--- type: Guide title: "Tracking sponsor deals from pitch to paid — Oknola" description: "How creators track brand deals: six stages from pitched to paid, a deal note to copy, what to record, a weekly routine, and the leaks that cost you money." resource: https://oknola.com/guides/track-sponsor-deals-pitch-to-paid/ --- [Guides](https://oknola.com/guides/) · For creators # Tracking sponsor deals from pitch to paid By [Ricardo Cardona](https://oknola.com/about/) · September 21, 2026 Track each brand deal as one note that moves through six stages: pitched, negotiating, contracted, delivered, invoiced and paid. The note holds the deliverables, the usage rights, the dates, the amount and the payment terms, so no part of the deal lives only in an email thread. A 15-minute pass over those notes each week catches the leaks before they cost you, starting with the invoice nobody chased and the deliverable nobody scheduled. ## The six stages A deal moves forward only when something real happens: a reply, a signature, a publish date, an invoice number, a payment. 1. **Pitched.** You pitched the brand, or the brand sent an inquiry. Note the date and the ask. 2. **Negotiating.** Rate, deliverables, usage and dates are on the table. Most details get lost here, in email. 3. **Contracted.** The agreement is signed, or the terms are confirmed in writing. The dates are fixed. 4. **Delivered.** The content is approved and live. Note the links and the date it went up. 5. **Invoiced.** The invoice is out, with its number and due date. 6. **Paid.** The money is in your account. Note the date and what actually landed. A deal that dies gets one line on why: budget, timing or fit. Those lines are next quarter’s pitch list. ## A deal note you can copy One note per deal, here with sample data: ```markdown --- type: Deal brand: "[[Brand name]]" stage: invoiced amount: 1800 currency: USD terms: net-30 invoice: "0318" invoiced: 2026-08-10 due: 2026-09-09 --- # Deliverables - One sponsor slot in the August 2 issue - A 7-day performance report # Usage rights Brand may reuse the ad copy on its own social accounts for 90 days. No paid ads. # Who's who Approves content: [[Contact name]] Pays invoices: the brand's finance team # Log - 2026-07-18 · contract signed - 2026-08-02 · live - 2026-08-10 · invoiced with the report ``` ## What to record, and why - **Deliverables.** Count, format, platform, length and rounds of revisions. Scope creep starts where this list is vague. - **Usage rights.** Where the brand may reuse your content, for how long, and whether it can run it as paid ads. Usage is often priced separately, which makes its end date worth writing down. - **Exclusivity.** Which competing brands you’ve agreed to turn down, and until when. - **Dates.** Draft due, approval, go-live, report due, invoice sent. - **Amount and terms.** The fee, the currency, the payment terms, any deposit, and any cut a platform or agency takes first. - **Who pays.** The person who approves your content is often not the person who pays the invoice. Get the finance contact when you sign. ## A weekly routine Fifteen minutes, the same day each week: 1. **Open every deal that isn’t paid,** sorted by the next date. 2. **Delivered but not invoiced:** invoice today. Net-30 counts from the invoice, not from the post. 3. **Invoiced and past due:** send a short reminder to whoever pays, with the invoice attached. 4. **Contracted:** check that each draft and publish date is on your calendar. 5. **Negotiating for two weeks or more:** follow up once, or close it. 6. **Write down three numbers:** booked this month, invoiced but unpaid, and open slots in the next 60 days. It fits inside a [weekly review](https://oknola.com/guides/weekly-review-company-of-one/), and the paid deals feed your [income by stream](https://oknola.com/guides/creator-income-by-stream/). ## The common leaks - **Unpaid invoices.** Brand deals often pay net-30, and an invoice sent only to your marketing contact can sit in the wrong inbox for weeks. Send it to the finance contact, and chase the day after it’s due. - **Invoices never sent.** The post went live, the month got busy, and nobody billed it. The delivered stage exists to catch this. - **Missed deliverables.** The story frame, the link that had to stay up for seven days, the report. Give each one a line and a date. - **Rights that outlive the deal.** A brand still using your content after the term ends. You can only raise it if you wrote the date down. - **Unpriced extra work.** A fourth round of revisions nobody agreed to. Put the number of rounds in the deal note. ## Where Oknola fits Oknola runs this pipeline on files you own. Its sponsor map follows each deal from media kit and inquiry to booked slot, contract, approved draft, published piece, invoice and paid. Each step is a note, so nothing waits in your head. Oknola types, tags and files what lands in the folder and keeps each piece linked to the sponsor who paid for it. When an invoice passes its terms, Invoice chase drafts the follow-up for you to send. Oknola doesn’t send invoices, so keep the tool that collects the money. [See it for creators](https://oknola.com/use-cases/creators/), and [what is available today is on the roadmap](https://oknola.com/roadmap/). ## Questions people ask ### Is a spreadsheet enough to track brand deals? For the list, yes: a row per deal with the stage, the amount and the due date. It holds the rest poorly: the brief, the usage terms, who pays. A note per deal keeps them together. ### What does net-30 mean in a brand deal? The brand pays within 30 days of your invoice date. The clock starts when you invoice, not when the content goes live, so invoice the day you deliver. ### What should I do when a brand pays late? Send a short reminder the day after the due date, with the invoice number, the amount and the original date, to the person who pays. Follow up weekly, and check what your contract says about late payment. Ricardo Cardona Builds Oknola, the company brain for one-person businesses. Ten years and 100+ business systems delivered for real companies. [About Oknola](https://oknola.com/about/) [How Oknola works for creators](https://oknola.com/use-cases/creators/) Waitlist ## Start with the folder. The free app comes first, on macOS and Android. Early access opens in waves.