 Hey everyone, I'm Bianca Renee and you're watching Bianca Renee Today and today is kind of going to be a continuation of my part one video that I posted two weeks ago called How Do YouTubers Get Paid? Which really just broke down exactly how we get paid from YouTube, Instagram ads, watching the ads before our videos, sponsorships, merchandise, whatever. I really broke it all down and kind of gave you an idea of how much we even make from the things we do. So if you haven't seen that video yet, you might want to go back and watch that one first and then come back to this one because today I'm going to be spilling all the tea. The truth about sponsorships. The sponsorship world isn't as pretty as many of you may think. I'm sure that your mindset is we get free stuff. We take a cute picture with it. We get paid easy peasy. There's nothing to it. So there's actually a not so pretty side to the sponsorship world and many of us creators YouTubers influencers are getting kind of fed up. So I'm just going to give you a little, just a little bit of insight of the behind the scenes of a YouTuber and influencer and what we really have to go through with these sponsors. Now before I get into that, let me explain to you how I run things, how I do things here on Beyond Grenade today. Contrary to what many of you may believe, not every hair product I use works for my hair. I just don't take photos or make a video when I'm having a bad hair day. Yeah, surprising, right? And if I don't like that product, I'm not going to recommend it to you. I'm not going to post a picture with it and I'm not going to make a video on it even if I'm offered to get paid. There have been many times where I and other influencers I know have turned down good money, good money because we want to remain authentic. To give you an example of how Riot or Die I am for you guys, one time I was offered a nice, yeah, five figure number check, okay? That's a nice number of digits, but they wanted me to use a bunch of products that had silicone and kind of say that like these were my favorites out there, but there's no way, one, you guys would believe me if every single video that I have is like, don't use sulfates, don't use silicones, don't use parabens and all of a sudden I'm like, hey guys, and these are my new favorites. You guys would be like, what is wrong with you? We don't believe you. So even though I really, really wanted to just say yes, I really had that moment that was like, okay, this is that moment in your life where you got to figure out if you're going to be a sell out or if you're going to remain authentic to your brand. And I chose to be a good person and so hard sometimes because at the end of the day, it's just not worth it. So even though I might make a lot of money from one video, I might piss off so many people that then they unsubscribe, they stop watching my videos because they just don't trust me anymore. But fortunately, because God is good and there's no point in worrying, I was able to save that deal and switch out the products to products that I actually do like and do recommend, therefore I still got that check and still as they would be authentic to my brand. Another way that I like to prove my authenticity to you guys is you might have noticed that anytime I'm reviewing a product or a new line, I'm always showing you guys real results. Only one time in my very first YouTube video ever when I didn't really know better that I ever just talk about a product. I'm always showing you me actually applying the product. I take you in the shower with me, which is very uncomfortable to be filming in the freezing cold with the door open, making water splash all over your bathroom. But I do it to show you that I'm actually applying the shampoo. I'm actually applying the conditioner. This is how well it detangles. This is how the styler works. These are my real results. These are my real day two results. I'm always showing you guys so that there's no room or reason for you not to believe me. And even when I do that, I still have people that just doubt me. They're like, she doesn't really like it. And I'm like, I showed you everything I could possibly do, but you know, I can't please everybody. Now that you understand how I run things, let me tell you the truth about many sponsorships. So sometimes you guys ask me to review a product over and over and over again. And I see those messages and I see those comments. And as much as I want to review that product, sometimes, most times it's not on me. It's on the brand. I can't tell you how many times I have reached out to a brand or they actually reached out to me saying that they want to pay me X amount of dollars to review this product. Most of the time, they send me the product because I always say I have to try the product first before I agree to a deal. And then if I like it, then I'll do a video. So I could love a product. Now I'm excited with you to review this and they're like, okay, we'll let you know when you can post it. I'm like, all right, cool, waiting, waiting. You guys are commenting, where's the video? And I'm writing like, hey, I'm ready to post this video when you are. And then like sometimes brands will just go ghost. Like why? I'm over here trying to promote your product. I have a very high demand of people requesting to just get it Bianca approved so they can go out and spend money. And all you got to do is give me the go and you're not emailing me back. That's just bad business. So not only are you messing up sales for this new product that actually is good, now you're pissing me off. So I didn't really want to work with you anymore. And that's the part that really sucks. So when you actually do like the product, but you just can't separate the product from like the brand or the people behind the brand, sometimes dear all brands watching, you might need a double check with your influencer department. The person doing your PR, your marketing, whoever is the one communicating with us, they can make or break our mindset on your brand. There's been times where I've got emails where this lady was just so rude. Like I said, please only send me products that are soul fate and silicone free. Then she sends me products with silicone in it anyways. And I was like, hey, I don't use products with silicone, but this has, you know, whatever silicone in it. And they're like, oh, well, it's a water soluble silicone. I'm sorry. Did I, did I say that I was okay with water soluble or did I just say I don't use any silicone? I know it's water soluble. I'm still not interested. Well, you said, if I see the products, you review this. I was like, well, I'm sorry, I don't like the product, so I'm not going to review it if I don't like it. Well, you said that and I'm like, she was literally like yelling at me. So that's what I'm like, well, even if I did like the product, I just don't want to work with you. How about that? The other very, very annoying part of the sponsorship world is the brands that just don't want to pay you. I'm pretty sure that the person emailing me is getting paid to go to work every day. They're getting paid to respond to these emails to work that nine to five, whatever company it is. But for some reason, they just don't understand that we're also working. And if you don't pay us to promote you, how are we supposed to survive? I can't tell you how many times a brand will be like, hey, we'll send you free product, which in the beginning, yes, it's cool. If you're a brand new YouTuber and if you're just trying to get your name out there, trying to get started, trying to build a reputation, take the free product. It's very exciting at a box of free hair products that you already love sent to your doorstep instead of going out to buy them. I get it. But once you reach a certain point, a certain number of followers, subscribers, and that you've really built that trust with people to where if you give it the stamp of approval, they're going to go buy it. There's value in that. And brands know that. Do you know how much a brand would spend on a commercial? Thousands, thousands of dollars. You have to get a set. Get the higher hair and makeup, blah, blah, blah. Or as I mentioned in my first video, many of us most likely buy something because a friend, family member, or influencer recommended it. I don't know if I could tell you a time where I've ever watched a commercial like, wow, that conditioner worked really well for her hair. I'm going to go buy it versus me watching a YouTube video and this girl showing me how she's detangling in the shower with ease. And now that, that I'm going to go out and buy. And I'm not going to tell you guys this. You know how many products you've bought because of me. You've bought because of someone's Instagram post, Instagram story. Maybe just a tweet did it for you. But there is obviously value in that because we were able to influence you, hence the term influencer, to buy it because we show you that we actually like it, that it actually works, or we show you how well it looks, period. So when we get emails that are like, hey, we can't pay you to do all this work that we're asking you to do, but we could send you product. Now, I don't know about you, but my car dealership doesn't accept shampoo and conditioners as a main form of payment. Yeah, neither does my rent or my phone bill or, you know, anything. And y'all know that because you also go to work every day and have a job and you expect to get paid to do what you're doing. So, so do I. Another thing that I mentioned in my first video is so many people get mad when they see hashtag sponsorship, hashtag ad. But it's like, this is our job. This is what I do full time to get paid. And some people think you should just make these videos just because you love the product and you want to help us, period. Well, what do you do? Oh, you're a teacher. Well, you should just teach kids because it's the right thing to do. Oh, you're a doctor. You should just save lives because you know how to. Oh, you work at McDonald's. Well, you should just give me a burger because I said please. No, that's not the way the world works. So yes, there are times where I just want to make a video and I just do it. I don't expect to get paid for every video that I do. But if I am approached by a brand or I have a relationship with the brand and I really like this and you know that my audience is going to probably buy what I'm about to show them because I show them that it works, why wouldn't you value that person that is promoting your brand? So frustrating. Another thing that many brands like to do is kind of like, what's the word, blackmail? Not blackmail, but it's like bribing but without money. And a lot of brands do this with these influencer trips. So sometimes an influencer will kind of just bite the bullet because we want to be invited to these trips. Some of these trips can get real lavish and it's like, hey, we're getting a free trip to Hawaii or Bora Bora or Fiji or wherever they want to take us. So you're like, OK, let me just keep being nice to them. And then maybe just hopefully they'll invite me. So now we're doing the most for free in hopes to be invited on this trip. Fortunately, I have been on a few influencer trips and it is great. I think the biggest thing that I got out of them is meeting other influencers that I can now call my friends. But at some point, if you're on a brand trip and they're like, hey, we're going to fly you out and then we want you to post every day on Instagram and then we want you to put five stories in your Instagram story every day. And oh, we also want you to make a YouTube video. It's like, OK, it's kind of sounding more like a work trip now. And usually when people go on work trips, it's still a trip, but it's still work, so they still get paid. Now, I'm not trying to sound ungrateful. I'm very thankful when I do get invited to a trip. But and this is me speaking for a lot of influencers, actually, is that we just kind of feel like this obligation to just do whatever they say so we can go on this trip. And at the end of the day, trips are cool. But what my life motto is, it's not about where you go. It's who you're with. So you could go on a trip, but you might be put with a bunch of people that you actually don't know or don't like. And now you're just on the beach with a bunch of people you don't like. So I'm going to tell you right now. There is a good handful of products that I really, really, really want to review. But the only reason that I have it is because one, I've actually started communication with the brand. They've promised to pay me X amount of dollars and then they just stopped. So it's really hard to just do something for free when you are promised a lot of money to do so. You know what I mean? Another reason why I might not have reviewed is because that person that I talked to at the brand was extremely rude. And if that's how you conduct business, I don't really want to continue this business relationship. It's already really sloppy. It's messy. Who knows if you're even going to pay me after I do it, that trust is just broken. Or I just straight up don't like it. And I personally don't really review products that I don't like. I know some of you guys wish that I did do videos on things that I don't like. I really wanted my channel just to be like a one stop shop. So you just know that if I reviewed it, it's good. Like anything on my channel, Bianca Renee approved. I get to send it to my channel and it's easy to find something that'll work. But, you know, I've been thinking about it and I might switch things up because I'm just obviously getting fed up. So I might start putting brands on blast. I mean, I'm not going to like bash them or anything, but it might be time for you guys to know what doesn't work. You know what, I think that's going to be my next video. Come back on Sunday and I will show you all the products that I don't use. All the products that have sulfates, parabens, silicones that are just sitting over there in a big old box that I'm going to donate. But before I donate it, I'm going to show you what's in it. So hit that subscribe button and notification bell so you don't miss it. Oh, OK, last thing before we go. The truth about influencers. All right, let's let's let's take it there. We're here. My shirt says no chill. Let's not have any chill. Some influencers, there are some influencers that just promote whatever they're getting paid to promote. I know it's true. They're out there and I really hate that because that ruins the authenticity for those of us that are truthful in our reviews. And I know this personally because I have had conversations with other influencers where I asked them like, oh, I saw you did a post with so-and-so. And like, oh, yeah, I actually never tried the product. But yeah, I posted about it and I was like, what? Sounded like, dang, man, like you're the reason people be bugging out when they see hashtag sponsored because they just don't believe anybody anymore and they're out there. So let me tell you guys how to find out what influencers are true and which ones are lying. OK, don't tell them I told you this. But this is how you could find out if that person posts about a product and then you never hear them talk about it again. There could be a chance that they don't actually like it or don't use it. Now, that's not like a foolproof thing because I have hundreds of products that I have reviewed. And sometimes they don't get a re-mention on my story because I just have so many to try. I only watch my hair once a week. So if I get new products once a week, it's really hard for me to double back and try something that I actually have already loved because there's just not enough wash days in the week. But this is why I think it's really important for you guys not just to follow someone on YouTube, but also on Instagram. So you can watch their stories and kind of see what products they really use all the time. And then I would take the products that you really see all the time take those to heart. Another thing I want you guys to keep in mind when watching YouTube videos or Instagram or whatever is don't compare your routine to that person's routine like 100 percent. So, for example, let's say I'm a curly influencer that uses silicone, right? So I make this video on Monday showing you how great my hair looks with my silicone product. At the end of the video, my hair looks great. You know, it's nice and shiny because, you know, plastics really shiny. But then what you don't see is on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I use all these other different products because I have, I don't know, hundreds of curly hair products in my collection. So I might be using Shea Moisture one day, Divacurl the next day, not your mother's the next day. May I moisture like all products that are silicone free? So, yes, my hair does look good because I am using a lot of products that actually are solvay, paraben, silicone free, whereas you, the viewer, might not have a curly hair product collection. So you go out and buy that silicone product that I recommended and you are actually using that silicone product Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And you're wondering why your hair doesn't look as fabulous as its influencers. Peculiar. So overall, the influencer world can get very, very tricky. I know it's hard for you guys to really find someone that you can trust, but that really is on you, your own interpretation. I hope that you continue to watch my videos because you do believe in what I'm saying and the effort that I put behind my videos to really make sure that they are always authentic. And then I'm really giving you guys good results because I want your curls to look good. It's true. I don't just do these big chop challenges, no heat challenges for fun. No, I really want you guys to see good results because when you see results, then you trust me and you keep coming back for more than we all win. So if you enjoyed this video and or any of my videos in general, please give me a thumbs up and subscribe. I post two new videos every week, once on Friday and once on Sunday. And if you want to see more of my behind the scenes to really keep everything authentic, make sure to follow me on Instagram at Ms. Bianca Renee. And if you want to see my video where I'm showing you all the products that I don't use, make sure you come back on Sunday. I'll see you guys next time. Thanks for watching Bianca Renee today.