Gen Z content creators are bringing in millions from their side hustles—and questioning the need for a college degree

In fact, the best professional ambitions between General Alpha across the United States are YouTube and Tiktok Creator, according to the 2024 WHOP survey. Many young people already turn their dreams into reality, including 19 -year -old Katie Fang.

The last high school graduate is 6.4 million followers on Tiktok and is known for the famous videos that display how it starts morning, in addition to displaying trade trips to the brand and her last move to New York City from Vancouver, Canada.

Although it seems that she has already obtained a leap in her career, Fang is scheduled to attend New York University in the fall, where she will focus on upgrading her skills in digital marketing. Fang said luck Following university education will help her think more severe and creative, especially when formulating content and understanding how platforms such as TIKTOK algorithm.

Fang told luck. “I wanted to go to New York University for the longest time. Just because I started social media, and I became my full -time profession, it doesn’t mean that the dream has faded.”

Fang’s long -term goal is to start a business after college and continue to build a personal brand.

“I think the most important thing is not to rush to discover everything, because in particular when you are young, you will not know everything,” Fang said.

Since she started her Tiktok account in Canada, Fang has not received direct revenues from her videos. Instead, the majority of its income comes from the brand’s partnerships with companies such as Glow Necipe, The Ordinary and Kosas.

“What I enjoy most is the extent of creativity of everything,” said Fang. “It is crazy how you can make the video the most meaningful meaningless, and this ends up until millions of views are.”

Fang is just one example of how young people can convert emotion into a fugitive for a high -wage profession, as they are their president.

This comes as an increasing number of Gen ZS, questioning the value of the starting degree. Modern data shows that the unemployment rate for men between the ages of 22 to 27 years is almost the same regardless of whether they have a university degree.

Gen Alpha and Gen Z want to follow the footsteps of Mrbeast

If you have passed through YouTube, it is likely that you have encountered viral sensations such as “I have survived the most bloody places on the face of the earth” or the challenges of Beast’s high-risk-risk games that got more than 100 million views.

The mastermind of these social phenomena is Jimmy Donaldson, 27, known as Mrbeast, which also carries the crown as the most classified creator on the platform.

On YouTube, its self -wealth is now exceeding one billion dollars. Donaldson has started creating and sharing content at only 13 years. Later, Ist Carolina University later graduated after a few weeks of training courses to follow up full -time content. Since its launch in 2012, the Mrbeast channel has risen in its popularity thanks to the songs of hacking such as “Squid in Real Life”, which increased more than 845 million views.

In a recent episode of Diary of the CEO Podcastand Donaldson told host Stephen Bartlett that he had discovered his motives to follow the creation of content on YouTube when he discovered that creators were achieving high income per year. He grew up without a lot of financial stability, was driven by the desire to support his mother and family.

Donaldson said: “This is what I like to do, I had no joy to do anything as I do this,” Donaldson said. “I just never give up. There is no world I have never left. When I was 11 years old, I only said that I will be on Youtube, and I will die in the attempt, and I mean that. Even if no one still watching my videos to this day, I will remain going. I am only the most competitive person and stubborn you will meet at all.”

Initially, Donaldson’s mother did not want her son to follow a profession on social media because she wanted to be successful and encouraged him to obtain a university degree instead.

“When people tell me that I cannot do something, that makes me want to do more,” Donaldson said. “If you tell me that I shouldn’t do anything, then there is nothing wrong, but if you tell me that I cannot, everything in my body just wants to go.”

Donaldson is not alone in the use of social media as an income source and as an exhaustion. According to the social trade platform, 42 % of adolescents of us earn money online through their digital channels.

Another content creator has not passed through the traditional college path is Olajide Olayinka Williams, known as KSI. He is a 32 -year -old British influencer, professional boxer, music, and businessman. He also established works like Prime Hydration, Lunchly and Misfits Boxing, and has $ 100 million.

After joining YouTube in 2009 and initially published videos about playing games, Williams built more than 50 million across all his platforms. Unlike his peers, Williams decided not to follow up the college at all in favor of the profession of creating a booming content – partly after realizing the amount of his earning before joining the university.

“I remember I asked a teacher, this is how I made this month, it was about 1500 pounds, and I remember him telling me,” This is more than I do, “Williams told the BBC in 2020.

How to be a successful content creator without a university degree

It has become easier than ever starting as a profession as a creator of content and gaining living without a university degree. After all, all you need is a phone to start.

Freddy Nagar at the University of Southern California said that successful creators who have not wandered on a traditional educational path share a common feature: building a society that is very involved so that they can rely on their continuous support for exposure.

Nagar told luck. “Many people have not become innovated to spend money. They wanted to make money, but the platforms want to make money.”

Many creators build their email lists so that they can notify the followers directly when issuing a new video clip, and often encourages them to watch and leave a comment. He also suggested that creators interact with followers in the comments section, which is suitable for algorithms.

“You want to comment on your posts, because if they do so, this means that they really care,” Nagar said. “Now, the suspension may be negative. They can hate your video. However, the algorithm reads that if you are ready to take enough time to comment on the video, not just like it. This means that your content must raise comments. This means that many influencers become controversial intentionally.”

This type of cooperation is a major strategy for building influence and confidence without the requirements of the certificate. The Najjir also advised the new creators in partnership with others, regardless of their fame, while emphasizing that exposure to each other’s audience helps to grow.

In addition, he said it is to stand out, creators need two main features: personality and perspective. It should be reliable but ambitious, as it provides a unique voice and sharing their human side to form real contacts. Otherwise, they risk replacing it with general content.

Although official education is not required to storm the industry, it provides major advantages.

“I think you need to teach to learn from your mistakes, without suffering. We can all learn from suffering, but let’s avoid it. Let’s learn how to analyze the data,” explained.

Although creators in the content in the end, they have succeeded without degrees, Nagar said that more education can expand the view of the world and creativity outside your way.

He said: “Can you learn without a college? Maybe, if you like to read.” “But the college allows you to explore the courses outside your field – you make astronomy if you are a writer or music if you are a scientist. This does not mean that you will become a musician, but there is something about music that may change the way you think about chemistry and performance.”