The question comes up in every beginner's message: how many followers do you need to start. The answer is zero, and that is not encouragement, it is the definition of the job.
In France that answer also has a practical consequence many discover too late.
You are not an influencer, and that belongs in the contract
An influencer sells an audience. They publish on their account, their community sees the post, and that exposure is what is bought.
A UGC creator sells a production. They shoot videos that the brand then runs from its own accounts or in its advertising. Nobody looks at their profile, and their follower count enters no calculation.
These are two jobs, two invoices and two frameworks. The distinction has become sharper in France in recent years, with rules specific to influencers' commercial communication. What concerns you concretely is knowing which case you are in, because disclosure and labelling obligations differ depending on whether the content appears on your account or the brand's.
One pleasant consequence of this separation: your personal profile can stay private, empty or devoted to something else entirely. That takes nothing away from your employability, contrary to what the comparison with influence suggests.
What the brand looks at instead
Your pieces. Six videos showing what you can do replace any audience figure. It is the only asset that counts at the start.
Your reliability. Delivering on the stated date, in the requested format, with correctly named files. A significant share of creators fails there, and that is what gets the others called back.
Your ability to write. A clear script is worth more than a pretty shot. Brands increasingly buy openings, not videos, because that is what they test in advertising.
Your rights. Being able to explain what your price covers, on which channels and for how long, makes you read as a professional before the first delivery.
Where to start, concretely
Pick two fields you genuinely know. Film six pieces with products you already use: nobody will ask whether it was a paid job.
Decide a price, write it down somewhere, and hold it. The rate question always arrives in the second message, and a creator who answers that it depends loses the conversation.
Then make yourself findable. A public profile showing your fields, your formats and your rates works while you are not prospecting, and that is particularly useful when you have no audience to point to.
What is useless at the start
Buying equipment. A recent phone and a window are enough to deliver almost everything that gets commissioned, and gear is bought when a specific job requires it, not before.
Inflating an account. Inactive followers change nothing in a UGC application and cost time your six pieces deserved.
Waiting to be ready. The first video is always the worst one, and publishing it nowhere is how you get to the second.
What replaces an audience
| What the brand looks for | What you show | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of skill | Two targeted samples | Profile, message |
| Reliability | A deadline already met | Reviews, referrals |
| Compliance | A correct invoice | First exchange |
What can be prepared in a week
A sample filmed at home, a three-line price grid, a complete profile and a receiving address.
What is useless at the start
A followed account, a logo, a long biography, a list of software mastered.
When an audience becomes useful again
It does if you decide to sell distribution too, meaning publishing on your account for a fee. That is a second job which can complement the first, with rules of its own.
But it is a choice, not a prerequisite. Plenty of creators live on production alone, without anyone knowing their name.
Sources
- Urssaf, official auto-entrepreneur portal
- Service Public, how to become a micro-entrepreneur
- Service Public, crossing the micro-entrepreneur turnover thresholds
- ARPP, French advertising regulator
Checked on 4 September 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.
