[00:00:00] Chris Do: We're here at the Indigo Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and whenever our creator's in town and we have an opportunity to create content, we try and grab it, so here we are. Music

[00:00:30] Thank you for jumping on the show and agreeing to do this. I have a lot of questions for you, but for people who don't know who you are, can you please introduce yourself?

[00:00:37] Bea Chu: Yeah. Thank you for having me first off. And hi, I'm Bay True and I create content around cinematography, audio and tech pretty much and the creator economy.

[00:00:48] Chris Do: Okay. As we discussed at the pizza place earlier today, your LinkedIn profile needs some updating, but you've worn many hats before a lot of slashes in your history. Tell us a little bit of some of those slashes. You're a serial slasher, [00:01:00]

[00:01:00] Bea Chu: right? Like I said, I, you know what? I have not gone in and fixed my LinkedIn, but I did theater before.

[00:01:09] And then I did sound engineering, which is really ironic because I took up music production. But then I never touched the board because I just didn't want the responsibility of being in charge of if whether or not people will be heard. So there, there was that, but I feel like in some way it contributed to Where I am now.

[00:01:31] Chris Do: Okay. So we know that you, there was some acting and theater, some desire to perform and then some technical stuff with sound engineering. And that's a very technical thing to do. Right. Yeah. And, but then we also learned that though you might've enjoyed it, you don't want that burden, the responsibility of everything hinging on your ability to do this.

[00:01:47] Bea Chu: Yep.

[00:01:48] Chris Do: Right. And so today, in case people don't know you, you have, um, a strong following on Facebook, on TikTok, on Insta.

[00:01:55] Bea Chu: Yep.

[00:01:56] Chris Do: And somewhere in a couple hundred thousand. Mm hmm. Okay. The thing [00:02:00] I want to talk to you about is I haven't met too many creators who are doing this thing, like, full time as that's, like, their main source of income.

[00:02:06] Yeah. So I'd like to learn a lot from you about What do you see the differences are from being a creator from the Philippines versus the creator in this the United States?

[00:02:17] Bea Chu: Yeah, so I feel like it's hard for People in the Philippines to do or be a creator full time mainly because in the Philippines People don't really get paid as much, or at least we're not bold enough to charge higher.

[00:02:33] And being able to come here, to the United States, I've met a lot of creators who, it's like, baseline for them to charge like 3, 000 and above for one, one reel. Of course, depending on the following, but even so, it's, I'm realizing that there's such a big gap between creators from the Philippines and creators here in the U.

[00:02:55] S.

[00:02:57] Chris Do: So when you say creating a reel, is this a brand sponsor deal? [00:03:00] Is that what you're talking about? Yes. So for people who don't know, explain what a brand sponsor deal might look like. A typical thing, you don't have to name any names.

[00:03:07] Bea Chu: Yeah, so a brand sponsorship would, could be like two different things.

[00:03:11] It could be like a feature or review, right? So a brand would reach out to you to either feature their product or talk about their services and then they pay you to have a spot in your content. Either that or they pay you for one dedicated content for them.

[00:03:26] Chris Do: Okay.

[00:03:26] Bea Chu: Yeah.

[00:03:27] Chris Do: So what are the conditions in which you would accept a brand deal

[00:03:31] Bea Chu: personally for me?

[00:03:32] It would be it has to be a brand that I definitely trust better If it's a brand that I already am associated with or I like it's a product that I use and it's something that I believe In that's super important for me. It has to also be in line with what I do So in the cinematography and audio and tech aspect.

[00:03:52] So those are like the non negotiables for me in terms of accepting a brand deal.

[00:03:57] Chris Do: Okay. And why is that important? [00:04:00]

[00:04:00] Bea Chu: That's important for me because if the brand does not meet those, for me, I think it's really hard to be able to stick to like, or uphold like my integrity as a creator. And it's super important for me to know that I'm being honest with my audience.

[00:04:18] And it's hard for me to fake that if it's a brand that I have not used, if it's a brand that I haven't worked with, or like, I don't believe in.

[00:04:28] Chris Do: So that sounds like it's a question of integrity and authenticity. Yeah. Right? So it means like, I can fully endorse this because I currently use and love it and have given them tons of my money.

[00:04:37] Yeah. And so it's now a little money is going the other direction. Yeah. Whereas something that you're not familiar with that you don't know who's behind that. If you attach yourself to that, you feel a little funny. I'm putting words in your mouth here by just going to your audience and saying, I love this.

[00:04:50] This is great.

[00:04:51] Bea Chu: And

[00:04:52] Chris Do: if it blows up, that's kind of the end of your reputation, right? Yeah. So it's very important. You only have one reputation. You need to protect it. Yes. And as we were talking [00:05:00] about before, there are differences between, say, a creator in the United States and then somebody in the Philippines.

[00:05:06] What kind of price points are you seeing? And also, how are they speaking to creators differently from the brand POV?

[00:05:13] Bea Chu: Right. So, this is from talking to a lot of creator friends in the Philippines and being able to interact with creators here in the U. S. So, one of the things that we that I know that locally we run into is that brands I think still don't understand how to work with creators at least in the Philippines.

[00:05:33] It's like we pay you so you have to say the things that we want you to say, right? And we know that that just doesn't work anymore online because the reason why brands want to work with creators is because we know our audience and it's because of our creative direction as well as our integrity and then And yeah, just all that.

[00:05:57] When it comes to brands in the [00:06:00] Philippines, not only do they demand, or a lot of them demand that these are the things, like the talking points. It still sounds like a commercial. We're still pushing people to buy stuff, right? That's still like the focus. And the rate on the other hand is, is pretty low. So I'm going to like throw out numbers here.

[00:06:20] I know there are some creators who are charging like 5, 000 pesos, pesos, and that's like pesos. Oh my gosh Yeah, and that's what is it like 100?

[00:06:30] Chris Do: I don't know but it's like

[00:06:31] Bea Chu: a video. Yeah. Yeah like 100 for a video and It ranges from like 5, 000 because they think it's UGC. So, you know, I'll just say give you a free thing Some of them don't even pay It's frustrating when I meet creators who I ask about like their rates, especially when I know that they put out really great content.

[00:06:52] So I'm like, dude, you can charge more because you deserve to be able to have like autonomy [00:07:00] over your content, but at the same time be recognized for the skill that you put out and the work that you put into your, well, your content. And here in the U S I know, like people charge like a baseline of 3, 000 for one reel or like one piece of content is actually low and it's like an average of 3, 000 to 5, 000.

[00:07:21] And this is like, we're not even talking about 100, 000 followers, this is like 10k plus plus followers. And so the higher you go, of course that means you have more engagement, more reach, more influence. And then they charge upwards of like 10, 000 US dollars for one video. And so, just, it's so, it's so far, it's so frustrating.

[00:07:48] And the pain point, and this is something that we were talking about earlier, is that when I was starting out, people don't really talk about how much they're charging. And so, my belief is that if we [00:08:00] don't talk about it, then people don't know how much they can really charge. And then, so, everybody just charges whatever they think that people are going to buy.

[00:08:09] To like say yes to. And now there's like the gap just never closes and we don't get better from that.

[00:08:17] Chris Do: Yeah. So on the low end, for a hundred dollars for a piece of content to what you're talking about, $10,000, that is a hundred to one ratio there. It's not 10 to one. 'cause that'd be a thousand to one. I'm not gonna say about, I'd be embarrassed to tell you what I charge because it's gonna just , make heads melt my 10,000.

[00:08:35] You can't get me on the phone for 10,000. Forget about that. So, we talk about there's two sides to every equation, the side of the buyer and the side of the seller. We can't control the side of the buyer. Yeah. We can barely control our own side. So what do people need to do in developing market, I don't want to say third world, I think that's offensive.

[00:08:55] Maybe a developing country or a second market, what should they be doing? Let's talk about the [00:09:00] psychology first and then what are the practical things they can do,

[00:09:03] Bea Chu: right? So I guess on the point of psychology it really has to go back to Something I learned from you, which is was that like the scarcity mindset versus the abundance?

[00:09:17] Mindset and it's it's first getting past the fear that there's not enough out there It's like it's just a fear right that was one of the things that really helped me because From being super scared of throwing out a number That I think I deserved that a brand might like skip on because it might be too expensive to realizing that oh, it's okay because if a brand really wants to work with you, they will.

[00:09:47] And if it's something that they can't afford right now, they'll come back to you with like a counter offer at the very least because that shows you that they really want to work with you. And then at least now you can have like a conversation. So I [00:10:00] feel like psychologically that the change of mindset, there you go.

[00:10:05] Chris Do: Okay. So the scarcity mindset, I think there's some assumptions. The first thing is that there are only finite things available. Finite jobs, finite opportunities, and finite people or connections or parties to go to. But if you start to live in the, in the world of an abundance mindset, then you think there are infinite opportunities that Although this person might say no, another person will say yes.

[00:10:25] So through the lens of the, of a scarcity mindset, they are afraid of saying something that might be rejected because they think that's the last time somebody will ask me ever again and no one else will ever ask me and no opportunities will come. We know that that's objectively untrue, but this is what we live with.

[00:10:45] As opposed to people who are like, Oh, not good for fit for me right now. Come back when you have more money or, uh, I'll continue to do my thing until someone else sees the same value. Now this is pervasive, persistent, and it's something that's very hard to [00:11:00] unbundle in somebody's mind. How have you been able to overcome this yourself?

[00:11:05] Bea Chu: It took a lot of realizing that I don't need to say yes to everything that lands on my lap, because I did that for the whole 2021 and I burnt out. And then I realized that through that fear of, okay, I really don't want to do this because it's not worth it for this amount of money, so this is the amount of money that I'm going to throw at you for it to be worth my time.

[00:11:32] And then I was crapping my pants, but then I got the yes and then I realized that, oh, right. So that was like my interaction with one brand and that's kind of started the ball rolling. And then the next interaction that gave me kind of more confidence to stick with my rate at that time. And it's different interactions with brands where in there are some brands that just ghost you after you put out like a number.

[00:11:58] And then there are some brands that [00:12:00] actually come back with a counter offer. And that's how I gradually learned that, Oh, if they really wanted to work with you. They'll put in the effort.

[00:12:10] Chris Do: I believe that if somebody really wants to work with you, price is not a problem. You will come to a point and you can negotiate.

[00:12:16] You can say, what if we send you 10, 000 worth for our product? Plus the amount of money you were talking about, but we can't do it all in cash or how we split the payment apart or where's the compromise here. And I compromise all the time. I know people on the internet are like, he never compromised. I compromised because I get a feel for the person and their willingness to work with me.

[00:12:33] And it's a mutual thing. So you'll compromise a little bit. And they're like, well, we can come up a little bit and let me make some phone calls. It's we'll make this happen. And I think that's the thing that starts to change the game. I think we all kind of exist in this baseline of what we think we can get, and you can get pulled into one of two directions.

[00:12:50] So there's one of two ways you can handle this. Everybody. There's something that I refer to as the vicious cycle, and that's going to push you lower and lower. So you say, okay, if I charge 500 for this, they'll [00:13:00] say no. So you pre negotiate with yourself. You say, I'll charge 400. And they say, yes. So the game in your mind is like, if I ask for less, they'll always say yes.

[00:13:08] But that's going to go one direction only. Yeah. As opposed to you, when you said, oh, I'll ask for a little bit more. They'll probably say no. But what if they say yes? And lo and behold, they say yes. So then the new narrative dialogue in your mind is, What else can I ask for? And that begins the second of the two models, which is the virtuous model, which builds you up.

[00:13:30] So we all start at a baseline. You have to ask yourself, do I see a future where it's going to go lower and lower? Or do I see a future for myself where it goes higher and higher? We need to shift that. Logically, I think everybody understands this. We can draw it, we can nod, and everything's great. But there's this emotional component that holds people back.

[00:13:47] So what I would love for you to do is look right in that camera, and speak to those people directly. Pour into their heart, appeal to their emotions. What do they need to do to start changing this game? Because if the entire industry is lifted up, It becomes easier for people like you [00:14:00] and me to ask for what we want and not have such a big gap.

[00:14:03] Like, Oh, I can hire a hundred thousand other people to do this for this amount. No, you can't. Cause they don't exist anymore.

[00:14:08] Bea Chu: Yeah.

[00:14:08] Chris Do: So go ahead and lay it on. Like you're running for president of the Philippines. You got this. Give us your best pitch, please.

[00:14:16] Bea Chu: The amount of work that you put into your content deserves to be recognized, regardless of where you are and regardless of how much following or influence you have.

[00:14:29] That's like the baseline, because the amount of work that you put in, that's not going to go away overnight. And even if you're in the Philippines or if you're in the U. S., you do the same amount of work. And so that needs to be where you build the foundation of what you think is worth your time and what your work is worth, and then add on to it in terms of distribution and influence, and as you grow, that should also grow.

[00:14:58] And it's also [00:15:00] important to know that If people want to work with you, if people want to be around you, they will also put in the effort to do so. It can't be a one way street, it's just like friends. You try to have like a conversation with somebody and then they don't respond, you can't really make something out of that, right?

[00:15:22] So it has to be a two way street. And oh, one thing I realized is that if you lowball yourself, let's say you charge like 500 and it's not worth your time and everybody else charges 500 there's a lot of people there yeah that might say yes to 500 but then you'll realize that when you say no my rate is at 3, 000 yeah you do lose a lot of like in terms of quantity but then the quality of people who will actually say Yes to 3, 000 and who will say [00:16:00] yes to working with you, it's significantly smaller, but then you realize that you only need to close one instead of, I'm really bad at math, but then instead of X amount of 500, right?

[00:16:13] So you not only save your time, your effort, but it's surprisingly so much easier to talk to people who are willing to pay you 3, 000 and 500. Okay. And that's because they trust you and that's because they trust in what you do. And it just gets better as you go higher.

[00:16:31] Chris Do: Okay, so mayor for president, anybody?

[00:16:34] Okay. I'm going to wrap up the episode. I know it's a super short episode. I'm going to say these three things for you to hear. So if the first wave of messages that came from Bayo didn't hit you, maybe the second wave will. Number one is when you were in high school or something, there was always a guy or girl who was like very popular and no one could get near and they became more popular because no one could get near.

[00:16:55] And then let's just say like, at least in America, there's a term, like they were easy and I don't, you [00:17:00] can infer whatever you want from that. Okay. And they're not respected. They're just like, Oh, you don't have to work too hard to get that person. And the thing is you got to ask yourself, am I going to be the person that's held in esteem with integrity?

[00:17:12] Or am I going to be the easy one to do a deal with? I don't think you want to be easy. Number two is you're a creator. You put all your heart and soul into this because you love creativity and it's not for the pursuit of money. But here's the plot twist on this. You should only want to do a brand deal that inspires you, that fills you with joy.

[00:17:30] And the way I know how to get that is give me the money. Give me the money so I can be really excited. Oh, you want to change it to red? Happy to! Oh, should we bring in more? And we can then pour into it. Versus feeling like we didn't get paid enough and being resentful about it and then putting that energy into the work.

[00:17:46] It's bad for you. It's bad for them. It's bad for your audience. It's just bad all around. We need to do this. The last thing I want to ask you this, and it's a serious but silly question, which is Where is the internet? Does the internet exist in a certain place or is the internet everywhere? [00:18:00] So to think geographically, I'm here, but I'm on the internet, but I can only charge prices from where I'm at, is silly because you don't understand how the internet works.

[00:18:07] The reason why they found you is because of this thing called the internet. It means we're all connected. It's like a global family. And so stop thinking like, because I'm here, I can only charge this, and change your life and hopefully ride the virtual cycle with us. Where are you headed off to next and what excites you?

[00:18:24] As quickly as you can.

[00:18:26] Bea Chu: Yeah, so I'm going to New York next and I'm really excited because there's gonna be an event a creator event that I'll be attending It's called story jam and then after that I'm heading to Dallas for a vid summit and I am so stoked to meet more creators There

[00:18:38] Chris Do: hmm, and if people want to work with you What is it that you can help them with

[00:18:42] Bea Chu: people want to work with me?

[00:18:43] I can help them with the production side cinematography and stuff the technical aspect of it But also I'm a big geek when it comes to like analytics. So You Understanding the types of content that would make your content, like your your account better as well [00:19:00] as you as a creator, understand your niche better and be able to put out your own type of content that will make you grow.

[00:19:08] Chris Do: And where can I find some of this information?

[00:19:11] Bea Chu: Um, you can find this on any of my accounts at BeyaChuTV, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, growing my YouTube now, and you can also email me at workwithchu at gmail. com. Work

[00:19:22] Chris Do: with Chu. It was a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for doing this. All right. Sorry to cut it so short.

[00:19:29] I want to give one more prompt here to our audience. I was going to geek out on comic book nerdy stuff and creator stuff and some of the backstories you want to hear. So if you want to hear that and watch that episode, comment the word nerd, N E R D, and we'll do another call or we'll Conversation with be.

[00:19:45] Thank you very much.

[00:19:52] Futur: Thanks for joining us. If you haven't already subscribed to our show on your favorite podcasting app and get new insightful [00:20:00] episodes from us every week. The Future Podcast is hosted by Chris Do and produced and edited by Rich Cardona Media. Thank you to Adam Sandborn for our intro music. If you enjoyed this episode, then do us a favor by reviewing and rating our show on Apple Podcasts.

[00:20:17] It will help us grow the show and make future episodes that much better. If you'd like to support the show and invest in yourself while you're at it, visit thefuture. com and you'll find video courses, digital products, and a bunch of helpful resources about design and the creative business. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time.