u/Ecstatic-Log-9517

6 days ago I launched a free influencer rate calculator. here's the honest breakdown.

what worked:

- reddit keyword monitoring - searched "how much should I charge" in creator communities, answered genuinely, mentioned the tool only when directly relevant

- 1000+ requests from reddit alone, zero ad spend

- users from 5 countries, 91% US

- users averaging 2+ calculations per visit

what didn't work:

- Twitter - 0 followers, tweets going nowhere

- posting in general subreddits - karma filters remove everything

- cold dropping links - looks like spam, gets ignored

what I'm building next:

- Media Kit PDF feature - $9/mo

- waiting for first paying customer signal before activating payment

biggest lesson: distribution before perfection. the product was good enough on day 1. finding the right communities took longer.

anyone else at this stage? what moved the needle for you?

launched a free influencer rate calculator 6 days ago.

distribution: only reddit comments, zero ad spend.

traffic: 1000+ requests, 91% US, 5 countries.

engagement: users averaging 2+ calculations per visit.

revenue: $0.

biggest lesson so far: find communities where people are already asking for your solution. search "how much should I charge" in creator subreddits - hundreds of unanswered questions.

next milestone: first paying customer.

anyone else building something similar? what's working for distribution?

been talking to a lot of small creators lately and the answer is almost always "i just guessed" or "i asked a friend"

curious how people here handle it - do you have a formula, use CPM math, or just negotiate from whatever the brand offers first?

what's your process?

been curious about this from the brand side - when you're running influencer campaigns, what's your process for setting rates?

do you use a formula, go off follower count, negotiate from their rate card, or something else?

asking because i've been talking to a lot of creators and most of them are guessing their rates. wondering if brands have a more systematic approach or if it's equally chaotic on that side too.

been talking to a lot of small creators lately and the answer is usually "i just guess" or "i copy what my friend charges"

built a free calculator that estimates a fair price range based on followers, engagement rate, niche and platform. also shows CPM estimate and real hourly rate breakdown.

curious if this is actually a problem or if most creators already have a solid system. how do you price your deals?

What's your actual competitive intelligence process?

Most companies I've seen fall into one of these:

1. "We check their site when we remember" — no system

2. Google Alerts — lots of noise, misses most things

3. Paid tools (Crayon, Klue) — expensive, overkill for smaller teams

4. Manual weekly review — time consuming but works

What actually works at your company?

Specifically curious about:

- How often do you check?

- Who owns it?

- What signals matter most to you?

How do you keep track of what your competitors are doing?

i've been thinking about this a lot lately. my current process is embarrassing - i have a notion page with a list of 6 competitors and every friday i open each one manually. pricing page, blog, jobs page. screenshot if something changed. takes like 40 minutes and i still miss things.

curious what everyone else does. do you have an actual system or is it just vibes?

every week i was opening the same 5-6 tabs. pricing pages, job listings, changelogs. boring and i kept missing things. built something that checks automatically every morning and emails me when anything changes. took about 2 weeks. stack: python + fastapi. nothing fancy. zero paying customers. curious if anyone else has this problem.

every week i was opening the same tabs. checking if rivals changed pricing, posted jobs, updated their changelog. kept missing things. spent 2 weeks building something that does it automatically. checks every morning, emails me when something changes. pretty simple but works. zero paying customers so far. curious if this is a real problem for other founders or just me. how do you keep track of what competitors are doing?

Started this as a side project about a month ago. The idea

was simple: build Notion workspaces I actually use, then

sell them.

What I built:

- Solo Studio — freelancer CRM, projects, invoices

- Scholar OS — student life, habits, study planner

- Content Creator OS — content calendar, brand deals

- Finance OS — income, expenses, savings goals

- 100+ Notion Prompts — free lead magnet

What worked:

- Reddit organic posts drove most traffic

- Free product (prompts) brought people to paid ones

- Pain-based templates (Finance OS) got most interest

What didn't work:

- Instagram ads — zero ROI

- Etsy — too much friction to set up

Still at 0 sales but the first post hit 2K views yesterday.

Anyone else building and selling Notion templates?

What channels worked for you?

been checking the same 5 websites every week for months. pricing pages, job listings, blog posts. finally got tired of it and just built something to do it automatically. sends me an email when anything changes. works pretty well honestly. anyone else doing this manually or is there a better way im missing?

Spent the last 2 weeks building a tool I actually needed myself. I kept missing competitor moves. Rival raised prices, launched a feature, started hiring engineers - I'd find out weeks later. So I built something to watch for me. It checks pricing pages, changelogs, job boards every morning and emails me if anything changed. Simple but works. Stack is Python + FastAPI. Nothing fancy. Zero paying customers so far. Trying to figure out if anyone else has this problem or if I just built something for myself. Do you manually track your competitors? How?

https://preview.redd.it/ugm64a87cd0h1.png?width=1914&format=png&auto=webp&s=83a8aebc41dc9cc5e291ded464ca33d89e8db2c5

Biggest challenge working remotely wasn't the work itself - it was keeping track of everything across different time zones. Clients in Gmail, projects in a spreadsheet, invoices in another file. Constantly losing context when switching between them. Moved everything into one Notion workspace. Clients link to projects, projects link to invoices. Open one tab in the morning and everything is there. Anyone else managing their freelance business from Notion? What tools are you using alongside it?

Got tired of juggling spreadsheets and sticky notes as a freelancer. Built Solo Studio — a complete Notion workspace with 8 connected pages:

👥 Clients CRM | 📁 Projects | ✅ Tasks | 📄 Proposals | 🧾 Invoices | 💰 Income Tracker | 📆 Weekly Review | ⚙️ How to Use

Works on free Notion plan. 15 min setup. Search "Solo Studio Freelancer Dashboard" on Gumroad!