How I Started UGC With Zero Followers (My First Paid Deal Was $150)

Okay, so people ask me this constantly: “How did you actually start? Like, what was the first step?” And I get it, because when I was googling this two years ago all I found were people with 100k followers saying “just be authentic.” Not helpful.

So here is what actually happened, including the awkward parts.

Where I was before UGC

I’m 27, I live in New York, and I have always been that friend who knows which serum you should buy. I was posting my skincare routine on Instagram for basically nobody. Under 300 followers, most of them people I went to school with.

I first heard about UGC from a girl on TikTok explaining that brands pay creators for videos they never even post on their own page. The brand uses them. My first reaction was “that can’t be real money.” My second reaction was “wait, I already film this stuff every morning.”

Step 1: I made three videos before I had any reason to

This is the part most people skip, and it’s why they stay stuck. I picked three products I already had on my bathroom shelf, a cleanser, a sheet mask and a lip oil, and I filmed one video for each as if the brand had hired me.

• Cleanser: a talking-head “here’s why I switched” video, 30 seconds.
• Sheet mask: an ASMR-style texture video, no talking, just the peel and the serum.
• Lip oil: an unboxing with the “first impression” energy.

They were not great. My lighting was a window and a desk lamp. But they looked like ads, and that was the whole point. If you want the exact list of formats I’d film today, it’s in my portfolio guide.

Step 2: I put them somewhere a brand could actually look

I made a one-page site with my name, “beauty UGC, NYC,” and the three videos. That’s it. No bio essay. No rates. I’ve since learned that brands spend about five seconds on a portfolio, so this accidentally turned out to be the right call.

Step 3: I emailed 40 brands I actually liked

Here’s where I made my first real decision: I did not email big brands. I emailed small skincare and body-care brands, the kind you find on Instagram with 10k–50k followers, a founder who’s clearly still packing orders, and a Shopify store. They need content, they don’t have a creative team, and the founder reads her own email.

My email was short. Three lines about their product (I had genuinely used it or just bought it), a link to my portfolio, and one question: “Do you work with UGC creators?” The version of that email I use now is in how I pitch beauty brands, and honestly it’s not that different.

Out of 40 emails, I got two replies. One said “not right now but love your videos.” The other said “yes, what are your rates?”

Step 4: I panicked about rates and said $150

I had no idea what to charge. I googled for an hour, saw everything from $50 to $1,000, and said $150 for one video with organic usage. She said yes in ten minutes, which, as I now know, means I could have asked for more. If you’re at this stage, please read my rates guide before you answer that email. I wish I had.

But here’s the thing: that $150 changed everything, not because of the money, but because it proved a random person in Brooklyn with 300 followers could get paid by a brand for a phone video. After that I stopped wondering whether it was real and started treating it like a job.

What I’d tell myself to do differently

• Film the spec videos on day one. Not after you “learn editing.” Not after you get a ring light. The first three videos are for proving to yourself you can do it.
• Pitch small brands first. Faster replies, nicer people, and they’ll actually give you feedback.
• Have a rate in mind before anyone asks. Even a rough one. “Let me get back to you” is fine, “$150” said in a panic is not.
• Track everything. I started a spreadsheet after the first 40 emails: brand, contact, date, reply. Two years later it’s a database of a few hundred beauty brands and it’s the most valuable thing I own. The first 50 of them are free, by the way, at the bottom of this page.
• Don’t wait for followers. I still don’t have a big audience. I have a portfolio and an inbox.

The timeline, honestly

Week 1: filmed three videos, built the page. Week 2: found 40 brands and their emails. Week 3: sent the emails, got two replies, closed one for $150. Month 2: three more deals, all under $300. Month 6: my first $1,000+ month.

It wasn’t fast and it wasn’t magic. It was three videos, forty emails, and a spreadsheet. If you want a step-by-step version of those first few weeks, I wrote out my first 30 days plan so you can just follow it.