This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Listeners, friends, community, are you on TikTok? If so, follow me and watch as I recreate all the hottest memes, including the Stair Shuffle Dance Challenge, Gummy Bear Adele, and my personal favorite, Head Banging Dog. Well, sadly I'm not actually there. No Chris Gillibow TikTok profile. My experience with TikTok is mostly watching it in the middle of the night when I can't sleep.
I just kind of pull it up and scroll through some videos. I gotta say, I'm glad I'm just an author because there are some seriously talented people out there. Some of the work and effort it takes to make these really short videos is incredible. Also, there's some people who have a lot of time on their hands, but that's okay. It's cool, I respect it.
Anyway, today's caller is wondering about monetizing her skills through TikTok, taking her talents directly to the people and cashing in. Do I have any advice for them and any other aspiring performance artists out there? Well, I'll think about it over the course of this 30-second message from our sponsor. And then we'll dive into, I'm obsessed with TikTok, how can I make money from it? [Music]
Hi Chris, this is Kelly from Los Angeles and I am obsessed with TikTok.
How can I make money from it? I was late to every social network and I don't wanna miss my chance this time. Now I see people using TikTok in lots of ways and some 13-year-olds have millions of followers. I'm not 13 and I don't have millions of followers, but I'm getting good at making short comedy videos based on the standup work I do. But how do I go from people liking my videos to getting paid?
There seems to be a missing link. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you. - Awesome, thank you, Kelly. So glad you're out there. I won't be keeping my fingers crossed for your TikTok career.
Now seriously, folks, have you seen Gummy Bear Adele? Just Google that if you have not. I discovered that in some of my detailed research for this question and also from watching TikTok videos in the middle of the night. Google that phrase, Gummy Bear Adele. You'll see a recreation of one of Adele's classic hits being performed by an audience of multicolored gummy bears.
And then of course, there are many recreations of this video with more gummy bears and paper cranes and other small object cover bands. It's crazy what people put out these days. Like I said, a lot of talented people out there, also a lot of people with a lot of time on their hands, but all good. Now as for the question, this is tough, okay? Because there are a lot of 13-year-olds with millions of followers.
I'm not totally sure I always understand all of it myself. Whenever I make this show or give advice, I always try to be aware of my own experiences and constraints and biases and such. But I would say, just kind of looking at a big picture, don't mistake your social media following for customers. I know way too many people with large followings on lots of networks who don't actually do that well on the business side. This is kind of like the secret of some of this influencery world.
Influencery, I just made that word up, because they don't have a product. Then there are lots of people who have very little social profile. They actually don't post very much at all and they're not really engaged in that world, but they do very well business-wise. So it's just a question of like, what are you trying to focus on? What are you trying to accomplish?
And I would say one thing that would help if someone is going this route is to connect their online fame to some kind of service or product from the beginning. So if you're a comedian, sell tickets to shows, virtual or otherwise, and do that actively and frequently from the beginning. And include a link on your profile page where people can support your Patreon. Just for example, it could be something else. Same thing if you're a musician, make it clear that you're actually trying to accomplish something through this process.
You don't wanna oversell, you don't wanna overpromote. But at the same time, like having that connection to something I think is not just important, I think it's vital. And of course, wherever you can encourage that legion of fans, all those followers, to migrate away from just following you on one network, because networks do come and go, even the big ones, to following you on several, or downloading your podcast, or joining your email list. Like actually choosing to be your fan, not just clicking that follow button on one particular network. That's how you'll establish more lasting, meaningful, and ultimately valuable connections.
So that's what I think about that. I'll be on the lookout for those viral videos from Kelly and anybody else out there who is working it up on TikTok. As I said, I don't have a profile myself, but you never know. All right, listeners, if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will be featuring them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects.
Don't forget to check out Gummy Bear Odell. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
