Influencers who leave well paid, essential jobs to travel the world/ make content

[Paramedia]

I seem to have been flooded with new accounts of white women in their 30’s/ 40’s who all seem to have similar stories of leaving teaching, medicine, corporate jobs, law to travel and create ‘content’ either with or without children whilst travelling.
Obviously I am a bit jealous, but I wonder why now? Ten years ago, people would be happy to have a two week holiday and then come back to work. Was that because there was no other ‘easy’ option such as influencing or that we were just happier in our jobs?
I wonder if it’s a mindset, I always hear ‘do what makes you happy’ and wonder ‘but we can’t all do that, all of the time?’. Someone has to be doing the watching, someone has to be working in those sectors and seeking the escapism that those accounts offer? So how do they, ‘the creators’, know that they will be the ones who make it, that their accounts will be the ones people engage with. Or are there enough people that all of the similar accounts can all be successful based on views alone?

A couple of years ago, we were in a hotel rooftop swimming pool abroad. A younger woman appeared & spent 2 hours being photographed by her partner. Holding the pool stairs putting her toe in the water, from many angles. This woman never got wet ! She must have spent a long time making her hair look beautiful too. The man & woman looked so bored.

Now we get people walking round some of our car boot sales taking their inuencer videos too.
Quite a contrast !

I actually know someone who does this! We went to university together, she studied Law. Extremely bright. Also extremely beautiful.

We still meet occasionally so I know a few details but not the total ins and outs any more.

She has over 100k followers and from what I know she quit her full time job circa 18 months ago when she probably had 70k followers and was getting consistent brand deals. I think the majority of them don’t quit until they are making good money but I do think there’s very much a ‘fake it until you make it’ persona going on for many. I do think a lot of influencers want you to believe they live a life more amazing than they do. I think a lot of them do paid ads that they don’t really agree with. The person I know has done paid collabs with restaurants and when I’ve mentioned them to her she’s said she didn’t really like the food- her posts say different. She told me she got paid £800 for that post plus the free food!

However I do think you are under estimating the kinds of things successful influencers are offered for free. Hotel stays, free holidays, free food, free clothes. Invites to parties all of the time. I see why wanting to give up your career is appealing. I think the majority of them are not thinking long term though, as unless you are extremely successful I imagine at some point they will have to return back to regular living and working. The influencer world is far too over saturated and people are copping on that they are full of shit. My friend is a trained professional so should be alright, but I imagine the crash back to reality will sting.

but we can’t all do that, all of the time?’.

No, obviously not. To be able to do it all of the time you must have the money to support that. I also think the normal person would struggle to be an ‘influencer’. You have to have a niche, for the most part you also need to be extremely beautiful.

So how do they, ‘the creators’, know that they will be the ones who make it, that their accounts will be the ones people engage with

Probably because by the time they quit they already have quite a following which is generating a liveable wage. I doubt any of them are quitting their jobs whilst they have 300 followers with hardly any instagram reach.

I think you are deliberately misunderstanding what I posted.

I don't deny it's very popular and is very lucrative for certain people. That doesn't make it a good thing.

It works because many many people don't have the independence of thought to live their lives by their own values and ideas and judgement and feel the need to be part of a flock being told how to think and what to do by some random on social media.

Interesting that the voting is around 50/50 which doesn't seem to reflect the comments. No interest in "influencers" myself but I see them rather like overpaid sports stars. Massive incomes but when that falls to nothing in five years time - which surely it must for the vast majority - are they any better off then the rest of us drones? With no pension or career to fall back on. I honestly don't know. Pity if people are really sacrificing carrer for imaginary fame though.

Because 10 years ago content wasn’t monetised.

I know someone who kinda does this. She is ‘world schooling’ and they mostly seem to go on lots of package holidays. She married an heir with a title and a country pile and they don’t really have to work normal people jobs because inheritance.

I do watch it because I find it interesting. But you couldn’t pay me to give up my life to go eat 3 meals a day at a buffet and make videos of my kids playing board games or going to a club. No thanks, I’d rather have a normal life.

I think a lot of them were independently wealthy to start with. They tend to sound quite posh.

Just saw this. Yeah, its something people independently wealthy enough to jack in the day job do. One woman I know who is a bit like this trained as a doctor, originally comes from landed gentry and is married to a hedge fund manager.

Forgive me, but I think this train of thought is quite old fashioned. We have always been influenced by advertising, and this is just another form of advertising. It's the same as glossy magazines of ads during Coronation Street, except that these content creators make it interesting enough that people actually opt in to watch constant advertising. Of course it's consumerist, but it's also very clever indeed. It's patronising to say that people "don't have independence of thought"- of course they do, it's just that their consumerism is different to yours. You can also learn a hell of a lot about politics, feminism, philosophy from TikTok. The discussion in the comment sections on there are often a lot more nuanced than what we have on MN. It's simplistic to think that it's all about buying stuff.

Absolutely!

The coyple of travel YouTubers I watch all tend to be in marketing or digital marketing which I assume they do on the go. (Trek trendy or Hannah rickets)
ben and David cruise -they did give up their jobs recently but for ages david was working on the cruise (marketing again). Now they are travel agents.
they are probably no different to how I saved up and did a degree for 3 years at 46. They are taking a gamble and can go back to normsl jobs if this doesn’t supplant their usual income. But giving it a go when possible.

A few influencers who have done well now have come out and said they really did a fake it till they make it with some getting into debt for it.
Sometimes all it takes is one video to blow up on social media and you can monetise of it as well.
Even in LA there was a fake studio that looked like a private jet that people would pay to have a shoot done to make it look like they travelled by private jet. All it takes is a few outfit changes in the same spots to make it look like it's somewhere you shop/fly/travel frequently.
And you need to have good skills in editing and making your content something people want to watch.
Although some tiktokers have made it by just sitting in their beds and giving their opinions or takes on other videos or things going on and they have plenty of brand deals coming through.
Also there's been plenty of cases with influencers been seen shopping in high end stores, showing off what they have brought and returning things to said store too

It will also cover topics that normal media doesnt. Sunday papers often have lifestyle sections or you can buy something like good housekeeping. Each edition normally has a shop this look, a product test, an article about health. But someone else has decided the topics.

Ive been following a group trying to improve pain relief for women having hysteroscopies on tik tok. I dont feel like a sheep that they've influenced my thoughts on this. I wasnt even aware there was a campaign from watching BBC or reading the telegraph.

I really hate instagram pushing the explore page. Why do I want to watch people bragging about their apparently perfect lives? And I’m paying them by engaging.

There are thousands upon thousands of these influencers, who is watching this? No discernible talent or charisma.

People choose to do it because it makes money, i understand that. Cannot grasp why people follow specific influencers. It’s not like YouTube where you can get a feel for who they are.

The influencers have given you a fake impression OP. Lots of people aren't jetting off into the sunset with their kids in tow.

I turn 65 this year and I try to keep pace with what is going on in the world, but can someone please tell me what exactly is a "social media influencer" , what does "content creator" mean, do people actually pay for all this? Anyone? Im confused 😕

I can't speak exactly for those you describe but I have a (smallish compared to some) social media following for my hobby and have gone part time in my "professional" job (in education) as a result. I'd love to get to a stage where I would be able to do it full time if I could - at present I make slightly more than I would if I were full time and that continues to grow through monetization across platforms/ sponsorships.

For me, I enjoy the creative outlet it gives, I've found a lot of fun in planning and creating "content" and have learned a surprising amount about editing, algorithms and what I would say is marketing -arguably transferable skills should it all go belly up! Ultimately, I think lots of people would choose to follow a passion that they get paid for and have more control of over their work in, rather than staying in a more restrictive role, particularly if they make more money doing so.

That said, as with all social media, a lot of it is a front, I try to share the ups and downs but people generally want to see the "ups" and so obviously content leans that way and isn't always reflective of real life. It's also a fairly hard slog in many ways, lots of platforms will find ways to cut owed money and you have to be reactive to trends and changes in people's viewing so it's definitely not always a sure thing - I think this is a risk with lots of forms of self employment though.

I often take photos or videos on the go but try not to do anything that is intrusive to others (eg. I do all my voice overs in private). Admittedly I do sometimes feel annoyed with myself that I have to be constantly remembering to film/photograph things so I have something to post. It can become a bit of an obsession if not kept in check. The bubble will likely burst I'm sure but I also sell a tangible product so I guess it's a little different to being a traditional "influencer" as I'm not just marketing myself/lifestyle as such.

Side note...I am NOT in the extremely beautiful category/was (am) not wealthy.

That ramble is all to say, if you can do it, I can absolutely understand the motivation but as with all things, there will be varying degrees of success for everyone.

There's one pretty well known one my little brother is in a relationship with her. She left being an estate agent to live as a 'nomad'.
Her last post was sponsored by VISA. 🙄

I don’t envy them, it would honestly just ruin travel for me. All that standing around posing, filming and editing videos, being “entertaining”. No thanks. I am fortunate enough to be able to travel 8 weeks a year, and I would rather do that (alongside a well paid corporate job) than travel 40 weeks a year ‘making content’.

I also agree that jacking in a job you hate and going to ‘find yourself’ travelling is nothing new at all.

Do you think influencers just stand there and tell people what to buy? Not one of the influencers I follow does this.

I worked for a brand that has a budget of over £100m to spend on influencers. They pay because it works. Traditional advertising is not as effective because people are not watching TV and reading magazines in the way they used to. It is a proper job for some of the best content creators, and they can make very good money out of it.

That's fine, my point it what makes the woman who tries on the Halara jeans on Instagram and shares her own opinion a "vacuous airhead" but an unknown person on Mumsnet is a sound and useful source for comment?

A content creator tends to be someone who makes videos on youtube and they get paid because there are adverts on the videos. As with anything, you get good ones and bad ones and they can be literally about anything.

For example in the last week I've watched a video by someone who tried doing Deliveroo for a week to see if it was worth it, I watched a few videos about frugal tips, I watched someone who bought various "Too Good To Go" bags to see if they were any good, a few finance videos etc. (It's the start of the year.)

I've watched history documentaries about a range of subjects too.

Doesn't always end so well in regular work, either. I know people who lost everything after redundancy. Nothing these days is guaranteed, and the old big golden handshakes are becoming a thing of the past. Employment in general has shifted. More and more people are working in the gig economy. More and more sectors are operating on a skeleton of permanent staff and filling in with temps/casuals. I think a lot of people don't realise how precarious the conventional job market is right now.

And...? I'm sure I've read the same thing before, you seem to have a thing against her being sponsored by VISA.

It's simplistic to think that it's all about buying stuff.

Of course it's not all about buying stuff. And actually that is the most dangerous aspect. What about Andrew Tate for instance? But some of those in the business to advertise products have actually put people in real danger by advocating the use of unsafe products and practises.

And as for your "old fashioned" comment:There are lots of things that are now considered " old fashioned": good manners, customer service, etc etc.
What has replaced them is generally not better and doesn't enhance modern day life. Things should be judged on their merits: new doesn't necessarily mean good, old doesn't necessarily mean bad.

You might educate yourself by using Tiktok but how do you know the provenance of the people whose views you are taking in? It's difficult enough to find a reliable news source and to seek real knowledge it's necessary to go to experts actually knowledgeable in their fields and I am intensely sceptical about the unbiased and informed knowledge available on platforms such as Tiktok.