Influencer Manager Disaster: Shea Whitney SPILLS Why She Will NEVER Hire a Manager Again + How to Work with Brands The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 299
“Brands reach out to influencers and content creators all the time directly, and I just don’t think that you always need a manager to get it.”
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Shea Whitney is a full-time fashion and lifestyle creator who launched her YouTube channel in 2016 with reviews of luxury handbags and accessories. She has since expanded her channel into other weekly content such as style tips and tricks, shopping hauls, productivity hacks, etc. and now has over 1 million subscribers. She resides in Pittsburgh, PA where she was born and raised. She is also married and a mother of 2 small boys.
This is Shea’s third time as a guest on the YouTube Power Hour, but in this episode, we talked a lot about working with a manager. Shea has worked with a manager in the past, but in her experience, she actually prefers not to. She was approached a lot over the last 2 years (after she already had over a million subscribers) and she did several calls and interviews before finally finding someone she really clicked with; someone who had been recommended to her by a close friend. She thought by hiring a manager, she could take some things off her plate and be exposed to other opportunities she would have not otherwise had. Thankfully, in the contract, there was a clause where she could get out at any time. Within that first month, Shea realized that it wasn’t working out the way she thought it would. Instead of him bringing her opportunities, she was still bringing them to him, bug this time, he was getting a cut. She didn’t love that she had built relationships with brands on her own, and someone else was taking a cut of it. You still have to email back and forth with questions, and by adding a manager, it adds almost a middle man when it is so much more productive for Shea to do it on her own. Shea prides herself in being easy to work with, but when you work with a manager, you have no idea how that manager is representing you. She started to worry about the reputation she had built as being easy to work with when someone else was communicating and negotiating on her behalf. She ended her contract shortly after the first month, not because of anything against the manager personally, it just wasn’t a good fit with how she prefers to work.
“There isn’t one right answer. There are many routes you can go.”
Shea believes that you don’t necessarily need a manager. Brands reach out to content creators and influencers directly all the time, so a manager is just adding what can be an unnecessary step. Since she didn’t work with a manager until after she had a million subscribers, she was negotiating brand deals when she had a much smaller audience, and even now, youtubers with way fewer subscribers than Shea are landing great deals on their own. Long-term relationships are possible, and that’s what you want to strive for. You want to offer fresh and new things to your audience, but you also want to show that you really love this brand or product. Shea is proud to say that she has maintained several long-term relationships with brands, and that she won’t make a video just to make it. Her strategy is unique in that she doesn’t do videos that she knows will perform badly, because it could affect any opportunities that might come her way. She never does dedicated videos because it narrows the potential audience. Instead, she prefers to integrate it into a video idea that has a more broad topic because more people will see it.
So how do you know if hiring a manager is right for you?
Take a look at what’s happening. If nothing is coming your way and if you’re not getting opportunities, look at your views first. If you’re getting a lot of views and you’re still not getting opportunities, then maybe think about hiring one. If a manager approaches you (because they will usually approach you and not the other way around, and it’s better that way), get on a call or a few meetings with them and see if it’s a good fit, and really look over the contract before you sign anything. If you want to experiment like Shea did, it’s imperative that you don’t rush into anything and that you sign a contract that you can get out of at any time.
Can you make more money with a manager negotiating on your behalf?
In Shea’s experience, no, but her experience is not universal and others might have had a different experience. The deals were lower than what she had gotten on her own, and then with his cut being taken from it, she was losing money.
How do you decide how much to charge?
Everyone always starts too low, but you learn from mistakes and experiences. Develop some relationships with people who are a similar size and work together to see what they charge. Ideally, you want the brand to throw out a number first so you don’t sell yourself short. It doesn’t always work, but if they throw out a number higher than what you were expecting, then you know what you can charge.
“Feel free to walk away, and most times, they come back, and you end up getting what you really want.”
Mentioned in the Episode:
Episode 94: NEWBIE SUCCESS REVEALS HOW TO GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE WITH SHEA WHITNEY
Episode 151: SHEA WHITNEY IS BACK AND GREW ALMOST 400K SUBS IN ONE YEAR!
Connect with Shea:
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- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
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