We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Larz Broussard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Larz below.
Alright, Larz thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
My first dollar earned as a creative came in the form of $10.34 as commission for making a video promoting a brand’s jewelry. I know, it doesn’t sound great. You can’t do much with $10; hell, an hour of work at pretty much any minimum wage job will get you more than that. For me though, it wasn’t about the money. I may sound like I’m lying, because money always plays a factor, but let me set the story for you.
I was about a year into my content creation journey when those $10 hit my account. Not only that, but I had only received my first gifted brand deal a few months prior. For that one, a brand had contacted me saying they liked my content, and sent over some free products to try out. No video was required, but I made one anyways because I was so geeked about a real brand hitting me up! My videos caught the eye of an actual influencer marketing manager, to where they wanted to bless me with some free stuff? Say no more; count me in.
The first paid collaboration came about a month after my first gifted one. Their offer was a 10% commission for anyone who bought their product(s) using my discount code. Okay, first it was just free stuff. Now we’re talking free stuff, payment, AND a discount code? I was feeling like an actual content creator! All the creators from YouTube, Tik Tok, and Instagram that I watched on an everyday basis – in that moment, you couldn’t tell me different that I was one of them now, all because I had a little brand recognition.
That $10.34 came two months after I posted the video. I remember getting that notification and looking at my phone, thinking to myself, “Wow, so it is possible. My social media channels, something that I built from the ground up and consistently honed my craft in finally resulted in a financial gain.” I had made $10; who’s to say I couldn’t make $100? Or $1,000? Those $10 unlocked the confidence in my mind that it was possible for me to take my artistic ideas and turn them into profitable realities. In hindsight, it seems a bit silly to have based my validation off of brand recognition, but in all honesty, I had found my style of video that was going to get me paid. Not only that, but it continued to build me a track record of collaborating with brands that trust my creative abilities to negotiate a fair wage.
Today, my social platform is a full second job and business, working with brands that will benefit both parties and keep the integrity of my channels. Like I said, money will always play a factor, but I also have to stay true to myself and keep the same foundation and artistic happiness that got me to where I was before I was getting paid.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I create video content on social media, primarily centered around men’s fashion, music, and sports. I genuinely believe that despite people’s similarities, everyone has their own individual story to share with the world, in whatever medium they choose to. My Tik Tok, Instagram, and YouTube channels are simply my takes on my own experiences regarding my three biggest passions.
My journey began from combining my passion for men’s fashion, particularly streetwear, with the need of a creative outlet. I was sitting around the beginning of 2022, applying for jobs while scrolling on Tik Tok and thought to myself, “I could make videos like this.” After all, I had just finished my master’s program, and had a whole educational background in journalism, media communications, and video production. I figured it could also serve as a decent portfolio to reference for jobs. Fast forward to now and I’ve amassed thousands of followers and millions of views across my social channels, solidifying myself as a true social media content creator, an honor that I am extremely proud and grateful to hold.
I’m most proud of the multiple outcomes relating to the growth of my channels. Obviously, it’s nice to see your follower count, likes/comments, and all that increase over time, definitely not going to lie about that. But whenever I get some time to reflect on how far I’ve come, what I really think fondly of are the results of making my videos. People coming up to me, friends, family, and even strangers sometimes who recognize me from the videos, telling me how much a video helped them find their own style, or how they enjoyed one of my clothing recommendations, for example. Those affirmations make all the late nights of editing, or filming on days where you’re not feeling too hot, all worth it. Getting brand deals and sharing the products with my inner circle is a great feeling too. I get an excess of clothing, jewelry, accessories, etc., and gifting them to friends and family is a great feeling for me to share the wealth all around. One eats, we all eat. And it’s only going to get bigger. That’s what I’m excited for in the future.
It hasn’t been the smoothest road to get to this point. Getting the channels off the ground was tough. Like I mentioned earlier, I didn’t make any money off it either for several months, so it was tough for me to even talk about it with others as an actual career path. It was also a grind through the trial and error process of finding my own style of video, a consistent format that used my strengths to the fullest.
Regardless, the biggest thing I’ve learned from this whole process is that consistency will prevail over everything. Consistency will generate you finding a style and system you can grow from. Consistency will cultivate that comfortability after the initial awkward stage. Consistency will lead to making mistakes in which you can learn and bounce back from. Consistency really is key, and that can be applied to any facet of life.
I want people to know me as the guy they can watch who provides quality fashion, music, and sports content, where they can come to be informed and/or entertained. My story is not unlike many other people my age: just another young guy on my grind, trying to find my place in society after graduating college. I share my interests online, it relates to people, and we just take it from there. Nothing complex or over the top. I’ve always been a humble dude, and especially now, in an industry where you see a lot of people get big-headed just because they got some followers online, I continue to remind myself that I’m no different than anyone else.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
There’s three key factors I’ve found that will keep you on the right track to building a social media audience: consistency, patience, and luck. Let me explain all three.
No matter what niche your content is, staying consistent will always prevail. From a logistical standpoint, staying consistent with your routine of creating videos and your schedule of posting them will keep your content woven through your followers’ feed and the general algorithm, keeping your current audience happy and increasing the potential for new followers. From an artistic standpoint, consistency will allow you to find whatever style of video that works for you. From there, you can build off of that, grow from your mistakes, and overall hone your craft into being someone that people will value your content and will want to genuinely engage with your videos. With Tik Tok for example, it doesn’t have to be three videos every single day. It could be just one a day, or one a week. Or if you think you’re capable for those three a day, do your thing. It’s whatever will work for you and keep you on a consistent schedule.
Patience is truly a virtue, especially when it comes to content creation. I mentioned earlier how I didn’t make any money in my entire first year of making videos. Now imagine if any time before that, I got too discouraged and quit. After three months. Six months. Nine months. Being a content creator isn’t for those who want the quick gratification, because unless you get really lucky and blow up after your first or second video, chances are you’re going to be in it for the long haul. Because of that, my suggestion is to really create videos on a topic you are insanely passionate about. Something you could go on forever talking about, because each particular thing you talk about can turn into an idea for a video.
I mention luck as a factor because despite all the measures you can take to make the best video possible, it essentially has a 50/50 chance of going viral. In my experiences, I’ve had videos that I’ve taken hours shooting and editing, crafting an enticing hook, using hashtags, typing the perfect caption for SEO, etc. only for it to flop and not even reach 500 views. And then I have the throwaway video that’s been in my drafts, or a video that only took me an hour to make, and I’ll post it and forget about it. Next time I open up Tik Tok – 10k views in an hour. It’s just weird man; even I’m still not sure I fully understand it. I like to think of each of my videos as a lottery ticket. Each of them, in theory, have a small chance of going viral, but the more often you post, the higher probability you will have of hitting. Unlike the lotto though, you do have some sort of “control” to winning. That control with your videos comes in the sense of value and authenticity to your audience. All of that will contribute to your chances of that one lucky video.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My main goal is to become a full-time content creator, being able to fully financially support myself from creating videos. Currently, I create short form content on Tik Tok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. One of my goals for 2024 is to branch out into longer-form content on YouTube and fully establish myself as a video creator. For me, it was one thing to see other creators online make money from content creation; once I did it myself, it opened my eyes to a whole new avenue. The possibility became a reality and now I am fully driven and motivated to make it happen. Of course, I know it will take time, just like my short form content getting off the ground, but the payoff will make it all worth it.
This doesn’t mean I want to fully want to abandon the 9-5 world. In fact, my other goal for 2024 is to kickstart my career in the social media industry; whether it’s working for a brand/company as their social media content creator, social media manager, etc. remains to be found out. I feel like it would be a disservice to me and all the years I put into my education, getting both a bachelor’s and master’s degree (not to mention all the student loan debt I put myself into), to not work a “real” job at least until I was able to fully financially support myself through my content. Between my current job and my content creation business, I continue to strive in finding a career. The job market is tougher than it’s ever been right now, and there are tons of days where I feel as if I’m getting nowhere. But whenever I get down, I remind myself that I built my social media following from the ground up, with no help, and it’s led to all these amazing opportunities and accomplishments, just like me talking to you guys right now! So to be honest, the only way from here is up.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://larzbroussard.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larzagna/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larz-broussard/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@larzagna
- Other: Tik Tok: http://www.tiktok.com/@larzagna
Image Credits
Photos: Gabriel Lopez