[00:00:00] Nate Flake: If you are 40-plus years old and you're thinking about getting into UGC and you're thinking, "Well, can I still do this at 40-plus? Can I learn a new trick, trick at 40-plus?" This is gonna be the episode for you, because today we have a killer guest. Velma, welcome to the UGC 101 podcast. Super stoked to have you here
[00:00:19] Velma Canaday: Well, obviously we're super happy to be here, so thanks for asking me to chat it up today. I definitely am a chatty Cathy.
[00:00:26] Nate Flake: No, I love it. No, as soon as I met you in Park City, I'm like, "I gotta get her on the [00:00:30] pod."
[00:00:30] Velma Canaday: Yeah. Thank you
[00:00:31] Nate Flake: yeah, yeah. So I wanna, like, let's just dive into your story. So I know you've been doing UGC for a minute now. It's been a, it's been a while, but like, tell me about your background. Where are you from? Where did you-- What did you do before you found UGC?
[00:00:44] Nate Flake: How did you find UGC? I wanna hear all the things
[00:00:46] Velma Canaday: Oh my God, I'm gonna... You know how they say, "Let me make a long story short," and then proceed to make the longest story ever? Yeah actually I have a background in tech. I have a bachelor's and master's in computer science, so I know how to code and do websites, all the
[00:00:59] Nate Flake: Oh [00:01:00] crap
[00:01:00] Velma Canaday: yeah. So I worked in DC for about 10 years, okay, 'cause that's the hub at that time for for tech and, and government work.
[00:01:08] Velma Canaday: There's a lot of stability, right? When you get out of college, first thing you wanna do is make money and you wanna get a paycheck. I was a patent examiner at the USPTO, Patent and Trademark Office. Oh, hated the
[00:01:18] Nate Flake: Wow. I was gonna say, that sounds wild
[00:01:21] Velma Canaday: I, I've... And also everything I've done has always been about what you see.
[00:01:27] Velma Canaday: So when I was a patent examiner, I was a patent examiner for [00:01:30] graphical user interfaces, so anything you saw on computers, d- devices, what have you, that was my specialty. I also, when I was working in DC, I worked for all the agencies, you know, secret clearance from the DOD, all the things, like it's
[00:01:44] Nate Flake: yeah.
[00:01:45] Velma Canaday: I side hustled and I was like, "Oh, I can make websites," you know, on my own. So I s- I started a web development company um, I also used to manage a graphic designer one of my small jobs and [00:02:00] I was like, "Ooh, I wanna do graphic design." Again, I like things. It's about how it looks, right? How you present it.
[00:02:06] Nate Flake: Mm-hmm.
[00:02:07] Velma Canaday: um, I got, when I was working at the Small Business Administration, I got them to pay for my certificate for, um, web design, and I had to match it up to the job skills. You know, you gotta do all
[00:02:17] Velma Canaday: that
[00:02:17] Nate Flake: yeah, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta justify it. I've been there
[00:02:20] Velma Canaday: Yeah. So did that and then so, so I had the full-time job and I was doing that and then trying to get into government contracting because again, steady money, big money, contracts, [00:02:30] right?
[00:02:30] Velma Canaday: Okay, so if you don't know by now, like I'm definitely into health and fitness. I have a six-pack.
[00:02:36] Nate Flake: flexing for the camera
[00:02:37] Velma Canaday: I mean, you know, I have a six-pack. Well, actually it's like four and a half right now, but, so health and fitness is literally life. I have been running track since I was eight, district and regional champion in the 100, 200.
[00:02:51] Velma Canaday: a sprinter. I do everything fast. That's just life. And, so I was like, "I'm gonna move to Dallas." Don't ask me [00:03:00] why. I was like, "I'm gonna move to Dallas. I'm gonna start a healthy fast food restaurant." Man. So moved to
[00:03:05] Nate Flake: Just change your life upside down
[00:03:08] Velma Canaday: I, I, you know, I mean, well, I had a lot of fun in DC in my 20s and my 30s. Well, yeah, 20s and 30s, you know.
[00:03:14] Velma Canaday: You know that when you go to two and three clubs a night type of thing, and then you wake up and go to work? Like, that was the life back then, right?
[00:03:21] Nate Flake: No slate. Yeah, yeah
[00:03:22] Velma Canaday: So moved to Dallas, and then I actually, like within two weeks of moving there, didn't even have all my furniture a- and [00:03:30] clothing from the move. I started as a salad girl on the, on the food truck because I was like, "Well, I come from tech.
[00:03:36] Velma Canaday: I need experience in the, in this new field. I wanna start a healthy fast food restaurant." Okay. Well, I was like, "I don't wanna do this. This is gonna be a lot. I need a lot of money. I need a lot of capital. restaurants don't make it." I was like, "Man." So again, health and fitness is life. I started a business.
[00:03:56] Velma Canaday: I sold all the fun, crazy patterned legging, leggings. [00:04:00] At the same time I had that business, I started a nutrition business. So I did meal plans, meal prep, grocery shopping tours, pantry sweeps, I was doing them at the same time, and this is really when I began. This was 2015. This is when I began to create content.
[00:04:16] Velma Canaday: Because I come from a tech world, I don't know anything about marketing, I Yeah advertisement. I'm co- I'm coding, make sure it looks good. Does it work with the database? Like, that's, that's, that's my field, right? So I'm like, "Man, I got this [00:04:30] business. I need to make money." So that's when I started, like, reading all the marketing books.
[00:04:35] Velma Canaday: then so I was doing all my social media, and everything I learned, I went to go tell all my friends, all my small business friends. I was like, "You need to do this. You need to do that." I had a little pod on Instagram. I was like, "Okay, I posted my thing. Go like it and comment." They... Everybody would do the same thing.
[00:04:49] Velma Canaday: This is
[00:04:50] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:04:51] Velma Canaday: right? Because marketing had changed. And so that business wasn't making money, but I learned a lot. [00:05:00] again, through that, making content for myself and telling other people what to do on social media, I became a social media manager.
[00:05:06] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:05:07] Velma Canaday: I became a social media manager, and I worked for a social a candy company in Dallas making 50K.
[00:05:15] Velma Canaday: Oh my God. Now granted, this was less than I had... I graduated college 2006 with my master's. No, 2005 master's degree, I got paid, like, $50,000 then to [00:05:30] be the patent examiner. So n- 10 plus years, I'm back at the same salary, and this is, like, such a- Ego thing, right? I'm like, "
[00:05:38] Nate Flake: yeah.
[00:05:39] Velma Canaday: master's
[00:05:39] Nate Flake: For sure
[00:05:40] Velma Canaday: But when you're working at this, your business for... I had the leggings business for about four years making no money. I mean, I had inventory. I was showing up to events in Dallas. You know, it's hot as heck in Dallas. I did all
[00:05:53] Nate Flake: yeah
[00:05:54] Velma Canaday: inside, outside, setting up my leggings. And my only choice, [00:06:00] reason why I was doing the events were because I was trying to get people to sign up on the newsletter.
[00:06:05] Velma Canaday: Again, remember I learned marketing, so by this time I knew how, how do
[00:06:08] Nate Flake: You get them in the funnel. Yeah, yeah, you're trying to get them in the top of funnel
[00:06:11] Velma Canaday: Yes. So you meet me here, I get you, you buy the leggings, you love them. I get you to sign up on the newsletter, then I'm sending you e- ... And I found people only loved the in-person experience with me. I would send the emails and, but there weren't mega sales.
[00:06:27] Velma Canaday: Like, I- it would be, like,
[00:06:28] Nate Flake: Yeah. Yeah
[00:06:29] Velma Canaday: [00:06:30] when I looked at it at the end, I was like, "How am I doing so many?" I mean, I even did, uh, South by Southwest. I made it to the news there with that, and I'm like... And that was a $1,200 booth rental for two days. So I have to make $1,200 back just for the booth.
[00:06:48] Nate Flake: Just to cover
[00:06:49] Velma Canaday: Yes, and then my inventory, right? 'Cause you have to have inventory 'cause it's a big event. And then my hotel and food. I wanna know, I was in the hole. I was in the hole for exposure [00:07:00] for, may- maybe less than 50 emails to resell them. So I was like, "Man, isn't working out for me. I'm
[00:07:07] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:07:07] Velma Canaday: much time and energy." I love it, but... And then by that time I, I finally turned to 40. Life at 40 is different. So anyway and I'm just, like, reliving it, like, having go-
[00:07:20] Nate Flake: Stressed out
[00:07:21] Velma Canaday: yeah, and having $0. So the, the only thing, good thing about me is when I moved from Dallas, um, uh, DC to Dallas, [00:07:30] I had $40,000 saved. I didn't know I was saving it for that.
[00:07:32] Velma Canaday: I'm just a saver by, like, right? I went through that $40,000. I lived in Dallas for eight years. I went through that $40,000. That's why I had to get a 9:00 to 5:00, 'cause I didn't have any more, I mean, j- $0 left. I went through... I even took out money from my traditional IRA. Like, it, it, you know, I was not making ends meet.
[00:07:50] Velma Canaday: The e- the ends were not meeting. So I had to get that job. But I also was a social media manager for all the small business people, and then I [00:08:00] was a social media manager for a shared space photography studio. Again, I'm creating content. So my job there was to get that studio booked, to show people what to do in the studio, and to highlight the photographers, right?
[00:08:16] Velma Canaday: So we had, we had two different audiences, photographers and content creators, influencers,
[00:08:20] Velma Canaday: anybody
[00:08:21] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:08:21] Velma Canaday: book, the space. And I, I mean, I worked with a litany of different people across the board in small business for social media management. [00:08:30] um, that's when I m- met Marcia
[00:08:31] Nate Flake: Okay
[00:08:33] Velma Canaday: that's who actually got me into UGC, but not while I was in Dallas because she hadn't started UGC yet until I left well, towards the end.
[00:08:42] Velma Canaday: So then I moved to Florida. I got a full-time job as a social media manager, again, at a supplement company. Again, supplement, health and fitness, that's my life, so right up my alley. by this time, Marcia had done some Kroger. She had done [00:09:00] UGC for Kroger, and she was telling me about... And then she told me about Bambassadors, which is another UGC agency, which was
[00:09:06] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:09:06] Velma Canaday: in the beginning.
[00:09:07] Velma Canaday: And so I got on with Bambassadors, and then that's how I learned UGC. I had already been creating content, but UGC
[00:09:15] Nate Flake: For other companies, yeah
[00:09:16] Velma Canaday: mm-hmm, UGC specifically, I didn't start until 2022.
[00:09:21] Nate Flake: So now, so you're working social media management for all these companies. You start UGC. How long before you're like, "Oh, th- okay, this is the thing. Like, I need to [00:09:30] go, I need to, like, double down on this"?
[00:09:32] Velma Canaday: Well, whenever I do something, I never half-ass it. I usually use my whole ass. So can I say that? I don't even curse, but I just felt like yeah, to understand Yeah, yeah, how you can, curse. I, I'm never someone who is timid in decisions or, or let me see how this works out
[00:09:52] Nate Flake: You're just like, "Let's do
[00:09:53] Velma Canaday: yeah, because I feel like when you give yourself a little bit of a, you're not really committed.
[00:09:58] Velma Canaday: You're not really gonna go all in. You're like, [00:10:00] "Oh, well, I, I was just trying it anyway." So when the
[00:10:03] Nate Flake: Yeah.
[00:10:03] Velma Canaday: tough, you can get going,
[00:10:05] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:10:06] Velma Canaday: So when I make a decision... Now, granted, when I first started, it was part-time and, um, I, I didn't have that job yet, so this was kind of filler money before I got the full-time job. And I just was like, "Okay, this is extra money." Because at that time I was, I had, I had to pay taxes to the IRS because I only had enough money left over to maybe [00:10:30] buy groceries. So if it was between me paying Uncle Sam and me buying groceries, I bought the groceries.
[00:10:36] Velma Canaday: Again, this, the struggling entrepreneur having
[00:10:39] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:10:40] Velma Canaday: and none of them making money.
[00:10:42] Velma Canaday: Like, wants to live that life? Especially coming from a successful... I mean, I was a senior web developer. Like, I've made six figures, right? And now I'm n- making no figures. That,
[00:10:52] Nate Flake: yeah.
[00:10:52] Velma Canaday: is a, that is, that's unfigureoutable
[00:10:56] Nate Flake: Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, for real
[00:10:59] Velma Canaday: [00:11:00] So, yeah, it, it w- I've, I've been on a journey. I, and, and still in a journey with UGC. So I was doing it full-time. I paid back the, the IRS. I saved up to buy me a Jeep, my f- my dream car. I've been wanting a Jeep since 1999. I saved up, I bought my Jeep. I went on vacation. I took trips. That extra money from UGC was great.
[00:11:23] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:11:24] Velma Canaday: you know, I got to be me when I didn't work for this go to hell job. [00:11:30] It was great in the beginning. Everything's great in the beginning, but at some point it just, it just wasn't good. Now, and I, and I kept saying to myself, I was like, "Man, I really wanna go full-time." I was like, "If I'm making t- five, $5,000 a month part-time, I mean, shoot, once I go
[00:11:45] Nate Flake: What happens if I, yeah, if I went up all in on it?
[00:11:48] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:11:48] Velma Canaday: I'm like, "Ooh, by the time... I do this full-time, I make $10,000 easy." Not the case.
[00:11:55] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah. It's a lot, it's a lot harder than people make it seem, right?
[00:11:58] Velma Canaday: [00:12:00] Yes. It was, it was not 10K immediately. I- not even close. And, you know, again, I'm used to being an en- an entrepreneur, so knowing that nothing is going to be given to me and you have to work it. But I was disappointed that it just didn't double right o- on the offset. I'm like, "Damn, I'm here now.
[00:12:19] Velma Canaday: Take me." But what actually happened to... I, a- again, I wanted to go full time because I was like, "Okay, this job isn't working out for me." Like, I used to go to work later and later and [00:12:30] later. Like, I, oh, I just would be... You know when you're just laying in the bed and you're like, "Okay, how much
[00:12:36] Nate Flake: Ja.
[00:12:37] Velma Canaday: And
[00:12:37] Nate Flake: ja.
[00:12:37] Velma Canaday: like, "I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go." And I- that's when you know it's bad, right? And, and, and again, I w- I wasn't paycheck to paycheck. What, I mean, like, I'm a, again, I'd say I'm a savers. I built my savings back up when I got the nine to five. You know, put money away for retirement. Like, I'm, I'm huge on those things because I'm single, I don't have kids, don't have anybody to fall back [00:13:00] on.
[00:13:00] Velma Canaday: So having savings is very important. If you have savings, that's like a peace of mind. You don't operate out of a place of desperation
[00:13:10] Velma Canaday: for
[00:13:11] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:13:11] Velma Canaday: and it, it gives you, like, that peace of mind. I have, like, seven, eight months saved and I have to put money away for retirement because I don't wanna work forever.
[00:13:21] Velma Canaday: I'm tired of working now at 45. My goodness. So again, I was, "I don't wanna go to work. I don't wanna work." And then in December of [00:13:30] 2023, no, 2024 they got we- they got, like, a new VP who was over my boss and he, he let my boss go in October. Didn't think, you know, anything about it. You know, systems changing, people, whatever. And then he has a meeting with me and HR. Oh, excuse me, what?
[00:13:47] Nate Flake: Same day?
[00:13:48] Velma Canaday: knew... no, not the same day. In December.
[00:13:51] Nate Flake: Okay, later on. Okay
[00:13:52] Velma Canaday: Yeah, and I'm like, find that very weird because why am I having a meeting with him and HR? So I cleaned my [00:14:00] desk out and everything. I, I got all my stuff, like, 'cause they give you the email, like, a couple of days before.
[00:14:04] Velma Canaday: It was like at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Not in the morning, 2:00 or 3:00 in the, in the afternoon, and I'm just like, they had my replacement there the same day. But the only good thing for me is that I knew it wasn't performance-based because all my numbers, again, I'm an overachiever,
[00:14:17] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:14:18] Velma Canaday: All my numbers are good.
[00:14:19] Velma Canaday: I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. But everybody was like, "Who is that girl in Anna's office?" They were like, "She- who's that girl?" That was my replacement.
[00:14:28] Nate Flake: That's wild
[00:14:29] Velma Canaday: [00:14:30] Very wild. Very wild. So they told me, they took me in the office and was like, "Oh, we're changing the role from a social media manager to um, community manager."
[00:14:40] Velma Canaday: And I just said, "Okay, thank you." gave me three months severance, and I still had like two weeks of vacation, so I was good for, for a couple of months, right? I didn't have to worry about anything. And then that's when I went full time, January 2024
[00:14:55] Nate Flake: Wow. So you've been full-time ever since.
[00:14:58] Velma Canaday: Yeah
[00:14:59] Nate Flake: So tell [00:15:00] me how that-- So you go full-time, how does your business change? How does your, how do your priorities change? Like, did you have to learn, like you said, like the road to 10K is hard for-- That 5 to 10K, the, getting to 5K I feel like isn't, it's tough for sure, I don't wanna like downplay that.
[00:15:15] Nate Flake: But like the 5 to 10K jump feels way, way harder because you're raising your prices, you're working with bigger clients. H-how, how was that learning curve? What did you learn in that period?
[00:15:24] Velma Canaday: So also coming from tech, right? I as a computer scientist, we are like [00:15:30] a few classes away from being a math degree. So it's about the numbers, right? So I keep track of what, what I got hired for, when, date, quarter one, quarter two, all the things. 'Cause you- if you don't know where you are, where you're standing, how can you measure your growth, right?
[00:15:45] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:15:45] Velma Canaday: Ooh, one thing I was like, "Okay, $150 job is fine. $200 job's fine. Cool. $300 job is even, even better." Like, I wasn't l- looking to get rich off [00:16:00] of it then. But once I started, And I had repeat customers then.
[00:16:05] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:16:06] Velma Canaday: once I s- was like, okay, full-time, I'm like, "Hmm, now it's about how do I get repeat? How do I get repeat?
[00:16:15] Velma Canaday: How do I raise my rate? And how do I get more and, be consistent?" And, and year one I was not consistent with... Also, I should mention that I don't pitch.
[00:16:26] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:16:26] Velma Canaday: I, my first year I don't pitch. Me- Not saying that if there's [00:16:30] a platform, I don't go up there and say, "Hey, this is why you should pick me." I, I, you have to do that.
[00:16:34] Velma Canaday: You know, I w- I became a top creator on Incense while I was part-time. And then when I went full-time, I went full, I went ham on Backstage. So I just applied to everything. Even if it was below the rate that I wanted, I put in there what I wanted to charge for it. And I think I had to get over the fact that- Oh, well, if I don't take this rate, I'm gonna lose out and somebody [00:17:00] else will take it. Well, at the end of the day, you know, you gotta pay taxes on it. So for a job, after 25 to 30% taxes you take out of it, that's $100 for all the scripting, the writing, and the...
[00:17:12] Nate Flake: yeah
[00:17:13] Velma Canaday: I transitioned my business from having to do all the writing and scripting and editing to towards the end of the year, trying to take mostly jobs that were already scripted, already edited. That helped out a lot because you can get overwhelmed, and then you could also [00:17:30] start to feel like you don't like doing UGC because
[00:17:33] Nate Flake: Yeah, that's a bad spot
[00:17:34] Velma Canaday: work. Yeah, it- there's a lot of work for X amount of money. And, and when you're starting off, you don't know that you could charge. You and then you don't believe it.
[00:17:44] Velma Canaday: I also, m- even though I don't, I, I am very confident in myself and my abilities, I never saw myself making that 10K. I wanted to real bad, like real bad. Pray about it, write my affirmations every day. I am attracted
[00:17:58] Nate Flake: You
[00:17:59] Velma Canaday: money. Big [00:18:00] money, specifically $10,000, right? I want the big money. But it, it, you, you have to...
[00:18:08] Velma Canaday: And it, it finally happened to me, and it didn't really feel any different. But my belief in myself was like, okay, you can do, you already knew you could do it, but it's something about seeing it and having it and, and it being tangible. The other thing is I just had to get better as a creator. I think part-time allowed me to not really-
[00:18:28] Nate Flake: Level up your [00:18:30] skill.
[00:18:30] Velma Canaday: Yeah.
[00:18:31] Nate Flake: Yep Full-time I was like, "Oh, crap." And I'm al- I usually always over-deliver. I usually... Like, because again, I have the background of being a social media manager, knowing they're checking for ROAS click-through rate, all the... I have the creator and the brand side experience, so I come to it like, number one, I wanna do a good job for the brand because I wanna be hired again.
[00:18:56] Velma Canaday: I, I never turn in content thinking, "Oh, this is my last time," [00:19:00] unless they're not a good client to work with. Other than that, I, I want to be hired again and again and again by this brand.
[00:19:06] Nate Flake: Yeah, for sure
[00:19:07] Velma Canaday: so I'm always wanting to do a good job. I'm not worried about, "Oh, how do I look on camera? How do I sound?" Okay, so that's another...
[00:19:15] Velma Canaday: I'm a camera confidence coach. Like, that's the thing. I'm doing a workbook. I have a whole thing about it, because a lot of brands hire me because my on-camera presence. I show up.
[00:19:26] Nate Flake: Yeah, I don't... I'm not worried about, [00:19:30] "Is voice okay? Do I..." mean, I don't even think about those things. I think about, "How do I feel?"
[00:19:38] Velma Canaday: about, "How can I make this sound better?" 'Cause I mean, I've said some things before like Lactobacillus rhamnosus. I'm like, I've been talking like... You know, you, you, you gotta... I'm thinking about how to make this come alive. Like, this, this bland script or these things. So I think about all of those things.
[00:19:58] Velma Canaday: Again, but that's my experience coming [00:20:00] from media and, and marketing is like, how do I get somebody's attention? How do I... I mean, 'cause you can s- I've seen UGC where the person's like, " And then this is like that, and that is like..." You can immediately tell and feel like they don't, they're not
[00:20:14] Nate Flake: Yeah, they hate it. Yeah, yeah. You gotta make it sound like it's the coolest thing in the world
[00:20:17] Velma Canaday: And you don't have to be like me. Everybody... Sometimes when people, I got, I got feedback sometimes like, "Can you not be so..." I'm like, "Did you look at my portfo- Have you seen me? I'm always like this." I, I'm, I don't do [00:20:30] soft girl. Like, there's Yeah, an a- that's not my thing. So everybody has a lane here. Just be you.
[00:20:36] Velma Canaday: You get paid to be you. You, that's it. Yeah you don't gotta be nobody. People like you for your bald head and your mustache
[00:20:44] Nate Flake: That's what happens
[00:20:45] Velma Canaday: You know, you, but I think there it, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a lot of pieces. There's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of journey within yourself, and before you press record, there's so many things that go, that go on before you press [00:21:00] record.
[00:21:00] Velma Canaday: But
[00:21:01] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:21:01] Velma Canaday: not have even answered your question.
[00:21:03] Nate Flake: No, no, no, you did answer my question. I w- I have a follow-up question on what you were just talking about, though, like, you, how you just be you, right? So a lot of people have a hard time... I, I'm a big guy, I've talked about this a lot, about, like, hey, don't, you don't feel like you have to lean into one niche.
[00:21:17] Nate Flake: You can do, you should be able to do a bunch of niches, right? Like, you, you should be basically an actor that wants, that can act across all genres. But there may be a couple genres where you're like, "Oh, I'm really, really freaking good at that," right? [00:21:30] For you, it's the fitness, the health, the supplement space.
[00:21:34] Nate Flake: How, how do you lean into those brands specifically? Like, or are they just follow, finding you because of what you're putting out? Like, you're doing a lot of, like, health and fitness content on your socials already. Like, are they finding you o- ... Is there any, and is there anything specific that you did, either, like, a mental switch or, like, any strategy that people can take and be like, "Oh, I could do that, but with food and whatever."
[00:21:55] Nate Flake: Like, or maybe I'm a chef. Like, how, how are you leaning into that? Because
[00:21:59] Velma Canaday: I'm [00:22:00]
[00:22:00] Nate Flake: feels authentic to you and it's what you actually are good at.
[00:22:02] Velma Canaday: So I think you are-- I don't know if you're talking a little bit about like personal brand and also how to be found, right? So I think for me, had to, year one full-time, I had to go after the work. I was on the websi- websites, the
[00:22:19] Nate Flake: Yeah.
[00:22:20] Velma Canaday: platforms, was any job that was out there, that's that, that warm lead. These are the people that already are looking for work.
[00:22:26] Velma Canaday: So to them, I show up, I make sure I [00:22:30] see what they are asking for. I'm making sure I let them know what I can deliver. I'm showing them examples of my work, especially work that's done well. I have a, a partner, Gravity Transformation. Been working with them for-- I think that's the one that made me like the most famous.
[00:22:47] Velma Canaday: I have like a $12 million, $12 million, ooh. Manifesting. I have a 12 million view ad, and it's in my portfolio. I send that sucker to everybody when I'm pitching for [00:23:00] anything, right? with that, I, I, I do think it's a little bit of confidence saying that like, "I'm just gonna put my best face forward, my, my best content forward."
[00:23:11] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:23:12] Velma Canaday: be wor- but I think we, we worry about too many things. Am I gonna get it? waste time thinking about if you're going to get the job, you, you miss out on the opportunities to go after more work. In the beginning, you really have to hit the pavement. You really do.
[00:23:27] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:23:28] Velma Canaday: have to just know that you're [00:23:30] sowing seeds.
[00:23:31] Velma Canaday: Because if you would've told me that the 125 applications I put in in January 2024 was going to allow me in July 2026 to receive inbounds from the platforms from a teleprompter company called BigVue, which
[00:23:49] Nate Flake: Yeah.
[00:23:50] Velma Canaday: huge deal,
[00:23:51] Nate Flake: Yeah, massive deal
[00:23:53] Velma Canaday: right, and they found me from Backstage. they wouldn't have found me if I hadn't paid, you know, like [00:24:00] paid, gotten w- like went down the rabbit hole for these jobs and done work and done great work and been a great communicator with brands and following up.
[00:24:11] Velma Canaday: Because if you're just, you know, just on there every now and again, but like you have to show up so that they can...
[00:24:19] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:24:19] Velma Canaday: have found me if brands didn't rate me. Like I don't know where it is, but they had to have rated me somewhere
[00:24:24] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:24:25] Velma Canaday: for me to get inbounds like I'm getting
[00:24:27] Nate Flake: And you had to get a lot of nos too. You had to get a [00:24:30] lot of no- like a hella lot of nos at the beginning too. That's what people don't get. They're like, "Oh, I put in, I applied for 15 jobs and I didn't get any." I'm like, "Oh, 15? Like, is it-- It's only 9:00 AM, right? Like, what do you mean 15?" You know?
[00:24:41] Velma Canaday: Oh, like the 120-something I put out January, I may have gotten t- may have gotten 10, and that wasn't even in that month. It probably happened February, March. M- or March or April. Like, so I just was like, I'm... Again, I didn't have a backup. Well, I mean, I [00:25:00] had the money from my job coming in, but for me, I, that's not money.
[00:25:03] Velma Canaday: Like, you know,
[00:25:04] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah, there's no,
[00:25:04] Velma Canaday: I don't...
[00:25:05] Nate Flake: B
[00:25:05] Velma Canaday: Yeah, I don't count on that. So I'm like, " Okay." I, I just, I just hit, hit it. So I think for me it was the planting the seeds everywhere on all platforms, but also making sure that I presented me as a package, me as a creator in a way that would make brands want to hire me, and really is the reason why somebody wants to hire you is your o- on-camera presence,
[00:25:29] Velma Canaday: you show [00:25:30] up as yourself, how you deliver content.
[00:25:33] Velma Canaday: If your thing is ASMR, baby, ASMR it up. Put your best stuff up. If your thing is hair stuff, all of that. Like, you know. And the other weird thing is something that you think might be your thing might not actually be your thing. Me with my six-pack, like that's my best feature. Like, that's why I sold so many leggings and nutrition plans, right? You know? But I got hired for way more skincare than I [00:26:00] did fitness stuff. Like, I don't work with a lot of fitness apps. I work with a lot
[00:26:03] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:26:04] Velma Canaday: and I don't know if it's because I'm 45 and you see that glow, you know? And, and, you know. And then also it worked r- reversing me, too, because sometimes I just worked with a, a client.
[00:26:14] Velma Canaday: They actually became a repeat client. They were like, "We like, we like this little sparkle, spunk that fits our brand, but is she... Does she look old enough?" " Does she look like..." I was like, "Yes, I was born in '81. I'm old enough." And then also on, uh, I [00:26:30] did a, a menopause, uh, Black Girl Vitamins, and they were like, "She's not even old enough to be in menopause."
[00:26:37] Velma Canaday: And they were like, "Black don't crack." I'm like, "I'm over 40." Like, so it, it works. And I also model too. I do model here in, uh, Miami area, so that's another income source.
[00:26:48] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah
[00:26:50] Velma Canaday: yeah, so I just... But I think now the other reason I wanted to be a UGC creator is because I didn't have to post on my account. As a social media marketer and manager, [00:27:00] I was posting all the time for
[00:27:01] Nate Flake: So much. Yeah, yeah
[00:27:03] Velma Canaday: time.
[00:27:03] Velma Canaday: And so I got burnt out with having to do that, you know, and I actually, Instagram changed so much that I fell out of love with that. I mean, I am on TikTok. TikTok account is like 10,000. I'm in TikTok Shop. I'm really good at TikTok Lives. They gift me on TikTok Lives. I wasn't good at TikTok Shop selling.
[00:27:21] Velma Canaday: I was... Because I think I'm more of a marketer. I'm more of a awareness. I'm more of a, you know, get you excited about it. I don't think I'm a closer,
[00:27:29] Velma Canaday: [00:27:30] really.
[00:27:30] Nate Flake: yeah. You're, you're top of funnel. You're not bottom of funnel.
[00:27:32] Nate Flake: I got you
[00:27:33] Velma Canaday: I, I don't think I, I don't think I excel there. But TikTok Lives, I, I do, 'cause I get to be myper- my, myself.
[00:27:40] Nate Flake: Yourself, yeah
[00:27:41] Velma Canaday: yeah, and I, and getting paid to be myself is, like, the best thing in the world.
[00:27:45] Nate Flake: Probably helps with your UGC too,
[00:27:47] Nate Flake: honestly Yeah. I think another thing that helps you is, and again, it's that confidence thing. That's gonna be a confidence camera coach, like how to show up confident on camera. It comes [00:28:00] with either you, you gotta fake it or either it just lives in you, like that you are assured in yourself.
[00:28:06] Velma Canaday: And because sometimes we don't believe in the products, like we're not, we're not, we're not in love with the thing, but you gotta be like, "I'm gonna show up. I'm gonna be the best toothbrush girl there right? A lot of what we do is just acting, you know. But there sh- you know, at least there has to be some kind of thread within you to you show up.
[00:28:27] Velma Canaday: But I have done ads for ED, [00:28:30] done ads for THC, HTP, TS, WWL, R, URL, all the things.
[00:28:35] Nate Flake: All the, all the letters
[00:28:36] Velma Canaday: all the letters. But, um, so I think in the beginning, I just pounded all, pounded the pavement for all the platforms, showed up with good content, good relationships wanted to get rehired from people. And then to now I was saying how I didn't wanna post I had been doing it for so long.
[00:28:58] Velma Canaday: But now it's just [00:29:00] another way to get more when the platforms are dead. Like right now, for myself personally, June was a slow month on plat- I feel like they've, they've been slow on all the platforms the past couple of months.
[00:29:15] Nate Flake: 100%,
[00:29:16] Nate Flake: yeah
[00:29:16] Velma Canaday: Yeah. But I was actually able to keep up last month because about 90% of the work I got last month is repeat clients or inbounds.
[00:29:26] Nate Flake: That's such a good spot to be in
[00:29:27] Velma Canaday: Yeah. I was on the platforms maybe for [00:29:30] 15% of the time, and I didn't spend a lot of time there because there was nothing there, right? So it's easy to get discouraged in that moment. It's like, "Oh, the thing that I rely..." And I learned this in the first year. Your income is capped with platforms and websites because can only get a job from what they have to offer you.
[00:29:49] Velma Canaday: So if they, there's nothing to offer you in your niche or, you know, niche adjacent content that you do, what are you gonna do,
[00:29:57] Nate Flake: Yeah.
[00:29:57] Velma Canaday: And if
[00:29:58] Nate Flake: if the platform's not going [00:30:00] after brands, which like s- you're kind of at the like, okay, hopefully they're doing a good job of getting brands on here, otherwise I'm screwed. Like, yeah, I 100% agree
[00:30:07] Velma Canaday: Yeah. So it's like you're capped there because you can only get the work that you have there, and you're in competition with other people. And one thing I don't, I, I don't worry about, another thing when, when people are on apps they have a range of, let's say they offer, "Oh, we're paying $50 to 150." Then people put themselves at $100 thinking that that's [00:30:30] gonna get them hired.
[00:30:30] Velma Canaday: I'm like, again, $100, take 25 to 35, 30% taxes. That's what?
[00:30:38] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:30:39] Velma Canaday: $55. You can't even buy groceries for two days for $55. do it to yourself. You don't need the $55 that much. Granted, we all do something strange for change sometimes. I, I... Like, if I need to hit my number, I might take a $300 job.
[00:30:56] Nate Flake: Yeah, Yeah,
[00:30:57] Nate Flake: Or the product, or if I really want the product, like, I might think about [00:31:00] it, yeah
[00:31:00] Velma Canaday: You know? So there, there is, you can bend the rules, w- but the thing is you being in control of bending the rules, not letting it bend on you. So that income being capped there, you could get discouraged, or you can be motivated, or you can pivot. If you are going full time, and as an entrepreneur, you always have to be pivoting.
[00:31:20] Velma Canaday: There's always gonna be a fire. There's always gonna be something that you have to climb the hill for. So, I'm at the point where this is my Achilles heel. I'll [00:31:30] be very honest. I do not like pitching. I am a super successful person, but baby, I feel like I'm in the ring with Mike Tyson where if you say pitching, I just be like,
[00:31:40] Velma Canaday: "Oh my God.
[00:31:41] Nate Flake: don't like it?
[00:31:41] Velma Canaday: now."
[00:31:42] Nate Flake: what, what don't you like about it? You're just nervous, you're, you're like, are you scared of the rejection
[00:31:46] Velma Canaday: No, heck no. Heck no. Because I get, I don't, you- all these things I apply to and they don't, they don't, I don't get it or, you know, so I'm not worried about the no. It's, for me, like I [00:32:00] feel like I'm emailing into the abyss. Now, again, I come from a marketing standpoint too. I know not to send no boring, stupid, drab sub- subject line.
[00:32:08] Velma Canaday: That's number one. Your, your subject line should be a hook,
[00:32:11] Velma Canaday: right?
[00:32:12] Nate Flake: yeah, yeah
[00:32:12] Velma Canaday: And then I just, I just want them to write me back, and I just I, and I know you gotta follow up one, two, three, four times, and I don't wanna have the... See, I don't like butt begging people, but in business you got to go after
[00:32:25] Nate Flake: You gotta beg 'em. Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say, are you uh, w- I was gonna [00:32:30] ask you what your least favorite thing about UGC is, so that's probably it, like having to like beg for the work basically on the pitching side?
[00:32:35] Velma Canaday: Yes. I would prefer inbound, but w- but wouldn't everybody, right? And I think, I... The other thing is when I get down or have those, those sad days, I listen to a lot of entrepreneur mindset like, "You gotta get up. You gotta be that dog. You gotta go get the fight." Like, I listened to that today going to the gym, right?
[00:32:54] Velma Canaday: I was like, "Okay, okay, okay. Yesterday was a... Okay, okay, I can do it. I got [00:33:00] it." Like, I literally have to listen to those things to rewire my thinking sometimes because it... is my, this is my calendar. Do you see this?
[00:33:12] Velma Canaday: I
[00:33:12] Nate Flake: Yeah.
[00:33:12] Velma Canaday: money these days, and ooh, I'm like, it's the ninth day, I've only been hired for $650.
[00:33:18] Velma Canaday: I'm like,
[00:33:18] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah. You gotta figure it out
[00:33:20] Velma Canaday: a month is 10, 10K to be hired for. Which, as we know, being hired for 10K in one month doesn't guarantee you take home 10K in that same month
[00:33:28] Velma Canaday: because [00:33:30] net 30, net 50, contracts, waiting for approval, sending in your
[00:33:34] Nate Flake: Waiting for the products. Yeah
[00:33:36] Velma Canaday: it is... So the other thing is when you go full time, you have to have your cash flow systems set up you're very...
[00:33:45] Velma Canaday: And this is that thing about taking certain jobs on certain platforms because of cash flow.
[00:33:52] Velma Canaday: Like, Instants I love, they have a lot of $200 jobs. I'm, I'm [00:34:00] 500, 700, 800, $900 for, for video,
[00:34:03] Velma Canaday: right? But they also don't come as often, right?
[00:34:06] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah, yeah The $200 ones do. But again, if I look at it, the time I spent to write it, film it,
[00:34:13] Velma Canaday: edit, I- it's not...
[00:34:15] Velma Canaday: I'm at a level where that's not worth my time.
[00:34:17] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:34:18] Velma Canaday: I, I am... Three videos, 1,500. Like, I, I need to get, I need to get there. Like, and I have you know, I'm a brand ambassador with GridBank. have wonderful side hustle mon- [00:34:30] passive side money with them.
[00:34:32] Nate Flake: Ja, ja
[00:34:33] Velma Canaday: Everybody go, go and upload your clips to GridBank. You know, because I mean, Grid- you saw that I made $800 last month
[00:34:41] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah, I saw that. I need to, I still need to download it. I know I hit you up about it. I gotta do it
[00:34:46] Velma Canaday: Yeah, $800 from clips that you have on your phone, right? And again, how you be successful there is just thinking about what, what can the brand use, right? What can... The framing, all the things you do with UGC, right? And, and [00:35:00] I definitely feel like you just... might not have... May- did I answer the question?
[00:35:06] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You answered the question. No, I lo- yeah, no, I think, I think the mindset thing is, like, super important that you were getting into too, is like, a lot of people don't realize, like, yeah, there's a lot of admin work, and that was why I asking you, like, what's the least favorite thing about doing UGC?
[00:35:18] Nate Flake: And you, for you it's like, oh, it's the admins, the pitching. It's like staying on top of the follow-ups and all that, which seems to be a, seems to be a, a trend, honestly
[00:35:26] Velma Canaday: Yeah. The, the pitching is the thing that I hate the most. I don't mind the follow-ups and [00:35:30] the, and the client things, but as I know with systems, I can hire somebody to do that in the future. Like I, I
[00:35:39] Nate Flake: Yeah, like a VA
[00:35:41] Velma Canaday: Right. I've definitely seen the, the benefit of hiring out things. Like my editor for video, like I don't do-- Like I said, most of my stuff is edited and scripted by the brand.
[00:35:53] Velma Canaday: And if I have to, like if I'm pitching and I have to, I just, I, I put that cost right on in for a editor, [00:36:00] I just free myself up from that, from that activity.
[00:36:04] Velma Canaday: But most of the time when you're starting off, you don't, you don't have that bandwidth. You don't have that, 'cause you're not charging a lot, so you don't...
[00:36:11] Velma Canaday: You're not gonna take your $200 job
[00:36:14] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:36:14] Velma Canaday: go spend $25 get an editor, and
[00:36:18] Nate Flake: yeah. 'Cause then you ca- then you're, yeah, 'cause your,
[00:36:20] Nate Flake: your you know, your cost, yeah, there's zero profit
[00:36:23] Velma Canaday: Yeah.
[00:36:24] Nate Flake: That's a lot. Yeah, I want, I wanted to switch gears here for a second to, about-- So, and this is gonna be [00:36:30] completely different than what we were talking about, but changing topics completely. We talked about this in Park City when you came to UGC Creator Connect.
[00:36:38] Nate Flake: And I want to, while I have you, to ask your advice, opinion. Like, I wanna hear it, right? 'Cause I, A, I, I live in Utah, probably the least diverse freaking place. Well, maybe like North Dakota or something might be a little bit less than Utah, but you're-- not only from an age perspective, but from your ethnicity, w- you're [00:37:00] seeing way different challenges than I'm seeing.
[00:37:01] Nate Flake: You're seeing way... But you're also probably seeing different opportunities that I'm not seeing as well. But, like, I want to hear, 'cause I, I... Yeah, I wanna hear from you, like, from people that ask you that question of like, "Hey, what's different? What should I look out for? Is there any tips or tricks?" Like, you, you play a different game than I play, and I, and I'm like not ignorant to that, so I wanna know from your perspective how the
[00:37:23] Nate Flake: industry is. Yeah, like how, like what are the thing-- Like, how is it different? Like, obviously, the male and female thing, we're, it's way different. [00:37:30] Obviously, I've got way less males out there, so I've got an advantage there. But,
[00:37:33] Velma Canaday: Yeah
[00:37:34] Nate Flake: hear from, from your perspective, like, what... give, give, give me the real talk of what it, what it's like, what the challenges you see, and tips you have for people listening that are like, "Well, how do I get into this?"
[00:37:46] Velma Canaday: So w- what Nate is talking about is diversity, and that's talking about like racial ethnicity specifically. And I will say that Everything is different when you're Black and brown. [00:38:00] It, it just really is. And what people don't understand is whenever we point things out, they say, "Oh, well you, you guys are always bringing the race card in."
[00:38:10] Velma Canaday: But the problem is you guys, I'm sorry, the, the other majority
[00:38:16] Nate Flake: Yeah, me. ha-
[00:38:17] Nate Flake: That's
[00:38:18] Nate Flake: fine
[00:38:18] Velma Canaday: majority also has biases too that they come to the table with.
[00:38:23] Velma Canaday: And,
[00:38:24] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah
[00:38:25] Velma Canaday: that's not really realized in the conversation. It's like, "Oh, people only talk [00:38:30] about it because they're Black." But white people have biases too, and, and you just don't realize it, that your experiences are very different than ours, and m- maybe by design, but m- maybe some things are taught.
[00:38:43] Velma Canaday: specifically when I do UGC, when I'm given a brief, 9 times out of 10, and I really can say 10 times out of 10, the content is white women up and down the board, across the
[00:38:56] Nate Flake: The examples you're saying?
[00:38:57] Velma Canaday: Oh, yes, the examples
[00:38:59] Nate Flake: Like the [00:39:00] actual brief, all the exam-- Okay
[00:39:01] Velma Canaday: yes, the, the, the, the pictures in there, the links to the content, white women, white women, white women, white women.
[00:39:07] Velma Canaday: And, and, and it could be Hispanic too, 'cause they're, they're white passing. White pa- Being close to white is, is right. That, that's a thing. Like it's, it's... Being, white proximity is a, is a thing, and people have always tried to pass because there's benefits for passing white. Light-skinned Black people have do it, have done it.
[00:39:25] Velma Canaday: Mexican people do it. It, just, that's just how it [00:39:30] is. But what it is, is the lack of representation also makes you feel like you're excluded. And it's not like the brand, business, company did it explicitly, but inclusion feels like you see me, you recognize that this subset of people could also benefit from this product.
[00:39:51] Velma Canaday: Again, they're not setting out to do this on purpose, it's just that in their own bubble they don't see. This, this is just who... know, they may have some data that... And [00:40:00] that's okay. It's your business. In your business you can go after whoever, whatever.
[00:40:03] Nate Flake: Ja
[00:40:04] Velma Canaday: you go and try to book any spa content, it's gonna be a white woman and it's gonna be Asian.
[00:40:08] Velma Canaday: If you see skincare, it's gonna be white, Asian. You're, you're not gonna see Black. Brochures for things. L- And I've, I've actually, one brand I was very happy to see, I worked with Olay, brand. I saw every color under the rainbow in their brief, and I was like, "Ah." Because th- it is just something [00:40:30] about seeing somebody else that looks like you and, and I, I mean, you just...
[00:40:35] Velma Canaday: I don't even know how to explain it and put it into two words. If you don't come from a, a subset of people who have been excluded- Who have been made to feel like they're less than, who m- have been made to feel like they have to do twice the work, be twice as good to get half of what they got. It really is a thing of white men wa- make this much money white women, Black men, Black women, [00:41:00] okay?
[00:41:00] Velma Canaday: Even though Black women are more educa- are the most educated and have the highest business startup rate currently, uh, we have less access to capital,
[00:41:10] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:41:11] Velma Canaday: the things. And that carries, that's a, this, that's in a lot of different fields, not just UGC. But working with Olay, I was happy to see a lot of things represented.
[00:41:20] Velma Canaday: I've also worked with brands who who, who was it? can't think of them, but they're like brand besties. And their brief didn't have any- anybody else that looked like me in there. [00:41:30] After they worked with me, I, I'm actually in there now. Like, I'm in
[00:41:32] Nate Flake: Oh, heck yeah.
[00:41:33] Velma Canaday: send to other people.
[00:41:34] Nate Flake: say anything? Like, I'm asking some really straightforward questions. When-- Do you straight, do you, like, as a create- Like, if you're seeing that and you're like, "Hey, I don't see any Black wom-" Like, this is all white dudes and white women. Do you say anything ever? Or do you not wanna spoil anything and like, "Hey, I'll do the work and then talk to them about this after I've been paid," type thing?
[00:41:53] Nate Flake: Or like, where, where do, where do you stand on that? I would love to know
[00:41:56] Velma Canaday: I, it's, it's, it is a hard place to be. It, [00:42:00] it is heavy. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Like Yeah King, he was trying to do this and just was killed because he had a message just to unite people, you
[00:42:10] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah, yeah
[00:42:12] Velma Canaday: And, and, how you view and see other people is taught to you. It has been shown time again,
[00:42:17] Nate Flake: 100%.
[00:42:17] Velma Canaday: two kids playing.
[00:42:18] Velma Canaday: Like, you know, that, those things that we're taught. So it's like you gotta understand if people feel this way, they were taught and they be- believe this and, and that is their right, right? But when you are not to the [00:42:30] detriment of other people. People, we judge people all day, all... But going out and saying it and doing actions towards it, that's just different.
[00:42:37] Velma Canaday: But to get back on track, that is, it is something that I want, I wanna talk about a lot because, you know, when I go and if I wanna go pitch a brand, I just looked at it the other day, I looked at their social media, it's just this white, white, white, white, white, white, white, white, white website, white, white, white. And then it's like, should I even pitch to them? And the other thing is, what other people, what [00:43:00] Caucasians will never have to worry about is when they apply to a job, they will never have to worry about if it's because they're Black or if they're Brown or Indian. They will never have to worry about that. I've also been in an instance where a brand, I'm very profe- no, I'm very experienced.
[00:43:17] Velma Canaday: I know a brand new person, one company. I had to do, I quoted $3,000 and it was like a long list of work. This Caucasian female, very [00:43:30] beginner, was dirty, smudgy content, quoted $3,000, less work than me. They didn't negotiate with her. I had to negotiate, and I got $2,000 for more work.
[00:43:43] Nate Flake: It's crazy
[00:43:44] Velma Canaday: Yeah. I don't like to be a victim, right? Because what is for me is for me. But I would be remiss to say that I, I, I don't think that when people see my portfolio of me, I don't think they see Black girl. I, I just think
[00:43:59] Nate Flake: yeah
[00:43:59] Velma Canaday: [00:44:00] energy. Like I, I'm very, I'm a very energetic person. I don't think people see color. But I, I do live in a world and in this space, and I mean, just like I came to you at your event, I was like, "Nate," like, you know, "There's, there's a lack of diversity.
[00:44:15] Velma Canaday: All the, all the people up here are white, white." And, and you are Nate. And then, uh, I g- I can't, I can't think right now. I didn't have
[00:44:23] Nate Flake: Nick
[00:44:24] Velma Canaday: Nick, yes. Nick was the only Black person there, right? So I, I only wanted to connect with him because [00:44:30] understand. Like I... And that's the thing, when I see these, the white women, I can't really connect like that
[00:44:36] Nate Flake: Yeah. No, I, yeah, no, I, I 100% agree. I will say, yeah, it's, uh, it's definitely something I'm aware of now that I wasn't, and I'll be straight up transparent. Right, like I-- didn't, didn't even cross my mind because of my own upbringing. Like I said, I live in freaking Utah. Like, that's like the least diverse place ever.
[00:44:52] Nate Flake: It's something I've never, Yeah, I haven't, I haven't looked, uh, yeah, I haven't like run into it a lot until when I was, when I was finally been... A-and there's [00:45:00] just a lack of, lack of diversity in the coaching space in the first place, right? You have your coach shirt on, so hopefully we see you at th- at one of these events very soon, obviously.
[00:45:09] Velma Canaday: Confidence on camera.
[00:45:10] Nate Flake: I love it. Another thing I wanted to go back to is, like, when you were saying, like, you went to that one company, you didn't wanna pitch them because it was just like all white girls. I would challenge you and say that's actually, that's no-- For me, that's like no different than me seeing that same brand with all girls, whether they be whatever, and [00:45:30] me pitching the brand and saying, "Hey, I see zero dudes in your marketing.
[00:45:33] Nate Flake: Guess what? Guys use skin cream too."
[00:45:35] Velma Canaday: Ja,
[00:45:36] Nate Flake: would actually use it to your advantage and be like, "Hey, like you guys got... Like, what the hell is going on? Like, I know you, I know you use this pro- I know people use this product 'cause I'm using this product, right?" Look at every... And I would almost like, and I'm not, not trying to make them feel guilty, but like, "Hey, you're missing a massive market here, you idiots."
[00:45:53] Nate Flake: You know? Like, that's how I would position it if I were you. I wouldn't be scared to like, to like be that kind of trailblazer with that, with these [00:46:00] brands, right?
[00:46:00] Velma Canaday: My photographer said the same thing. She was like, "Girl, don't you know you could..." And she's actually like Middle Eastern, but again, she looks Caucasian. But she, and this is the one who I did her social media for her photography business and for her Share Space Photography Studio. So she was like, "You could like be that."
[00:46:18] Velma Canaday: You know? And it's just like, yeah, well, I could be that, and then race and diversity is a very touchy thing. It, it is a, is a touchy thing, and you could lose out more than you gain, right? If you, [00:46:30] if you're gaining, you're gaining for the collective, for the community.
[00:46:34] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:46:35] Velma Canaday: neces- might not necessarily see gains for yourself.
[00:46:37] Velma Canaday: But it's not, not even really about you, it's about making that space. Like, I would love to see more prominent Black creators. I got and, and, and or coaches in the space, but, you know, you gotta do the work, you know?
[00:46:53] Nate Flake: one. Yeah, I mean, so become one and show, be an example. You're already a coach
[00:46:57] Velma Canaday: So, well, well, yeah, so
[00:46:59] Nate Flake: You [00:47:00] got the Coast shirt on. You're ready to go, dude
[00:47:02] Velma Canaday: I know. But that's because I'm like the, the confidence coach on camera, like how to, how to show up, press that pause button and stop feeling awkward. I think that's my lane. I don't know if I necessarily would like to teach how to, how to be a UGC creator. I, I would refer them to Marcia, 'cause that's where
[00:47:18] Nate Flake: Yeah,
[00:47:18] Nate Flake: but that's-- Yeah, Marcy is a go. But I'm saying that's, that's a p- a piece of it too, right? But I, I see what you're saying. Like, I think there's a way to position it in a tactful way with brands because not... [00:47:30] Now, there may be some brands that are, like, their social media manager is just in- inherently just a piece of shit, right?
[00:47:36] Nate Flake: Who may- maybe, but like there's probably a lot of people that do it un- unintentionally, like you mentioned, that would, that would act like me, that would freaking love to be called out and be like, "Hey dude, I'm really sorry. I actually didn't even think about that, and now it's gonna be on the top of my freaking brain forever."
[00:47:50] Nate Flake: And like they m- you know what I'm saying? So I think there's a way to do it, and obviously that's, that's why I wanted to ask because that's not something that I, that I encounter, obviously. I [00:48:00] don't so I, I would, I loved hearing your perspective or other people that listen to this podcast that are maybe feeling the same way, that think like, "Well, I don't see, I don't know if UGC is for me because I don't see a lot of Black guys or Black gr-" you know, whatever it is.
[00:48:14] Nate Flake: But yeah, that's something to be aware of.
[00:48:15] Velma Canaday: and I, and I f- like I said, I don't, I don't think that people do this intentionally. It's, it's just that if you're only surrounded by the... Like, if you only, if you grew up in a coun- country club, like you're not, you're only gonna see [00:48:30] certain type of people there. That's your world, that's your ecosystem, right?
[00:48:33] Velma Canaday: So, you don't think about the, these other things. But, you know, and, and nobody is one way or the other. I think, too, is there's a space and a place for everybody. Everybody, no matter what your shape is, no matter if you have hair, don't have hair, just cancer survivor, just lost a, a limb. I mean, you got a prosthetic leg, you, you need a heart thing.
[00:48:58] Velma Canaday: I mean, [00:49:00] anything, any ailment you have, you can be the UGC person for it, right? You
[00:49:06] Nate Flake: yeah, exactly
[00:49:07] Velma Canaday: there, you, you are not limited. You're only limited by what you think you're limited to,
[00:49:12] Nate Flake: I love it And yeah, and just like year I realized I was limited to the platforms, and that, that limited, that capped my income. So I was like, "You know what?
[00:49:24] Velma Canaday: Okay, guess I gotta start posting on social media." So, I was like, "All right, let's get the personal brand," [00:49:30] or at least post an examples. I was like, you know, update my portfolio,
[00:49:35] Velma Canaday: trying to be a better creator. then now I'm at another ceiling, like at a level where I can't keep going. Like, I can't, I can't.
[00:49:45] Velma Canaday: Like, I have to show up m- more as a personal brand and not just the bottom of the funnel for brands and agencies when they come to my UGC page. Like, I have
[00:49:55] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:49:55] Velma Canaday: of my, more of my life. But honestly, I don't have very much of a life because all I do is [00:50:00] work. You know? I go to the gym, I go to the grocery store, I go to the gas station, and I come home and work.
[00:50:06] Velma Canaday: Like, that's
[00:50:07] Nate Flake: Yeah
[00:50:07] Velma Canaday: another thing. And again, I'm single, I live by myself. Entrepreneurship is already lonely, that's why you gotta fi-
[00:50:13] Nate Flake: Talk about that. Talk, talk about that in your personal branding. That's the, that's something that's super relatable.
[00:50:19] Velma Canaday: Yeah. Being an
[00:50:20] Nate Flake: Show-- I need to see the gas station trips. Like I wanna see the quick, the QT or
[00:50:24] Nate Flake: whatever, like whatever your gas station is over there
[00:50:26] Velma Canaday: gas station for like $2,900
[00:50:29] Nate Flake: [00:50:30] Yeah. Leave, leave, leave the-- Yeah, take my one trip out of my house made today to the gas station
[00:50:35] Velma Canaday: I'm telling you, you just gave me an idea. 'Cause uh, but I literally said that to myself today. I was like, "I gotta get out this house." And that's the thing um, like, and I, again, a- another personal goal was like, "Okay, I'm gonna get out the house this year," right? I'm but I... But UGC has allowed me to take a seven-day trip to a nice European country in seven weeks.
[00:50:58] Nate Flake: Let's go. Where are you [00:51:00] going?
[00:51:00] Velma Canaday: when is this gonna air?
[00:51:02] Nate Flake: Huh?
[00:51:02] Velma Canaday: When Oh, this is gonna air? I'll tell you in like two weeks? Okay, I'll wait, I'll wait. Never mind. I'll wait. I'll have to-- I'll find out with everyone else, whatever.
[00:51:09] Velma Canaday: I'm a show and tell kind of person. I
[00:51:10] Velma Canaday: like to pop
[00:51:11] Nate Flake: okay. I'll wait, I'll wait and see it. I'll wait and see it in, in real time.
[00:51:14] Velma Canaday: Yeah. So, know, UGC is what you make of it. Whatever you put into it is what you will get out of it. If you got one little big toe dipping in that, you ain't gonna get much but a little splish. You know, you, you really have to... I get it, everybody has [00:51:30] a life.
[00:51:30] Velma Canaday: We are trying to live and survive in an economy that's, that's, like, squeezing the living jeebies out of us. But that's also why you have to invest in yourself. You have to get better so that you can earn more because your earning, your earning potential lies within you, not in anybody else. And so that's what I'm doing right now.
[00:51:51] Velma Canaday: I'm diversifying my income. I have GridBank passive income. I have TikTok Live. I have brand deals, [00:52:00] UGC and I'm gonna have the digital product with me being the confidence coach on
[00:52:06] Nate Flake: Love it
[00:52:06] Velma Canaday: which will pro- which will turn into one-on-one coaching sessions and then you get the three package, and then probably eventually lead to maybe an online course.
[00:52:17] Velma Canaday: Perhaps.
[00:52:18] Nate Flake: Okay. I'll, I'm gonna link, I'm gonna link your, your Instagram in the show notes so people go follow you, and then when that stuff gets announced, they'll be first to know
[00:52:27] Velma Canaday: Mm-hmm. You said leave it in there? Okay. [00:52:30] Okay
[00:52:30] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll, I'll get it from you. I'm gonna throw it in my show no- I'm gonna throw your Instagram in my show notes. So you guys, go follow Velma. We're, we're at time. I super, super appreciate you, uh, hopping on and
[00:52:41] Velma Canaday: I feel like I, I feel like I ain't even say everything that you may have wanted me to say
[00:52:46] Nate Flake: No, no, no. It's-- An hour's not long enough. I'll have to be back again. An hour's not long enough to go through everything. It's too hard. But yeah, I'm sure we'll end up seeing you at the next event. I mean, the next Creator Connect isn't until April, but in Dallas this time, back to your, back to your stomping grounds, [00:53:00] so I'm sure we'll see you there.
[00:53:01] Nate Flake: But yeah, super appreciate you coming on. I'm gonna drop your, not only-- I'm gonna have your Instagram, but also your portfolio. So if you're-- there's lots of brands that listen to this podcast if you, uh, wanna hire Velma, go, go check her out. Hit her up on her, hit her up on her portfolio
[00:53:13] Velma Canaday: Well, yeah, let's get that click-through and add to carts popping or download to the app or whatever else you need
[00:53:20] Nate Flake: Yeah, yeah, exactly. All right. I super appreciate it. Have a, have a great rest of your day, and we'll talk to you soon.
[00:53:25] Velma Canaday: Okay
[00:53:26] Nate Flake: All right. That's it. If you got something out of this, hit subscribe. [00:53:30] Catch another episode or share it with a creator friend who needs to hear it
[00:53:33] Nate Flake: Thanks for hanging out. I'll catch you next week. Keep creating.