A desperate search for extra freelancing income led Paulina Plankeviciute to discover her true calling in 2022. Today, this Bali-based UGC (user-generated content) creator runs a successful business crafting content for brands while teaching aspiring creators how to build their careers in the creator economy.

The Unexpected Start

Paulina recalls discovering UGC as “pretty random.” Running low on money, she knew it was possible to earn money online, so she started looking for options. After exploring various Fiverr opportunities, including transcription and translation work, she discovered content creation jobs listed as “modeling.”

“It wasn’t even called UGC back in the day,” she explains. “I saw that girls were just posing with products, like smiling. UGC wasn’t that advanced back then. It was just very influencer-influenced; the ones just smiling, talking and saying, ‘go buy this,’ and that’s it.”

The straightforward approach appealed to her, and success came quickly. She secured her first client within three days of posting her first gig. “It kind of started going and going,” she remembers, “and it naturally happened.”

July 2023 marked a significant milestone when one of Paulina’s client videos reached 27.3 million views on TikTok. However, she acknowledges that she missed initial opportunities due to this success. 

“I didn’t know anything about social media,” she notes. “I didn’t know how to do personal brand, promote myself, or pitch to brands showing that I went viral.”

“Honestly, in the beginning, I haven’t utilized the fact that I went viral,” she reflects. “I went viral on my client’s account, not mine. It didn’t have any influence on my career [immediately].”

Six months later, she developed a strategy to leverage this achievement. “Since I started getting more knowledge about UGC, I [thought] I’d use that as my testimonial and proof of results. Since I started doing it, AI and apps have become my main niche in creating UGC. From December onward, I could say that it’s paying off.”

Initial Obstacles

Despite her current success, Paulina faced significant challenges at the start. 

“I had no social media experience. Even though I studied digital marketing, it doesn’t mean I put my theory into practice,” she shares. This meant investing substantial time in learning platform mechanics.

“I guess other UGC creators from the background know something about social media; for example, they may have managed their account and know how it works. They grew faster than me,” she admits. “My main challenge was just getting to know about social media accounts and spending hours and hours just learning about it.”

Managing time remains an ongoing challenge. “That’s why I moved to Bali [Indonesia], to have a better work-life balance,” she shares. “But honestly, I’m still struggling with this. Working for yourself is so difficult because even if you know how to have less work, you’ll start new projects because you want to get better and better. So you’re always going to be packed with work.”

Creating an Effective Portfolio

For new UGC creators, Paulina highlights portfolio development.

“It makes you look more professional and stand out,” she explains. “For example, you will stand out if you have a portfolio instead of a person who doesn’t have a portfolio; you can show off your skills and personal style there.”

As competition increases, portfolios become crucial. “Nowadays, competition is high, and you must be better than everybody else. If you want to improve, you’ll have to have a portfolio,” Paulina emphasizes.

She recommends making portfolios accessible and engaging: “Having a neat, aesthetically neat portfolio that brands will understand is easy to navigate. It’s clickable, it has some movement, so it’s eye-catching.”

Key portfolio elements should include:

• An engaging landing page
• Detailed “About Me” section
• Intuitive navigation
• Client testimonials
• Results and case studies
• Brand collaboration history
• Clear demonstration of style and capabilities

“When you create UGC content, the most important factor is to sell,” she points out. “So when creating a portfolio, you must also consider this. You are selling yourself to a brand, so you also have to make sure that the portfolio, the way it looks for the brands, is so that they will buy your services through that portfolio.”

Strategic Pricing Approach

Paulina advocates for experience-based pricing, contrary to common industry advice. 

“I see a lot of content from other UGC creators that say you have to charge like 200 for a video, even if you’re a beginner,” she says. “From my perspective, a beginner UGC creator doesn’t know how to create content properly and shouldn’t charge by the amount of experience he/she has.”

She bases pricing on quality and value: “[Newbies] have no clue about proper equipment,” she says. “They don’t invest money in lighting, a microphone, or a good phone. So if you don’t have all that, you cannot charge a lot because your video is bad quality with bad lighting and angles.”

“I started with €15-30 (~$16-32) per video,” she reveals. “That’s how I grew because I was just charging an amount that I knew I was comfortable with, that I knew the brand wouldn’t get mad if the content weren’t perfect. I just needed practice.”

Community Support and Future Plans

Paulina credits much of her success to community support. 

“Being a UGC creator is pretty lonely,” she reflects. “What makes me continue doing what I’m doing is the support. Especially right now, it’s not as lonely anymore since I live in Bali, and I get to meet other UGC creators here.”

“I want to give a big shout-out to the UGC community because they were so supportive from the beginning even though they all knew that my content wasn’t the best,” she shares. “I had zero hate comments since I started my UGC, which was so nice and nice to be around a mostly feminine community that’s so supportive. If not for that community, I may not be where I am now.”

Currently, Paulina is expanding her social media presence and preparing to launch an extensive UGC guide. 

“This month [November], I’m releasing my UGC beginner guide,” she reveals. “It will be about 80-90 pages, and that’s all the information about every aspect of UGC, from scriptwriting, filming, editing angles, social media, personal branding, and motivation tips.”

“With any business, with anything you start, you just have to keep going,” she says. “You’ll fail; that’s normal. But you will learn from the failures and come back stronger and stronger, and one day, you will succeed. It’s just all a matter of time.”