Influencer

by Brittany Hennessy

  ON WORKING WITH YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER . . .

  Working with my partner, like anything else, has its benefits and challenges. We decided to work together because I believed he had skills that strongly complemented mine. He has a strong business background and organizational skills while I am more of a creative sort. He has overhauled our whole activity into a real business, while I get to focus on delivering more content through more platforms and in higher quality.

  When it comes to working with a life partner, I believe there are no clear rules that can determine whether such a relationship can be successful or not. I believe the most important thing is to draw a clear separation between work and home so as to not let one take over the other. It is my belief that it is this balance that is the foundation of a successful and healthy work relationship with a significant other.

  ON TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL AND DESIGNING YOUR OWN LINE . . .

  Sometimes I have to pinch myself and remind myself that I’m actually doing this. It is truly a dream come true! I had thought about launching my own line for a long time and I wanted it to be the next step I took in my career. Therefore, when all the right conditions presented themselves, I didn’t think about it twice and immediately went for the opportunity. Obviously, this would have not been possible without the success of Lovely Pepa. Pooled together, my blog and social media reach millions, and leveraging that power of influence is at the core of our business model.

  ON WOMEN DOMINATING INFLUENCER MARKETING . . .

  I am quite encouraged by this achievement, as the professional world usually works against women. It is proof that sex does not determine your ability to be successful at a job, and it is high time that we started being valued for our ability to get a job done rather than other considerations.

  The Insta-ready lifestyle should not create unrealistic expectations for women out there. Sometimes, I believe that by aiming to inspire others, we can also end up relaying a misleading message: that something is wrong with who you are. In that sense, I believe that we bear the responsibility to keep our public aware of the reality and imperfections behind this picture-perfect world that we have built.

  My advice to young content creators is to make an educated decision about pursuing this kind of lifestyle. This path is complicated and not perfect. We have our bad days just like everyone else. Also, we work every day of the week; I do not know what a weekend means.

  ON HINDSIGHT BEING 20/20 . . .

  I would have loved to have a mentor when I first started—someone from this industry to talk to about the issues I faced and that would actually understand and guide me in my choices and on how to maintain the right lifework balance. Social interaction is also very important, and our lifestyle can also come at the cost of our relationships.

  As far as aspiring influencers are concerned, I would say that most importantly, you should believe in yourself. If you do it right, you can achieve success. This will come with hard work and by making sacrifices along the way. But nothing good ever comes for free. Most importantly, I recommend you embrace what makes you different, for it is what will eventually make your brand.

  CHAPTER 7

  The Agent

  How do you know when you’re ready and where do you find one?

  You might be wondering how your favorite influencer books all of these campaigns while still finding time to create amazing content. The short answer is, she doesn’t. She probably has a team of people helping her on the business side so she can focus on the creative.

  Many influencers who are at the top of the industry have assembled a squad that includes one to all of the big five.

  1. The Assistant. She answers emails, books travel, and keeps an eye on the editorial calendar. She usually is paid hourly. Or she may be your mom, who is super happy you’re finally off her couch.

  2. The Manager. She gives you career advice, keeps tabs on the other members of your squad, and helps you expand your brand into makeup lines, fashion collaborations, and collections at Target. Many influencer managers were previously accountants or lawyers, so they often help their clients with those areas as well. She usually makes a percentage (15 to 20 percent) of your yearly income, so it’s in her best interest to make sure you are successful.

  3. The Publicist. She keeps you in the public eye and finds media opportunities to raise your profile. She usually works on retainer, so you pay her X amount of dollars for X amount of hours. She wants you to do well, because if you don’t, you won’t have any money to pay her and you’ll have to let her go.

  4. The Attorney. She goes over all your contracts and negotiates your terms. She also makes sure your exclusivity windows don’t overlap. She usually charges an insane amount per hour and you pay her, because no matter how much she costs, it’s still less than settling a lawsuit.

  5. The Agent. She sometimes does all the above depending on the size of the company she works for, or if she owns her own agency. She’s here to make sure you book campaigns, because she doesn’t get paid unless you do. She usually makes 10 to 15 percent of each deal she gets you, although in California she’s capped at 10 percent. She is the most important person on this list, so we’re going to spend the rest of the chapter talking about her.

  THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

  Agents are my people, because I spend all day talking to them on the phone, emailing them between meetings, and having lunch with them to talk about everything from brand fails to our favorite influencers.

  Agents are a great asset, because they’re in constant contact with people who are in a position to offer you money. I was working on a campaign and needed to secure a fabulous teenager who was great in front of the camera. And I needed to do it quickly, because the shoot was less than a week away. I searched Instagram and YouTube for days and found a lot of girls that I liked but none that I loved for this particular advertiser. Jade over at Abrams told me I should look at rising star Daniella Perkins (@daniellaperkins), and she was exactly what I was looking for. Super cute, great smile, amazing personality, and acting chops. I loved her, the editor loved her, and the advertiser loved her. A win for everyone involved, and I never would have found her in time on my own.

  But for every three agents that I love, there is one that drives me crazy—and here are the top five reasons why.

  1. She doesn’t respond to emails or phone calls in a timely manner. When your entire job consists of emails and phone calls to book jobs for your clients and you don’t do either, you’re a terrible agent. Although I hate when agents don’t respond when I put out a soft offer, I can deal with it. But when we’re in the middle of a negotiation and she disappears for three days, or we have a shoot/ deadline coming up and she’s radio silent, I might simply decide her clients aren’t worth the stress she causes and stop working with her.

  2. She’s fighting with me over $5. Working through contracts with agents is far from my favorite thing, and it’s because some of them don’t know when they have a good deal and should just sign on the dotted line. I totally understand that they are trying to get the best deal for their client and that the more the deal is worth, the more they make, but if you keep asking for rope, soon it will be long enough to kill this deal.

  DON’T BE THAT GIRL

  I was working with an agent on a pretty large budget campaign where they originally wanted $100,000, but there was no way the influencer was worth that much, so I said no. Plus, I didn’t have that much money, but there was no reason for them to know that.

  We finally landed on $75,000 and were ready to draw up a contract, but the agent had one last request: I also needed to fly out a sitter for the influencer’s dog. Wait, what now? I am going to pay this girl $75,000 and she can’t find someone to watch her dog while she flies to New York for two days? I said no and told her my budget was maxed out. Now maybe her client was a super huge diva and actually demanded this, but then the agent should have paid it out of her $7,500 commission. She probably thought I was bluffing an
d told me that unless I flew out the dog sitter, the deal was off. Well guess what, the deal was off.

  I could almost hear her freak out from across the country via email when she realized that I wasn’t bluffing, but I literally had zero dollars left. Imagine having to tell your client you just lost them $67,500 over a $675 plane ticket?

  3. She says the influencer isn’t interested when I know she is because I asked her myself. Sometimes I think agents forget that before they signed their client, other people had worked with them. I know a lot of influencers and I knew many of them when they had less than 100K followers. I also gave a lot of them their first campaign or introduced them to their agent, so we’re cool like that. I often have coffee with influencers to see what they’ve been up to, where they’re traveling next, and if there are any brands they want to work with. And I keep all the information in a database, so if an opportunity comes up I know to pitch her. Every so often, a brand that an influencer mentioned at our coffee date comes across my desk and I’ll reach out to the influencer’s agent to see if she’s available to do the campaign. The agent might tell me the advertiser isn’t on brand for the influencer so she’s going to pass. I’ll know this to be BS and tell the agent to ask the influencer anyway. Lo and behold, the influencer wants to do it and we can start the negotiations.

  4. She makes extra requests after we have already settled on a fee. Few things grind my gears more than an agent throwing a wrench into a perfectly negotiated plan. If we have hammered out all the details and come to a price that makes both parties happy, there should be very few things that flip over the whole table and make us start over. But there are some agents who forget things until the worst possible moment to remember them.

  DON’T BE THAT GIRL

  I did a contract where we finally settled on a fee after a few days of negotiation. I start drafting the contract and the agent just casually lets it drop that the influencer also needs to fly business class. And then she later asks if the influencer can stay at a particular hotel. Ma’am, I would have given you a whole lot less money if I knew I was going to be coughing up an extra $3,500 for travel expenses. I couldn’t even say no because this influencer was the advertiser’s first choice and I had already told them she would do it. If my budget is tight, I now know this agent is NOT a good one to be working with because she’ll run up a tab and leave me with the bill.

  5. She says an influencer isn’t available without double-checking with the influencer. Max over at Buchwald is one of my favorite agents. His clients love him because he brings every offer to them and allows them to be involved in the decision making. I love this approach because why should someone else stop you from getting a paycheck? Maybe you normally wouldn’t work with XYZ brand, but they just hired your favorite celeb to be their spokesperson so you’re down. Or maybe they have terrible mascaras, but you’re a huge fan of their eyeliner. People change their minds all the time, so your agent should never decline a campaign on your behalf unless it’s for exclusivity reasons.

  DON’T BE THAT GIRL

  I remember emailing an influencer and her agent about a campaign I was booking. I really wanted this influencer to be a part of the campaign, but we had a tight schedule and it had to shoot on a certain date. Her agent responded quickly, telling me they would have to pass because his client would be out of the country on vacation during the shoot. Before I could even respond, the influencer jumped in and said that she would come back early so she could participate. Her agent almost lost her $10,000 because he thought she wouldn’t want to cut her vacation short. Obviously her agent didn’t realize $10,000 is enough money to make almost anyone get back to work.

  FINDING THE ONE

  There are plenty of things an agent can do that will jeopardize your career, so it’s super important that you pick the right one. Whether they approach you, or you approach them, this is a defining moment of your career, so treat finding an agent the same way you would treat researching a company before accepting a job offer.

  LOOK AT THEIR FULL CLIENT ROSTER

  Are you focused on beauty, but all their clients are in fashion? Do you consider yourself a “relatable” influencer but their clients are more aspirational? Are you a blogger, but their roster has way more vloggers on it? These are all good questions to ask yourself and ask your potential agent. It can be both a blessing and a curse to be very different from everyone on the roster.

  If anyone is looking for a plus-sized blogger and you’re the only one on their list, they will pitch you each and every time. However, many agents spend time making connections with people who align with their client base. So, if their roster is full of travel bloggers, they may not be that well-connected in the home decor space. It’s also important to remember that agents try to pitch their rosters in package deals, which means you will probably find yourself on the same campaigns with some of their other clients. If you take a look at the roster and on it are girls you would not want to be caught dead in the same room with, that’s probably not the agency for you. But if their roster is packed with girls who are #contentgoals for you, then ding, ding, ding, you have a winner!

  MEET YOUR AGENT IN REAL LIFE

  I know quite a few people who chatted with their agent over email and then just signed with them. I think a few of those relationships turned out okay, but that just sounds scary to me. This is the person who will be pitching you and negotiating on your behalf. You should definitely meet them or at least video chat and see if you vibe with them.

  ASK TO SPEAK WITH OTHER CLIENTS

  The best way to find out what an agent is like is to speak with the other people they represent. You can ask questions about the agent’s communication style and if they’re generally happy with the campaigns the agent has been securing. You can also ask other clients if they’ve been approached by other agents, and if they have, why they’ve stayed.

  ASK TO SEE THE CONTRACT

  We’ve talked about how important it is to see all the details before accepting a campaign offer, and this is no different. What percentage of your earnings are they going to take? How often are you going to get paid? What does the process look like? Some agencies get paid by the advertiser and then pay you. Others let the advertiser break up their invoices into two parts and pay you directly. I’ve heard that there are agencies that make you wait until you earn a certain amount before they’ll cut a check for you, but I’ve never actually seen this in action. If the agency you’re considering has this as a practice, take a good long look at that number, because it might mean you will be working a lot before you see a single dime.

  LOOK UP THEIR WORK HISTORY

  How long have they been at this particular agency? How long have they been in this business in general? Are they well connected or are they relatively new to the game? If you’re still a small fry (250K followers and under) when you land an agent, it would make sense that you’ll be assigned to someone more junior, but you should still do your due diligence and stalk her out on LinkedIn. While you’re over there, check out the profiles of her coworkers and the founders AND do a deep Google search (like read the results on page 5). You’ll be able to gauge her authority level and decide if she’s the right person for you.

  INFLUENCER INSIGHT

  After being a digital content creator and brand influencer for about three years, I took the next step and signed with an agent. I had been looking for one for about a year or so and had a few reach out to me, but none of them felt like the right fit. However, when Brittany introduced me to Besidone Amoruwa, I knew she was the one right away.

  There were a few things that helped me make my decision. First, I knew and trusted Brittany’s suggestion since she pitched me for my first partnership at Hearst with Elle.com and Maybelline, and she had years of experience in the industry. Then, once I met Besidone in person, I connected with her on a personal level right away and trusted her. It is so important to have an agent who has your best interests in mind and really wants to help you grow
personally, financially, and as a brand.

  My agent also had a lot of experience working with different brands and talents, and I knew how valuable that was. She also told me that not only would she help to negotiate my contracts and partnerships, but she would be pitching me as well!

  Having an agent really helped me get to the next level, open me up to opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise, and helped me to excel as an influencer. I am super grateful to have one and I definitely suggest having an agent if possible!

  —@heygorjess

  WILL YOU BE MY AGENT?

  All of this is assuming agents are blowing up your DMs trying to get you to sign with them. But what if you want to pitch yourself to an agent?

  KNOW THEIR NICHE

  Every agency will have a website where you can check out the type of talent they represent, and some even list their roster. If they don’t, a quick Google search will help you figure out who some of their key people are. If a company only represents mommy bloggers and you are years away from having a kid, they’re probably not the agency for you. But if you have access to their roster and you think you can help them fill a certain niche, that’s a great thing to note.

  FIND THE BEST PERSON TO CONTACT

  Many companies have someone who is the head of talent, and that’s who you’ll want to pitch. Can’t find her? An email to the CEO will usually make its way to the right person. An even better way to make contact is to be introduced by a mutual friend. That’s where all this networking comes in. Surely you know someone who can vouch for you and tell this agency how lucky they would be to have you as a client? Social networks are a great resource to work backward from and see who can introduce you to someone you’re looking to meet. Find that person and offer them 10 percent of your first campaign. Referral incentives go a long way! If you don’t know anyone, it’s time to start hitting the conference circuit. And if you live in a small town and these conferences are out of reach, have no fear, a well-written cold email can go a long way. I have taken meetings with and booked people who wrote me out of the blue. If you are talented, only a fool would pass without seeing what you have to offer first.