Accidentally Influential

Most podcast guests get interviewed after they've figured it out. Hannah Jurczak is in the middle of it.

She started posting in January. Went viral in February. Landed a $7,000 single-video brand deal in July. And she's also, by her own account, in a rut right now. That's exactly why we wanted her on.

Hannah is a corporate dropout documenting what it looks like to make $130 a day across three income streams to stay out of a 9 to 5. She's at 18K on Instagram and 32K on TikTok, and she's done it in under a year by studying storytelling harder than most creators ever will.

What We Cover:

• Why she started posting: she wanted to practice for UGC and needed a story
• The video she almost didn't make, a month and a half in, that became her first viral hit
• The second layer, the financial side, that turned a viral video into a following
• Her storytelling rule: every video has to teach something or connect as a human, or it doesn't get posted
• How "Day in the Life of a Corporate Dropout" became an accidental signature series, and why the $130-a-day stake works as a character arc
• Her honest take on signature series: lazy-girl content that got her 10K followers, and why she might retire it
• The $7,000 brand deal five months in, and why it came from community first, not brand first
• The deal she took too low, the failed negotiation, and the text she sent Kate
• "How would it feel in your gut if they said yes?" as a guidepost
• Her editing formula: text animations, matched sound effects, keyframes, and why you always film changing rooms
• Why low views hurt worse than hate comments, and Tea's reframe on ego versus data
• What she'd tell January Hannah
• Rapid fire: TikTok or Instagram, the orangutan arms comment, and the Diet Coke dream partnership

Find Hannah: @hannahjurczak on TikTok and Instagram

Episodes Referenced: Season 2 Episode 24: How to Yap on Camera So Brands Want to Work With You (Spotify | Apple) Season 2 Episode 3: How to Build a Community That Attracts Brand Deals Using Storytelling ft. Mackenzie Heflin (Spotify | Apple) Season 2 Episode 12: How to Monetize Your Content Without Losing Your Audience's Trust (Spotify | Apple) Season 2 Episode 13: How to Respond When a Brand Asks "What Are Your Rates?" (Spotify | Apple) Episode 5, Season 1: What to Charge Brands for Content: The 4R Pricing Framework (Spotify | Apple) Episode 17, Season 1: How to Deal With Hate Comments as a Creator (Spotify | Apple)

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Tags: quit my job to become a content creator, corporate dropout, first brand deal, how to get brand deals as a small creator, brand deals, how much do small creators make, content creator income, signature series, how to start a series on TikTok, storytelling for content creators, views dropped after going viral, what to do after a viral video, low views, small creator, UGC creator, how to quit your 9 to 5, content creator first year, day in the life content, EDUcreator, creator economy

Everybody is suddenly talking about yap content. People are making millions teaching it. Here's our confession: this is how we built our audiences, years before anyone named it. It's also how we built the trust that brands have paid us over a million dollars to access.

Today we're yapping about yapping. What it is, why brands care, why it feels awkward at first, the anatomy of a good yap, and a 7-day challenge to get you started.

What We Cover:

• What yap content is and the difference between yapping and rambling
• Why talking-head content on Instagram started authoritative, and why that's not the trust brands are buying
• Why yap content is AI-proof and what that means for educational creators
• The familiarity it builds, and why that parasocial trust is what makes brand partnerships convert
• Tea's first million-view video: she opened her camera out of frustration
• Kate's first talking-head video that took two hours to film in chunks
• Why it feels awkward and the mindset shift that fixes it
• The anatomy of a good yap: one idea, start where it's interesting, talk to one person, sound like yourself, land the plane
• The one-take trick: find the line a minute in and move it to the front
• Kate's Photopea tutorial that pulled tens of thousands of views for a problem nobody talks about
• Why Tea films holding her phone instead of on a tripod
• Permission slips: stop scripting, record before you're ready, watch yourself back, stop sounding like an expert
• The 7-day yap challenge

Your Challenge: Seven days of yap content. If it doesn't feel sustainable, you're overthinking it.

Episodes Referenced: Season 2 Episode 10: Stop Using AI Like This Season 2 Episode 12: How to Monetize Your Content Without Losing Your Audience's Trust Season 2 Episode 1: You're Already Doing This for Free Episode 25, Season 1: How to Grow on TikTok as a Business ft. Sarah Weiss

Join the Creator Club Waitlist Follow us: @notaninfluencerco

Tags: yap content, how to yap on camera, yapping videos, yap content creator, talking head videos, how to talk to camera, brand deals, how to get brand deals, build trust with your audience, content creator tips, how to be confident on camera, AI proof content, authentic content, how to grow on TikTok, how to grow on Instagram, content that attracts brands, EDUcreator, creator economy, content creation tips, parasocial trust

Nobody makes fun TikToks about this. Nobody DMs us asking about it. But your money systems matter more than almost anything else we talk about on this show if you want a sustainable career.

This is the unsexy, essential episode: separating your money, setting aside for taxes, how you get paid, the fees eating your income, and the weekly habit that keeps it all from piling up.

Standard disclaimer: not attorneys, not accountants, not financial advisors. Just two business owners sharing what we've done.

What We Cover:

• Why Tea ran her entire business out of the family bank account and why that's a problem
• Liability, asset freezes, and why separation protects more than your bookkeeping
• Why forming an LLC is what unlocks a business bank account and credit card
• The 30% rule: how much to set aside from every payment, and how Kate buckets it
• Tea's daughters and the taxes cup
• Quarterly estimated taxes, when they apply, and what happens when you miss them
• Kate's one-day-late interest charge she's still mad about
• Net 30 and net 60: what they mean and why you're always paid after the work
• Bank transfer versus PayPal, the instant transfer trap, and Tea's $13,000 in fees
• Why split payments sound better than they are
• Brands pay late. Here's how to follow up without feeling awkward
• The weekly money date and why it should be a standing calendar appointment

Your Challenge: Pick one: separate your accounts, or set up your tax bucket. Done by end of week.

Episodes Referenced: Season 2 Episode 8: 5 Content Creator Business Mistakes Keeping You Broke Season 2 Episode 6: Should You Accept Gifted Collabs? Episode 16, Season 1: Legal Gaps ft. Alyssa from Legal Doer

Form your LLC with Tailor Brands: [AFFILIATE LINK] Join the Creator Club Waitlist Follow us: @notaninfluencerco

Tags: content creator taxes, how much to set aside for taxes content creator, quarterly taxes content creator, content creator money management, separate business and personal finances, LLC for content creators, content creator bookkeeping, influencer taxes, net 30 payment terms, how creators get paid, PayPal fees creators, ACH bank transfer, invoicing for creators, content creator finances, self-employed taxes, brand deal payment, content creator business, EDUcreator, creator economy, content creator income

We made over 1 million in brand deals and neither of us has ever hired a manager. Managers take 15 to 25% of every deal, and for educational creators specifically, we think there's a strong case for keeping that money and learning the job yourself.

This episode breaks down the six things a manager does, why we've chosen not to outsource any of them, and how to build the systems to manage your own brand deals without losing your mind.

What We Cover:

• Why management makes sense for celebrity-style endorsement deals and less sense for educational creators
• What you lose when a middleman sits between you and the brand
• Why the brands you choose are a reflection of you, and why that decision shouldn't be outsourced
• The commission question: whether deals you sourced yourself still get a cut
• Job 1: Finding deals, inbound and outbound
• Job 2: Calculating your base rate before any brand conversation
• Job 3: Negotiating, and the myth that managers keep it from getting personal
• Job 4: Contracting. Not writing them. Reading them.
• Why brand-side managers often don't know what's in their own contracts
• Job 5: Project management, from Notion to an Apple Note
• Job 6: Getting paid, and the contract language that delays it
• What a $13,500 one-off deal cost Kate in hours
• Why retainers cut the admin load in half
• What to do if you decide to hire a manager anyway

Your Challenge: Pick the one job you're avoiding most. Build the system this week.

Episodes Referenced: Episode 4, Season 1: The Obvious YES Pitch Episode 5, Season 1: What You Should Charge Episode 7, Season 1: The LEVEL Framework Season 2 Episode 5: Brand Deal Contract Red Flags Season 2 Episode 9: What Brands Look For Before They Say Yes ft. Yulia Storozhuk Season 2 Episode 18: Money Systems for Creators

Join the Creator Club Waitlist Follow us: @notaninfluencerco

We got a deal to what we thought was the finish line. Waiting on the contract. Then it started falling apart.

This is a real brand deal negotiation happening behind the scenes right now. We can't share the brand or the numbers, but we're walking you through every step: the initial offer, our counter, the six-month pause they proposed, the restructured deal that came back, and the call that changed everything.

And you should know this isn't just us. Industry reporting shows brands across the market pausing deals, declining to negotiate, and asking for more scope at lower pay. If it's happening to you, you're not doing anything wrong.

What We Cover:

• Redlining every line of the initial pitch before expressing interest
• Doing real math on usage rights, name and likeness, and funnel strategy before countering
• Pitching a number that felt uncomfortable and why the math made it obvious
• The six-month pause offer and why we said no
• The future promise: the negotiation tactic you should recognize when you see it
• Negotiate scope, not rate: how we restructured the deal to fit their budget
• The contract that came back with money missing
• Having a moment, then asking for a call
• The questions beginner-us would have been afraid to ask
• Why influencer managers aren't the opposing team
• A verbal yes is not a deal
• Learning to see your work inside a brand's full marketing system

Book Mentioned: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Episodes Referenced: Episode 22: What Brands Are Looking For ft. Noam Giras of Tailor Brands Season 2 Episode 9: What Brands Look For Before They Say Yes ft. Yulia Storozhuk of Kittl Season 2 Episode 13: How to Respond When a Brand Asks What Are Your Rates Season 2 Episode 7: How to Renegotiate Your Brand Deal Rates

Join the Creator Club Waitlist Follow us: @notaninfluencerco

We spend a lot of time teaching you how to pitch. This episode is the other side: how to set things up so brands come to you.

Inbound is the highest-margin path in the creator economy, because when a brand reaches out, you're the target instead of one applicant in a pile. Neither of us has actively sought out a new brand partnership in a while, and this is why.

What We Cover:

• How brands actually find creators, from two people who now source creators for their own agency
• Why your influencer manager is just a person scrolling, and what that means for your strategy
• The folder of creators we've saved with nothing to offer them yet
• Why tagging brands in organic content is a strategy, not free labor
• Kate's HelloFresh video that turned into an inbound months later
• The types of content that attract brands, including leaving an intentional brand-shaped gap
• Why your page should demonstrate top, middle, and bottom of funnel ability
• Keywords: why your bio and captions have to be searchable, with a before-and-after example
• Why hashtags still matter in 2026 for creator sourcing
• Why you need a lane before you earn the freedom to broaden
• Make it easy: why Kate has 998 unread TikTok message requests and one of them was from a head of marketing
• Why your media kit should already exist before anyone asks
• Reply fast: the 24-hour window that closes more deals
• Where Kate and Tea differ on response speed and what to take from each
• Playing the long game, the Toyota story, and using affiliate programs as an entry point

Your Challenge: Part one, run a findability audit on your page. Part two, pick one dream brand and mention them organically this week. No pitch. Just start.

Episodes Referenced: Episode 22: What Brands Are Looking For ft. Noam Giras of Tailor Brands Season 2 Episode 1: You're Already Doing This for Free Season 2 Episode 2: Is Your Profile Brand Ready? Season 2 Episode 4: How to Make a Media Kit That Gets Brand Deals Episode 8, Season 1: Affiliate Income the Right Way

Join the Creator Club Waitlist Follow us: @notaninfluencerco

We don't do gossip. But something happened in the creator space this month big enough that skipping it would be a disservice.

Good Good Golf, a creator-led brand with four million followers across platforms, released a co-branded ad with Callaway depicting a man shoving a woman to the ground. Callaway ended a three-year partnership. Good Good lost a PGA Tour title sponsorship. Retailers pulled merchandise. Callaway's CEO confirmed his company approved the ad before it posted.

We're not naming the creators. We are talking about what every creator should take from it.

What We Cover:

• What actually happened, and where the fallout stands now
• Why "they were just actors" misses the point entirely
• How every brand you work with becomes part of your personal brand, permanently
• What happens if a brand keeps running an ad you no longer want your face on
• Why brand approval is not protection for your reputation
• Creative freedom means creative responsibility, and what that means when you're driving the concept
• The reputational risk you can't control: the brand we worked with for three years that collapsed and took our credibility with it
• Short-sightedness at a smaller scale: what to do when a brand asks you to bash a competitor you've worked with
• Why the gut feeling of resistance is worth listening to
• How to push back on a creative brief before you're locked into a contract
• Why this matters even more for UGC creators
• Your challenge: write down your lines now, before money is involved

Episodes Referenced:

• S2E12: How to monetize content without losing your audience trust
• S2E5: Brand deal contract red flags you MUST know
• Ep 3: Brand deals that don't suck / green flags

Join the Creator Club Waitlist Follow us: @notaninfluencerco

If you want more current creator news takes like this, let us know.

52% of creators have experienced burnout because of their careers. Nearly 2 in 5 have thought about quitting entirely. Most consistency advice assumes your life stays the same every week, and it doesn't.

Today we're talking about your BAM: your bare ass minimum. The floor you commit to no matter what season you're in. Kate has been in BAM mode for two weeks and breaks down exactly what hers looks like right now.

What We Cover:

• What a BAM is and where the concept came from (shoutout to Grace)
• The two failure modes creators default to without one: treating every week like a peak week, or all-or-nothing cycling
• Why your BAM is a business decision, not a self-care decision
• How consistency shows up when a brand evaluates your page
• Why retainer partnerships make a BAM non-negotiable
• Question 1: What can you sustain in your absolute worst week?
• Question 2: What's the least that keeps your page alive?
• Kate's exact current BAM, including what she's dropped entirely
• Question 3: What can you batch or systematize?
• Why the tasks you dread almost always take less time than you think
• Question 4: What are you giving yourself permission not to do?
• Why guilt about not working is worse than either working or resting
• The trap: your BAM is a tent, not a house
• How to recognize your cues for shifting in and out of BAM mode
• Why what you see on other creators' pages tells you nothing about what's happening behind them

Your Challenge: Answer the four questions. Write down your BAM. Then write down the cue that tells you it's time to shift back out.

Episodes Referenced: S2E2: Is your profile brand ready? Ep 13: Retainers

Join the Creator Club Waitlist Follow us: @notaninfluencerco

Most creators think making more money means landing more brand deals. It doesn't. 61% of creators leave 20 to 30% on the table through underpricing, which means the fastest path to more revenue is charging correctly for the deals you already have.

Five things you're probably giving away for free. Grab a notebook.

What We Cover:

• Ad rights: what they are, why 20 to 50% of your base rate per month is standard, and why they often out-earn the original video fee
• The Instagram problem: why you can't set an ad rights expiration, and how Kate caught brands running past the window twice
• Why the creator team and the paid media team at a brand rarely talk, and what to do about it
• Exclusivity: why 25 to 100% premium is standard and how broad category exclusivity can quietly cost you thousands
• Why exclusivity is often buried in the contract and never mentioned in the email
• Packages over single videos, and why one video can't deliver what most brands are asking for
• The funnel package Tea pitched that turned into a bigger renegotiation
• Affiliate income as a cherry on top, and how to read affiliate-only inbounds critically
• Kate's 16% conversion rate that turned an affiliate link into a paid partnership
• Charging for your expertise: why strategy calls, performance analysis, and access to your resources are consulting, not courtesy
• Your challenge: audit your last deal and count what you gave away

Episodes Referenced: Episode 5, Season 1: What You Should Charge Episode 7, Season 1: The LEVEL Framework Episode 16, Season 1: Legal Gaps ft. Alyssa from Legal Doer Episode 8, Season 1: Affiliate Income the Right Way

Join the Creator Club Waitlist Follow us: @notaninfluencerco

You're pitching. You're posting. You're doing what everyone told you to do. And still: nothing.

Short, sassy, slightly-calling-you-out episode. Three specific things killing your chances of landing brand partnerships, pulled straight from the DMs we get from creators who say they're following all the advice and still hearing crickets. It's almost always one of these three.

What We Cover:

• Killer 1: Making your pitch all about you, and what brands are actually buying instead
• The pitch style Tea used early on that never got a response, and why she now sees it daily in her own agency inbox
• Killer 2: When your page doesn't back up your pitch, and what a brand sees when they can't tell who your audience is
• How Kate folds lifestyle content into a side hustle niche without diluting it
• Vacuum Gate: the $500 brand deal Tea took that had nothing to do with print on demand
• Killer 3: Fumbling the rate conversation, and the two ways creators blow it
• Why "what are your rates?" is rarely a question about one video
• Your challenge: fix one of the three this week

Episodes Referenced: Ep 4: The Obvious YES Pitch S2E2: Is your profile brand ready? S2E13: How to respond to "what's your rates!?" Ep 5: Pricing / 4R framework

More From Us:

• • Join the Creator Club Waitlist — coaching, templates, rate calculators, and direct help pitching brands
  • Follow us on IG & TikTok: @notaninfluencerco

A Note From Our Sponsor: We talk a lot on this show about treating your content creation like a business — and that means setting yourself up with the right foundation. When Tea and I made Not An Influencer Creator Agency official, we used Tailor Brands to form our LLC. The process was genuinely simple — we filed from our laptops in under an hour, tracked our filing status right inside the Tailor dashboard, and had everything we needed to keep moving. Tailor also offers additional services like EIN setup, business bank accounts, and a finance manager to track your income and expenses as you grow. Search "Tailor Business Builder" to get started today.