Sydney TikTok star making six figures a year from working 14 hours a week

The 20-year-old Sydneysider has earned more than $100,000 so far this year despite only working two hours each day and going to bed at 4am.

A 20-year-old Sydneysider is living the high life after earning more than $100,000 so far this year despite only working two hours each day.

Andy Peng, better known by his social media handle ‘Andy the Sk’, has amassed 4.2 million followers on TikTok since his debut at the beginning of last year.

He told news.com.au his income has “definitely reached six figures” over the last 10 months thanks to more than 70 companies approaching him to promote their products on his social media channels.

Peng, originally from Hurstville in Sydney’s south, set up a TikTok account in January last year and it blew up in lockdown with “more people being at home staying on the phone”.

The then-19-year-old quit his job in real estate and dropped out of a business degree to pursue the unusual career.

“When I first told my parents, ‘I’m going to quit uni and quit my job’ they were very angry, [I] had a big argument with them,” he said.

“I went with my gut feeling, I knew I was creative, knew I had that work ethic and drive, knew I had to ignore them and do it solo. Now they sort of understand.”

For many, he is living the dream.

Andy Peng has made more than $100,000 so far this year.

Peng moved out of home with some of his influencer friends two months after starting his TikTok account and earns enough cash to move between different holiday homes across the country.

“We were moving around in Airbnbs [and] got bored of the area every three weeks so kept moving around,” he explained.

“We were in Melbourne for a couple of months, then the Gold Coast. We move early when we felt like a lockdown was going to happen.

“I dodged every lockdown except for this one [the 106-day Sydney lockdown].”

Currently, he is living in Zetland in Sydney’s inner city.

The former business student spoke to news.com.au at 9am and had to set three alarms because he normally wakes up at 11am everyday, with 4am his normal bedtime.

And the best part? Peng reckons he only works around two hours every day on average, or 14 hours every week, to rake in profits.

At the beginning he used to post three videos a day but now that number is closer to a new post every second day.

His videos have gone viral, with more than 85 million likes to date, because of his larrikin sense of humour where he pranks apparent strangers.

Some of his most successful clips centre around the reactions of strangers after he does something outrageous such as accusing them of being small, throwing rice on them in a supermarket or pretending they broke his phone.

Andy editing his first ever video.

“I don’t film everyday, maybe more like every two days,” Peng said.

“On the off days I work on my music and reply to my emails.”

All up, that’s about 14 hours of work a week.

The weekends are big for getting content, with him filming on both Saturday and Sunday, as more people are out and about to prank.

“I definitely don’t run on schedules, I don’t like schedules,” he said.

“I wake up, normally I film during the day, film till 4pm, 5pm, then go home, edit.”

He posts around midnight as that is prime time for US residents, who make up most of his audience.

Peng often stays up late on Zoom meetings for new partnership deals because of the time difference between Australia and the US.

Andy in high school three years ago.

He credits much of his success to another social media influencer, Jefo, who has 1.7 million Instagram followers.

One of Peng’s high school friends worked for Jefo in a dance video and he asked if she could get him in touch.

He knew Jefo was also a Sydney-based creator and the two became fast friends.

“Very grateful I met that friend [because] that really pushed me,” he said.

The two moved in together, along with two other influencers.

Andy Peng hit a million followers late last year.

Most of Peng’s earnings last year came from working for Jefo, helping him in film shoots.

“Last year I was still in the growing stage,” Peng explained. “It was really this year when I started pumping out content.”

He didn’t go viral overnight but instead said “consistency” was key.

“I was posting three times a day, it helps push your videos,” Peng said. “It definitely wasn’t a one video wonder type thing.”

This time last year, in early October, he hit one million followers.

That number has more than quadrupled since then.

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