I started shooting UGC four years ago with no plan, no pricing framework, and no idea what I was doing. I said yes to everything, charged whatever felt "fair," and spent more time second-guessing my rates than actually creating content.
For a while, it worked — in the way that anything works when you're grinding hard enough to compensate for bad systems. But by year two, I was burnt out, inconsistent, and watching other creators with weaker content get booked at 3× my rate because they pitched like real businesses and I pitched like someone who was scared to send the email.
So I started building systems. A pricing model that actually accounted for usage rights and turnaround. An outreach cadence I could run every week without rewriting it. A client tracker so nothing slipped. A proposal template that made me look like I'd been doing this for a decade. Within six months, my rates doubled. Within a year, I had a roster of repeat brand clients who valued what I built, not just what I shot.
Maya Creative Co is where I share all of it. Not as a course. Not as theory. As the actual working tools I use in my own UGC business — mayaherring.com, which is still my active portfolio and still the engine paying the bills.
If I can save you two years of the figuring-it-out phase, that's the whole point.
// business_01 · brand_side
My personal UGC portfolio. Where DTC brands come to hire me for video production, ad creative, and retainer work. This is the active business — the engine.
→ see the portfolio// business_02 · creator_side
This site. Where I share the tools, kits, and systems I built for myself with fellow UGC creators. Not for brand clients — this is for creators who want what I had to figure out the hard way.
→ you're hereThese two sites are intentionally separate. If you're a brand looking to hire me for UGC, go to mayaherring.com. If you're a creator looking to learn from the systems I built, you're in the right place.
// principle_01
Most creator content is emotional fuel. Useful for a day, forgotten by the next. I'd rather give you one tool you'll use every week than one post that makes you feel inspired for an hour.
// principle_02
I'm a creator who can code. That means what I make are actual tools — calculators, trackers, generators — not modules you have to binge and then figure out how to apply.
// principle_03
Everything I teach is stress-tested against my own active business. If I haven't shipped it, I don't sell it.
// principle_04
Free stuff gets ignored. The best work I've done with creators started when they decided to actually invest in the systems they needed.
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Start with the Kit, book a strategy call, or join the Club. All three are built to actually move your business.