Sharon Kim credits her social media earnings for giving her the ability to purchase a $750,000 home with her brother shortly after graduating from Parsons School of Design in 2023.
However, she says the idea of earning money from content creation “is a lot more glamorized” than the reality of it.
“It’s all on you to be your own employer and gain sponsorships, affiliates and organize contracts and things like that,” the 24-year-old tells CNBC Make It.
She started her YouTube channel in 2018 when she was in high school. There, she covers topics like how she got into Parsons and why she decided to pivot from pursuing a career in fashion to working in the tech world.
Although she earned around $162,000 from the channel over the course of 2022 and 2023, Kim ultimately decided to pursue a corporate career as a UX designer for one key reason: stability.
“I made six figures from social media, but at the same time, income can be very inconsistent and in the long run, it may or may not be worth It,” she says. “Just because I had one really good year, I don’t want to assume that the next year will be just as good.”
Kim currently earns around $94,000 as a UX designer in New York City and maintains her YouTube channel on the side.
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Although she sometimes works long hours to keep up with her social media pages on top of her 9-to-5, she reaps benefits from both.
“Something content creation gives me that corporate can’t is a sense of autonomy,” Kim says. “Although it’s more work, it gives me the satisfaction of having the best of both worlds and I’m not financially stressed because I have the stability of corporate.”
How to manage a content creation side hustle
Kim has two words of advice for anyone with a 9-to-5 job who wants to pursue content creation as well: start small.
“Don’t go all in on content creation,” she says. “I would test the waters for at least a year and see if you’re really consistent and produce the results you want from it.”
Additionally, if you’re in a corporate role, be sure to check your employer’s guidelines on social media usage and make sure you’re not disclosing private information about the company, she says.
That’s one reason Kim sticks to posting lifestyle content and tutorials, she says. It helps her avoid conflicts of interest.
“It doesn’t even have to be tutorial of like, how to build this thing, but maybe what you wish you knew before going into finance or a day in your life as an intern,” she says.
If you decide to pursue content creation while working a corporate job, surround yourself with people who have the same goals and can encourage you, Kim says.
“I was able to meet so many other friends just because of putting myself out there,” she says. “Try to meet as many people as you can because it can get super stressful if you’re doing it alone.”
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