What I Actually Learned About Working With a Manager

Atelier 23 Creator Insights Series

By @isa.lysa

This post is authored by Isabelle Carrier (@isa.lysa), a creator known for her savory snack plates and growing community of more than 70,000 followers on TikTok. Originally from Montreal and now based in Los Angeles, Isabelle has built a distinct presence as a snack artist while collaborating with brands and navigating the realities of creator management.

For this series, we asked creators to share what they’ve learned firsthand from working with managers: Real experience, no generic advice.

1. Make sure they have real sales skills

This is one of my strongest takeaways. Influencer management is a sales job: Pitching, following up, negotiating, building relationships, and turning inbounds into long term partnerships and recurring work. A manager who can’t sell will limit your opportunities, no matter how good your content is. 

Things to pay attention to on your first call(s) with them:

• Do they speak confidently about pitching?

• Do they ask smart questions about your content and value?

• Do they understand how to position you?

• Do they seem hungry? 

• How good are they at selling YOU the idea of working with them?

2. Their network needs to align with your niche

This one is huge. If your niche is travel, but they only have deep relationships in beauty, deal flow will naturally be slower and you won’t get the low-hanging-fruit connections that make a measurable difference. You want someone who already has warm relationships with brands you want to work with, not someone starting from zero. Look for alignment between their roster, their brand contacts, and the world you want to grow into. 

Some nuance; a junior manager who’s still building their network isn’t necessarily bad, especially if you’re still small and don’t have access to more senior managers yet. Just make sure you genuinely believe in their drive.

3. The agency name doesn’t matter as much as the manager you’ll be working with

People assume a big agency automatically means more deals, but it really doesn’t. I’ve seen first hand creators in the same niche and at the same agency have completely different realities based on who manages them: One getting enough deals to quit their 9–5 within months, while another with stronger stats barely booking anything all year. The gap wasn’t in talent, it was in management.

4. Ask direct, slightly uncomfortable questions about your earning potential

It’s really important to not shy away here, it’s the only way to get a real sense of what you’re signing up for. Ask things like: 

• “Who on your roster is similar to me?”

• “What brands are you already connected to/have worked with in my niche?”

• “What rate would you pitch me at today?”

• “How many deals do your creators get on average  monthly?”

• “Do you usually land recurring work or mostly one-offs?”

• “Can you share recent collabs you’ve secured for your talents?” Understand the specifics of these partnerships (outreach vs inbound, one-offs vs recurring/long-term, etc.)

5. Talk to the creators they actually manage.

My mistake: I talked to a dozen creators at the same agency but with different managers not understanding that their experiences and feedback wouldn’t apply to me unless we shared the same manager.

6. Make sure your ambition matches theirs

Some creators want slow and steady, and some want recurring partnerships, bigger ideas, and real career-building momentum: Managers are the same. Neither style is wrong, but the mismatch will hold you back. I would ask for their vision for you in the first 6–12 months to get a sense of alignment.

7. Ask for a trial period

I would avoid jumping into a 12-month contract right away, especially for your first management experience. My first agreement was six months, and I knew after less than three that it wasn’t the right fit. Trial periods give you a clean exit if the alignment isn’t there.