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Original poster

Content creators? Full time job?

56 replies

JustWonderingggg · 18/02/2026 11:54

I keep seeing accounts where people are basically just filming their normal family life school runs, food shops, the usual chaos and they’ve got thousands of followers. They refer to it as their full-time job…

From the outside it looks fairly straightforward, and a lot of it seems quite generic, yet they talk about it as “work.” They’re being sent hundreds of pounds’ worth of items from Amazon wish lists, getting gifted bits from brands, and even having people offer to do things for them for free.

So how much are they genuinely making from this?
I appreciate it might not be long-term sustainable, but in the short to medium term is it actually quite lucrative? Or does it just look easier (and more profitable) than it really is?

A few of the mums I follow seem to put lots of stuff in their captions like “single mum” “council house” “benefits” “tax payers” as rage bait as they call it, but the same people are having people falling over themselves offering to send them free items (which they video themselves opening)

OP posts:
jay55 · 18/02/2026 12:06

There are people on SM who do a monthly breakdown of how much they make from views, brand deals etc.
Theres a couple who do food reviews and most videos seem to make a loss compared to the food spend. Worth watching a few.

On TikTok you need 10k followers and a level of views before you can start earning and it can go from pounds to pennies month to month.

Really everyone and his dog is trying to make money and it’s a lot of work and luck of the draw who does.

Original poster
JustWonderingggg · 18/02/2026 12:05

Well one apparently makes thousands from it and enough to buy a house?? She films herself packing disgusting packed lunches for her kid as ‘rage bait’ another mum I’ve seen films herself cleaning or shopping with captions like “come and clean my filthy council house with me” not sure how much planning or staging that takes she’s usually just cleaning her house which isn’t even that messy so it’s clearly click bait

OP posts:
Ellaonholiday · 18/02/2026 12:05

I’ve often wondered this.

I think there are definitely some who are making a substantial income, but others are just doing it for the likes and freebies.

BudgetBuster · 18/02/2026 12:04

A friend of mine has started to do it and has built up a big enough following. But her posts and reels irritate me so I unfollowed her 😂 She wasn't impressed but I told her exactly why. I'm not a fan of seeing kids online, especially when used for views.

She literally shows her shouting at the kids to get dressed or clean up calling it "Mom Life" blah blah blah.... "Come with me to Tesco with a Toddler".

The reels are boring but she has built up over the last 6 months and is now getting upwards of 3m views each. She has quit her day job and makes money from clicks on her TikTok shop and gets paid to advertise things like tan or hair stuff. She is in the lowest category that he "PR Team" have due to low number of followers but if she does 3 Instagram stories a month for some of the brands she's paid 500quid.

In her stories she's often in her dressing gown or pj's and it grates me so much 😂

But I cant see it being sustainable long term?

ChalkOrCheese · 18/02/2026 12:03

Don't think mamy make a living on that sort of content because what paying brand wants to work with someone who does rage bait?

Recently I saw someone making a really shitty dinner for their kids in a massively cluttered kitchen and it was absolutely ragebait. Can't see Mccains queuing up.

Ont he other hand, a lot of work and variability. One friend has a 300k+ following on something like dog walking (not actually that). She gets food and toys sent and she does a lot of work on providing value: happy content & educational. But she gets a lot of abuse as well e.g. why are you walking a pug, awful breed etc.

A friend of a friend promoted her hugely well earning only fans account with just a few free pics. It's a teaser to drive payment.

Catza · 18/02/2026 12:02

It's a full time job for very little reward. A 60 second video can take hours to plan, stage, film, edit and post. With no guarantee of return. So is it a full time job? Yes. Is it well paid? Not usually.
You can't pay your rent with Amazon vouchers and brand gifts either.

I run a social media account for my business and takes easily 70-80% of my business time.