Technology
Lindsey Lugrin and Rachel Fuller are the driving forces behind FYPM, an organization more candidly dubbed as F*** You Pay Me.
In a comprehensive interview, FYPM’s co-founders, Lindsey Lugrin and Rachel Fuller, share valuable insights on their company’s mission, Vidcon 2023, and the evolving creator economy. Fuller and Lugrin discuss their groundbreaking platform’s aim to bring transparency and fair compensation to the influencer-brand partnership process.
Furthermore, they stress the need for financial tools and education in the creator economy, revealing how their recent endeavors, including a pricing benchmark report, are helping both creators and brands navigate these uncharted waters.
About Lindsey Lugrin and Rachel Fuller
FYPM serves as a window of transparency for influencers, creators, and talent managers, providing a platform to critique their brand collaborations and anonymously disclose the financial outcomes after fulfilling their partnership obligations.
Their recent launch includes a pricing benchmark report, marking their first outreach to brands or any party interested in understanding their expenditure on influencer marketing or assessing the potential cost of a campaign.
Lindsey elaborates, “A great deal of variability exists across numerous industries. That might come as news to most, but now, we can give it a quantifiable measure. We are now capable of assigning a monetary worth to specific variables and contractual terms, thanks entirely to the power of data.”
At Vidcon Anaheim 2023 Lindsey shared her insights alongside Sima from Creative Juice and Eric from Karat. Their session, titled “Empowering Creators: Next-Gen Tools For Today’s Entrepreneurs,” focused on the significant role of F*** You Pay Me in helping creators navigate the ever-changing landscape of the creator economy.
Lindsey kicked off the discussion by highlighting the extensive work done by F*** You Pay Me over the past three years. The platform has been aggregating a vast database of influencer brand deals, exclusively available to creators. This database has enabled creators to value their services, understand their worth, and connect with brands for potential collaborations. However, this year marks a significant milestone as F*** You Pay Me is now offering the same transparency to brands, providing a valuable resource for both creators and companies alike.
The decision to participate in VidCon stemmed from Lindsey’s desire to showcase the availability and usefulness of F*** You Pay Me as a resource for creators. By empowering creators to negotiate higher rates, the platform aims to enhance the overall value creators bring to their work. Additionally, Lindsey emphasized that transparency benefits everyone involved in the creator economy, promoting fair and mutually beneficial collaborations.
Another crucial aspect addressed during the session was the financial challenges faced by creators and the need for better financial tools. Many creators struggle to secure loans or mortgages for their businesses due to the unconventional nature of their income. This underscores the need for increased education and awareness within traditional business sectors about the intricacies of the creator economy. Lindsey and Rachel highlighted the untapped potential in providing financial services tailored specifically to the needs of creators, further reinforcing the value and importance of platforms like F*** You Pay Me.
Attending VidCon provided Lindsey and Rachel with memorable experiences and valuable insights. They had the opportunity to connect with creators who had utilized their platform, which was a source of great excitement. Additionally, they discovered that some creators were sharing passwords to access their site, interpreting it as a positive signal despite the need for expertise to bypass security measures.
Furthermore, Lindsey and Rachel encountered the creators behind Salary Transparency Street, a group conducting interviews with creators about their earnings. Lindsey, having been interviewed herself, eagerly looked forward to seeing her segment in one of their videos. Rachel’s highlight was meeting Colin and Samir, two prominent figures in the creator community. To their surprise, Colin and Samir were already familiar with Lindsey and Rachel’s platform, highlighting its growing recognition and influence.
When defining the creator economy, Rachel emphasized that being a creator goes beyond income or follower count. It encompasses anyone who creates content, regardless of their level of recognition. Rachel cited examples of creators, such as UGC models and videographers, who engage in paid engagements despite having a smaller following. The creator spectrum encompasses individuals who create content as a hobby or for fun, as well as those who aspire to turn content creation into a full-time profession.
Below, you’ll find more tidbits from our conversation with Rachel and Lindsey on the creator economy and what it takes to succeed in 2023 and beyond.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges creators face in monetizing their content, and how does F*** You Pay Me address these challenges?
The main challenge with brand deals was there was no standard of how much they should pay a creator. When a brand asks a creator how much they charge, creators will likely pull a number out of the air. Talking about how much money one makes is still taboo, so creators can’t send a message to others asking about the amount of money they make.
Beyond that, there are still other complexities of brand deals as they’re all different. Some brands are solely looking for creative assets that they can post on their own channels, while others are looking for endorsement deals, whether that is the face of a creator or a celebrity.
How do you think the creator economy has evolved over the past few years, and what trends do you anticipate for the future?
FYPM’s report highlights that from 2020 to 2022, the median prices on brand deals doubled. And with the economic turndown, things have pulled back, especially in the brand awareness space. It has become more focused on affiliates and ROI.
“We can say on the aggregate that we are seeing prices pulling back. And part of that is creator supply. TikTok has created a proliferation of video content creators, especially in the micro category,” Rachel adds.
What key areas or aspects do you think creators should focus on to maximize their success in the coming months?
“It depends on their goal,” Lindsey says. “If their goal is growth, they should focus on putting out quality, authentic content. If their focus is monetization, they should join FYPM and use the cash comp filter to find out which brands are paying the most money in 2023.”
Rachel also encourages creators to diversify their income streams because plenty of tools can help them make money. Brand deals are definitely the best way to earn money, but there are other ways.
And as the creator economy continues to evolve, FYPM aims to adapt and support creators by being hyper-focused on building the world’s biggest and best brand deal database.
Could you share some of the next-gen tools or strategies you mentioned during your talk that can empower today’s entrepreneurs and creators?
Lindsey showcased FYPM during the VidCon by mentioning how the platform empowers today’s entrepreneurs and creators. “FYPM is great because it’s the quality and volume. Creators and talent managers are allowed to join and are the only ones who can read and write reviews, so you can be very sure that you’re hearing the honest truth,” she adds.
She also highlighted FYPM’s Rate My Offer tool, wherein users can provide their information compensation details, and the platform will scan those against 15,000 reviews in their database and will tell users if they’re paid below or above the average. As a result, creators can easily see if they’re getting a good deal or not.
They also launched agency and platform reviews a few months ago. With this feature, creators can read other people’s reviews about an agency, which is helpful if they’re planning to work with or learn more about an agency.
What advice do you have for creators who are just starting their entrepreneurial journey in the creator economy?
“Don’t accept gifted collabs. Creators who do bring down the prices for everyone else. Get paid for your work,” Rachel says. “If we all band together and stick to our guns and say, ‘No, a toothpaste is not compensation,’ then it won’t happen anymore.”
For Lindsey, “Don’t try to be anybody else but yourself. Being you is what’s going to work; people are going to follow you for you, and that will be the easiest way to get there. Do something that you love; otherwise, it shows.”
