How to Earn Your First Rs. 10,000 From a Brand Deal in Nepal

Most Nepali creators get their first "collab offer" as a DM that goes something like: "Hi! We love your content. We'd like to send you our product for a collaboration."

Read it twice and you'll notice there's no money in it. You get a box of product. The brand gets a Reel that took you a full day to plan, shoot and edit. Plenty of creators say yes to offers like this for years, mostly because nobody told them there was another way.

This guide is about the first deal that pays you in cash. We're using Rs. 10,000 as the target because it's big enough to matter and small enough that a local business owner can approve it without a committee. Local agencies commonly quote micro-influencer posts somewhere in the Rs. 5,000 to 10,000 range, so this is a realistic goal.

You don't need 100,000 followers for this. You need a clear lane, a bit of proof, a short list of the right brands and a pitch that makes saying yes easy.

Who this is for: creators with roughly 2,000 to 20,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook or YouTube who post regularly and have never been paid in cash. Already been paid and want to know what to charge? Read the companion guide, How to Charge Your First Rs. 10,000 for a Brand Deal.

Step 1: Decide what you're actually selling

Brands don't pay for followers. They pay for some mix of three things:

1. A piece of content they couldn't easily make themselves.
2. Attention from specific people, the ones they want as customers.
3. Trust. When you say something is good, part of your audience believes you and acts on it.

Follower count only hints at the second one, and not very well. A creator with 6,000 followers who are mostly Kathmandu college students, and who actually go to the places she recommends, is worth more to a new momo shop in Baneshwor than a 60,000-follower meme page whose followers live everywhere and buy nothing.

So before you pitch anyone, write one sentence:

"I make type of content for specific people who want specific result."

A few examples:

• "I make 30-second food reviews for Kathmandu students who want good food under Rs. 500."
• "I make thrift styling videos for young women in Pokhara who want to dress well on a budget."
• "I make Nepali-language phone reviews for people buying their first smartphone."

This line goes in your bio, at the top of your media kit and in the first line of every pitch. If you can't write it yet, hold off on pitching. Spend two or three weeks posting inside one lane until the sentence writes itself.

Step 2: Build proof before anyone pays you

A brand owner reading your pitch is trying to picture one thing: what will my product look like on this person's page? Answer that before they have to ask.

Make three "spec" posts about brands you already use and like. These aren't fake ads. They're honest content about real things in your life: your favourite café's new menu, the sunscreen you've used for a year, the local shoe brand you keep recommending to friends. Tag the brand each time.

Shoot them in the format you plan to sell, which for most people means a Reel, a TikTok or a YouTube Short.

Spec posts do three jobs at once. They become your portfolio. They open a conversation, because the brand gets a notification when you tag them. And they show every other brand scrolling your page that you know how to make product content people actually watch.

After a week, screenshot the insights for each post: views, reach, saves, shares, plus your audience's top cities and age groups. Most first-time creators in Nepal never show a brand these numbers. Showing them makes you look like someone who has done this before.

Step 3: List 20 brands that can actually say yes

Your first paying brand probably isn't a telecom company or a big FMCG name. Large brands usually buy through agencies, plan months ahead and have payment processes that take weeks. Your first Rs. 10,000 is more likely to come from a business where the person reading your DM is also the person who decides.

Good places to look:

• Instagram- and Facebook-first brands selling clothing, skincare, jewellery, snacks or home goods
• New cafés, restaurants and bakeries near you, especially in their first six months
• Gyms, dance studios, language schools and coaching institutes
• Apps and services launching in your city
• Brands already working with creators your size. Check who they've tagged recently.

One strong signal is a brand running boosted posts. It means they already have a marketing budget and are spending it somewhere. You're offering them a better use for part of it.

Keep a simple sheet with these columns: brand, contact (page, email, phone from Google Maps), who decides, why they fit your audience, your campaign idea, date pitched, follow-up dates.

Timing matters. Brands lock in festival spending weeks ahead. For Dashain and Tihar, the time to pitch is four to six weeks before. Other good windows: Nepali New Year, Valentine's week, college admission season and the winter wedding season.

Step 4: Pitch an idea, not "collab?"

"Hi, I'm interested in collaborating with your brand. Please let me know."

This message gets ignored because it hands the brand homework. Now they have to work out what you'd make, what it would cost and whether it would work. Most won't bother.

A good pitch does that thinking for them. We use four lines:

1. Why them. Something specific you noticed: a new branch, a new product, a post of theirs that did well.
2. Why you. Your positioning line plus one number (average views, or where your audience lives).
3. The idea. One piece of content, described in a sentence.
4. An easy next step. A small, clear ask.

Here's how it looks for a made-up café:

Hi Café Dhara team! Saw you opened your Jhamsikhel branch last week, congrats. I make 30-second café reviews for Kathmandu students, and my Reels average around 9,000 views, mostly from people aged 18 to 24 in the Valley. Idea: a "Rs. 500 date at Café Dhara" Reel showing exactly what a student couple can order on that budget. Can I send you a one-page proposal with details and pricing?

A few rules:

• Use the channel the business actually checks. Instagram DM for small brands, email for bigger ones. Use WhatsApp or Viber only if the business lists that number publicly for enquiries.
• Leave your price out of the first message. Get them interested, then send your packages. The pricing guide shows you how to build them.
• Write each pitch fresh. The "why them" line can't be copy-pasted, and brand owners can tell when it has been.
• Pitch all 20. Many won't reply. If two or three do, that's a good week.

Step 5: Follow up with something new each time

A lot of first deals come from the follow-up rather than the first message. The owner saw your DM at 9 pm while closing the shop and forgot about it. "Just checking in!" gives them nothing to respond to, so make each follow-up bring something new.

Four messages across about a month is persistent without being annoying, as long as each one gives them a reason to reply.

Step 6: When they say yes, confirm everything in writing

Before you shoot anything, send one message (email or chat is fine) that confirms:

• What you'll make. For example, 1 Reel of 30 to 45 seconds plus 2 Stories.
• Posting date.
• Approval. Do they see a draft first, and how many rounds of changes? One round is standard.
• Where they can use the content, and for how long. Only on your page, or can they repost it or boost it as an ad? This one is worth real money, and usage rights have their own guide.
• Price and payment terms. For a new brand, 50% before you shoot and 50% within 7 days of posting is a fair ask.
• Payment method. Bank transfer, eSewa, Khalti or cheque.
• Your PAN, if they need it for their records.

Wait for a reply that says yes. For a small deal, that written confirmation is your agreement. For bigger deals, use a proper contract.

A note on money. Registered businesses in Nepal usually deduct tax (TDS) before paying you. If you bill with your PAN and aren't VAT-registered, the deduction is 15%, so a Rs. 10,000 invoice arrives in your account as Rs. 8,500. The Rs. 1,500 isn't lost; it counts as tax you've already paid when you file your annual return. If you want Rs. 10,000 in hand, quote about Rs. 12,000. The pricing guide walks through the maths. We're not tax advisers, so confirm your own situation with an accountant.

Step 7: Deliver, report, then ask for the next one

Send your draft early. Post on the agreed date. Then, seven days after it goes live, send the brand a short report. Very few micro-creators in Nepal do this, which makes it the easiest way to stand out.

Your one-page report should include:

• The link and screenshots of the post
• Views, reach, likes, comments, shares, saves, and link clicks or sticker taps if you had them
• Three to five real comments that show people want to buy ("where is this?", "price kati?")
• One thing you'd do differently next time
• One idea for the next campaign, tied to their next launch or the next festival

Then ask directly: "Happy to do this again for Tihar. Should I send over a proposal?"

Also ask for a two-line testimonial. You'll need it for the next step.

Step 8: Turn your first deal into a case study

After your first paid campaign, make a one-page case study with:

1. The goal: getting seen, content they could reuse, or sales
2. The brand and what you promoted
3. Screenshots, with links to the posts
4. Exactly what you delivered
5. A behind-the-scenes detail ("Turnaround: 5 days. Revisions: 0.")
6. Results that match the goal
7. The testimonial and your contact details

Add it to your media kit and attach it to every pitch from now on. Your second deal is easier than your first because you're no longer asking a brand to imagine working with you. You're showing them a brand that already did.

Make your content do some of the pitching

Creators who get brand DMs without pitching usually aren't lucky. Their profile makes it obvious that they do brand work and do it well. You can set most of this up this week:

• Bio: your positioning line and "Collabs: youremail@..."
• A story highlight called "Work with me" holding your spec posts, results screenshots and testimonials.
• A recurring series a brand can slot into, like "Rs. 500 challenge", "Honest review Friday" or "Pokhara's hidden cafés". A series gives a brand a ready-made format to buy.
• The occasional results post written for your audience: "Last month's Reel sent a lot of you to Café Dhara, and here's what you ordered most."
• Honest unpaid content that tags local brands. Owners check their tags, often daily.
• A link in bio that holds your media kit, so a brand can check you out before they even DM.

Mistakes that keep creators at Rs. 0

• Waiting to hit some follower number before pitching
• Making a full Reel in exchange for "exposure" or free product (accepting a product for a casual story is fine if you actually want it; a planned Reel is paid work, and the barter test tells you which is which)
• Sending one copy-paste DM to 50 brands
• Quoting a price before you know what they need
• Starting work without written confirmation and an advance
• Going quiet after the post goes live

Your 30-day plan

By day 30 you'll have pitched 20 brands with real ideas and proof attached. That's more structured outreach than most Nepali creators do in a year, and it's usually enough to land the first one.

Where Reffero fits

Your media kit on Reffero builds itself from your Instagram and TikTok, so the followers, engagement and past collabs a brand checks stay current without you typing them in. Brands search on exactly those numbers. Create your free account and put the link in your bio, which is where most brands look first.

Read next: How to Charge Your First Rs. 10,000 for a Brand Deal