"How many deals should I be doing a month?" is the wrong question, because the answer depends entirely on how long each one takes you and how many hours you have. But it can be turned into a calculation, and the calculation gives you a number you can plan against. This guide does the math once, with a worked example, and then shows how to fill the capacity it produces.
The formula
Three inputs:
- Content hours per week. The hours you can genuinely give to deal work, not the hours you are awake. Be honest; the number is usually lower than you want.
- Admin overhead. Pitching, emails, invoices, follow-ups, revisions that are not really revisions. Budget a fifth of your content hours for it. If you skip this step, the formula lies.
- Hours per deal, end to end. From reading the brief to marking the invoice paid, including the waiting you cannot use for anything else.
Then:
Capacity per month = (content hours per week × 0.8 × 4.3) ÷ hours per deal
A worked example
Say you can give 25 hours a week to deal work. A fifth goes to admin, leaving 20 productive hours, or about 86 a month. A typical deal for you is one 30-second video plus a set of hooks: two hours on the brief and questions, three to shoot, three to edit, one for a revision round, one for delivery and invoicing. Ten hours.
86 ÷ 10 = roughly 8 deals a month at full capacity.
Now the honest adjustments. Product arrives late on a third of deals, which shifts work but does not add hours. Two deals a month need a second revision round; add a couple of hours. And you should not plan at 100 percent, because a sick day or a brand that changes the brief has nowhere to go. Plan at 80 percent of capacity.
Six deals a month is the number this creator should build around. At $450 a deal, that is $2,700 a month of content work with room to breathe, before retainers and usage fees.
Laying it out on the wall
Capacity is a monthly number, but deals happen in weeks. A simple way to see it:
| Week | Shoot days | Edit and deliver | Pitching | Notes | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Deals A, B | Deal from last month | 20 pitches | Product for C, D arriving | | 2 | Deals C, D | A, B | 20 pitches | Follow-ups from week 1 | | 3 | Deals E, F | C, D | 20 pitches | Invoices A, B due | | 4 | Buffer, reshoots | E, F | 20 pitches | Month's invoicing, license renewals |
Two shoot days a week, a steady edit-and-deliver lane one week behind, pitching every week regardless of how full the month looks, and a fourth week with slack in it. The slack is not wasted; it is where late product, a second revision, and a surprise retainer request land without breaking anything.
Filling the capacity: work backward from reply rate
Knowing you can run six deals a month tells you how much to pitch. Two rates matter, and you should measure your own rather than trust anyone's average:
- Reply rate: pitches that get any response. A cold pitch with a page the brand can open commonly gets one reply in ten; a DM with rates in the bubble gets fewer.
- Close rate: replies that become deals. One in three is a reasonable starting assumption once the pitch carries a clear offer.
Six deals a month at one-in-three means 18 replies, and 18 replies at one-in-ten means 180 pitches a month, about 45 a week. That sounds like a lot until you see that it is nine a day, and that batch tools can draft a week's worth in an afternoon. Improve either rate and the number falls fast: at one reply in six, the same six deals need 27 pitches a week.
Pitch every week, including the full ones. The deals you deliver in week 3 were pitched in week 1 of last month. A creator who stops pitching when the calendar fills has an empty calendar six weeks later. Twenty pitches a week, every week, is the habit that makes capacity real.
Making part of the capacity predictable
Six one-off deals a month is six negotiations, six briefs, and six invoices. Two retainers covering, say, four videos a month between them turn a third of your capacity into recurring, pre-agreed work, which cuts admin and smooths income. The math on that trade is in retainer vs one-off pricing. Most creators find the sweet spot is a third to a half of capacity on retainers, with the rest left for one-offs that pay better per deliverable.
When the number should go up, and when it should not
Raise the number when your hours per deal fall, usually because you have a repeatable shooting setup, a template for briefs, and a delivery process that does not involve searching for files. Raise rates before you raise volume; six deals at $600 beats nine at $400 and costs three fewer weekends. Do not raise the number by taking deals you cannot deliver on time. A late delivery costs you the brand, the referral, and the review, which is more than one extra deal was ever worth.
Keeping six deals straight
At two or three deals, a notes app works. At six, each with its own brief, product ETA, revision status, invoice, and license, a spreadsheet starts to drift from reality within a week. A pipeline with one record per deal and a queue sorted by what needs you next is the difference between capacity on paper and capacity delivered. See the best way to track UGC deals for the options, from spreadsheet to system.
The short version
Measure your hours per deal honestly, budget a fifth for admin, plan at 80 percent of capacity, and you will land near six deals a month as a serious solo creator. Fill it by pitching every week at a volume that matches your reply rate. Make a third of it predictable with retainers. Raise rates before volume, and never past the point where delivery slips.