The Performance-Based UGC Playbook from Trybe’s #1 Agency Owner | Colin Reich E5

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the UGC Industry Podcast, the show that brings creators, brands, and everyone building the UGC space into one conversation. I'm Brandon Heen, and each week I sit down with the people shaping this industry, from creators landing brand deals to the founders and agencies behind them. Let's get into it. On this episode, we have Colin Reich. Colin was a D1 College lacrosse captain and is now the owner of the number one agency on Tribe, which has paid out over $650,000 in commissions, $250,000 of those coming in the last 30 days. Welcome to the show, Colin.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Thanks for having me on, Brandon.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

So Tribe is a very hot topic in the UGC space currently. Colin, what did you notice before everyone else on why Tribe was going to take off?

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yeah. So I was at the birthplace of it, and I was just like, oh my gosh, this is insane. And I knew that a lot of different outcomes were going to be there, similar to TikTok shop, how TikTok shop creators just crushed it because they were early on it. Like, same thing with Tribe. I kind of wish I went all in on it sooner, but it was just insane.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

How did you first come about Tribe?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

I got into content like two and a half years ago. I tried every way in the book to make money. I did like affiliate marketing, coaching. I had TikTok shop, and Lucas Pactor, the founder of Tribe, and more importantly, the founder of Haas, was one of those deals that I was doing. I was like posting organic, and we both really didn't know what we were doing at the time. And I remember he gave me like 600 bucks for two organic posts, and he was like, These are horrible, like redo these. And um uh just like stayed in touch. He tried a bunch of different ways, and then he found the performance-based model where we were making ads for Haas. We would submit them through Google Drive, we would get like PayPal or Zell, and we wouldn't know what was working. And eventually he was like, Okay, him and his media buyer Jeremy, who's a co-founder of Trab, we're like, This sucks. Like, this is so brutal. We need to make a software for this. So they made the software, and then they're like, Holy shit, this 10x to everything. We should give this to other brands we work with because Jeremy does media buying for other brands. Lucas is very friendly with everybody in the e-com space, so they open it up to the public, and I was like, Oh my god, this is it.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

So, what makes UGC on Tribe different than other kinds of UGC?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

It's all performance-based. So the only way you're making money on Tribe is if your ads are making money for the brand. So if a brand offers 10% commission and your video generates them $100,000 in sales, which happens all the time, you make $10,000, which is awesome. But I think the real differentiator is the feedback loop. You get such good feedback. You can see your analytics in real time, you can see what's working, what's not working.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

I didn't even think about that aspect of it. Obviously, the uncapped commissions is really nice because with flat rate UGC, while you do get more money up front, that's pretty much it. And and you're done. But Tribe is cool that you can body your analytics and really become a better marketer with it too, as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Yeah, it's incredible. I just love that it's like it rewards skill because there's not a ton of competition. It's pretty easy to become one of the top 10 creators for any brand on Tribe, in my opinion, if you just like don't half ass it. Your Instagram's hilarious, just about most UDC creators, but it's true. I mean, like most people just want something quick, and unfortunately, there's no quick way to make 25 grand a month.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

The definition of quick, I feel like is so skewed because you can get up to 25, 30 grand a month within six to eight months, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

100%. Like we have creators in V Squad that are doing back-to-back 30k months and they started frickin' March. Like, what other opportunity is there like that? It sucked in the beginning, but like they got back, and like if so, Casey, one of the creators, is making 30k a month. If he could talk to himself in March, he'd be like, hey, if you try really hard at this, you'll make back to back 30k months within six months. Like, obviously, you're gonna try at that.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Exactly. The difference is there's technically no guarantee, right? With a job, you have a salary, you have a commission structure that if if you're in sales, there's a clear career path. So people will work in jobs for five, 10 years just to get up to to 20 something K a month. But if you have the courage to go do it on your own, that's crazy. It comes a lot quicker. How did you go from just being a creator to starting an agency?

SPEAKER_01 4:08

I had done a fitness coaching offer in the past, did like multiple six figures with it last year. So I knew how to attract leads and sell them something. I always knew I wasn't just gonna be a UGC creator. That wasn't gonna be my only thing. I saw the partner portal and I was like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. I need to start it. I think that's like the most slept-on thing right now is starting an agency on tribe. It's so easy. I think everybody can do it. But to run back a little bit, I was a UGC creator on Tribe for a protein bar brand. I submitted a video, I made a couple thousand bucks, and then my submissions were just like sitting there, and I talked to the founder. I was like, hey, like, do you need help with this? This has been sitting there for seven days, and I was fully managing their tribe and got to the 150 creators. We were getting a hundred ads a day. It was insane. And then they pulled the plug on it. I was unfortunate, but it's kind of a blessing in disguise because I was like approving submissions, sending out invites, sending out samples, building the Discord. It was like too much. But I realized, like, damn, I'm good at this.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Where were you finding these creators?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Most of it was through organic, my following. I was just like, I would just say, like, I have free brand deals for people, and word of mouth in this space, I was just like crazy. Like it's boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Like, keep put me on, keep putting me on. Like it just happens. So it was mostly organic.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

When you're either looking at these creators' profiles or they're reaching out to you, what are some things that stand out about them that tell you that they're gonna be successful on tribe?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

The first thing is just like physical. Do they have a good light? Do they have a good mic? Do they have a good iPhone camera? I mean, it it matters a ton. I wish it didn't, but it does. Um, and then second is can they edit? Do they have good tonality, or are they just like, this is the best protein bar ever? Or like you can just tell. I think it's more of a gut feeling, but the biggest thing in my opinion is just treating yourself like a $20,000 a month creator. So it's like, what would a $20,000 a month creator have? Good light, good microphone, good setup.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Have you seen people come into B Squad who you were like, oh, I'm not too sure about this person, and then they end up crushing it. And if so, what process do they take to make that happen?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Yeah, there's tons of creators that I was I was like, this dude is horrible, and like now they're making $20,000 a month, but they just start messy. They just have like scrappiness, grit, they just grind. They don't go out on the weekends, they don't do anything like that. They just lock in for six months on this and they're crushing now. And then also just like being coachable, it's a huge thing. If you can't take advice from someone who's crushing it, because if you're ego or anything, you're never gonna be successful. I still look for coaching, even though like I'm a pretty experienced creator creator.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah. You guys are coaching people. What are a few most important things you train them on to make better videos?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

I think the big thing we focus on in V Squad, Coach Logan kind of coined this is just like finding your unfair advantage. If you're ripped, we should use that. If you're if you have a dad bod, we should use that. If you have a if you're a mom, if you have a dog, if you're whatever, if you've gone from this to this, you should use that in your video. So that's huge. A mom would be so much better at UGC than me for a mom product. And I would be way better for D bloat because I'm lean. And then besides that, actually understanding how to write a script and reading analytics and treating tribe like a puzzle piece. So it's like number one video has a good hook rate, but the click-through rate's a 0.5. And then you find a 2.0 click-through rate and you just like kind of mix them together.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

I'm curious to dig more into those analytics. What are some examples of how you can look at analytics and then how you would change the video based on those analytics?

SPEAKER_01 7:29

If you have like a 55% hook rate and a 0.1% click-through rate, someone probably just used like a car crash hook in the beginning. Like it could be a good hook, but like you're not attracting the right audience, right? So I don't think a 55% hook rate is good all the time. I think if you're like more targeted and you say, if you are Avatar and you get a 28% hook hook rate and like a 1.5% click-through rate, that's way better for a product, right? So like for Haas, for example, I only want dudes watching the video for the most part. So I'll say things like, you know, I'll talk about like football or golf. But yeah, if you have a really solid hook rate and a bad click-through rate, you're not targeting the right people.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

You're essentially just rage baiting.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Yeah, I think people go viral for the wrong reasons. I think that's why it's super valuable to do organic UGC as well. I've done plenty of organic UGC and I know how to go viral, but I was going viral for the wrong reasons.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Yeah, because at the end of the day, these businesses need to make sales. That's the whole goal of what UGC is. I always tell people, as a UGC creator, you're not a content creator. You're a salesperson who just uses video ads as their means of selling.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, 100%. I think this truly is just like the next evolution of sales. You have way more leverage.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

So much better than being on calls all day.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah, 100%. I think $10,000 from performance-based UGC is like the most valuable $10,000 you could ever make one-on-one fitness coaching or remote sales, being a remote closer. It's just the least amount of time and effort.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Yeah. There's other ways to do it. High-ticket sales, for example. But I know I used to be in sales, and one of the best parts about UGC now is that I don't have to be on calls all day. Like I can it's awesome. You can make videos, you can do your own thing. In a lot of cases, you can travel and be remote too. That's what's cool about Tribe is that you make a lot of videos for the same products. So you can travel and carry the products with you. You don't have to constantly have new products sent to you.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Traveling can even be like a benefit. You can be in a tropical location. I was just in Miami and I didn't miss a beat. I was in a nice hotel and I was filming UGC. That's not even vacation, it's just like travel. It's like work and it's like what I do. It's just like I wake up and film 10 videos.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

It's so fun to have the own agency to when you're doing something and have your own income with UGC to just be able to travel around, have no boss. You really integrate work in life instead of quote unquote having to go to work and then going home.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Yeah. I think it's way cooler than being famous or an influencer. The actual lifestyle of it is just way better.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Totally. So now a creator joins your agency, they put in the time to get good, they they have some skills. There's a lot of brands coming onto Tribe, and you could be a good creator and depending on the brand, still not make too much money because of issues going on on the brand side. So, how does a creator find a brand that is worth working with?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

I think dating around is like very valuable. I saw someone the other day make a video like you should work with 30 brands on tribe. You should see which ones you like. I think that's important, but you can also go on meta ads library. You can just see how many ads they have and just see if they're spending. If you're in their actual tribe and click on the number one video, see how many link clicks it's gotten. If it's over like 10,000, they're spending a lot of money. Um, and then using your unfair advantage is very important. For example, with ultra pouches, I don't do zins anymore. I fully like would puke if I had a zin right now. I used to rip 10 zins a day. I use ultra pouches instead. I fully use them, and it's like that's my unfair advantage. I used to vape, I used to have that, and now I don't because of these. So it's like a no-brainer to for me to work with them and they're spending a lot of money. Um, but you'll just feel it. I think a lot of our creators that are making 20, 30k made a hundred videos for a brand and didn't make a dollar. That's a part of the process. And if you can just accept that that's like a thing that's going to happen and smile when it does, and just be like, this is part of the process. And I'll tell the story one day that I made a hundred videos for this brand and I made zero dollars.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Even one of my first companies I work for, I made like 45 videos for and only made 600 bucks. If I had stopped at that point, wouldn't it be anywhere near to where I am now? I my numbers are something like my first hundred videos, I made like three thousand, and then my subsequent three hundred video videos, I've made like thirty thousand.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

So yeah, it's crazy. You know, and those videos aren't done earning. As I've gotten more submissions, the average dollar amount has gone up per submission.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Exactly. Same with me. I was traveling the past week, only made two videos, and I made twenty one hundred dollars. It just keeps coming in. And the more videos you have, the more you keep it keep stacking up.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah, the compounding effect of tribe is insane. I have like 2,000 videos. Imagine like 10,000 videos.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

So, in the short term, how do you see tribe and commission-based UGC evolving?

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yeah, 100%. I think if brands aren't taking it seriously, and they're just kind of like, oh, we'll try a tribe, like you're not going to be successful. I think like if you need if you have a dedicated team to this, for example, Lucas Pactor, founder of Haas, has a call every week with the creators. That's a lot for someone with that much on his plate. Like, he doesn't miss a call. He just pours into the creators, has a crazy good system of finding creators. You can see it that his goal is to make us as much money as possible. So if brands take it seriously and do that, it's going to be insane. To answer your question, I think it's going to replace influencers like more and more year after year. I think influencers right now, I was an influencer, I had like 179,000 followers, losing a lot of followers because I'm posting about this, which is like good. But I used to be able to get like five grand for a post. I could do that. It's so unquantifiable. Like someone's getting screwed over. And when I hop on calls with these brands and I tell them, yeah, we'll make you guys ads for zero dollars up front, they're like, What? What are you talking about? Like, I don't think a brand said no, right? So their budgets are just like switching to this. As soon as they get a couple months in, they're like, oh, numbers make sense. Let's do this. This is making us five dollars every time we put a dollar in. Let's keep using that printing press and do it again.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Yeah, it's it's a no-brainer. And that's a good point you made about brands who also train their creators. When I'm looking for a brand to work with these days, I want to see three things. And if they have all three, that's ideal. One is going to be spending a lot on ads so that the total you can make is obviously up there. Two is going to be a product that I actually like and use. It is a lot easier to talk about something when you can be natural with it. You sound less like an ad and you can come up with so many more angles. Yeah. And then the third is going to be brands who actually do their own coaching. You should get coaching from third parties and all that too. But when the brand can train you specifically on their product, on their hooks, give you an inside look inside one of their ad accounts. Actually, uh, this one company I'm on with V Squad had a really good call like this where they they got their media buyers on with us and were giving us a really in-depth look into specifically what was working for them. But of course, to get on a brand with all three of those is hard. I've done plenty of deals that only had one or two of those. And you you kind of got to work your way up to getting to that point as a creator. What do you recommend for creators who want to find their top brands?

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Once they get a little bit of momentum with the brand and they start making some money, focus on that brand really hard for a month. Like you don't have to stop working with every brand you don't do, but wake up, film 10 videos for that brand, and just pour into them, show them what you can do, and then I would talk to them about getting a smart retainer and just say, hey, I'm being pulled in so many different directions at the moment. I would love a reason to go all in on your brand. I have a smart retainer with some other brands that I work with. This is how much I generated you guys last month. I think it's reasonable to start at this. Let's proceed. And if they don't do that, they're not bought into you. They don't want to see you win. I think smart retainers like should be a no-brainer for some of these brands.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Yeah. And how do smart retainers work?

SPEAKER_01 15:17

It's zero dollars up front as a smart retainer. So let's just say I'm a brand owner and I give you a thousand dollar smart retainer for 30 videos in a 30-day window. So let's say October 1st to October 31st. If you submit 30 approved videos and you make $500 in commission, you get $500 as a top-up at the end of the month. It's basically like insurance that you're guaranteed this amount. The goal is to surpass that amount.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

If I don't work with a brand unless I have like a smart retainer or a normal retainer, and it makes sense because typically in the first month, while your ads get up and running, you'll probably get the top-up because sometimes brands take two to four weeks to even start running ads. So it's protection for the creator, incentive for the brands to actually keep running the retainers. But then what I've found in mine is that over time, you go over. You don't really need the smart retainer in month two, three, four, because by that point you have your ads from month one, month two, month three, and then you're rolling.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

It boggles my mind that more brands don't do this on Tribe. If you find a creator you like, give them a $1,000 smart retainer for 30 videos. It costs you nothing up front. No one else is doing it. So if you joined the brand and you saw it, it'd be like, oh, about to go make 30 videos for this brand. And guess what? You can still do brand owners. You can deny the videos if they're not good. There's no risk for you. So if you want to stand out as a brand owner, just do that.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Quick interruption here. This video is brought to you by RTech, the all-in-one platform for UGC creators. So as a UGC creator, there are really three things you need. One is a suite of tools to make you more efficient from editing, tracking your deals, tracking your finances so that you're not hopping around from a million different apps. Two, the knowledge and coaching and training from people who've already been there and done that. And then three, access to deals. RTEC provides you all three of those and was built by some of the OGs from the UGC space who understand everything that UGC creators know what they need to be successful. You can go hop on and try it now for free. Just click the link below. What are some of the top reasons you see brands denying creators videos for?

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Yeah, I think too slow is a big one. Bad mic, them saying something like a crazy claim. That's really it. I think brands are approving a lot of videos quickly just because meta is so good at picking up what's good.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

I rarely see videos getting denied. Most brands let creators have the creative freedom because you never know when the next hook or angle that even the company didn't think will come from a creator's video. So, questions. I've heard some people on the internet say this about tribe where they're like, oh, well, it doesn't make sense because as soon as someone submits a good video, the brand is just going to go take it and recreate it themselves. What do you have to say to the people who say stuff like that?

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Yeah, I would just like go recreate the video yourself and do it. I think the brands get on tribe because they don't want to make videos. They're so tired of it. I think every founder goes through it where they're just like making all of their ads, even with my business. Like eventually I will outsource and run a performance-based UDC campaign for my business, probably, because it's just a no-brainer. Once there's a winning format, go copy it. Like, duh.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah. I feel like when you're performing well for a brand, they really just pour more into you. Like it's not this like doom and gloom thing of always skeptical and worried about things that haven't even happened yet, you're never really gonna end up starting anything.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yeah, literally. Well, good point there also is like if you show up and pour into these brands and show that you're like a good creator and you're not an asshole and you're a pleasure to work with, and you pull away for a week, they will reach out to you. They will say, Where have you been? We need you. Oh, I need a retainer. That's it. Like just be a good creator and they will become addicted to you. Like addicted. And once you pull away, you have leverage.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Yeah. So what do brands want to see or or expect from creators in order to want to give them retainers?

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Effort is just a big thing. Are you filming in different locations? Are you filming the same video 14 times with seven different texts on screens? Or like are you actually filming different things? Are you reading the briefs? Are you following the guidelines? Do you have a good mic? It's just like pretty easy to be a valuable creator to these brands. Um, and just like reach out to them. Like they want you to make money. Just like say, hey, like, can we hope on a quick call? And like, yeah, I think it should be a mutual buy-in.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

I totally agree. So you obviously see a lot of creators come through your agencies. How many submissions on average would you say it takes before people start seeing success?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, I think 300 is a good number. 300 like intentional submissions. I haven't seen a creator get to 300 and not be so much better. Once you go through like actually filming and editing 300 videos, you have skills that no one can take away from you. And you have the skills to hire an editor and tell the editor what you want. You have the skills to probably even coach somebody at that point if you've scripted and filmed 300 solid videos, so 10 a day for a month. Like I know people that do that all the time.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Yeah, and I like that number too because it's realistic. Like 300, it's still a lot of videos, and we're the same in that sense. Whereas like I never tell people to expect they're gonna like make 10K in their in their first month. You will see stuff online where people are like, make 10K in one your first month of UGC. But I I feel like setting the expectations of people up front that you're gonna have to put in a good amount of work before you start seeing success is always the best way to go about things because if if you go into it thinking it's gonna be quick, easy money, you're gonna be disappointed.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Yeah, 100%. And if you do make $10,000 from your first 10 videos, like it's almost like you're gonna be worse off. I've seen it happen where like creators are jacked, they're good content creators, and they come in and they crush it because they're absolute mauggers. Like 10 out of 10 jacked dudes, they get really complacent, they don't know why it worked. Maybe they have 200,000 followers or something and they whitelist through their account and it just works for that first month. But then they don't get that grit of, you know, fuck, like the roller coaster promotions, because it still happens to me where it's like a roller coaster, like still like, am I ass? Am I good? Yeah, like you need that. But every time I'm there, I'm like, I've been here before, just like keep going and it's going to go back up.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Exactly. And a lot of people getting into UGC, they're just they're they're usually younger, they're they're new to business and life. And what I always tell people is that you have to go through tough periods in order to one, be grateful and be able to capitalize on the good periods. So if you're brand new to making money online and and this is the first thing you've ever done, it may take you longer than some other people.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

But look at look at this as your your intro to entrepreneurship and get the 300 submissions, everybody, and then call me a dumbass if you're not good at UGC.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

Yeah. Does someone maintain quality while they're also doing a lot of quantity?

SPEAKER_01 22:03

You have to find a balance of both. For me, it's just like always a good lighting, always do my hair, like I'll look good, whatever. But just have like a couple different hooks and angles to go on. Like this morning, I just had like five hooks that I wanted to try. And like I filmed 12 videos because like you just get in that flow state and you're just like, whatever. I went into it with a decent plan and just let it happen.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

The benefit of working with just a few brands is that you'll have ideas pop into your mind throughout the day. So let's say you're on a walk and you have an idea for a video angle. Yeah. Write it down right in the moment. And then when you're in your filming sessions, if if you time block, you'll start coming up with more ideas and stuff to do. But if you're only making like one or two videos, you're not gonna have any ideas because you never get into the creative flow.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Uh I'll film like eight videos and then I'll take my phone off the tripod, upload them to Google Drive, and get a quick little scroll on the Tribe Top 100. I've found some of my best videos of all time that way. You just find frameworks that work for a girl's beauty brand. You're just like, screw it. I'm just gonna try it for this.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

So, how would you translate that? Let's say you're making an ad for Haas and you see a video in the Tribe Top 10 that's for a deodorant brand. How would you then take that concept and apply it to Haas?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

This happened yesterday. I did my videos and then I scrolled the trap top 100, and there's a girl showing like her diarrhea thighs or something. She's like, the whole angle is like this is before, and this is still before. So I was like, okay, like fuck. Like, how do I do this? Talk to Chat CBT. Yep. And I was just like, okay, I was wearing a bad tank top or a bad quarter zip, and I was like, this is me before becoming a millionaire, and this is me before becoming a millionaire still. Because like you don't have to pay a ton of money for premium activewear anymore because of this four-letter word, Hoss. And just went with that. And then I'm like, okay, how can I do more of that with every brand? Like, this is me before taking peptides, this is me still before taking peptides, right? So it's just like a framework, like that framework works, obviously. Like, so does the like I'm returning this framework, or this is bad, this is good framework. Like they're universal frameworks that you can just apply to any tribe video you want.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Makes total sense. Well, this is a very exciting time of year for UGC creators with us coming up onto the holiday season and a Black Friday, Christmas, where it's a very good time for e-commerce products. So, you know, everyone's talking about going into Q4, time to capitalize and make some money. What is the top strategy that your creators are using to maximize their earnings in Q4, aside from just more volume?

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Yeah, I think really leaning into the sales, I recommend every creator go not buy something from the products used, but like go through the website and like read the prices, read the sales, read the copy, understand the user experience because it's huge. It's like because if you add this right here, you can get an extra 70 bucks off, or you understand, you know, what it's like to buy it. I recommend it. I do that. And then also at least like focusing on a little bit of like simple bottom of funnel stuff. Like, I don't know how they're making money with this sale. They just started their Black Friday sale. Your analytics might not go crazy. There's plenty of videos on leaderboards that have like a 10% hook rate, but they're like the number one video because it's just like bottom of funnel sale, reminding people just to get them over the edge.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

And what do you mean by bottom of funnel?

SPEAKER_01 25:22

If you think of the funnel of any brand you work with, the top of it would be them paying Leonardo DiCaprio to hold their product. That's just like top of the funnel to get them familiar with it. And then as you go down the funnel, there's kind of like middle where you're like, this is bad, this is good, this is bad, this is good, where you're educating about the product, why you should buy it, who the brand is. And then the bottom of the funnel is just like absolute closer. So, for example, it would just be me like saying, like, Promix just went on a sale or something like that. People know what Promix is because they've been through the top, the middle, and the bottom of the funnel. They know what D bloat is because of the middle of the funnel, and then the bottom of the funnel is just like they've never done this before. This is a sale just to get someone over the edge.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Yeah, so it's essentially how direct you're being. At the bottom of the funnel, you're being very direct for people who already know the product. Hey, this is this crazy protein powder is on sale right now. Time to buy it. So those are good to throw in every now and then so that you can get some conversions, especially around the time of year when people are for sales.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Yeah, I don't think we're doing any of like the texture on screen bottom of funnel stuff, but like if you do that and it works, like rip it. I think a lot of like talking to the camera, bottom of funnel works well.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Okay, so one of the questions that we had from Instagram that I was also wondering as well, and it it makes sense that you said you were uh a captain of a lacrosse team in college, because one thing that I've I've always um like admired about how you you ran your business is like great leadership, especially in the beginning of Tribe when basically people weren't making that much money and and you were just continuing to get them to move forward, and obviously it's paid off for people now, now that tribe is really pop popping off. So, like, what's the secret to building a tribe-like following of people that are inspired and motivated?

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Yeah, I think it just comes down to like trying to make people money and like genuinely trying. And when I speak in the morning messages or anything of the Discord where I'm like kind of being a jocko willink or like goggins, I'm just talking to myself in the past. Like I was fully crying in my bed when I was 23 years old because I didn't know where I was gonna get money from, I didn't know what I was gonna do after college. I remember crying because I couldn't get a TikTok shop account because you needed 5,000 followers. So now, with this opportunity, tribe, like it's what I was looking for two years ago. So I don't want people to take it for granted and act like it's gonna be here forever. Like it's not. Tribe is happening right now. Make sacrifices for it. A tribe video next year is not as valuable as it is this year. Like, this is the time to do it. So it comes from a place of me talking to my 23-year-old self and me like a year ago when I was almost gonna quit working with Haas. Like I was fully just like about to just be like, no, I'm gonna do my coaching business because I had a bad month, just so soft. That's where I get the conviction from.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Yeah, I love that. And no, I I love the the motivation channel in the Discord. I I borrowed that idea for content economy. Um, I call it the motivation station because as uh as generic as this advice is, mindset is really such a big player in in succeeding with anything. Everyone always wants the tactics, and yes, tactics are important, but you can get really far just off straight effort. I'm curious because you were talking about wanting to do TikTok shop a couple years ago. What did you do right after college?

SPEAKER_01 28:41

I went to college in Philly and I was working at a bar, finished my lacrosse season, and I I'm very lucky that my godparents have an awesome house in Avalon, New Jersey. So I just drove like an hour and a half to the shore, no job, no nothing. I had 20,000 followers because I was already posting on Instagram. So I was hustling. Like I wasn't just like chilling at the beach, like I was trying every way. I got scammed like twice. I paid like people like money trying to figure out how to make money online. So I know what it feels like to be scammed, also.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

What were what were those things?

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Growth operators, and like they're gonna make us they're gonna make a school community for me. Like, hey, we think you could crush. Because like I had a pretty good personal brand. Like, I was getting millions of views, I had a good following.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Growth operating genuinely gotta be the worst freaking side hustle. They're in my DMs every day. I'm I'm like, start pitching them, yo, you should start doing UGC.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Yeah, literally. Like, if you want to grind at something, it's hilarious. But um, I I did that, I had like a school community, I was doing brand deals, affiliate links, and I just wanted a freaking TikTok shop account to just put my head down and grind. Like I was willing to do the work, I was willing to make a shit ton of videos, but I didn't have a TikTok shop account and I couldn't find one. So I moved back in with my dad. I had like $4,000 and like 60,000 followers and trained for an Iron Man, was still doing flat rate UGC. I remember getting like a thousand bucks for a video and being like, oh my gosh, this is sick. I had uh enough followers for a TikTok shop account. And when I got the TikTok shop account, I was like, yes, let's go. I'm ready to put my head down and grind. I moved out into an apartment that was like a thousand bucks a month, maybe like 1,500 bucks a month. I had like 7,000 bucks to my name. And that first month, I made 22k on TikTok shop. TikTok shop, just selling packs on jeans and like random stuff, and just like grinded. Like I didn't do anything. So like I was fully so stoked to get a TikTok shop account and just turn an apartment into a UGT factory, and I knew it was gonna happen because I was just ready for it, and then just like scaled a fitness coaching offer after that and found tribe.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

That's awesome. So you never really wanted to get a quote unquote job at a college.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

No, never did it. So like when I was living with my dad, just like to backtrack, I was applying to jobs, uh-huh. But uh I moved back in with my dad, I grew up here. Lacrosse isn't huge. I was doing lacrosse lessons. I can make really good money doing lacrosse lessons down here. I could make like 500 bucks a day, which is great. But it was all my time. You know, it's like all my time. I could have scaled that, but like it's very capped. And I was just making ends meet. I was just grinding, I didn't talk to anybody, I didn't drink, I didn't do shit. Like I just locked in. And it was like, I'm so glad I did.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Yeah. So what do your like friends from college do and and think of everything you're doing now?

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Yeah, it's it's interesting. I mean, no one like hates on it, which is great. I mean, I was posting when I was in college, it was just scary. But um a lot of them are in like commercial real estate, nice um, insurance sales, sales, med device is like a big thing people do. I'm glad I had a good supportive group of friends. Like I still I'm going to a bachelor party with all of them soon. But there was like a lonely chapter where it's like, yo, like, are you gonna come out? And I just like couldn't, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

Yep. That's a thing, but it's worth it now, huh?

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Having a good support system is always awesome. Same with my friends. I saw recently you changed the name of V Squad, your agency, to UGC Club. What does the future of your group look like?

SPEAKER_01 32:06

Yeah, so V Squad started in my apartment, just like giving out free brand deals to people, teaching them how to do tribe. Um, and then I charged on the front end for it for my time and just so like people weren't joining that got things for free. I think there's a big gap of people who would pay 97 bucks a month and people who to do things for free. So that just kind of slimmed it down to more, you know, committed people. Now we were getting like 10 people to join a day, and it just like a ton of creators are joining. So we're changing it to where we need to like to have a call with someone before they join, and we want to really make it like a super one-on-one approach with also the group. Like the Discord is firing on all cylinders, which is great. Like the hard part's over. But now it's like, okay, let's take one creator at a time and turn them into a savage, which I think is gonna help in the long run. These brands need skilled creators, and I want to just turn it into a UGC factory of skilled creators, not just like, here's a deal, go do it. So we want the creators to come in a little more bought-in and more serious, but the name change is just for like mass market adapt adoption. I came up with the name V Squad because I got cut from my basketball team in high school two years in a row, and they called varsity V Squad. And they were like, Oh, you're on V Squad? I wanted to make a J V and a V Squad where it was like a free version and a varsity version, but it's so funny, man. Just starting a business, you just have to start. And like, if you're not cringing at the the past, it's like you're not growing.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Yeah, 100%. There's so many brands out there that need creators. It's so interesting to me how you have this weird paradox in UGC where you have these UGC creators are saying they can't find deals, and you have brands saying they can't find creators. But really, the thing is that there's a shortage of skilled creators.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

A thousand percent. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

If you can surround yourself with other people who have done the thing you want to do and educate yourself, you really don't have to put in that much time. Like neither of us are gonna oversell you on the opportunity. We're we're gonna say it's quick, easy money. But in the relative scheme of life, it's pretty quick and easy. Yeah. Compared to other things. Like, isn't it's not it's never easy to make a dollar online. It's actually very hard to make your first dollar online. But once you get over that hill and you I you kind of have the wool pulled off your eyes, you realize how much opportunity is out there and that it's worth going all in on.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Yeah, 100%. I think it's by far the simplest way to make your first dollar online compared to what I was trying to do back in the day with CJ. Like, we were getting bootleg TikTok shop accounts and like just like trying to do it. Like I can't even imagine like trying to drop shit, drop ship back in the day. Like it's complicated. This is just like download it, start today. It's freaking Uber. Like, you don't need any prior experience. You can get started today. There's never been an easier time to make an app, there's never been an easier time to make a product and launch a business, but distribution and ads will still always be needed, right? So I think it's way more valuable to be good at UGC than like making a good app or a good product, which is still hard, but they're gonna need UGC creators.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

Yeah, and what's special about UGC is that the opportunity is right now. Like you mentioned drop shipping. The first drop shippers made a ton of money really easily 10 to 15 years ago. The first people who got into crypto made a lot of money easily. The first people who started wholesaling real estate, it was much easier. So it's not like UGC may necessarily be the quote unquote best opportunity of all time, but it is right now. And that's what's most important is when you get into something at its stage in the market cycle, the people who are earlier on and first movers in an opportunity have such a huge advantage because they build the skills, the network, um, the relationships to continue to succeed as the industry evolves. So for the last question here, uh I'm curious your opinion and your rationale on is UGC a long-term thing? Where is it going in the future? What does this look like?

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Yeah, 100%. I think sales is just gonna be around forever. And I would ask like, when's the last time someone bought something from a TV commercial? What where does your dad buy things from? Where does your mom buy things from? What about your grandpa? Like Facebook ads, probably, right? And I'll give an example of three people, maybe four in V Squad that are hired by brands now. Like they got good at UGC four months ago. They started, they got good. Brands are literally paying them multiple four figures a month to be a coach for their creators, right? They have jobs because they're valuable, right? So like I don't know, like why would a brand pay someone $65,000 a year because they have a marketing degree? Like, I don't think that matters at all. How much GMV have you created? Oh, a million? Cool. Be our coach for our UDC creators. I see the people now like getting into Tribe in 2026. Like in 2036, people will be like, Yeah, you were on Tribe in 2026. Like, oh my gosh, like you have an agency, probably, you probably are an incredible coach, you probably have an insane network of brands and creators that you have. It'll be like PayPal Mafia. Like, there are like people that were early on this, and just like this space will have incredible careers. So the pipeline is like creator, coach, agency owner, and then eventually, like I just want to like buy a bunch of agencies and like absorb them into UGC Club. Like, I think that's like a realistic pipeline.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Yeah. And the skills you're learning will translate forever. Every time someone says, UGC won't last, AI, UGC. I'm like, it's more than UGC. You're learning sales, you're learning marketing. That stuff is never gonna go away.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

No, yeah. And I think whatever the next opportunity is, like after tribe, whatever, like we'll be on the forefront of it because we'll be like, okay, this isn't working anymore, which I don't see happening anytime soon, but like we'll be early on. We'll know.

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Exactly. And the thing is, is people use this excuse in their head, oh, this isn't gonna last, that's not gonna last. And thus they never get started with anything. When in reality, the people who get started with something, they're the ones who then can ascend to more and new opportunities. Like you say, can own a marketing agency. Shoot, you could create a consumer product company now because we see the back end of how all these companies operate the most important aspect of their business. It's just it's just taking the first step. You you don't have to know what 10 step 10 is to take step one. If you if you keep putting it off, let's say that let's say the heyday is three years. That's that's three years you could have been earning multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars meeting the owners of companies and being accelerated into your next opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

But yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

This has been super fun. Where where can people find you online?

SPEAKER_01 38:41

Yeah, so at UGC Club. It's u.g.c.club. I got the got the Instagram handle. It was a pain in the butt trying to figure out which one to pick. But yeah, that that is where I'll be posting tons of UGC sauce. And yeah, I think everybody that follows me could learn how to make 10K a month on Tribe for free. That's my goal. Like I want to put out so much value and so much tips and everything that you guys can learn how to do it for free and you don't have an excuse.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

I love it. Awesome. Well, I will drop all of Colin's links below. Hit him up. He's a great resource, has a great group, and we'll talk to you guys next time.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

Thanks, Brandon.