If you got an choice to decide on between working a 9-5 desk job or inheriting 13 million followers on TikTok and changing into an influencer, which might you select? Chances are high, you’d select the influencer job — at the least I might.
Mikayla Nogueira (@mikaylanogueira) is likely one of the largest TikTok magnificence influencers, amassing over 13.6 million followers on TikTok and a couple of.4 million followers on Instagram. Not too long ago, she obtained backlash after a now-deleted video she posted a year and a half ago resurfaced, through which she states, “I actually simply completed work and it’s 5:19. Strive being an influencer for a day.” Upon first seeing this clip, I used to be instantly bowled over by listening to such a privileged remark. Ending work at 5:19 p.m. will not be one thing utterly outrageous, particularly contemplating the job. Persons are clearly allowed to complain about their jobs and be drained. Nevertheless, within the context of the work of an influencer compared to a extra “frequent” job, Mikayla’s remark appeared very out of contact.
After delving deeper into the video, I realized that there’s greater than the 20-second clip that was going viral. Within the full video, she begins, “Each single day, I rise up at 6 A.M. I spend about 5-6 hours filming video content material that ranges from 3-4 movies, and I spend a couple of hours enhancing that video content material.” She then continues by saying she is in conferences from 12-5 and states that individuals who declare influencing is simple are out of their minds: “It isn’t for everyone, in reality, it’s for a really small handful of people that can truly do that job… You don’t want to have this job, I’m simply saying.”
Now, I’m not at all an influencer professional, however I can assume of some (lots) of jobs which can be extra strenuous than being an influencer. Regardless of Mikayla’s tedious define of her day, the place of an influencer will not be as structured or bodily exhausting because the job of a health care provider, instructor, building employee or Starbucks barista, who usually may work greater than 8 hours a day. Typically, these further hours may additionally be unpaid. Positive, a day could also be filled with content material creation and enhancing, however you possibly can take a break everytime you need for nevertheless lengthy you need, and the following day may very well be spent attending an organization celebration or flying for an all-expenses trip paid for by a model the influencer is working with. The non-influencer professions usually don’t have the freedom of controlling their schedules, don’t expertise the identical luxuries and don’t obtain the identical quantity of revenue as these mega-influencers.
As a college scholar, the influencer attraction may be very intriguing. The influencer job is glamorous, and though one could not really perceive the struggles it comes with, it appears to be a dream job. The concept of posting 60-second clips a few ardour of yours, getting model offers, having fun with general freedom and getting paid hundreds of {dollars} would intrigue anybody that’s on their seventh studying and fifth p-set project of the week. That is probably even interesting to the 34-year-old sitting at their 9-5 desk job. It’s the concept that one can submit enjoyable, quick movies about something they need and get rewarded with extra money for that one video than a mean particular person makes in a month.
Mikayla then responded to the backlash and acknowledged her flawed alternative in a video posted to her TikTok account, which at the moment has over 1.7 million likes. She began the video by asking somebody off-camera, “Is it 5:19 but? Effectively, that’s my cut-off time. I can’t be making this video if it’s 5:19.” Maybe a distasteful begin, Mikayla’s opening rephrases the identical infamous remark that went viral. I perceive making an attempt to make mild of an unlucky state of affairs, however making a repeated joke about one thing that individuals already discovered disagreeable won’t have been applicable. On this prolonged TikTok video, Mikayla admits she regrets making the video and claims she has grown since then. She explains it was filmed on a nasty day when she was new to influencing and had simply stop her retail job at Ulta Magnificence. Mikayla says the job is taxing on her, however she loves it and it comes with many blessings.
This case highlighted the dramatic disparities between an influencer job and a 9-5 job. Whether or not it’s a distinction in revenue or flexibility, the work of an influencer is usually much less strenuous and normally extra fulfilling. Influencing can positively take a toll on individuals’s psychological well being, and we shouldn’t invalidate these experiences. Nevertheless, it is usually crucial to not flip a blind eye to the liberty and privilege the influencer job possesses.
