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When Followers Don’t Make You a Dime
It’s time to pull back the curtain behind a popular misconception
“I have one hundred thousand followers.” The person, who I’ll call Bob, waits for my reaction. He is used to others being in awe. I politely nod and ask “Tell me about your current revenue streams.” Bob has set up a coaching call with me. He is a former accountant who has been staying home with his two small children while his wife works for the past three years.
Bob spends oodles of time online. His specialty is what he calls clickbait posts. He scours the Web, looking for compelling stock video clips and stunning imagery for sale, that he then purchases to use on his own online social profiles. His social profile makes him look exciting and living an exotic life of luxury and leisure. His real-life couldn’t be any different: he lives in a small older house in American suburbia where the most exciting thing happening is his community’s annual bake sale. “None.” is his answer to my question. To put it in other terms, Bob has no money.
The call is about asking me to help him with his resume. While he stayed home when the kids were little since his wife had a better job, now he needs to go back to work. While social media is his hobby, Bob and his wife agree he should return to traditional employment with stable W2 and…
