BY SUZY STUMP for Weekly Volcano
I hate to break it to you but if you don’t want to be in sales, you might not want to be a content creator. The essential part of the job isn’t just making videos—it’s selling. First, you sell yourself, convincing an audience that you’re worth watching. Then, you sell for a brand, proving that you can influence buying decisions in a way that makes companies want to pay you. It’s a career built on persuasion, wrapped in entertainment, and powered by algorithms that reward engagement but never guarantee success. If you’re thinking about becoming a content creator, be ready to embrace sales. It’s not just about making videos—you need to convince an audience to watch, then prove that you can influence their purchasing decisions, all while dealing with algorithms that reward engagement but offer no guarantees.
It starts off simple—posting videos for fun, maybe going viral. As your follower count grows, you wonder, “Can I make a living from this?” You see others sharing brand deals and passive income streams, and you think, “Why not me?” But the reality soon hits—it’s not that easy.
The first thing you try is TikTok’s Creator Fund. You get 100,000 views, but your payout is a measly $3.20. TikTok pays an average of $0.02 to $0.04 per 1,000 views, meaning you’d need millions of views each month just to make a basic income.
So you pivot, joining the Creativity Program Beta, where payouts are higher but still require millions of views to hit $2,000. It’s a full-time job, with no guarantees of success. You try TikTok LIVE, hoping to rake in gifts from viewers, but after a few hours, you make just $3.25. Most viewers don’t donate, and those who do tend to support the same creators.
Next, you explore affiliate marketing and TikTok Shop, where you promote products and earn commissions. After a decent video, you check your earnings and find $12. To make $2,000, you’d need hundreds of purchases each month, and even then, it’s not guaranteed.
That’s when you realize: sponsorships are the key to making real money. But securing them isn’t easy. You must actively pitch brands—cold DMs have a low response rate, and even with influencer platforms, you still need to apply to multiple campaigns for each deal. On average, you’ll spend 1–2 hours a day on outreach. And when you land a deal, creating sponsored content can take longer than making your regular videos.
Sponsorship pay varies: micro-influencers with 10,000–50,000 followers might earn $100 to $500 per post, mid-tier influencers $500 to $2,000, and top influencers $10,000+. But most brands don’t offer long-term contracts, so you need multiple deals every month to reach your income goal.
While many think only attractive influencers land deals, sponsorships are available across niches. A fitness brand might want a fitness creator, and a tech company could seek a creator with tech expertise. What matters is trust, engagement, and how authentically you can promote a product.
Making $2,000 per month just from sponsorships requires a full-time effort. Between brand outreach, negotiations, and content creation, you’ll be working 80 hours a month—equal to a 30-hour workweek at minimum wage.
The truth is, TikTok can be lucrative, but it’s a business. It’s about strategy, persistence, and being able to sell yourself and your content. Building a sustainable income takes years of consistent effort, with only top creators making a living purely from views, gifts, or product sales. Most rely on sponsorships for stability. Social media algorithms are constantly evolving, which can impact visibility and monetization.
If you’re not willing to put in the work, you’ll probably earn more at a local coffee shop. But if you’re ready to hustle, pitch brands relentlessly, and treat content creation as a sales job first, then TikTok might be able to pay your bills.
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