The concept of influencers is a fairly polarizing one.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean in the sense of \u2018Spoiled child demands free ice cream because Instagram\u2019, anyone who has any sense of decency or of what they\u2019re doing already knows that\u2019s a bunch of hot mess.<\/p>\n
I mean the idea of what makes a personality truly viable enough to earn regular income from. I\u2019ve heard people say it\u2019s an exciting new industry to enter, and I\u2019ve heard others say it\u2019s an impossible bubble waiting to pop<\/a>.<\/p>\n Usually people in the second half strike me as the sorts that got picked last for kickball, rubbing their hands together at the idea of the popular kids growing up to be losers. And as much as I like revenge, the more myopic nerds are wrong on this one.<\/p>\n Being an influencer is a viable career IF you have what it takes, and not only do most people NOT have it, they don\u2019t even know what \u201cit\u201d is.<\/p>\n I want to take the first chunk here to dispel the myth of \u2018Influencing is only for dumb pretty people with a working phone camera\u2019. No, dear reader, no.<\/p>\n Influencing is for SMART pretty people with a camera CREW.<\/p>\n You couldn\u2019t PAY me to do stuff like waxing, or microblading, or juice cleansing (which is just starving plus vitamin C), but all that jazz is literally just one part of a business model\u2019s business model.<\/p>\n It takes a lot of upfront money, strategy, and hard work to be a looks-based influencer, even if someone born cute makes it seem easy.<\/p>\n With that out of the way, there\u2019s another myth that could use debunking: the idea that (conventional) beauty, travel, and fitness influencers are the only kinds.<\/p>\n Content isn\u2019t the king people pretend it is. CURATION is what really wears the crown. The freaks, the stoners, the tabletop gamers, the \u201cfatties\u201d (and I resemble that remark)\u2014there are influencers in literally all of these categories and all the presumed undesirable ones beyond.<\/p>\n Am I going to pretend Kim K and gothic \u201csinfluencers\u201d like Jillian Venters<\/a> and Aurelio Voltaire<\/a> have the same amount of pull everywhere? Of course not. But are these people garnering physical audiences and legitimate income based on catering to a niche they already liked?<\/p>\n Yes. Exactly.<\/p>\n