Do Managers Make You Money?

A friend went from 0 to 200,000 followers and asked if he needed a manager. Here's my take.

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Justin Tse & Eric Villa
October 13, 2022

From 0-50k Subscribers in 1 Month

A friend who’s worked for other content creators for years recently had an insane month.

  • He went from 0 to 200,000 followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram

  • He used my brand-sponsorship template to get $6,000 worth of brand-deals

  • Managers started to reach out, telling him they could 2x his brand-deals.

He asked me if it was a good play to work with a manager; here’s what I told him:

What Are Managers Good At?

Managers serve as middlemen between you and brands.

They can save many headaches of communication and emotional conflicts towards certain business decisions merged with creative ideas. They speak the language of the creator and the brand.

Here's A Basic Manager Checklist:

  • 📧 Email, email, email; managers should always be reaching out to someone

  • 📢 Advocate; I’ve noticed the best managers will bring your name up in conversation with anyone who may need you

  • 🗞️ PR; If you’re a superstar, managers handle your public image

  • 💰 CLOSING; At the end of the way, managers need to close brand-deals for more money than you can by yourself

How Much Money Should Managers Take?

Most people in representative I've met take 20-25% of found money. Some take 10-15%

Found Money: Monies earned from the manager’s involvement. Managers in the creator economy don’t touch revenue streams like YouTube AdSense

Your audience size and industry are the biggest factors. If you're a small creator and you don't have a niche to attract specific partners, managers and agents will take a bigger cut.

Do I Have a Manager?

I ended up telling my friend to not get a manager; at least not yet.

  • You can’t gauge your representation’s success if you don’t know how much you can close deals for

  • Representation takes a bigger cut of a smaller creator, so you're better off focusing on growth

  • There’s no guarantee a manager is interested in your long-term success. Some are; but many are useful for getting you money in the short-term

With that said, I do have representation. I have an agent.

  • 🤝 What’s the difference between a manager and an agent?

  • 📹 How did I get my agent?

  • ❓Why do I work with an agent?

That could be a totally separate article. Reply to this email if you want me to dig into my experience with representation more.

Written by Justin Tse

Edited by Eric Villa