A bit about me.
I'm Joe. I make UGC for brands, full time, from the South East of England.
A year ago this was a side thing. I had a job at a bank and filmed content in the evenings and at weekends. Then it blew up. The work kept coming, the brands got bigger, and at some point the maths made the decision for me. So I left the bank and went all in.
Now it's the day job. I shoot from home, my partner creates content with me (that's @contentbysophiek), and we build it around two kids and normal life. Some days that looks like a tidy studio setup. Most days it's real life with a camera in the middle of it.
That's the short version. If you want the longer one, or you're thinking about making the same jump yourself, ask me anything. I'm happy to talk.
How I work
Most of what I shoot is filmed on an iPhone, in a normal room, with a light and a tripod. Brands sometimes expect a crew. What they actually want is content that looks like a person recommending something, and that is harder to fake with a crew than without one.
A job usually runs like this: you tell me the product and the angle, I send a contract and a script for sign-off, then I film and edit and you get the files. Nothing films before the contract is signed, which protects both of us.
Who I work best with
Brands who know their product and will let the content sound human. I have shot cars, coffee machines, kitchens and hotels, and the ones that performed were always the ones where I was allowed to say the awkward bit out loud.
If you need a hundred videos a month at the lowest possible price, I am the wrong person. If you want a handful that actually convert, and an invoice that arrives on time, that is the job.
The other half
I also build the tools I use to run this: the contract, the invoice, the rate card and the tracker, all in the shop. They exist because I needed them, not because I set out to sell templates.
If you want to see how past jobs came together, the case studies take six of them apart.