Larry Gibbons runs two large social media profiles. One teaches people how to make money in real estate. The other is a lifestyle brand focused on Hilton Head Island where he lives.
Millions of views. Tremendous reach. Growing audience.
But when it came time to actually monetize through sponsorships? Radio silence. Brands would engage in conversations, seem interested, then ghost the moment he sent over pricing.
"It be like that sometimes, right? It's like, man, why am I getting all these views and all this tremendous reach and like at the same time, it doesn't seem like the money is coming in."
I've heard this story hundreds of times. Massive platform. Zero revenue.
Here's what was actually going on.
The Scam Paralysis That's Killing Your Deals
Before we even got into pricing or pitching strategy, Larry hit me with something I wasn't expecting:
"I'm so deathly afraid of hacking and scams that I kind of go into every single one of these with one hand tied behind my back. I don't click links from people I don't know. I'm terrified to open this PDF."
He'd get emails from what looked like legitimate brands. But in the back of his mind, constant worry: Is this real? Am I about to get my account hacked?
I get it. When your social media presence is your livelihood, the stakes are high. You hear about creators getting their accounts stolen through fake brand deals. You see the two-factor authentication alerts. You know people are constantly trying to get in.
But here's the problem: that fear was making him come across as difficult to work with.
"Maybe sometimes I feel like that annoys them that I'm like, 'Hey, still not sure if you're like a real person or not.'"
Yeah. It probably does.
Here's the reality: You need to protect yourself, but you can't bring that paranoia into your brand conversations. Do your verification behind the scenes. Check if the email domain matches the company. Google "[agency name] + [brand name]" to see if they actually work together. Read trade publications like AdWeek to familiarize yourself with legitimate players in the space.
But once you've done your due diligence? Act like a professional who's excited about the opportunity, not someone conducting a criminal investigation.
One tactical move that helped Larry immediately: using a completely separate email address for core accounts that nobody knows about. The public-facing email in his bio? That's the one that can get spammed to death. His actual YouTube, banking, and critical accounts? Completely separate.
Simple. Effective. Lets you sleep at night without sabotaging legitimate opportunities.
The Pricing Question That Actually Gets You Answers
Larry's second major issue was the budget dance.
He'd pitch brands. They'd express interest. Then they'd ask, "What would this cost?"
He'd send over his pricing packages. And... crickets.
"They're always kind of putting it on me. I don't feel as though I have any clarity on what their budget is, what they're looking for."
Here's the thing most creators don't understand: asking "What's your budget?" almost never works.
The brand either throws it back to you ("You tell us!") or claims they've never done anything like this before so they genuinely don't know.
But there's a slight tweak to this question that changes everything:
"Hey, this was such a great call. I'm really excited to go back and chat with my wife about this. We're going to put together a proposal for you—usually about three to four different packages. Do you have a sense from a budget feasibility perspective of what I should set those three to four tiers at?"
Notice what just happened there?
You're not asking what their total budget is. You're asking what range they're comfortable seeing when you present options.
About 75% of the time, they'll give you a range. "Oh, we're thinking somewhere between $5K and $15K" or "Probably in the $1,000 to $3,000 range."
Boom. Now you know where to come in.
The other 25% will still say they don't know. And that's when you fall back on your "heck yeah" number—the lowest package has to be priced at a point where if they say yes, you're genuinely excited to move forward.
Not "Oh man, I was hoping they'd pick package four."
Genuinely excited.
The Local Business Problem Nobody Talks About
Larry's lifestyle brand presented a different challenge: pitching local businesses in Hilton Head.
"We're really only dealing with very small groups. Restaurants. Shop owners that have opened one shop. And we feel like what from a budgeting standpoint might work for them doesn't make sense for us."
He didn't want to hurt these small businesses. But he also couldn't afford to create content for $200.
Here's where most local creators make a critical mistake: they try to convince small business owners that influencer marketing is better than traditional advertising.
"Why are you spending money on magazine ads? You should work with us on Instagram!"
What the business owner hears: "You're an idiot for doing what you've been doing. Let me educate you on this new thing you don't understand."
Better approach: Meet them where they already are.
"Hey, I know you're probably running Facebook ads to drive foot traffic to your location, right? That's smart. By the way, I think we could help you create more compelling ads. Take a look at our platform—it's basically our portfolio showing we understand this community. We could create video assets for you that you can then amplify through your existing Facebook ad strategy."
See the difference?
You're not asking them to abandon what's working. You're offering to make what they're already doing better.
They already understand the equation: "I put $5,000 into Facebook ads, I get $10,000 back in revenue."
Now you're just saying, "Give me $5,000, I'll create assets that make your existing ad spend more effective."
They get it. They approve the budget. You move forward.
The Social Media Manager Problem
Larry had another issue that comes up constantly: dealing with people who aren't the decision-maker.
"How do you handle when you're dealing with someone that's not the decision maker? They're the social media manager and they've got to go get approval."
This is where creators accidentally shoot themselves in the foot by making the gatekeeper look stupid or replaceable.
If you pitch something amazing directly to the CEO in a way that bypasses the social media manager, that person is thinking: "If my boss sees this proposal, will they wonder why they even need me?"
Self-preservation kicks in. Your pitch gets buried.
The fix: Make the social media manager look like a hero.
Ask them directly: "How are you personally measured in your role? What are your KPIs?"
Maybe they say, "My boss wants me to grow our Instagram followers by 2,000 over the next six months."
Perfect. Now you propose a collaboration where the primary CTA is following their Instagram account. You're literally helping them hit their metric.
When they take your proposal to their boss, they look smart. "Hey, you know that follower growth goal you gave me? I found this creator who has a proposal that directly addresses it."
You just turned a gatekeeper into an advocate.
Why You Should Stop Chasing Enterprise Brands
About halfway through our conversation, Larry asked about working with bigger brands. Home Depot. Lowe's. The Fortune 500 companies.
"I feel like there's a perception that that's who you should be trying to work with."
But then he admitted something interesting: "I'm not even sure it would work out. It might be too much of a hassle to deal with the five edits they want and the six people that have to sign off on the ad when we're very happy dealing with the people we're dealing with."
This is a huge myth in the creator economy: that the pinnacle of success is landing enterprise brands.
Here's the truth I've learned from 15 years of doing this: The sweet spot for most creators is $5,000 to $50,000 deals with mid-tier brands.
The vast majority of brands cannot afford $100,000+ for a single partnership. They can afford that $5K-$50K range.
And those mid-tier brands? They're usually way better to work with. You're not just a small cog in their massive advertising machine. You can actually move the needle for them. They appreciate your efforts. The approval process doesn't involve seventeen committees.
My wife and I are currently at the lowest reach we've ever had—YouTube views, Instagram engagement, all down from our peak. But we're making more money than we ever have.
Why? Because the product you're selling isn't just your reach. It's being great to work with.
Being communicative. Not giving them flack when they request revisions. Delivering on time. Being professional.
A LinkedIn study found that 88% of people will only buy from a salesperson they view as a trusted advisor. The same principle applies to brand partnerships.
Sometimes that means referring a brand to a different creator who's a better fit. The brand remembers that. They come back to you for something else down the line.
The bar is so low for professionalism in the creator space that just being a decent human being sets you apart.
The Survey Strategy That Unlocks Hidden Sponsors
Toward the end of our call, I asked Larry about his avatar. Who actually follows him?
"30-38 years old male, working a job making somewhere between $70K and $150K a year, looking to buy their first home or investment property. They feel like they're living paycheck to paycheck even though they're putting a little aside. They're really looking to create more difference between themselves and zero."
I immediately had a sponsor for him: Acorns.
The app that rounds up your transaction amounts and invests the difference automatically. Not a real estate company. Not directly related to his content vertical.
But perfect for his audience's pain point.
This is what most creators miss: Your sponsors don't have to match your content category. They need to solve problems for your audience.
The way you discover those problems? Survey your followers.
Ask them what brands they're currently using. What challenges they're facing. What they're interested in learning about.
Then when you pitch a brand, you're not saying, "I've been using your product for three years, please pay me."
You're saying, "30% of my audience specifically mentioned they're struggling with X problem that your product solves. Here's the data."
Completely different conversation.
The Relationship Long Game
Near the end, Larry mentioned a deal he was working on: "We did this one deal for one video, but we've already done two Instagram stories and we're probably going to do two videos. Because I like the person I'm dealing with."
That right there? That's how you build a sustainable sponsorship business.
I can't tell you how many deals my wife and I have gotten because someone we worked with five years ago got promoted, or moved to a new agency, or remembered us when a relevant campaign came up.
"I don't know if you remember me, but we did a deal like five or six years ago. I always remembered that. I'm at this new place now and would love to work together again."
It happens constantly.
If you're in this for the long term—and you should be—the relationships you build matter more than squeezing every dollar out of every deal.
Being easy to work with, delivering more than promised, and treating people well compounds over years.
Yeah, it might take three or four years for that to pay back. But it absolutely will.
What Larry Should Do Next (And What You Should Steal)
By the end of our call, Larry had a clear action plan:
Stop bringing security concerns into brand conversations. Do your verification privately, but once you're confident it's legitimate, engage professionally.
Ask the budget range question differently. "From a budget feasibility perspective, what should I set these three to four tiers at?"
For local businesses, speak their language. Don't ask them to abandon Facebook ads. Offer to create better content for their Facebook ads.
Make gatekeepers look like heroes. Find out how the social media manager is personally measured and propose something that helps them hit that metric.
Survey his audience to understand their actual problems beyond just real estate investing.
Stop chasing enterprise brands and focus on building great relationships with mid-tier partners who actually value his work.
Larry summed up his biggest takeaways perfectly:
"The way you phrase that budget question is very wise. Not taking their job—that definitely sticks out as something I've done before. And I feel like such a jerk now because I've definitely told store owners they're dumb by accident while trying to explain this is the new way to do things."
Sometimes it just takes someone holding up a mirror.
If you've got massive reach but zero revenue, the problem probably isn't your audience size. It's one of these tactical issues that's easy to fix once you see it clearly.
Want to work through your specific situation? Join us inside Wizard's Guild where we tackle exactly these problems on our bi-weekly coaching calls. Or grab Sponsor Magnet to learn the complete framework.
Because views without revenue is just a really expensive hobby.
