• Brand sponsorships aren't the only way creators can get paid by companies.
• JT Barnett, a former hockey player turned creator, gets paid by brands as a consultant.
• Here's the deck he uses to pitch services like content strategy, headhunting, and influencer marketing.

Plenty of creators are chasing long-term money-making plays like building their own business empires or product lines instead of brand deals. But JT Barnett, a professional hockey player turned creator, has his eyes set somewhere in the middle.

"The longest-term play for creators is to launch products through their own audience," Barnett told Insider in an interview. "But the mid-term play is to act as an agency for companies and offer services to the company." 

Barnett, who has about 300,000 TikTok followers and 90,000 on Instagram, has found success pitching himself as a social-media strategist and content agency for brands. 

"UGC was the way that we started working with all these companies," Barnett said. 

UGC, or user-generated content, is a booming form of advertising where creators make content that a brand can use on its own pages (instead of the creator sharing it on their accounts, as is typical in influencer marketing). It's also a smart way to get your foot in the door, Barnett said.

With a network of creator friends in Los Angeles, Barnett began looping in other creators and pitching content to brands that featured several creators, to be used how the brand wanted or needed, he said.

"I would make them UGC videos like an agency, sometimes I would be in the video, sometimes I would find talent to be in the video and I would film," Barnett said. He first got his start making UGC for brands while running Honey House, an LA-based content collab house that went viral in 2020.

"From there, I started to really understand what brands were wanting," Barnett said. Dabbling in UGC was a deep dive into another side of the business for Barnett, and an opportunity to learn more of the lingo brands used such as conversions or top-of-funnel ads that "you just aren't aware of when you're just a creator," Barnett said.

"Learn how to be a service," Barnett advised creators. "Get on calls with brands that are interested in you in any capacity." Then ask them what they need help with.

What started as an idea to diversify Barnett's income as a creator has grown into a full-fledged consultancy firm, BarnettX.

Today, this is Barnett's full-time gig.

"We will go and work directly with brands one-on-one on their content, either producing for them or teaching them how to internally produce," Barnett said. "We'll sit with their team, script out video ideas, hear what their brand vision is, and essentially teach them how to maintain cultural relevancy."

Offering brands services beyond traditional influencer marketing can unlock many opportunities for creators, Barnett said.

"That could be UGC, graphic design, social-media management," Barnett said, or even educating brands on how to utilize social-media tools themselves.

Barrett also runs CreatorX, a headhunting counterpart to his consulting services, which helps place creator talent as in-house creatives for brands.

Like many creators and agencies alike, Barnett uses a deck to pitch potential clients and highlight case studies. While he often uses his website as an alternative, Barnett shared the latest version of the pitch deck he uses for BarnettX and CreatorX.

Read the 27-page deck content creator and advisor JT Barnett uses to pitch consulting opportunities to brands: