Warning: This is a LONG post… And while I think it’s absolutely necessary to read the WHOLE post… You CAN skip down to “GRAB A FORK AND KNIFE; IT’S TIME TO DIG IN!” if you’re short on time.
If there was one part of our African Safari excursion my husband and I will never forget… It’s when we visited a small village in Maasai Mara and an adorably “innocent” little five-year-old girl wandered up to us, smiled oh so sweetly and then flat out said…
“GIMME MY MONEY.”
My husband was so taken aback by this that he looked over at me and whispered, “should I give her my watch?”…
No dumb, dumb… She asked for monetary compensation NOT product!
But seriously, I couldn’t believe this little girl’s innocent smile could cast such a “spell” on my husband… But when I smile at him, hinting to do something for me… NOTHING!
I really should have stuck around that small village longer so as to learn the ways of this little girl, because CLEARLY, her method of getting what she wanted has worked in the past. A coach for wealth advisors taking you through the process will be helpful when it comes to keeping you on track and achieving your goals.
If you’re curious… No. My husband did NOT give her his watch…
Now you may be wondering… “Why are you bringing up a memory from January 2018?”
That’s right… We didn’t just return from a safari in Africa; this little anecdote is actually from our trip to Kenya back in early 2018.
Well, the reason I’m bringing it up is because I am serious when I say that I should have taken detailed notes as to how this little girl gets “HER” money, and then use her methods for future instances (the only reason why it did not work on my husband was because our tour guide and I were there to stop him)… Such as ONE I JUST EXPERIENCED.
But before I continue, let me clarify that when I personally ask for money, I ask because IT WAS SOMETHING AGREED UPON, and the request is sent professionally via an invoice. And no, the words “GIMMIE MY MONEY” are not stated at the top of it.
However, after this most recent incident… Maybe they should be?
AN APPETIZER BEFORE WE DIG INTO THE MAIN DISH…
I’ve been blogging and making YouTube videos for almost nine years at this point. When I first started this blog you’re currently hanging out on, I had absolutely no idea that one could make money by simply incorporating brands/products into posts and videos… Fast forward to present day and word vomiting onto blog posts and throwing food around my kitchen and then into my mouth, while a camera is rolling, is now my full-time job.
Don’t be fooled though… There is much more involved in this full-time job of mine, other than conducting experiments in my kitchen and capturing the results on-camera…
And the aspect we are going to focus on today in that “much more”… Negotiating brand deals and getting paid for your time, effort and work because recently… Well… You will read all about it.
I have to continue with my tangent before I can get to the meat and cauliflower “potatoes” though… Sorry if you’re hungry!
I HATE THE WORD “INFLUENCER”.
I hate the word “influencer”.
It’s such a vague term. It seems as if every single person you see or meet is an “influencer” these days, and if you think about it, it’s true. Who was the last person to influence you to make a decision, buy something, eat the lunch you might be chowing down on right now? Even if that person was, say, your mother, and not on social media, she would still technically be considered an influencer (and perhaps the biggest one in your life?).
Another reason why I hate this term is that well… It’s starting to get negative connotations associated with it, thanks to the fact that everyone (and their mom?) wants to be one… And wants to be one FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS.
A majority of people who want to become “influencers”, want to solely because they have heard stories from others, who are knee or elbow deep in “influencing,” about how they get endless amounts of free product on the daily and how… SOME PEOPLE EVEN GET MONEY TOO*!
*Let it be known that brands send products to people with a big “influence” either with the hopes that he or she will share the product on their social media platforms or because they have agreed upon a sponsorship.
Yes, as I mentioned before, my “influencing” has led me to obtain so much free product that I could build a 6000 square foot home with all the boxes the product comes in and has earned me some dough to roll in… But I don’t “influence” because I want product and money, it just happens to be a perk.
Oh and I’d just like to mention that… I don’t work with just any brand that “throws” their product and marketing budget in my face (what, am I a stripper?). For instance, if McDonald’s approached me, I would 100% turn them down because their brand does NOT align with mine… No amount of money would get me to change my mind. I much prefer to build trust with my audience than to be seen as a fake sell-out however sadly, more and more people who have turned to “influencing” see a shiny quarter and free products, and get transfixed… Thus lose sight of what “influencing” actually is.
Now I will reiterate something else I mentioned above as well… When I first started blogging and making YouTube videos, I had no idea I could make money doing it, thus I clearly started doing this because I love to entertain others… And you know what? Nothing had changed.
My desire to create content is due to my overwhelming desire to make people laugh. I have always had a goal in life to make as many people as humanly possible escape their own realities for even just a few minutes to ROTFL… And while when I was younger, I wanted to do this by being on television, blogging and YouTubing (and now Instagramming as well) has allowed my goals come to life without having to be on television. And I am over the moon about this because breaking into the TV business is no easy feat, you need a bank account and many other things like an employee.. Trust me, my husband is an actor.
Okay… So now it’s FINALLY time to dig into what you all really want to know about… WHY I BROUGHT UP THE AFRICA ANECDOTE… So grab your fork and knife and let’s do this!
GRAB A FORK AND KNIFE; IT’S TIME TO DIG IN!
Well plain and simple… There is a brand out there that needs to… GIVE ME MY MONEY!
I was reached out to a few months ago by a company… Asking if I wanted to collaborate on four Instagram posts. After I researched the product and realized that it would be a good fit for my brand… We agreed that I would incorporate their product into recipes I specifically created for them and then post photos of my creations along with their recipes on my Instagram feed.
Through my correspondence with this brand… We even came up with themes for each recipe I were to create and nailed down dates for which I was to post on their behalf. I felt good. I felt confident. I was thrilled. I was thrilled because I love to think outside of the box and create recipes that people don’t see every day… And when I get a new brand sponsorship, my creative juices immediately start to flow and boundless ideas come to mind as to how I want to incorporate their product into recipes!
I mean… Have you seen my meat waffle and meat cigar recipes?
Ha! Speaking of waffles… You probably think more than 1/2 of this blog post is me just waffling about who knows what… So long story short, PROTIVA MOM (as you may have noticed on the subject line of my email screenshots), a collagen protein company… Owes me money.
Generally, I am not a name-dropper but since this company has been GHOSTING ME for the last month… I give no FORKS about sharing what company I’m talking about because I want all influencers and potential buyers to realize that this company’s business practices are shady AS FORK!
I mean… If this company completely ignores all my emails, messages, calls, etc… Yes, I have a mail tracker on my emails so I can see when people open them, and Instagram DMs tell you if they were read or not… Then how can you trust that the product they’re selling is actually legit? And if you did receive a product from them… And had a question/comment/concern… How would you ever be able to contact a company that seems to ignore all messages sent their way?
Initially, I thought this partnership was going swimmingly. I have posted two photos and recipes for them thus far and my correspondence with my contact was good, albeit a little slow on her end. Well, about a month ago I wanted to check in and make sure we were still “A GO” for my third post and check in about the invoice I sent after the second post (what I was instructed to do)…
Welp… When I sent my email… I immediately got an email response stating that the messaged failed to deliver. I tried sending it through a previous thread to the same email address that has worked in the past (to make sure my spelling was correct)… Yet, I still got a failed to deliver the message.
Then I emailed the company’s INFO@ email address located on their website, and it was read but not addressed. After THAT, I messaged the company on Instagram and it was read but still no response. I then wrote them two more times on Instagram and no response.
At this point, it’s clear to me that I will not be paid for the effort I put into coming up with unique recipes, taking photos of the recipes and posting them on my Instagram account. Now some of you might not think this is such a big deal… But to me, it is because… Well, I ALWAYS hold up on my end of the bargain. ALWAYS. If I say I am going to do something, I am going to do it. And… I know my self-worth, thus I know that I am worthy of the monetary compensation stated in our agreement as well (which is most likely the reason behind why this company is avoiding me).
Coming up with recipes, taking photos, writing blog posts, recording youtube videos and then editing said videos, and promoting all of this content… It takes hours upon hours to do… And if a brand wants to be apart of this… In order to be advertised over all social channels, welp, just like a brand would have to with TV commercials, payment is necessary.
SO THE MORALS OF THIS LONG-ADD STORY I JUST SHARED WITH YOU…
- ALWAYS have contracts written up when you agree to partner with a company. Even though emails are virtual handshakes (and have worked very well for me in the past)… They’re not necessarily binding agreements with terms and conditions, thus if something like this were to happen to you, there really isn’t all that much you can do about it… except for hiring HKM attorneys for legal guidance.
- Know your self-worth. If a brand comes to you asking for boatloads of content and in return are only willing to give you product… Ask yourself… “Can said product… Pay your bills?”… Yep. Didn’t think so.
- Don’t be a sell-out. Yes, money is very attractive when it’s offered to you along with products… But don’t agree to everything that’s presented to you. I mean, does vaginal cream really coincide with a food blog or a blog about power tools?
Oh and the last moral of the story… Maybe all of us “influencers” should put “GIMME MY MONEY” on top of our invoices… No doubt that would remind a brand who owes you, to PAY UP… And hopefully not just give you their watch.
SO TELL ME…
- If you’re a blogger/influencer, do you have a similar story like mine that you’d like to share? What did you learn from YOUR experience?
- If you were me, what would you do next?
- Out of all of your travel excursions… Do you recall an incident like our “gimmie my money” incident that will forever be one of your funniest travel memories?
- What are your thoughts on influencers and influencer marketing? Do you like it or rather the always effective SEO services.
