Woman quits marketing job to be TikTok star and now she’s earning £100k a year

A woman has revealed she quit her job to be a TikTok star after earning big money on the social media site.

Vi Loung, 24, joined TikTok in 2019 and already has over one million followers, mainly thanks to the how-to-do videos she shares on the site.

She said that just after 10 months of being on the platform, she quit her job in social media marketing to become a full-time influencer.

Her top performing videos on the platform are on topics such as the top photo-editing apps (1.5 million views), how to take Instagram photos on an iPhone (2.9 million views), and do-it-yourself clothing hacks (11 million views).

For just one TikTok post, Vi, from California, charges between $8,000 (£5,850) and $10,000 (£7,310).

Meanwhile, when working with brands, she charges around $3,000 (£2,190) to $4,000 (£2,920).

She told Business Insider: “I created a series on TikTok around how to be photogenic, pose, and how to edit.

“That’s what really blew up my account over the course of 2020.”

Vi also has an Instagram account with 94,000 followers and a YouTube channel with 7,000 followers.

TikTok star Vi Loung poses for a selfie
Vi has more than one million TikTok followers, mainly thanks to the how-to-do videos
(Image: instagram.com/_viluong)

Her income comes from brand sponsorships and revenue from TikTok’s creator fund.

This year, she’s been working with three brands for annual sponsorships, as well as her one-off collaborations.

She also earns about $150 (£110) to $300 (£220) a month from the TikTok Creator Fund, which is the app’s built-in monetisation feature. The amount of money she makes from this varies from how much content she posts.

She said: “I started out by taking a handful of deals a month, but it can be a real time and energy suck.

“Instead, what I prioritise is high-paying, minimum five-figure deals for brands I genuinely love. I only do a couple of those a month.”

 

TikTok star Vi Loung poses for a selfie
Some of her videos have more than 1.5million views
(Image: instagram.com/_viluong)
TikTok star Vi Loung poses in a blue dress
For just one TikTok post, Vi charges between £5,000 and £7,000
(Image: instagram.com/_viluong)

 

Vi broke down her 2021 sponsorship earnings exactly, showing exactly what she earned so far this year. These were:

  • February: about $19,000 (£13,880)
  • March: about $30,000 (£21,920)
  • April: about $32,000 (£23,380)
  • May: about $1,000 (£730 – Luong said May was an anomaly because some of her payments were delayed)
  • June: about $32,000 (£23,380)
  • July: about $17,000 (£12,420)

This adds up to around £100,000 already before the year has even ended.

Those who want to earn money directly from TikTok have to be 18 years or older though, meet a baseline of 10,000 followers, and have accumulated a minimum of 100,000 video views in the past 30 days.

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