Coolest online influencers share their secrets to six-figure success
THEIR audiences rival those of world leaders. They’re ordinary people connecting with millions one post at a time. Here are their tips to success.
THEIR audiences rival those of real-world leaders and they’re influencing the masses, one post at a time.
They’re not celebrities, sportstars or royalty — and most aren’t household names — but with millions of social media followers, they are making a living and a name by simply pursuing their passions.
Promoting everything from healthy eating and computer games to photography and a more loving world, these relative unknowns are building business empires, attracting big brands, and — in most cases — banking big bucks.
For Kiwi Gala Darling, what started as a hobby has turned into a wildly successful blog from which she’s launched multiple profitable projects.
“I didn’t have a strategy, because back when I started my blog in 2006, there was no road map to online success. It was the wild west,” she told News Corp.
“The reason my business flourished was because I continued to take action, even when I was afraid or not sure what the next step should be, and I poured massive amounts of energy into what I was doing.”
The “spiritual revolutionary” now based in New York says she’s dabbled in different income streams from website advertising to sponsorships, and now earns “a very comfortable six figures.”
“The majority of my income comes through the online courses I teach,” she said.
The 31-year-old, with her tens of thousands of followers, is among a new generation of ordinary people such as YouTube guy Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, who has had the most subscribed channel since 2013.
Almost 36 million have signed up for his narrated YouTube clips of himself playing video games.
Likewise, Vine star Brittany Furlan has almost 9 million followers on the six-second-video sharing platform.
Furlan, Vine’s biggest female celebrity, also has millions of followers across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
While Aussies lag behind in audience numbers, bikini model Natasha Oakley is possibly Australia’s hottest blogger.
With almost a million Instagram followers, the 23-year-old from Sydney is building an enviable business empire after co-founding A Bikini A Day, designing Monday Swimwear and launching a successful blog.
Another internet savvy entrepreneur — who has pinpointed where his passion meets the marketplace — is former lawyer Rich Roll.
Roll was your typical couch potato — 23kg overweight, overworked, stressed and struggling with alcoholism — when he had a health scare on the eve of his 40th birthday.
It forced the father of four to make some major diet and lifestyle changes, including adopting a plant-based diet.
He shed the weight and launched a middle-aged assault on the Ultraman World Championships — one of the most daunting endurance races in the world.
Less than a decade later, the 48-year-old is one of world’s fittest men.
The Malibu man is now a champion athlete, author, public speaker, podcast host and expert in plant-based nutrition.
Experts say trailblazing social media users are more likely to succeed than those late to the online game.
“Those who have got to the top have probably been doing it since very early on,” said University of Queensland Professor Axel Bruns.
“For an ordinary person it would take a lot of effort to actually get to that point.
“It’s not as easy as it seems.”
And for the relative few who achieve online stardom, countless others fail, said Dr Bruns.
“When you look at those who have been successful, there are the hundreds and thousands who have tried much the same thing, possibly with similar content, who weren’t successful,” he said.
“They might not have been at the right place at the right time or they may not have been endorsed or promoted by the right people.
“It’s like any creative industry. Not all of it is to do with sheer talent or the quality of the music. Some of it’s to do with luck.”
Closer to home, New Zealand-based Trey Ratcliff is one of the most popular photographers on social media for his HDR and travel photography on his blog Stuck in Customs.
“It wasn’t totally accidental, I guess,” he told News Corp. “But I think a lot of it started because of two things I did different than the status quo.
“For one, I took photos in a very unique way and used some innovative processes to create them, so they looked much different than most photos.
“Second, I did all Creative Commons Noncommercial, which meant people could use my photos as they wished as long as they gave credit and linked back ... which got things moving early on and then it was word-of-mouth from there.”
While the 43-year-old’s blog has become the top travel photography site, Ratcliff also posts popular tutorials and videos using his photography on YouTube. All up, he has about 14 million followers.
About five years ago his blog started making enough money for his family to move from Austin, Texas to Queenstown.
The father-of-three’s business now has many income streams including selling large format photographs, digital licensing and through tutorial videos.
“No specifics, but all in all, we have about 10 people that work for the company and help keep things running. It’s a seven-figure business.”
Meanwhile Roll, with his everyman appeal, says being “authentic and real” is essential to building a strong following.
“Being open, honest, vulnerable, transparent and ultimately human about not just my successes but also my failures and shortcomings,” he said.
“In the age of the internet, I think people have very highly-attuned radar when it comes to being sold a sack of nonsense.”
Roll says he’s diversified his income streams to achieve financial security for his family of six.
He generates ad revenue from his podcast and makes money by selling nutritional products and clothes on his website, speaking engagements, his online courses and books.
He also has long-term investments in a plant-based restaurant and a vegan gluten baker.
“We are hardly rich, although quite rich in experience,” he said.
“Right now we can pay our bills and from where we were a few years ago, that’s a tremendous blessing.”
Roll admits that entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint hearted.
“I can’t tell you how many times my bank account has been overdrawn or how many times I didn’t think we were going to make it,” he said.
“It’s required immense faith ... to bridge the gap and turn my message into something that could sustainably support my family.
“Today there’s little distinction between work and play for me, and that is a gift I would like everyone to experience.”
She’s fooled thousands, and isn’t even real
A sunkissed frame, a twirl of the hair and a major sporting event, but there’s one sinister thing very off about this online sensation.
Aussie YouTuber ‘sent to prison’ for video
A popular Aussie YouTuber has revealed how his home was raided by police over videos exposing alleged “scammers”.
‘Australia’s nicest bloke’ dies suddenly
A young man whose kindness captured the hearts of the nation has died – a “complete shock” that has devastated his family.