible, that's normal and that is also possible for me. and so I think for me

I look at this kind of like, man, like I know that like God has like some amazing plan for me eventually. I want to get as close to that as like possible. Like I want to continue pushing the limits for what God has for me. And so it's like I look at life in a journey in that way where it's like, man, like I'm and not I don't want to make it sound like I'm constantly like waiting and planning for the next thing because I think there's a level of contentment that you need as well, where it's like, yo.

These are my bills. I make more than enough pay my bills. I'm okay. But there are moments where people offer me deals and it's like, man, like I've never made $8,000 per video. That's amazing. That's really, really cool. That's incredible that that even happened. And my wife and I just sit in awe and we celebrate. And it's like, dang, like, who would ever thought we'd be able to do that? And so I think like I like that aspect of the journey as well. But I do think a big chunk of why I even believed that that's possible for me was because I was able to see some of those larger influencers getting paid what they were getting paid.

Rhona Pierce (32:54.134)
love that. And the whole sitting with your your wife and thinking about it like sitting in awe of this, it's it reminds me. So I don't know if you're familiar with Justin Moore. He's a sponsorship coach. Yeah. I I work with him. He's a great guy. One of the things when I yeah, when I first met him, he was telling the story of him and his wife. Both of them were telling the story of how this is life-changing. And he was just like

Everyone repeat, life changing. And I was like, life changing. Well, now that's the that's the running joke with my husband when I get a deal, cause obviously every deal you try to top the b the other one. And when I get a deal and it's like, are we seriously talking about someone handing you this amount of money for one video? That is so crazy. And we sit there and we go, life changing.

Lloyd George (33:52.174)
I'm gonna steal that. Cause that's that's so true. and I I love that there's even, you know, I think there's lots of reference moments between my wife and I like that too, where it's like, you know, these moments and things that happen at the beginning, just because I don't know that at that moment you would have even been able to imagine what's happening now. So I absolutely love that and that that's so cool. I'm curious to sort of like what's been the moment for you that you've been either like

the most shocked by an experience or and not necessarily in amount, but just like, Hey, we want you to do this or we want you to come to this conference or what's been like a moment for you like that that you feel like has been like most memorable?

Rhona Pierce (34:28.459)
think I'm living it right now with a deal. I I can't talk about it just yet, but it's closed. I'm literally after this going into a meeting with them. But the fact that they were like, I was pitching something totally different. And they're like, hey, what if you did this, this, and this? And I also do like EGC for I run I have an agency, right? And I I run EGC campaigns for companies and stuff like that.

And they know me on both capacities. And they just came up with this deal that's a merger of both things. And I was like, why did I not think about this? This should be the one thing that I offer. Employee generated content. Sorry. Got it. Yeah. So I work with companies.

Lloyd George (35:12.088)
Essentially r helping them run their programs? Yes. Okay.

Rhona Pierce (35:15.914)
And like the campaign. So it's similar to an influencer campaign, right? Yeah. But it's internally with your employees and you have to working through the company trusting, letting them say things in their words and all of that. But it's the same way. You're familiar, you run a campaign, you have a campaign brief, you have all of these things. And then it's like it's always my like dual personality. It's like, okay, this is me as the creator, this is me as the strategist.

And then merging those two into one thing, it was like, why did I not think about this? And again, it's just like to me that moment is when people that are don't know me, they don't know me well, they just know me as a client, come to me and they see things in me and they they believe I can do things that I would have never imagined in my life.

Lloyd George (36:04.066)
That's incredible. That's like the highest form of trust. I think like it's one thing to even get somebody to like let you buy buy your business. But like I think having someone not only like trust you as like someone offering a service to them, but also exploring other ways and knowing what you do and that you could be good at it and giving you that opportunity is incredible.

Rhona Pierce (36:22.572)
Yeah, and it and it came at like the end of like, Okay, this campaign's ending. Obviously I'm gonna try to get another campaign and they're like, Yeah. Well actually we've been thinking and I was like Wow Yes And they're like How much would you charge for this? And in my head I'm like, I have no clue, but I will give you a number. Don't worry.

Lloyd George (36:40.11)
Exactly. I love that so much. And I love what you said earlier too, just about like I I tell people that it's like you may make let's just say fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars for a video, but when you like piece together like the time it took you to write the script, the time it took you to film, the time it took you to edit, it's like you might have just made two thousand dollars for like an hour and a half worth of work, and that to me is just like that's the easiest possible money you will ever make, and it's all

profit. It's not like you have goods. It's like for the most part, unless you have an editor and stuff, it's all profit. That's kind of crazy.

Rhona Pierce (37:16.318)
It's life changing. Like, shout out to Justin. I'm totally gonna send him this episode. It's like life changing. It really, really is. All right. So I've really enjoyed our conversation. But if you've ever watched the show, you know there's always a segment. So it's time for a segment I created because honestly, I'm I've been nosy my entire life. These are the types of questions you were expecting, but they're the ones I'm curious about. Are you ready?

Lloyd George (37:25.806)
Nobody.

Lloyd George (37:43.47)
Are right.

Rhona Pierce (37:44.46)
All right, because I'm nosy, I wanna know what's the most money you've ever made from a single sponsored post?

Lloyd George (37:52.174)
as of right now it's seven thousand and I'm working on one that's twelve thousand.

Rhona Pierce (37:59.806)
Lloyd George (38:00.044)
Can I add more context? Yeah, yeah. I don't know if it's like a whatever it's called when it's like a fast question. Rapid fire. Yeah, but I do want to add context that I think that like for me, right, what normally happens is like let's just say like the rate for one video is twenty six hundred dollars. It would be someone saying like, I want four of those. Okay. So now you're let's just say a little above ten and then they'll say, Well

Normally all my videos come with 30 days worth of usage rights. And they they may say, like, well, I actually want to boost the video for 60 days instead of thirty. and I know you may know this, I just want to say it for our audience, but so then they may say I want to boost it instead of thirty days, I want to do sixty, and so that may add an additional seven hundred dollars or twelve hundred dollars to the to the video as well. And so you add all these additional things, or I may say, like, I'll do a collab post for an extra fifteen hundred as well. And so it ends up being that like you you were charged charging one video at twenty four hundred dollars

But now you've got all this stuff, so it's eleven thousand dollars. And that's often how I'm able to get the price up per deal. so I'd say the largest I've done is seven thousand working on one that's twelve, but per video, the largest I've charged is probably like thirty five hundred per video.

Rhona Pierce (39:04.576)
Same, same. And thank you for that context because it is true. That's really how you get to it. And any for anyone listening

Justin Moore is really who I recommend. He his whole philosophy of this, get his book. It's called, I have it here, Sponsor Magnet. it really, really shares that philosophy of packaging stuff. And like that that's how you get to those big numbers. It's not everyone who's like, yeah, one video is twelve thousand. It's like you don't necessarily get there that quickly. So thanks for adding that context. Absolutely.

All right, next question have you ever muted or unfollowed someone because their content annoyed you?

Lloyd George (39:46.794)
I'm like the king of this. Like, that's I do that every single day. Like, and the part of it is like I'm more so like for me, there's times and periods in life where I'm motivated by certain things, and then there's other periods where like I just need to be like Uber focused. And so I'm constantly blocking people like all every single day, just for absolutely no reason, other than I don't want to see your content right now.

and then I may change my mind two months from now or three months from now. A lot of times it's often coworkers. So if I'm at a W two job or I work somewhere, I'll block every single person I work with. And then as I kinda get the vibe for you, I'll unblock you and you know, we can become friends later. But happens quite a bit.

Rhona Pierce (40:24.558)
Love that. Normalize it. Blocking and unblocking and unfollowing. It's healthy for you.

Lloyd George (40:29.122)
Yeah. And you know, I think you you assume that people are gonna notice because you assume they're gonna know, but no one ever actually knows.

Rhona Pierce (40:37.464)
I've I've re-followed people or like I've had to go to someone's profile and unblock them while talking to them at a conference. Cause they're like, hey, did you see I loved your last piece? Did you see my video of yeah? And I'm like unblocking it. They think I'm looking for no, yeah, I'm unblocking you to then go to your profile.

Lloyd George (40:59.606)
That's all buddy. It does. Protect your peace.

Rhona Pierce (41:03.982)
Yeah, it just protect your peace. And like you said, sometimes it's not because it's like not that I hate the person or whatever, but it's like if we're in similar industries and we're doing similar content, I don't want my brain to be to accidentally copy you. Because I never would copy someone on purpose.

Lloyd George (41:21.41)
thousand percent. Has has there been ever any instances where you didn't intentionally plan on doing this? You didn't even see the other person's post, but it still was like you ended up doing something relatively close.

Rhona Pierce (41:33.812)
That happens and that has happened to me on on a recent brand deal. I had the same concept as someone who had a a brand deal with a with a competitor of the people. So it was a similar concept. It was different enough, but it was a similar concept. And their video went out first and someone like, Hey, did you see so-and-so's video? And when I went and saw it, my heart dropped.

Lloyd George (42:01.483)
no.

Rhona Pierce (42:03.446)
I was like, I know. And my editors were still working on the video and I didn't want to rush them. So it was like, you know what? This is going out. It's going out. And I have all the proof that I was talking about this for months before. Like and the person there's been no there's been no shade. We both supported each other's post.

Lloyd George (42:04.974)
That's great.

Lloyd George (42:27.146)
I love that. It does, it does.

Rhona Pierce (42:29.462)
All right. Last one. If you could look at one person's LinkedIn analytics, who would it be?

Lloyd George (42:35.934)
this is great. So one of my favorite creators, can I say two? Like I'm kind of like, I can't do one. I feel like so. My two favorite creators right now, I would say one is LinkedIn, which is Jade Powell. like I'm very big on people that just like they do community well. And I think Jade does. but also I love just like she's very authentic. And I love people that are just like I I love coming to LinkedIn and

being reminded like, this is LinkedIn. Dang, I forgot because the content was just that good, like just that authentic. I don't want to it to feel like I'm in a a work environment all the time. And so I think Jay does a great job with that style of content. Courtney Futch is like my other favorite creator right now. She's like she does these supper clubs and she's a food creator. I don't even want to say food creator. She's a chef. But she does these supper clubs and she like posts them and you can like

comment to like attend. And if you look at the comments, it'd be like a thousand comments, nine hundred comments in like a day. And so I'm I just love like community. Like I'm big on like feeling like your people are friends and you guys know each other. And it's like when you look in the comments, it's like inside jokes. Like I love that kind of stuff. And so that those are like the two creators I would watch forever right now.

Rhona Pierce (43:48.642)
Yeah, two very, very good creators. I I love Jade and I get that same feeling that you get when you go to her content, you're like, this is LinkedIn. We But it's like, yeah, I love it. So I've really, really enjoyed this conversation. where can listeners connect with you?

Lloyd George (44:08.29)
Yeah, a quick story before I I share that. a lot of people like my name is Lloyd George, but a lot of people think that my name is George just because George is a much popular first name. So to avoid all of this, I named all of my socials Lloyd not George. So if you're listening, whatever platform you're on, if you type Lloyd Not George, I will come up. and thank you so much for having me. This was so refreshing and I love like these are the conversations that get me energized and excited.

so I'm grateful for the invite.

Rhona Pierce (44:39.416)
Amazing. Thank you so much for being on the show. If you're enjoying the Workfluencer pod, share with someone who's changing how we talk about work or who should be. And hey, if this episode gave you ideas or inspiration, leave us a five-star review. Reviews help other listeners find us. And honestly, it makes my day. This show is produced by Workfluencer Media. Visit Workfluencermedia.com.

Lloyd George (44:42.562)
Thank you.

Rhona Pierce (45:05.122)
To learn how we help companies build video-first content systems that attract, engage, and retain qualified talent, that's WorkfluencerMedia.com. Thanks for listening, and I'll chat with you next week.