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Quitting your daily 9-to-5 to become an influencer may seem like the ultimate dream. Imagine being your own boss and working on your own schedule, all while getting paid to live a lifestyle you love. The truth is that it’s a goal that almost anyone can achieve. After all, brands will spend an estimated $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022. But before you do rush out and quit your day job to become an influencer, there are some things you should know.  

Consider a Side Hustle as an Influencer First 

You may already have a social media account with a decent following and assume that becoming an influencer is an easy next step. What many people don’t realize is that becoming an influencer means turning that Instagram or YouTube account from a hobby into a business. For this reason, it’s important to start working towards your influencing career while you still have your day job. 

Once you start making money, consider it a side hustle at first. You can supplement your current job income and decide if you even like doing things like collaborating with brands and growing your follower count. You may find that influencing isn’t for you or that you want to do it on a micro level. Or, more likely, you may find that you love it, which can inspire you to work harder to turn it into your sole career. 

As you work on your influencing side hustle, focus on things like:

  • Niche: Pick an area you are passionate about, whether it’s skincare, travel, food or something else and make it your priority.  
  • Uniqueness: This is especially important if you’re in a competitive niche. Think about what you can bring to the table that sets you apart from other influencers.    
  • Authenticity: Internet users are smarter than many people give them credit for. If your account is all sponsored content all the time, they’ll get bored. Provide a window into your life and personality along with your ads and collaborations. 
  • Engagement: Becoming an influencer takes more than throwing up a few Instagram posts or a YouTube video. You’ll need to engage with your followers and other people in your niche.   
  • Consistency: To keep people interested, you’ll need to create quality content on a regular basis. Post too little and followers will lose interest. Post too much and you’ll overwhelm them. 
  • Aesthetics: No matter your platforms or the types of content you provide, it all needs to look good in order to appeal to followers and potential followers.

Know How You’ll Support Yourself Until You Make It 

Once you’re ready to become a full-time influencer, you’ll need to start thinking about how you will support yourself as your business grows. Are your social media accounts already making enough money that you can support yourself? Or do you have some savings that you can rely on for a few months while you continue to grow your business? 

Day to Day Expenses 

First, consider your normal expenses, like your rent or mortgage, utility bills, food, gas and everything else that you can’t live without. You’ll also need to think about those expenses that you don’t need but enjoy, like that Netflix bill or that regular trip to Starbucks. Can you cut them out for a while or will you still have enough money to spend on them? 

Influencer Expenses 

Depending on your niche, you will most likely have to spend some money to grow your career. Consider it an investment — after all, you’re an entrepreneur! But you’ll still need cash to spend. For example, if your niche is cooking, you’ll need to have money to buy the ingredients to create your recipes. If your niche is fashion, you can’t be caught wearing the same outfit every day. Take all of this into consideration before you quit your job. 

Benefits 

Chances are your day job provides you with benefits, like health insurance, life insurance or a retirement account. When you become a self-employed influencer, you’ll lose all of this, so it’s important to find alternatives or you may end up going without. 

Taxes 

You may not think much about taxes at your day job. They come out of your paycheck every week, and that’s that. This isn’t the case for self-employed entrepreneurs. When tax time rolls around, you’ll be responsible for paying your share. You’ll also need to keep records of items like business expenses, mileage related to your career, insurance premiums, home office expenses and anything else you may be able to use as a deduction. 

Be Ready to Work Hard  

On the surface, it may seem like some of the top influencers are living luxurious lives, traveling the world, wearing designer clothing and accessories and hanging out with celebrities. That’s just the part you see on their social media profiles. What you don’t see is all the hard work that goes into building their brands. 

At your current job, you can shut down at the end of your shift and go home. Someone else will answer the phones and emails or greet the customers and clients. But when you’re an influencer, if you don’t do the work, it doesn’t get done, and your brand doesn’t grow. That means you’ll find yourself constantly networking, researching competitors, replying to comments, approaching companies with collaboration ideas, improving your engagement rates and so much more. 

 

Prepare Yourself to Have Less Downtime  

You’ll be putting in more than eight hours a day, especially in the beginning. You may find yourself working nights and weekends, and there won’t be time for sick days. Your friends want to go check out that new restaurant for Sunday brunch? Sorry, you’ve got to write a blog post. Your family wants to watch a movie tonight? You’ll be there, but you’ll have your eyes on your laptop.   

 

Plan to Expand 

You have a big following on Instagram. People love your YouTube videos. Your blog content is wildly popular in your niche. What’s next? Part of the job for any entrepreneur, including influencers, is not resting, even when you find success. 

Technology is constantly changing. One day a certain type of content is all the rage; the next it’s old news. People’s attention spans are growing smaller. Algorithms change. The culture changes. If you continue to rely on the same thing over and over again, your brand will become stale. 

Growth and expansion should always be part of your process. For example, if you’re a successful beauty vlogger, what’s to stop you from working towards your own makeup line? What if instead of just posting your recipes on your website, you offer virtual cooking classes? Maybe you decide to start a blog or a podcast. The possibilities are endless. And if you want to turn becoming an influencer into a career, you’ll need to focus on continued growth.