Talent managers sit at a unique place in the creator payment ecosystem. They receive the payment from brands and are responsible for paying out all their talent. They must track down payments from brands and mitigate any frustrations that come from unpaid talent. Talent managers are operating not just within their title, but as accounting managers as well. And thus, they need a good way to pay their talent roster. Here are five of the most popular ways for talent managers to pay their talent. 

1. A Check in the Mail

This sounds like a joke, but it’s not. It’s a starting point in the plethora of payment solutions. Many smaller businesses and talent agencies still pay their clients with a check in the mail. It’s an old-fashioned, no-fees way to pay your talent. But, this method quickly becomes too time-consuming and low-tech as your roster grows. Plus, it provides an extra hassle for you or your talent to cash the check and deposit the funds. 

2. PayPal

PayPal has been a staple in the payments world for years due to its instant nature and well-known brand name. PayPal is trusted and simple, but that’s also where it lacks. PayPal is entirely no-frills which doesn’t make it a great long-term solution for a high-volume roster. PayPal doesn’t offer the proper organizational tools and security for splitting payments, tracking financial activity, and maintaining a long-term roster. 

3. Bank Transfers

Along with PayPal, bank transfers are one of the most popular ways to pay creators. While simple with online banking and integrations like Zelle, bank transfers lack a comprehensive record keeping system. There is no automatic way to tell that you have fulfilled an invoice and record keeping must be done manually in an outside system. Additionally, 1099s and W-9s are on you. Similar to sending a check in the mail, bank transfers are a somewhat outdated payment solution. 

4. Direct Deposit with QuickBooks

With QuickBooks Payroll service, you can send direct deposits to independent contractors. QuickBooks is a great financial tracking system that’s integrated with many different payment platforms (including Lumanu!). As a catch-all platform designed for all sorts of businesses, QuickBooks provides great income and expense tracking that gets into the details of cash flow and even inventory management. QuickBooks also allows you to send and pay invoices with a credit card or bank transfer. But, with all that QuickBooks does, it gets complicated quickly. Direct Deposit also requires securing detailed, sensitive information from your talent, and the 1099 process can be overwhelming.  

5. Lumanu

Yes, we’re patting ourselves on the back here, but Lumanu has been honed and built for talent managers and creatives. Through Lumanu you can easily send and fill invoices, pay and get paid. There’s simple payment splitting for a large roster, and your clients will get automated reminders if they forget to pay an invoice. And you can forget about handling W-9s and 1099s. Lumanu automatically handles all talent onboarding and tax forms so you can cut one more task out of your never-ending to-do list. 

Oh, and here’s the best part: Instant Pay. Talent gets impatient sitting around waiting to be compensated for a brand deal. As a talent manager, you can’t do much until the brand delivers payment to you. Enter Instant Pay. With Instant Pay, you can get cash advances on your invoices from Lumanu and instantly send payment to your talent roster. No more need to be the stressed middleman. 

Want to learn more about Lumanu? Reach out to us!