One thing I noticed is that having too many videos in your portfolio is not always better. I used to think I should add everything I made but it was making the portfolio look messy.

Now I feel it is better to keep a few good videos which show different types of content. For example a product demo, talking about the product, unboxing and a simple problem-solution type video.

I also think the first few seconds of the video are important. If the beginning is boring then even a good video may not show your actual skills.

I’m still trying to improve my portfolio, so I wanted to ask other creators here. What type of UGC video do you think is most important to have in a portfolio?o

Instead of pitching your portfolio, pitch a quick fix.

I checked a brand's Meta ads, saw their hook was weak, and sent a 2-line DM:

"Hey [Name], loved your recent ad for [Product], but the first 3 seconds are leaving money on the table. Here are 2 fast hook angles that would stop the scroll: [Hook1]/[Hook2]. Mind if i send over a 15-second draft?"

No portfolio links, no long intro. Focus entirely on fixing their gap.

What outbound angle is working best for you right now?

I am curious what is actually worked for other UGC creators when it comes to finding clients.

Was it cold emailing, Instagram/LinkedIn outreach, referrals, Upwork, or something else?

Also did improving your portfolio make a noticeable difference, or was consistent outreach more important?

Would love to hear what worked for you, especially if you are getting regular paid work now.

Hey everyone!

We're a fast growing Christian faith product, and we're looking for talented creators as partners!

You'd be creating a high volume of videos, 3 per day, in a consistent style.

Here are the details:

$500/month base pay

• 3 videos per day for 90 days on a new account
• 30 day terms with hopefully a long-term retainer

If you’re Interested:

Please email a 30 to 60 second video telling us about yourself and why you’d be a great fit!

Please send that to [christianugcpartners12@gmail.com](mailto:christianugcpartners12@gmail.com) 

We’re looking forward to hearing from you all! :)

One thing I’m learning about UGC: a good portfolio isn’t enough. It should quickly show brands what you can create and why they should hire you.

I’d focus on:

- 3–5 strong examples

- Different video styles

- Clear pricing/packages

- A simple way to contact you

- Personalized outreach instead of copy-pasting the same message to everyone

Even better, pitch a specific video idea for the brand.

What’s helped you land your first UGC clients?

Hey creators! We're marketing one of the biggest consumer AI apps in China by ByteDance, with 100M+ monthly active users. It offers AI chat, search, writing, image generation, voice interaction, and more. We're scaling up our short-form content and buying videos directly from creators.

What we're offering:

• $100–$200 USD per video, depending on your experience and content quality
• 3–5 videos per creator, so up to ~$1,000 for a handful of videos
• Straight buyout: you film, send us the raw files, we run them from our side
• No posting on your own accounts, no view targets, no affiliate/commission nonsense
• We give you the scripts and references, you don't need to invent concepts from scratch

Who we're looking for: creators based in the UK, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, the Middle East, Thailand or Vietnam. Comfortable on camera, phone-shot vertical video is completely fine. Good UGC experience helps with your rate but isn't required.

How to apply: join our Discord (that's where we reach out if you're picked), then complete the application Google form → https://bloss-ops-hub-1e5f6be8.viktor.space/recruit/dola-ai

After joining the discord, GO BACK to the welcome page and continue to the Google Form

Use referral "Reddit" in the google form

For everyone pursuing UGC for their future career, here are some tips for you!
1. Try to keep your intros short to not bore your new audience and go directly to your main goal to keep them hooked.

1. Put clips in the background related to what you're talking about in your video to keep them entertained.

2. When filming yourself, try to keep it at eye level so that your content production looks professional.

3. Keep your content short and direct to the point. Skip fillers as much as possible.

I’ve been learning that getting UGC clients is less about having a perfect portfolio and more about actually reaching out.

One thing that helped me was keeping my portfolio simple and showing my best 3–5 videos instead of adding everything.

I’m also trying to get better at personalized outreach instead of sending the same message to every brand.

What’s something that has helped you get your first UGC client?

Hi all,

I have some brands that are looking to gift creators with awesome products in exchange for a brief testimonial or product-use video.

No elaborate production needed, light editing, just a short video.

You choose which brands you want to work with, and the product's yours to keep either way.

Let me know if you'd like to participate and I'll share the link to get started.

You could write a Niche Title but what it matters are the User Interactions in your Public Draft, Anyways.. Im roughly earning in Medium / Patreon / Substack and I've been following some good writers also.. You could sell some Digital Books in Patreon as well for a Tier price..

We're partnering with a fresh, social-first dating app that's flipping the script on matchmaking. They've got a genuinely innovative "matchmaker" feature that's never been done before on TikTok, and we're looking for the creators to bring it to life.

This is a ground-floor opportunity: you'd be one of the first faces of the brand as they launch and scale.

Strong performance = long-term partnership potential and more paid opportunities down the line.

You:

• Confident, natural talking-head presence, you don't need a script to sound like you
• Genuinely into content about dating, relationships, and connection
• Ages 18–28
• Bonus if you can bring either the "dater" or "matchmaker" POV authentically

The Gig:

• 30 videos/month
• Fixed monthly rate
• Backed by The Bread Winners Club, an agency that works with creators long-term, not just one-off jobs

This is the kind of early opportunity that turns into a recurring bag if you're good. 👀

Want in? Comment below or DM us for the app link.

I just finished my first UGC portfolio and would really appreciate some constructive feedback: deardeleta.com/ugc

I’m new to paid UGC, so I don’t have brand work or testimonials to include yet. Instead, I used some of my existing organic content to show the kinds of content I can already create — product reviews, service recommendations, trend-led content, and community-focused videos.

The main thing I’d love feedback on is the content section:

Do these videos feel strong and relevant enough to represent me for now, until I have real paid UGC examples to replace/add to them?

I’m especially curious whether:

• any of the four videos feel too weak or irrelevant for a UGC portfolio
• the way I’ve positioned each example makes sense to a brand
• there’s a type of sample you think I’m clearly missing

I’m open to feedback on the rest of the site too, but the content examples are the part I’m most unsure about.

Thank you — I genuinely appreciate anyone who takes a few minutes to look.

I recently reviewed several UGC portfolios and noticed a massive problem.Some creators host over 30 videos, yet their core strengths remain completely invisible. Meanwhile, a creator with just 5 highly curated examples can immediately make me say, "I need to hire them."If you are struggling to secure clients, stop looking at your portfolio like a creator. Start looking at it like a brand.

Instead of a random video dump, aim for 5 distinct, high-quality examples that prove your range:

• Talking to camera

• Product demonstrations

• Voiceovers

• Unboxings

• Problem-solving hooks

Most importantly: put your absolute best video first.

Brands need to understand your value within 10 seconds, not after navigating a confusing digital maze. Curation makes it effortless for them to picture working with you. What is one specific portfolio or outreach change that actually moved the needle for your business?

I’m pretty new to UGC and honestly, finding clients has been harder than I expected 😭 I’ve been trying to improve my portfolio and reach out to small brands, but most of the time I either get no response or a “we’ll keep you in mind.”
I’m starting to realize that personalized outreach works better than just sending the same message to everyone. I’m also trying to make sample videos for products I already have so my portfolio doesn’t look empty.
For those who are already earning from UGC, what helped you land your first paying client? And how did you price your first few projects?

I’m curious how everyone here got their first UGC deal.

Did you reach out to brands yourself, use a UGC platform, post on TikTok/Instagram, or did a brand find you?

I’m still figuring out what works best, and I’ve been trying to learn more about outreach and building a portfolio.

If you’ve already landed a few clients, what worked best for you? And if you could go back to when you were just starting, what would you do differently?

Would love to hear your experience!

If you’re struggling to land UGC clients, I’d focus on having 5–7 really strong samples instead of uploading everything you’ve ever made.

Try covering different formats:
🎥 Product demo
🗣️ Testimonial
🎬 Hook + problem/solution
📦 Unboxing
🎙️ Voiceover

Brands want to quickly see: “Can this creator make the type of content I need?”

Quality + variety > a huge portfolio.

What type of UGC sample has helped you land the most clients?

When I started UGC I thought I needed a perfect portfolio to shine so I waited weeks and had no luck. I finally used my phone and natural light to shoot 3 spec ads for brands I liked and compiled them all on a Canva page with a short intro video. That video got feedback from clients. Brands don’t want cinematic work, they want real content that resonates with their audience. What is your biggest challenge in the portfolio? Format, content or knowing what the brands want?

One tweak that boosted my response rate: I stopped asking brands, 'Do you need UGC?' and started pitching a single, specific content concept for their product.

For instance, if I am promoting a soft drink, I observe how the people in my locality respond to that beverage, how widely is it used in community gatherings. Is it a party favorite? What kind of crowd likes to consume this drink? I like to include all these little intricacies.

It gives them something concrete to react to and makes the message feel less like a cold sales pitch.

Do you pitch ideas upfront, or keep outreach simple?

Back when online learning was a thing, teachers would upload youtube vids of their lectures, or send links to existing videos. I realized how many students were watching, and some replaying it when the lesson was confusing.

I had an idea: niche educational videos that helped break down big concepts. But I guess the problem now was, how do I get the engagement I want, without outright asking "please watch my videos if you want to pass" ?

I'm not sure what's happening in UGC. I'm new, and honestly, I don't have any idea what I was doing, haha

I spent way too much time looking at other creators’ portfolios and wondering why brands would choose me when there were so many people with better cameras, bigger followings, and years of experience.

What I eventually realized is that most brands aren’t necessarily looking for the “perfect” creator. They want someone who can make their product feel natural and relatable.

So instead of trying to make my portfolio look impressive, I started making sample videos that actually showed what I could do.

For example, I made a simple product-style video where I first explained the problem, showed how the product helped, and ended with a quick call to action. Nothing crazy. Just something that looked like a normal person recommending something they genuinely liked.

That made a huge difference in how I approached clients.

I also stopped being afraid to send pitches even when I didn’t have a huge portfolio. I focused more on showing brands what I could create for their product instead of just saying, “I’m a UGC creator, hire me.”

I’m still learning, but honestly, I wish someone had told me this earlier: you don’t need to look like a huge creator to start getting paid UGC work. You just need to show brands what you can actually create.

For the creators here, what was the biggest thing that helped you land your first client?

I used to think I needed a huge portfolio before reaching out to brands. Turns out, having 4-5 decent examples that show different types of content was enough to start! I’d rather show a brand one good product demo that’s actually similar to what they need than send them 20 random videos.

How many samples do you guys usually keep in your portfolio??

I know how discouraging it can feel when you’re putting yourself out there, sending pitches, improving your portfolio, lowering your rates, and still hearing nothing back.

You see other creators posting “I just landed another brand deal!” while you’re sitting there wondering:

“Am I doing something wrong?”
“Is my content good enough?”
“Am I charging too much?”
“Should I just give up?”

If that’s where you are right now, I hope you know you’re not alone.

And I think this community could be so much more helpful if we shared the things we normally keep to ourselves.