Paying An Influencer With Product Is Like Paying A Plumber To Unclog Your Toilet With A Plunger

Over two years ago, I launched a blog. I never dreamt it would turn into this. I started sharing recipes and eventually my story of bariatric surgery. Along the way, I started working with some small businesses that have turned into some not-so-small businesses. There is a time and a place to work with brands in exchange for products. I still do. But there is also a time and place when you advocate for yourself and fair payment. When you bring a certain value to a brand or a company, it needs to be reciprocated and when it is not, partnerships need to be terminated.

I recently decided to end a partnership with a brand that I worked with for over a year. We could not come to an agreement on payment and I decided to walk away. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned over the past five years is that I am worthy, of a lot. And so are each one of the people taking time to engage with my content on any of my social media platforms. Many of us have been told our whole lives that we are not worthy because of the space we take up in this world.

I have spent the last two and a half years having in-depth conversations with these incredible people on all of these platforms and we have leaned on each other in times of sadness, times of joy, times of grief, and in some of the most vulnerable times of our lives. If I can teach them one thing, it is that they are worthy and that means they are worthy of payment for their hard work and the value they bring to a company or a brand.

Finding and discovering my self-worth has been the greatest discovery of all; Along with helping others discover their self-worth. I never expect to be compensated for the time that I am spending talking, engaging, and conversing with people on social media platforms. But when I am representing a brand, purchasing the products out of my pocket, spending my time creating content for the company, AND not being fairly compensated – that is not okay, on any planet.

Influencers deserve to be compensated for the value they bring to a company. Compensation = money. I can not pay my bills or put gas in my car with products. PERIOD. One of the biggest things that I pride myself on is being a trusted influencer in the bariatric community. Before I ever formed an LLC, I had a professional marketing company redesign my blog for it to be easier to navigate and access my free recipes. This was a $6,000 investment. So of course brands need to compensate me to pay off things such as that. And that is just one of the small investments I have made into my business.

I have very strict protocols in place for brand partnerships that I have developed over the past six months that I was not doing from the beginning. I do brand research and I make sure their ethics and morals align with my own.

If I continue to take “low payment” from brands and companies, it devalues the work of ALL influencers, content creators, and bloggers as an industry. This is not just about me. This is about all of us. From this point forward, I want my audience to know that if I am sharing something, that it is not only the BEST product (in my opinion) but that the company has great ethics, morals, and they treat the people who represent them with fair payment, kindness, and respect.

The Bariatric Community is my whole heart and when I say I would do what I do without pay, I MEAN THAT. But you can not put 50+ hours a week into something WITHOUT compensation. When you are bringing value to a community and brands, and helping them flourish, it needs to be reciprocated. My social media accounts are not preying on anyone, they are not pressuring anyone into having bariatric surgery or buying certain products. They are just keeping it real and sharing what I love. My blog is a resource, along with all of my social media platforms and I will not work with any brands who do not honor and see the value that I bring to the table and compensate me as such.

You would not go to work for free. Bottom line. Period. And brands can not expect content creators to work for free or for products either. I will never forget when I first started sharing brands and someone said to me “oh what are you going to be an influencer?!” I said “maybe!!” The comment was made to me in such a derogatory tone. People have no idea how much work goes into this business. I will save that for another blog post because I have become passionate about this and breaking the stigma around influencers, bloggers, and content creators.

This is not just about the company I decided to end my partnership with. This just sparked something in me that needs to be talked about openly. So many people are very curious about the influencer world and I am here to openly talk about it. The bottom line is, that companies need to compensate you for your content no matter how many “followers” you have, and if you love a product and you are promoting it you should not feel bad negotiating for fair payment.