When Anthony Santana landed his first offer for a sponsorship deal, he had no idea what he was doing. He’d been growing his YouTube channel, LAS Curry, that taught fellow gamers how to stream and a graphics overlay brand reached out to him. They wanted a series of 12 videos with bumper ads — a 35-second spoken plug from Anthony at the beginning of each video.

This was all very exciting. Anthony was going to be making the videos anyway — why not get paid for it? The problem, says Anthony, is “I didn't know anything about negotiating.”

“I didn't negotiate. There wasn't pushback, or like, ‘hey, this is the price that I want,’” he says. He simply signed the deal. “It was just a huge lack of experience.”

That’s not uncommon when a creator lands their first sponsorship deal. It feels so exciting and rewarding that someone wants to pay you to create what you love, it feels like a no-brainer to just keep saying yes.

Looking back, it’s not how Anthony would have done things at all.

“It made me realize how I undervalued myself to such a high level,” he says.

Now, with years of experience and guidance from Creator Wizard, Anthony approaches deals from sponsors with expertise and confidence, fully understanding what his value is to the brands he partners with.

He’s also confident that if he can do it, you can do it too.

From gamer to entrepreneur

Anthony began his career as a creator as a gamer. He started streaming on Mixer in 2019, mostly playing basketball games like NBA 2K and shooter games like Fortnite and Apex Legends. In 2020, owner Microsoft announced it would be shuttering Mixer, which is when Anthony pivoted to growing his YouTube channel.

He launched his channel, LAS Curry, to create educational content for fellow streamers on how to optimize their efforts, from saving videos, to setting up overlays, to how to set up streaming for various platforms. He says its creation was sort of an accident. He was doing his own research and looking for advice on streaming on Mixer and coming up short.

He also found that when he was streaming, viewers would pop into the chat and ask him questions about how he was streaming on the platform, as well as marketing and business advice. With the YouTube channel, he could answer all those questions in one place.

“It really came from just creating a resource for my viewers to have the answers to the questions they were asking. And then it turned into something so much more after that,” he says.

“I've now started sharing the behind the scenes of me growing a brand new gaming channel to showcase what I'm teaching actually works now.”

His first video went up on July 20, 2019 and since then he’s amassed 242 videos and counting, plus an impressive 42,800 subscribers. The growth hasn’t come from one-off viral videos, but from consistently posting high-quality, evergreen content and growing a loyal audience that trusts what Anthony has to say. Until Mixer shut down, both channels were actually helping the other grow.

“I had hit 10,000 subscribers in the first year and then doubled the next year and doubled this year as well,” he says.

These days, Anthony maintains his channel with a quality-over-quantity approach, hosting one livestream and publishing one video every week. He also maintains a full time job working with other creators.

Know your value as a creator

Anthony may not love how he handled his first sponsorship deal, but it was a learning experience that propelled him to handle each subsequent sponsorship differently.

The major difference now is that he understands the transaction is two-way — he gets paid, but the brand gets access to his likeness, his expertise, and the trust he’s built with his audience.

“Now I know the skill set that I've developed and how valuable it is for a brand. And not only that, but the audience that I've cultivated,” he says.

He also has a better understanding of the finer details of a sponsorship agreement. While he zipped right past them while reaching that first contract, he now knows, for example, how to negotiate usage rights. Early on, he made a deal with a brand and his face still pops up in ads even though he’s no longer being paid. Now, he finds out where his face will be used, for how long, and how he can leverage that to get a better deal.

Being able to communicate these details to brands shows that he’s not just some influencer — he’s more like a consultant. That puts him in a stronger negotiating position and shows brands that he’s serious about what he does.

When he first started out, his negotiating tactics were more about getting as many deals for as much money as possible. But that’s changed, thanks to help from Justin at Creator Wizard.

How Creator Wizard changed the game

Anthony first started engaging with Creator Wizard through the plethora of free information on the site — such as the blog articles about making money as a creator, as well as the Creator Wizard podcast series. These proved to be an invaluable resource. Creators tend to be secretive about brand deals, especially how much they get paid. Coming by helpful information can be difficult.

Before, Anthony had been giving quotes based on a simplistic formula of dividing the pay by the number of hours the content would require, and trying to figure out if he could meet his income goals. But he knew he wasn’t getting what he was worth.

When bigger brands started calling to sponsor content, Anthony found himself in a bind. He didn’t want to ask for too little, but he also didn’t want to ask for too much and risk burning bridges.

“If I put myself in a hole and start charging a lower amount, when I try to come back and say like this is what I'm actually worth, it's a harder conversation to have,” he says.

**When a dream sponsor reached out, Anthony knew he needed help, and that’s when he** **reached out to Justin at Creator Wizard**.

“We jumped on a consultation call to talk about the specific deal and that opened up a lot of doors for me because it allowed me to see how he structured deals, how to package deals, how to communicate with a brand. And that's made [things] a lot easier,” he says.

In that first hour, Anthony’s mindset shifted. Rather than chasing after one deal after another, the goal became building deep, lasting relationships with brands. Just like his video posting strategy, it was quality over quantity.

Justin really instilled in Anthony the mindset of being a consultant. Now, when he meets with a brand, he comes armed with data about his audience to show his worth. That’s not just basic demographics, but knowing what they’re talking about and what motivates them. That also means doing research on any brand that approaches Anthony so he can understand what their needs are.

“It's taking a little bit more time understanding the brand, their goals, their vision, how they're actually going about creating content online,” he says. “Then, figure out a way to position yourself to show them that you care about them, and that what you have to offer is valuable to them to achieve their goals.”

Anthony says the big “a-ha moment” was taking a step back and putting himself in the shoes of the brand — what would make a creator attractive to them? How could they align their mission and goals?

The other big eye-opener was “packaging.” Rather than a one-off video or deal, Anthony has learned how to offer pre-determined packages of content and provide options.

“When you give them options, not only does it make it more comfortable for them to be able to understand what the spectrum is, but it also gives them an opportunity for future deals,” he says.

He says it's easier for brands to work with creators that provide consistency, letting them know what to expect on every step of the partnership.

“I can go on and on about what I learned from Justin. It’s changed a lot of my perspective of being a creator and understanding the value that I have with the audience that I've built.”

If Anthony can do it, so can you

Anthony is confident in himself, but also confident that you can start negotiating deals like he is now.

He has three key pieces of advice he’d offer to any creator just starting with brand deals and looking for guidance.

1. Don’t take the deal right away

If a new brand has just approached you, take a breath and step back. Instead, think less about the transaction and more about how you can become a bridge for that brand. Understand the value of yourself and your audience and how you can leverage both.

“Don't take that relationship for a few dollars upfront, think about the long-term game and play that right,” says Anthony.

2. Don’t sell yourself short

Many new or small creators might feel like they’re not in a position to effectively negotiate, but that’s an attitude that needs to change.

“I think that a lot of creators believe that because they have a small audience means that they only can charge a small amount,” says Anthony. “But in reality, the more focused and tailored your audience is, the more you can actually charge.”

For a brand, a YouTube account with 5,000 loyal subscribers in a particular niche can actually be better for conversions than a general trends YouTuber with a million subscribers.

**“It depends on the audience that you're serving, and what value you can bring to the brand.”**

3. Know your audience

The power of your audience is more than just how big it is. Anthony says you need to understand not just the basics like age, sex, and location, but what connects those people together. What are their values? What are their similar beliefs? What are their hobbies? What is it they want that your content is offering to them?

Knowing all that not only makes you a better content creator, but a more valuable asset to brands. When you truly understand what makes your audience tick, you can also know what problems they’re trying to solve and which products will resonate with them.

“It allows you to communicate with brands a lot easier, because you actually understand how this tool, this product, this brand can integrate into your audience's life and help them solve an actual problem that they have,” says Anthony.

The future is bright

Since working with Creator Wizard, Anthony has landed his biggest-ever brand deal and now sponsorships are becoming a key part of his income that he can count on. And that means his career as a creator is sustainable.

Now, for example, he knows he has revenue for the next six months and he can keep doing what he loves.

**“It’s more long-term and predictable than what it was before. I think that's been the biggest impact and shift that's happened in the last month working with Justin.”**

Learn more about how Creator Wizard can help you here.