How I Lost $3,200 In A Brand Deal Gone Bad & How To Avoid It

Okay, okay. We get it, you're one of those weird people that slows down to look at the car accident, huh? Well... us too. Which is why we are going to show all the scary details on how I (Joey) made a $3,200 mistake on a brand deal with Uber. 💀 Yup, UBER. 

You could say it was an uber mistake. Jokes, let's move on. 

Have you ever had the type of client or opportunity where they're slow on signing the contract and you think "well, that's okay! They'll come through." Well... this is exactly what I did. Hold up - let's go back to the beginning of this story.

I had landed in New Zealand 2 weeks prior. It was my second time in one of the best countries in the world. I was 19 (I think) at the time and traveling the world as a full-time brand filmmaker and photographer. Up until this point, I had a massive list of local clients, a was building a big list of US based big box brand clientele too. 

I was spending half of my days surfing, half the day working. Okay, maybe a bit more time in the ocean and a bit less behind my computer. Point is, I was living my dream. Making 5k-8k/month while working fairly little... and best part - I could work from everywhere. I had mastered the "let me solve your content problems by traveling the world with your products and you will pay me for it" lifestyle. 

One day after surfing, I was at my friends parents house eating his families pantry dry. I was so hungry hah. I remember scrolling on instagram and seeing a story from a big travel based repost page - quick pause - anyone ever remember the big IG pages that would steal your work and get all the followers? well yea, most of those pages were built to be rebranded into something else but it was a quick way to build a following before you changed the name... - anyways. I saw one of their stories pop up. So I clicked on it. 

It was a black slide with white text that said, 

"DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE IN NEW ZEALAND THAT CAN HELP US SHOOT A BIG PROJECT IN AUCKLAND AREA IN 2 DAYS?"

Ummm hello. Me. Duh. So I looked at how long ago they posted it, assuming I missed my chance and it said 2s. The post had been up for 2 SECONDS. I hit the jackpot. I quickly replied, "I'm your guy. Here's why". If you know me personally, you'll know I don't lack much self confidence. This was one of those moments hah. 

I DM'd the big page a recent video my friends and I made traveling around NZ. I told them what I was capable of and said I can clear my schedule for the next 2 days. Within literal seconds the LITTLE THREE BUBBBLES POPPED UP. They were typing. 

They vaguely said, " Hey, we love your work and want to hire you for this project. I want to call you and chat with you about it so what's your #? Before we chat I need you to sign an NDA."

NDA - Non Disclosure Agreement. Basically, a small form I signed outlining details of the gig I can't disclose. 

We jumped on the phone, planned out the details and 2 days later we were off. 

Oh, and small detail. I sent them a contract after we had the original phone call. 

Turns out, I had been hired by Mountain Stones, a "repost page" that's really an agency (genius business model) and the primary beneficiary, UBER. They told me they'd pay me $2500usd for the 2 day shoot, and reimburse me for all expenses. Models, gas, food, locations permits etc. Again, I made a contract (as per usual with my clients) and fired it off to them. 

The day to shoot came. We had a blast day one. We drove around in a Land Rover Defender as we went from beaches to waterfalls. Funny enough, at sunset, we were at a beach called Piha and I saw 2 random people walking about 100ft from us. I shouted YO!!! because they had camera gear and I was trying to pass off some joy. They yelled back. An hour later as the sun sank below the south western pacific, I heard them walk up to us and say, "are you Joey Speers?" I almost fell out of my chair, well metaphorical chair, I was standing on a beach hah. Turns out it was a guy and a girl from west coast Canada who had followed me on the gram for a while. What are the odds eh? They were awesome and they even agreed to model for us the next day to wrap up the shoot. 

Let's fast forward a bit. It's the end of day 2, we'd shot 5-6 locations with 6-7 different models. We were about to split ways with the producer of the campaign, a guy from Mountain Stories Agency when I asked, "Hey, I never got that contract back, can you sign that before we split?" He responded, "Ah shoot, sorry, we've been so busy with this shoot and jet lagged as heck. I will get that to you as soon as I get back to my computer." 

I took his word for it and that's where I lost. I didn't know it yet but that was the moment. 

So here I am, stoked out of my mind on the content, I wasn't getting paid a huge amount for it (considering the value of the project to a company as big as UBER) but, it was a blast. A great portfolio piece right? 

I returned back to my friends families farm with a big smile. No pay yet though and I had racked up $1300 in expenses they said they'd pay for. I edited the project on their 2 day turnaround timeline and wooolaaaa - the project was wrapped. But still, no signed contract. 

Communication started to thin and they told me UBER had to approve everything before I got paid. A week went by, nothing. Close to a month went by, nothing. I followed up every 2-3 days but got no response. 

After about 2.5 months, I finally got a response. AND I quote, "UBER didn't think you lived up to the expectations of what we required so we can't pay you. Don't ask me questions because that's all they told me."

I was crusssssshed. I didn't care about the money. I was gutted that what I had poured myself into wasn't good enough. Funny how words like that can affect us so much eh? "You didn't live up to the expectations".... I was so bummed as I tried my best. Funny enough, they said they had no expectations for me because they trusted me based on my portfolio work. 

Lesson 1: ALWAYS clarify expectations. If you don't clarify expectations you can't MEET or EXCEED expectations. It set's you up for failure. 

Now. For the big one. 

Lesson 2: ALWAYS have an agreement in place to honor both parties and make sure the dang thing is SIGNED! 

After learning that I wasn't good enough to produce this commercial for UBER, I reached out to their team directly - cutting out the agency from the convo. It felt like a breakup. I needed some clarity 💀

They were brief in their response and let me know the content was being used. It was approved. It was good enough. Phew. Now why wasn't I getting paid?? Well, because there was no statement of work/contract signed in full, I couldn't prove I did the work... stupid. Lesson learned. 

What I had learned later on was that the agency that brokered the deal, Mountain Stones, had blown up. The 2 founders has a fight, one founder found out the other one was stealing money from the biz and more. Basically in short, he emptied the companies bank accounts and left the state and potentially the country (that's what the victim founder told me). They screwed me over on the UBER deal because their own internal conflict put them in a position where they needed a scapegoat to get the project done and then burned that scapegoat by not paying them.. aka me. That's what I've been told/have learned. Who even knows if it's the truth but I decided to cut my losses and move on. 

Lesson 3: Sometimes taking a "short term" loss is a long term win. I learned quickly that so much of my focus, motivation and energy was going into trying to get my fair share of the deal. Trying to prove my innocence. It was costing me far more than the $3500 I was scammed out of. 

Lesson 4: Be very careful who you partner with in business. I got a front row seat to an absolute blowup and it didn't look fun. 

Well, short term that dream gig turned into a nightmare. When I look back, it was one of the best things that could have happened to me. It shortcut me years in a matter of weeks. I had to learn how to navigate with the wolves of the creative world and I'm happy to say - I didn't let them take more than they tried too. That's really it isn't it? We will ALL face challenges like this in our business. Days that feel terrible. Clients that end up screwing us over BUT, it's not what they take from us. It is what we continue to let them take. I put a stop to them taking more of my time, focus, energy and confidence and heck, I learned so much in the process. 

This email is me cheering for you. Cheering you on as you continue to build a life where you succeed at doing what you love. That's what Creativ Rise is all about - empowering you to build a life where you succeed while doing what you love.

Let's repeat all 4 Lessons quick: 

1.  ALWAYS clarify expectations. If you don't clarify expectations you can't MEET or EXCEED expectations. It sets you up for failure. 
2. ALWAYS have an agreement in place to honor both parties and make sure the dang thing is SIGNED!!
3. Sometimes taking a "short term" loss is a long term win. 
4.  Be very careful who you partner with in business.

Let's add a 5th for the heck of it. Please remember this.

5. Never let a situation, client, failure etc, take more from you than it deserves. 

Thanks for making it all this way. I hope this post makes you at least $3500 🔥

If you don't want to miss out on the emails (like this) we send out to our friends, subscribe here - www.creativrise.com/email. 

- Joey

PS: You seem like a smart, creative person. We like smart, creative people. And we specifically like a group of smart, creative people. Which is why we group people like you together - and when we do, the results your business gets is actually insane. Check out more info on this kind of group below.👀 You can learn more about the Creativ Rise Mastermind and join the waitlist here. 

We start September 18, 2022 but the applications to join open on September 5th - or earlier than that if you are on the waitlist. Click here to join the waitlist.