u/General_Strategy_106

worked night security, downloaded a mobile payout testing app, completed 20-minute user testing tasks on my phone while sitting in the booth. cashed out $20–$30 a night straight to PayPal.

saved $2,800 over 4 months and bought a clean 2008 Suzuki DRZ400 dual-sport cash. didn't tell my manager.

After writing UGC scripts for a while, you start seeing the same formats over and over again.

Some are overused for a reason. They’re easy to adapt, easy for creators to work with, and when the angle is good they still perform.

These are the 3 templates I'd probably use the most right now.

1.) Problem/Solution:

This is the obvious one, (old but gold) but it works because people immediately know whether the video is relevant to them.

Instead of opening with the product, start with the exact problem it solves. The more specific, the better. Then explain what you were doing before, why that wasn't working, and bring the product in naturally as the thing that fixed it.

A basic script would look something like:

"If you struggle with [specific problem], this might help. I used to [old solution], but [why it sucked]. I started using [product] because [reason], and now [specific result]"

A mistake here is using a problem that's way too generic, "I wanted to be more productive" means nothing, its better to try something like "I was wasting two hours every morning manually doing X"

2.) Product Demo (only for good appealing products):

This is probably my favorite for apps and tools because you can let the product do the selling.

Start with what you're about to accomplish, then immediately show the process. You don't need 10 seconds of context before the viewer actually sees the thing they're supposed to care about.

Something like:

"I found a way to [desired result] in [time]. You just [step one], then [step two], and it gives you [result]. I used it for [actual use case] and this is what I got."

Screen recordings are perfect for this. If someone can understand why the product is useful just by watching you use it, there's no reason to bury that under a huge script.

3.) Storytime:

This one is harder to get right, but when it works it feels the least like an ad.

The product shouldn't really be the story. It should be the thing that appears naturally because of what happened.

"[Interesting thing] happened to me last week. I was trying to [goal] when [problem happened].

I tried [first reaction/solution], which didn't work, so I ended up using [product]. [Interesting result/twist]."

The easiest test is removing the product from the script. If there's still a story you'd actually listen to, you're probably on the right track.

If the entire story collapses without the product mention, you've just written an ad.

I also wouldn't give these scripts to a creator word for word. The structure is more important, so give them the angle and the points they need to hit, then let them talk like they normally would.

There are a bunch of other formats worth testing too. I found a pretty good breakdown of 12 of them here:

https://sideshift.app/blog/ugc-script-template

restaurant kitchens get dinged by health inspectors when grease and hard water scale build up on the stainless steel backsplash walls behind deep fryers and dishwashers. kitchen staff hate polishing them because standard aerosol cans do nothing to heavy baked-on grime.

i bought a high-speed orbital polisher, heavy wool pads, and an industrial metal restoration compound. i roll into commercial kitchens after closing at 11 PM. i strip the baked-on grease and polish the stainless walls to a mirror finish. charge $500 per kitchen line. takes two hours and the restaurant owners love having spotless backsplashes when inspectors show up the next morning.

I bought a really nice 40 foot telescoping fiberglass pole originally meant for cleaning high windows. I wrapped the top hook in thick rubber tape.

Every time it gets nice out, people take their new DJI drones to the local parks and immediately crash them into the highest branches of oak trees. They post in the local Facebook groups begging for help because their $800 drone is stuck 30 feet in the air.

I message them and say I can get it down safely for $75. I drive over, extend the massive pole, hook the branch, and shake it loose or grab the drone directly. It takes 10 minutes and saves them hundreds of dollars. I rescued 4 drones last weekend alone.

A months ago I found out about a really cool side job. There was a bookstore in my area that paid people to smell old books for mold and smoke and stuff like that. They did not want to sell books that smelled bad. At first it sounded weird. Then I got to read a manual that taught me how to tell if a book smelled bad. After that I was pretty good at finding books that smelled like mold or smoke.

The job paid a little. I never thought being a Professional Book Sniffer is an option.

Does anyone else have a side job, like that?