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Let me take you back to the start of the COVID situation, it's December 2019, the world is just starting to panic. But, in a student house share somewhere in Northern England, is a just turned 20 year old panicking for a whole other reason.
Why? He's getting old.
Okay, okay, don't laugh too much (or cry if that made you feel extra old), I know 20 isn't old - but it is an age where it's no longer cute to have big dreams, to say you're going to make something of your life but to do nothing. There's only so many relationships you can bounce between, nights spent getting sickeningly drunk and days spent doing anything but work before you to start to feel like a bit of failure.
So I decided to do something.
That something started with me making an Instagram page to track my journey to financial freedom. I thought it would be fun because I've been interested in community building since I was 9 years old making Club Penguin fan forums on Forumotion. I'd tell people about my investments, what I was learning, the side hustles and how they were going. The page I created was @investearnsave. I started doing small side hustles to raise some initial funds: matched betting, survey and task sites like 20Cogs, slowly building up a few thousand in savings.
Because I was enjoying the page so much, I decided to invest into some shoutouts. Long story short, this page is fast becoming my ticket to financial freedom. It is now a year and almost a half later, and it currently sits at 440,000 followers and generates me over $6k month, with a strong chance of breaking $7k or even $8k this month. However, when we convert this into my home currency, GBP, and remove $2k a month for business expenses, it's definitely getting by and not the kind of money that's leaving people saying "Oh my!".
Let this thread explore Chapter 2 of my business journey (I know some will scoff at me daring to suggest an Instagram page could be a business) as I try to scale to $15k a month and reach a 6 figure net worth.
One of the big changes I've started making recently is relying less heavily on shoutouts and more on my own products and my services to businesses looking to improve their SMM game. I was part of a podcast with two YouTubers called Coffezilla and Amish and to be honest, I got absolutely torn apart. I went on to explain some of the scammy things I'd seen going on and the general issues with the entrepreneur niche on Instagram but they ended up pointing out some issues with how I was running my page. Whilst, I think some of it was incorrect and came from a lack of knowledge of Instagram (and the fact it was my first ever podcast so I was terrified the whole time and couldn't articulate myself and had a psychopathic smile the whole time because I didn't know how to act on a livestream), there were some good points.
Namely, I was accepting dubious shoutouts onto my page and I was posting video content to IG Reels that was just clips from celebrities. So I've been tackling both, and making more money in the process! Who knew doing the right thing was so profitable?
I've done this by only accepting shoutouts that I feel completely comfortable with (usually just Follow this page to learn about this thing), no longer do I ignore the anxious feeling in my chest I had when taking payment for some ads, I just say no (and often get very angry voice notes which gives me all the evidence I need that I made the right decision) and I use these spare ad slots that I end up not selling to promote my own stuff! And I do genuinely believe in my own products - I put a lot of time into them and genuine knowledge, make them inexpensive and do not market them deceptively. As a result, my followers trust me more and I make way more money from my own products than if I had taken money for the shoutouts.
As to the video content, I've started making little videos for reels and they do pretty much just as well in terms of views as the celebrity clips. And it also helps me with my confidence, which will feed into my YouTube project.
If you want to witness the trainwreck that is my first podcast experience I'll embed it below.
And if you want to watch my second podcast experience where I gave a lot of valuable information and was way more relaxed and less psycho-looking, here it is.
The next stage of the process is to build up my SMM agency side of things, which I'm slowly building into a standalone business and to write my second ebook, which will be a beginner's guide to building wealth in your 20s, with a heavy focus on social media businesses as a side venture.
On top of that, I'm taking YouTube seriously again: currently sitting at 900 subscribers. If you could get me to 1000 that would make my day/week/month! Subscribe here.
I currently have 3 videos filmed that are awaiting editing.
The best strategy, I believe, is to focus on my Instagram page as my income source and just have fun with the YouTube so I stay motivated to keep making videos.
That's enough about process I think, let's move onto my goals.
Instagram Followers: 500,000 by July / 1,000,000 by May 2021.
YouTube: 1,000 by July / 10,000 by July 2021.
Income: $10k a month by December / $20k month by July 2021.
Net Worth: £50k by December (although if I include the value of my IG page, I've exceeded that, should I include this in my net worth??)
Next Book Complete By: August 1st 2021
Besides the goals that feed directly into my ability to make money, I have some goals that are just generally improving me. My understanding of some of the great entrepreneurs of our time: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson is they didn't care too much for bettering themselves all-round. They had a single-mindedness and had deep flaws that they carried into their business, yet succeeded despite of it. So maybe I'm foolish to focus on improving myself and take energy away from my business, but I'd rather be a happy multi-millionaire than a troubled billionaire (although I think Branson is pretty happy these days).
Books Read 2021: 23/50
Consecutive Weeks Working Out: 18/44 (I have 8 planned weeks off, of which I've used one)
Consecutive Weeks Going to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: 5
Thank you all for reading so far, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read this thread! I have just a few more things to say.
I'm going to use this thread to track my journey, which will hopefully serve to inspire you and to hold me accountable. I'm also open to hear suggestions from you about how I could improve any area of my projects or this journey as a whole. Listening to feedback and observing what others are doing has allowed me to make me massive progress over the last year and a half - and I don't intend to stop listening now.
Let's get to work!
Why? He's getting old.
Okay, okay, don't laugh too much (or cry if that made you feel extra old), I know 20 isn't old - but it is an age where it's no longer cute to have big dreams, to say you're going to make something of your life but to do nothing. There's only so many relationships you can bounce between, nights spent getting sickeningly drunk and days spent doing anything but work before you to start to feel like a bit of failure.
So I decided to do something.
That something started with me making an Instagram page to track my journey to financial freedom. I thought it would be fun because I've been interested in community building since I was 9 years old making Club Penguin fan forums on Forumotion. I'd tell people about my investments, what I was learning, the side hustles and how they were going. The page I created was @investearnsave. I started doing small side hustles to raise some initial funds: matched betting, survey and task sites like 20Cogs, slowly building up a few thousand in savings.
Because I was enjoying the page so much, I decided to invest into some shoutouts. Long story short, this page is fast becoming my ticket to financial freedom. It is now a year and almost a half later, and it currently sits at 440,000 followers and generates me over $6k month, with a strong chance of breaking $7k or even $8k this month. However, when we convert this into my home currency, GBP, and remove $2k a month for business expenses, it's definitely getting by and not the kind of money that's leaving people saying "Oh my!".
Let this thread explore Chapter 2 of my business journey (I know some will scoff at me daring to suggest an Instagram page could be a business) as I try to scale to $15k a month and reach a 6 figure net worth.
The Process
One of the big changes I've started making recently is relying less heavily on shoutouts and more on my own products and my services to businesses looking to improve their SMM game. I was part of a podcast with two YouTubers called Coffezilla and Amish and to be honest, I got absolutely torn apart. I went on to explain some of the scammy things I'd seen going on and the general issues with the entrepreneur niche on Instagram but they ended up pointing out some issues with how I was running my page. Whilst, I think some of it was incorrect and came from a lack of knowledge of Instagram (and the fact it was my first ever podcast so I was terrified the whole time and couldn't articulate myself and had a psychopathic smile the whole time because I didn't know how to act on a livestream), there were some good points.
Namely, I was accepting dubious shoutouts onto my page and I was posting video content to IG Reels that was just clips from celebrities. So I've been tackling both, and making more money in the process! Who knew doing the right thing was so profitable?
I've done this by only accepting shoutouts that I feel completely comfortable with (usually just Follow this page to learn about this thing), no longer do I ignore the anxious feeling in my chest I had when taking payment for some ads, I just say no (and often get very angry voice notes which gives me all the evidence I need that I made the right decision) and I use these spare ad slots that I end up not selling to promote my own stuff! And I do genuinely believe in my own products - I put a lot of time into them and genuine knowledge, make them inexpensive and do not market them deceptively. As a result, my followers trust me more and I make way more money from my own products than if I had taken money for the shoutouts.
As to the video content, I've started making little videos for reels and they do pretty much just as well in terms of views as the celebrity clips. And it also helps me with my confidence, which will feed into my YouTube project.
If you want to witness the trainwreck that is my first podcast experience I'll embed it below.
And if you want to watch my second podcast experience where I gave a lot of valuable information and was way more relaxed and less psycho-looking, here it is.
The next stage of the process is to build up my SMM agency side of things, which I'm slowly building into a standalone business and to write my second ebook, which will be a beginner's guide to building wealth in your 20s, with a heavy focus on social media businesses as a side venture.
On top of that, I'm taking YouTube seriously again: currently sitting at 900 subscribers. If you could get me to 1000 that would make my day/week/month! Subscribe here.
I currently have 3 videos filmed that are awaiting editing.
The best strategy, I believe, is to focus on my Instagram page as my income source and just have fun with the YouTube so I stay motivated to keep making videos.
That's enough about process I think, let's move onto my goals.
The Goals
Instagram Followers: 500,000 by July / 1,000,000 by May 2021.
YouTube: 1,000 by July / 10,000 by July 2021.
Income: $10k a month by December / $20k month by July 2021.
Net Worth: £50k by December (although if I include the value of my IG page, I've exceeded that, should I include this in my net worth??)
Next Book Complete By: August 1st 2021
Besides the goals that feed directly into my ability to make money, I have some goals that are just generally improving me. My understanding of some of the great entrepreneurs of our time: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson is they didn't care too much for bettering themselves all-round. They had a single-mindedness and had deep flaws that they carried into their business, yet succeeded despite of it. So maybe I'm foolish to focus on improving myself and take energy away from my business, but I'd rather be a happy multi-millionaire than a troubled billionaire (although I think Branson is pretty happy these days).
Books Read 2021: 23/50
Consecutive Weeks Working Out: 18/44 (I have 8 planned weeks off, of which I've used one)
Consecutive Weeks Going to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: 5
The Journey
Thank you all for reading so far, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read this thread! I have just a few more things to say.
I'm going to use this thread to track my journey, which will hopefully serve to inspire you and to hold me accountable. I'm also open to hear suggestions from you about how I could improve any area of my projects or this journey as a whole. Listening to feedback and observing what others are doing has allowed me to make me massive progress over the last year and a half - and I don't intend to stop listening now.
Let's get to work!
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