Welcome to New American Dream, our weekly email series where we learn about 3 tactics and 3 tools from Creators earning over $100,000 annually with under 100,000 followers.
Lloyd George
Lloyd George earns $130,000 annually with just 31,653 followers making UGC ad creative and sponsored posts for tech brands like Opus Clip, his largest client from 2022 to 2024.
He was a marketing project manager. Around 2019 he started a podcast, Foreign Made, and raised almost $5,000 in sponsors before it launched, with zero listeners. "The content side, that's just how you make it. But I think I'm good at asking people for money."
He worked 10 to 15 hours a week around a day job until this summer, when he quit: "I wondered what I could do if I did that for 40 hours or 50 hours."
Annual earnings per follower: $4.11
Audience Breakdown
Platform | Follower Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
14,644 | ||
13,000 | Where brands found him until this year. | |
2,440 | ||
1,569 | Considers this his main platform; most inbound this year despite smallest audience. |
Earnings Breakdown
Income Stream | Share of Clients | Notes |
|---|---|---|
UGC ad creative | ~60% of clients | $2,150 per 30 to 60 second video with 30 days of usage. An enterprise brand paid $2,650 per video, about $14,000 for five videos with three months of usage. |
Sponsored posts on his own feed | ~40% of clients | Same $2,150 rate. Upsells: $450 for extra usage, plus carousel, story, and LinkedIn versions. |
Three Tactics
The top 3 tactics Lloyd uses to earn outsized income per follower:
Tactic #1: Email your clients three new ideas a month
It's much easier to convince someone to give you more money than it is to convince someone new to work with you... So month two comes around and now I'm emailing you saying, “Yo, working with you was amazing. I would love to do it again. Here are three ideas that I think could work that are often perfectly timed to where we are.”
Some clients have worked with Lloyd every month for two years. He’s been on the brand side and knows how hard ideas are to come by; a client with no budget this month will often still take a strong idea to their boss, just in case.
How to use it:
Each month, email your clients three ideas timed to whatever is going on - a sale, a big event, a holiday, whatever.
Build ideas from their new features and the questions people ask about them on Reddit.
Ask past clients for a coffee, in person or virtual, and bring analytics and what their competitors are doing to set the table for your pitch.
Tactic #2: Post the sponsored video before anyone sponsors it
Maybe I just make a video talking about this microphone and why it's the best. The number of other [microphone] companies that will then see this video and start to reach out, it's so hot. It always works. That has never let me down.
Brands search Instagram for terms like "tech creator" or "microphone," and Lloyd posts to be the person they find. When he makes an unpaid video about one product, its competitors reach out.
How to use it:
Each day, pick a product you want to talk about and make the video you would make if they were paying.
Put your email in your bio and use clear profile images so brands can find you.
Post it on Instagram; he thinks it works better there than on LinkedIn.
Tactic #3: Send five personalized cold emails every day
So the first line of that email is “Hi brand, my name is Lloyd. I do X...”
The second paragraph in that is where I describe the specific reason or story that I'm reaching out...
And then the third paragraph is just, “Is this something you're interested in right now?” or “Is this something you're prioritizing right now? If so, I'll send you my rates.”
His CRM nudges him every three days, and reply four or five is often when the brand answers. Five emails take him about an hour a day: "If you could send five of those emails every single day for a year, your life will change."
How to use it:
Write three paragraphs: who you are, the specific reason you are reaching out, and whether this is a priority right now with an offer to send rates.
Track each contact in a CRM and follow up every three days.
Connect and comment on LinkedIn alongside the email, but never cold DM.
Nice hack: making them ask for rates creates a qualified lead.
Three Tools
The three tools Lloyd says he'd keep if he lost everything else:
Tool #1: Folk
Folk is a CRM that pulls contacts in from LinkedIn, finds their email, and reminds him to follow up.
I would say that is the thing that is gonna most impact my success as a business owner... When someone emails you or messages you on LinkedIn, it tracks it in your CRM.
I have to say, I got Folk after Lloyd's recommendation, and I've been loving it so far - especially because I can just tell Claude what to do with it through MCP, and I don't have to think about it.
Tool #2: Claude
Claude is Anthropic's AI LLM. Lloyd uses it for everything, including esoteric uses like checking video ideas' search volume through vidIQ's Claude integration.
I can't live without Claude. I use it for everything. It's my therapist, which I don't recommend, but also my sales confidant, it does all the things for me.
Tool #3: Heptabase
Heptabase is a note-taking app where Lloyd collects what he reads and watches on a topic, then draws on it for posts.
It's like a second brain and it's for deep thoughts... I'll have this page that has 10 different resources all on one topic.
Also in his stack: Attio, Apollo.io, Grammarly, Wispr Flow, vidIQ, Monday.com, Space, and TextExpander.
Wispr Flow is a Creator Access Network partner. Our readers get 1 month of Wispr Flow Pro free. Paying members get 6 months free.
Learn More
You can find Lloyd and his work here:
LinkedIn: Lloyd George
Instagram: @lloydnotgeorge
TikTok: @lloydnotgeorge
YouTube: Lloyd George
Website: lloydnotgeorge.com
Email: [email protected]
The new American dream is betting on yourself.
Thanks for reading!
