Justine Hovey - You-Tube video of "I've had enough"

From my experience, it's the smaller brands that don't compensate well, but I think that's because they are less likely to have a marketing budget and have a lower profit percentage already. I was invited to teach a class for a small brand at one point and ended up with like $20 compensation, totally not worth it. Then a year later I taught a class for a larger brand... tons of work... but made thousands. I totally get the struggle to want to get ahead and take whatever opportunities you can get, but people need to say no to brands that don't adequately compensate... it's the only way the system will change.

I also disagree with the reach comment. I had less than 2k followers on instagram and my youtube was not monetized when I made it on the first paying team and another person they added the same time had about 700 followers. The other one was more recent, but I have less than 10k followers on instagram and about 5k on youtube. From what I've seen, established brands will pay for people who are reliable, have great projects, quality photos/videos, and are active on social media. That matters more than having a huge reach. And while I understand the idea that "if someone will do it for less, they'll take that" I don't think that's really true in this industry. The brands I work with are very upfront about the fact that they pay everyone who joins their team. And I know these are desirable brands to work with so I am sure there are others out there who would do it for less. 

I guess ultimately it comes down to what is people's goal? If what you really want is to gain followers, then working with a small brand for no compensation is not really going to help, you're better off just working on your own content and looking for a partnership that works for you. If what you want is access to free/early access products, then you need to decide if the work you're doing is worth what you're getting, or if you should just pay for the products instead. 

Also I really hope this doesn't come off wrong, I just think this is a topic we should discuss openly because the more we do, the more other brands in the industry who are underpaying will realize they need to raise the compensation they provide. I think a huge problem is there is a lack of transparency in this area so I don't think people who work for smaller brands for free realize there is such a disconnect. ETA: I also wanted to add, there is a larger brand that I know compensates well that I have applied for multiple times and been rejected. I totally get not wanting to go through that, it sucks! So I think that holds people back from applying for larger brands or leads people to apply to the ones that don't compensate thinking it's easier to get on the team. But everyone will have rejection at some point, that doesn't mean you need to settle for less, it means you need to work on what you're putting out there on your own. Maybe a specific brand will never want to work with you, but there are other good brands out there that treat their teams well!