Can definitely vouch for the ‘do something for free approach’ Even if the person charged 10% more, seeing that proof of concept and initiative always wins you over even if it’s small🙂
I'm curious about the thing you said about creators reading all of their messages. Is this even possible? If the creator has few million subs, and potentially thousands and thousands of messages on every social media platform with people offering something. How to reach out to the creator in that case? Is it even possible they will notice your message (only not reply if it doesn't look appealing, but still see it)?