It’s normal for kids to look up to successful adults and dream about following in their footsteps when they grow up.

Usually, by the time that happens they’ve found a passion that’s theirs instead of someone else’s – but when it comes to working as a social media influencer, people think it’s an easy gig.

Philanthropically minded YouTuber Mr. Beast warns his followers who might be considering it that it’s not as easy as he makes it look, though.

“It’s painful to see people quit their job/drop out of school to make content full time before they’re ready. For every person like me that makes it, thousands don’t. Keep that in mind and be smart plz.”

It’s painful to see people quit their job/drop out of school to make content full time before they’re ready. For every person like me that makes it, thousands don’t. Keep that in mind and be smart plz

— MrBeast (@MrBeast) March 15, 2024

The internet is big, but it’s not big enough for everyone who wishes they could earn a living off it.

He said something similar (but less humble) back in 2023.

“No one’s ever gonna do what I do better than me. It’s not even humanly possible. I reinvest every penny I make, I work every hour I’m awake. No, the next me isn’t gonna be because no one’s gonna do what I do.”

All bragging aside, the man has a point about how hard a majority of content creators work to build their following and get noticed. People who do have to understand algorithms, marketing, video editing, trends, and acting (to name a few things), and even so, there’s enough luck involved that they still might not make it.

Thomas Walters, the Europe CEO and cofounder of the Billion Dollar Boys influencer agency, says even if they do gain traction, most supplement their income with side hustles.

“If you’ve put years of effort into one platform and revenue stream it can be quite a difficult career decision to be put in. In some cases, creators have their entire following on one platform, and those are the creators that we feel for in all of this, who need to think about diversifying away from areas where they might be potentially compromised in the future.”

Even Mr. Beast, it seems, has other revenue streams.

He owns a burger joint, a chocolate business, and is sponsored by some big businesses, like the Charlotte Hornets basketball team.

Even if Mr. Beast’s attitude puts you off, when it comes to this sentiment, he’s not wrong.

Before you quit a steady job with good benefits to chase your influencer dreams, you need to make sure you have the chops.

And the talent and the drive and the luck.

A bunch of money in your savings account might not be a bad idea either.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read a story that reveals Earth’s priciest precious metal isn’t gold or platinum and costs over $10,000 an ounce!