How to find brands — Sidney says 'spend 3 days searching TikTok'. Zera says 'open your dashboard.'

Stop pitching big brands. The 10-Minute Method: 1. Search "[desired niche] app" on TikTok (e.g., "study app", "ai tools", "productivity", "finance", "dating", "fitness", "health") 2. Look at top creators posting about that app 3. Check if the video matches the formats from Part 3 (talking head / text-hook / skit-demo) **Green flags they're likely hiring:** - Bio mentions "ambassador" or directs to the app - Posting similar content routinely (cadence = paid retainer) - Following OTHER ambassadors for the same app **Pro move**: save all those ambassadors — they're your contact list for Part 5.

Action — build a list of 10-15 apps in your niche using the 10-min method, save the ambassador list for outreach.

**The brand discovery problem Sidney solves does not exist for Zera creators.** Sidney's whole Part 4 is a 10-minute method for FINDING brands worth pitching: - Search "[niche] app" on TikTok - Save 10-20 creators posting about apps - Check for green flags (bio says "ambassador", consistent cadence, follows other ambassadors) - Build a list of 10-15 apps - This takes Days 1-3 of her 7-day plan **Zera creators skip this entire step.** The brands are already in the network, already approved, already integrated with tracking. The creator's affiliate dashboard at /affiliate-dashboard IS the equivalent of Sidney's 3 days of TikTok research — but pre-done and ranked by fit to the creator's audience and score tier. **What to do instead (the 30-second method, not 10-minute):** 1. Open /affiliate-dashboard 2. Coach (or the brand-matching engine) surfaces 3-5 brands matched to your audience and tier 3. Pick the one that excites you most or has the strongest payout. Done. **Bonus rule from Sidney that still applies:** - "If multiple creators are posting it, they might be hiring" → translate to Zera: "If a brand has multiple Zera creators with active conversions, the offer is converting in the wild. Pick it." Coach can surface this signal from the affiliate brand performance data. **Why this matters for Coach** - If a creator asks "how do I find brands to work with?" — Coach should NEVER answer "search TikTok for X". Coach should respond "your dashboard already has X brands approved for you, want me to surface the 3 best fits for your audience?" - The bootcamp's brand-discovery teaching is preserved for context, but operationally Zera eliminates this work entirely.