The 12 questions to ask before signing with any management agency

Ask these before signing anything. The answers matter, and so does the manner of answering — an agency that gets uncomfortable at question four has told you a great deal for free.

About the money

1. Is the commission on gross or on net?
Gross means they take their cut before the platform takes its own. On a $10,000 month at 30%, that is a $600 difference — $7,200 a year on the same headline number.

2. Does commission apply to income I already have?
Paying a cut on subscribers you brought with you is paying for work nobody did. Ask for commission on incremental revenue above your trailing three-month average.

3. Does commission continue after I leave? For how long?
A trailing commission means paying for a service you no longer receive.

4. Who receives the money from the platform first?
It should be you. If it goes to them, you cannot verify anything.

5. Are there any fees at all, ever?
Setup, onboarding, admin, "marketing budget". The answer should be a flat no.

About the work

6. What specifically will you do, and how often?
You want a schedule with quantities and frequencies. "Marketing services" is not an answer; it is the absence of one.

7. What growth do you commit to, and what happens if it does not come?
Nobody can guarantee results, and an agency that does is telling you something bad. But there should be a real answer about accountability. If the answer is effectively "nothing happens", the entire risk is yours.

8. Who exactly will be working on my account?
Ask for names and roles. Being pitched by the founder and handed to a rota of contractors is the most common disappointment in this industry.

9. Can I speak to two creators you currently work with — of my choosing from your roster?
Note the phrasing. Anyone can produce two happy references. Being able to pick is the test.

About control

10. Will you ever need my passwords?
The answer must be no. Platforms have delegated access for exactly this, and it is revocable. An agency insisting on credentials is asking for the business itself.

11. Who owns the content I make during our agreement?
You do. They may have a limited licence to promote you which ends with the contract. Anything beyond that needs a very good explanation.

12. What does leaving look like — notice, fees, and what I keep?
Ask this one plainly and watch what happens. A confident agency answers it easily, because it does not expect you to want to leave. The reaction to this question is frequently more informative than the answer.

Two things to do afterwards

Get the answers in writing. A verbal "no, of course we would never do that" is worth nothing when the contract says otherwise. If the answer differs from the document, the document wins — so change the document.

Take a few days. Urgency is a sales technique. A genuine opportunity does not evaporate over a weekend, and anyone unwilling to give you time to consider a multi-year commitment has demonstrated how the rest of it will go.

Then run the contract through a reviewer and, for anything material, a lawyer.