In this article I am going to break down the exact steps I followed to make my first $1,000 online making UGC before going full time within 2 months.
And I promise that I haven’t seen these tips anywhere else
Step 1. Make your portfolio
There are a few options here but I’m going to break it down into the good, the bad the awesome. And yes, we’re doing this BEFORE making your demo videos.
1. THE GOOD – CANVA.
When I started with my UGC journey, I built out a site with a Canva template in less than 1hr. It’s free and super easy to edit & then publish to a live site. I’d highly recommend this if you’re starting out. It’s such a low friction way to get started which is exactly what you need when you’re starting out. Don’t focus on making it perfect & instead focus on making it work.
2.THE BAD – Google Drive
Nothing screams low effort like having your portfolio pieces in a Google drive link. Clients are actually far less likely to be interested and I’m not just saying this as a random though but actually after hearing from multiple clients who have said the same thing.
3. THE AWESOME – Personal Portfolio / Personal Brand
This will always be the winner for me. Building your own website, with your own name or brand name attached just looks so much more polished. It screams professionalism and really does stand out. Plus you get a lot more customisation options if you build with WordPress for example. You can create a newsletter, you can add in digital products and much more.
This is exactly how I booked my first few retainer clients. I had an option for clients to book a call with me directly on the site along with a lot of portfolio work ready for them to see.
If you decide to go this route, I would suggest going looking at Hostinger for hosting. You get a Domain for your site, up to 3 websites and a personal email for around $30 per year compared to other site builders which charge that monthly. Even Canva charges 13.99 per month.
Step 2. Make your demo videos
When it comes to making videos, I want you to keep one key thing in mind. Getting it done is better than focusing on making it perfect because that’s what makes UGC so powerful. Let me explain what I mean by this
If you have a phone, you can make content, no excuses!
First, you should pick a niche
I know, I know, you’ve heard it before but it really does make such a difference when it comes to building out a portfolio. You can still make demo videos with different content styles within one niche but you should always pick a niche.
A pro tip is to also niche within the niche – for example:
I am really interested in tech & apps but within these two main categories, you can choose another niche so for example health and fitness apps, travel apps or something like that.
I travel as much as I can so having physical products having to be shipped globally was never going to work for me.
What this does is gives you focus & provides something for you to stand out as a creator, shaping your creator identity and don’t worry, it’s important to just pick one thing and run with it. It might change over time and that’s okay!
Next, you’ll need 3-6 videos
You can really start as simple as you like with these but my advice would be just to put one hour per day aside to focus on making the best video you can within that time span, focusing on action over perfection.
The idea here is to continue to make videos, every day for 3-6 days. 3 is enough to start with but the more you create, the better you get at creating which is good for your portfolio and amazing for clients to see that you have variety.
Focus on variety
Companies want to see who you are as a creator and what your camera presence is like to know whether or not you’re the right creator for them, so you should think about creating variety with your demo videos.
Think about making some talking head videos, some with a heavy focus on visuals and products, some videos with just text on the screen for example. Just play around and have fun with it!
Once you’ve got 3-6 videos, update your site so you can start finding some clients!
Step 3 – Finding Clients
This section is arguably the most important of them all, so pay close attention.
I’m going to give you the secret sauce here that nobody actually talks about plus a bonus tip at the end.
- Don’t follow the heard
Most advice online will tell you about how you need to apply for 17 different platforms & start with low paying jobs but honestly, that is terrible advice and a sure fire way to burn out as a creator & we DEFINTELY don’t want that.Instead, I would argue that it’s better to stick with just a handful of platforms and focus on reaching out directly to companies.
My favourite choices for this are Instagram DM’s (Because you can send 50+ per day), Threads & Reddit.
The problem with a lot of the UGC platforms is that you’ll be competing with hundreds of much more experiences creators which just becomes frustrating if you’re fairly new to this.
- Be a damn human
Everyone is using AI these days, FOR EVERYTHING AHHHHHSo by just being a human and communicating like one, you’re already ahead of probably 90% of people.
And in reality, AI will never be as good at being a human as we are or as up to date with how we communicate and how content actually works. AI can predict things and help with planning but it can’t really replace us humans. Yet.
So be personable, be friendly, offer to have a face time call with somebody, don’t spam 100 of the same outreach DM’s all written by AI. Be a human, it’s what you’re best at.
- Stand out above the rest
Now this can sound like its going to take a lot of effort and energy but the better you get at this, the faster it all becomes.
Lets just say that for example, you find some clients that you’re interested in working with, but you have to compete with 60 others, how many of those people are going to do anything other than the bare minimum to show off how awesome they are?
The answer? Probably less than 5. In fact, it’s fairly likely to be 0.
Here’s the secret sauce.
There’s many ways to stand out. You could send a personalised video, you could send a loom video talking through a pitch deck you made specifically for this client, the list goes on.
The point is, what can you do, that nobody else is currently doing that is both professional and going to help you stand out. You might not even need to do this a lot of the time but it drastically increases your chances of landing clients.
Step 4 – Organising your time
I’ll keep this short and sweet.
You will only succeed at this if you can avoid distractions. When you make content, don’t spend so much of your time scrolling, in fact, don’t spend any time.
Set timers for specific tasks and as soon as that timer is done for the day, you move onto the next task until tomorrow when you set a new timer and go again.
Move your phone to another room or at the very least, switch off all notifications and put it on do not disturb.
It’s true that we all have the same 24hrs in a day but it’s always your choice on what you do with it.
You have to be more efficient than a German engineer but it’s far easier than it seems.
Just cut the BS and only focus what matters.
Bonus Mindset Tips
In a few quick bullet points, here are a few quick points i want you to always remember, they helped me so hopefully they can help you too.
1. Done is better than perfect
You’ll waste more time procrastinating and thinking about perfection than it would actually take to record and post if you’re not careful. People care much more for unpolished, authentic content these days than for overly edited, influencer style stuff. So be imperfect, it’s normal. Just get it done. The improvements will come with time.
2. Volume negates luck
The more you put into it, the better you’ll be. IF you make 100 videos in a month, you’ll have learnt far more than the person who has only made 3. So you probably have to put in a lot more work than you think.
My tip is to make it as easy as humanly possible to make content. Just a phone camera and a thought is all you need.
3. The magic you’re looking for is in the work you’re avoiding.
I’m not going to expand on this. Just read the quote again and let it sit with you for a while.
4. Success comes when there is literally no other option.
As I kinda mentioned already, focusing on only the stuff that matters gives you the fastest route to success. When there’s no friends around to distract you, no notifications, nothing else to worry about with you’re locked in, success will come.
5. Expand your time horizons, it will work.
It can take weeks, it can take months, it can sometimes even take years but as long as you keep putting in the work and keep putting in the hours with intention, it will work.
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