Lloyd George secured his first brand sponsorship before his podcast had any downloads. With just 3,000 followers across his social media platforms, the Atlanta-based creator is projected to earn $200,000 this year from his side business teaching other creators how to land brand partnerships.

Lloyd, who immigrated to the United States from Zimbabwe in 2006, works full-time in social media for one of the largest beverage companies while running his creator education platform. His unique position spans both sides of the brand partnership equation—corporate marketing experience and creator monetization success. With over nine years of experience in digital marketing, Lloyd has worked with prominent brands such as DraftKings, Chick-fil-A, and Gopuff.

The self-proclaimed “Brandfluencer” is on a mission to help content creators reach sustainable monetization. Lloyd’s brand deal education platform addresses the lack of business acumen and strategic approach necessary to attract and retain brand partnerships.

“Brand deals have changed my life,” he explains. “Because of the brand deals acting as my second form of income, I was able to pay off my debt, save more money, and get my goals faster. Self-doubt is the hardest hurdle to overcome.”

One of Lloyd’s key insights centers on the mindset shift required for successful creator monetization. “The first part of that is just getting started. Reaching out to brands and messaging people and building relationships,” he explains. “But the second part of it is now actually being organized to deliver. And being someone that people like working with and someone that responds on time.”

This transition from creator to business owner represents a key challenge in the creator economy. Lloyd emphasizes the importance of systems, efficiency, and professional communication—skills often overlooked in the rush to create viral content. 

“Going from functioning like a creator to functioning like an actual business owner” requires developing new competencies around project management, client relations, and delivery standards that extend far beyond content creation itself.

Lloyd’s approach to content creation focuses on consistency and relationship building rather than chasing viral moments. He creates content on TikTok and Instagram, teaching other creators brand deal strategies through educational posts and sharing his own success stories.

Practical, Actionable Approach

Lloyd’s current methodology for helping creators secure brand deals emphasizes practical, actionable approaches rather than abstract advice. His signature technique involves identifying brands with active advertising budgets through a simple but effective method.

“If you go on your Instagram page and you click on someone’s story and you swipe through that story, for every three people’s stories you swipe, Instagram is going to show you an ad,” Lloyd explains. “So that’s how you know which brands have a budget, because you’re seeing their ads. And a lot of times, Instagram does a really good job of targeting you. So the ad you’re seeing is probably something you would use or buy.”

LinkedIn has emerged as Lloyd’s preferred platform for building long-term relationships. Rather than relying solely on cold outreach, he advocates for a content strategy that attracts brand attention organically. 

“You want to set up a system so that three months from now, brands are reaching out to you,” Lloyd explains. “If every week I just make a post about a brand deal I’ve done, another brand is going to see that and say, oh, that’s really cool, I want to try that too for my brand.”

Industry Insights from Both Sides

Lloyd’s corporate experience has helped him understand common mistakes made by both creators and brands in partnership negotiations. 

From the brand perspective, he identifies over-controlling approaches as a primary issue. “Sometimes, as a brand, it’s very difficult to relinquish control and just say, ‘Hey, you are the creator. You know what you do really well,’” Lloyd observes. “Sometimes, brands are too controlling, and it makes it difficult for the creator to create their best work.”

He also advocates for brands to support creator content with advertising spend rather than relying solely on organic reach. “I think if you’re just doing organic content as a creator, there’s so many factors that could limit more people seeing that from the algorithms, that it’s almost not worth it paying someone $10,000.”

From the creator’s side, Lloyd emphasizes the importance of understanding brand objectives and tailoring content accordingly. “When you’re filming a video [for brands], you can’t just film it like it’s going on your feed. You have to take into account that the people seeing this don’t know who I am.”

VidCon and the Power of In-Person Networking

VidCon is an annual convention for influencers, fans, executives, and online brands, primarily featuring prominent online video stars. This year’s event is taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center from June 19 to 21, 2025. 

As part of a panel titled “Small Creators Building Big Businesses” alongside Avi Gandhi from Creator Logic, Gigi Robinson, and Marissa Hill from ShadeTV, Lloyd will share strategies for creators who want to build sustainable businesses without massive follower counts.

“This is my first time speaking at VidCon, but I’ve actually been to VidCon before,” Lloyd notes. “My biggest brand deal partnership that I’ve ever gotten came from VidCon. I literally got it maybe a week after VidCon. I met the brand there. A week later, I had a year-long deal.”

The panel focuses specifically on creator monetization, with each speaker representing different stages and approaches to building creator businesses. Lloyd’s contribution will emphasize the psychological and practical aspects of securing brand partnerships, drawing from his experience helping creators overcome the mental barriers that prevent them from pursuing monetization opportunities.

“I think for me, the things I hope people walk away with are feeling encouraged and empowered,” Lloyd explains about his panel goals. “And I think the biggest part of starting brand deals and probably the hardest part is believing that you can do it.”

Rather than focusing solely on learning, Lloyd prioritizes relationship building and direct outreach. “I literally just went to the floor, and I walked to every brand booth, and I just introduced myself. I was just like, ‘Hey, I’m Lloyd. I create content. If your brand ever needs content, let me know.’ At the very least, I’d love to just keep in touch. And a large percentage of those brands actually took me up on that.”

Managing Creative Challenges and Community

Despite his success, Lloyd acknowledges that challenges remain, particularly in areas such as creative fulfillment and niche expansion. “I have this niche that I’m in that people know me for, which is educating creators on how they can monetize their content. But sometimes I just don’t feel like creating in that space, honestly.”

This tension between established expertise and creative growth reflects a common issue in the creator economy—the pressure to maintain successful content categories while exploring new interests and opportunities.

“I have friends who are creators. And that’s such an important part of the process because I feel like this probably once a month. So just talking, having someone you can talk to about this kind of stuff is amazing,” Lloyd explains. His community-building efforts extend beyond professional networking to genuine relationship formation.

The impact of these relationships extends beyond business benefits to personal fulfillment and creative inspiration. “When I was in L.A., every single week, a bunch of people in my community and I would just have coffee every single Saturday, and we would just hang out and talk. I would just leave from those coffees feeling recharged.”

What’s the Vision for the Future?

Lloyd’s plans for 2025 center on community expansion rather than traditional growth metrics. “I want to build a large community of fifty thousand to a hundred thousand people. I think that if a year from now I did that, I would be very happy with what I’ve accomplished.”

This focus on community over follower count aligns with broader trends in the creator economy, where engagement and genuine connection increasingly trump vanity metrics. “Now that followers are becoming less and less important and kind of irrelevant in my opinion, I think the thing that brands are looking for is engagement,” Lloyd observes.

For aspiring creators, Lloyd’s advice emphasizes persistence and systems over perfection. “It’s going to be okay, and it’s going to work out. It might not be this year or next year, but at some point it’s going to work out if you just stay consistent.”

His success story demonstrates that creator economy success doesn’t require viral fame or massive followings. Instead, it requires understanding business basics, building genuine relationships, and maintaining consistency over time.

“Every day, regardless of how bad the past day may have been, you wake up and you publish a video, it’s a new chance to get a brand deal,” Lloyd reflects. “It’s just like one of those things where every day, if you’re publishing, you’re just getting more and more chances to succeed.”