My younger sister asked me this question when she was twenty-two, and I gave her the worst possible advice: I told her to go for the 9-5 because “influencing isn’t a real career.” Two years later she had a genuinely impressive following in a niche she cared about, a small but growing income from it, and the ability to set her own hours. I had a pension contribution and a commute. Neither of us was wrong, exactly. But I had been too quick with the conventional wisdom, and too slow with the honest question: what do you actually want, and what would it actually take?
This piece is an attempt to give younger women — and the people who love them — a more honest framework for thinking about this decision than the reflexive “get a proper job” or the equally reflexive “follow your passion” that dominate the conversation.
First: What “Becoming an Influencer” Actually Involves
The fantasy version of influencing involves beautiful photos, free products, brand trips, and money for doing what you already love. The reality is considerably more complex. Successful content creators are running small businesses: they’re managing content production, editing, scheduling, analytics, brand negotiations, taxes, legal questions about contracts, and the relentless pressure of the algorithm. They’re also managing the psychological weight of building a public persona — the comparison, the criticism, the parasocial relationships, and the particular anxiety of having your income tied to engagement metrics that can shift overnight.
Research on content creator burnout is growing as the field matures. A 2023 survey by the Influencer Marketing Hub found that over 70% of content creators reported experiencing burnout, with income instability cited as a primary driver. The majority of those who attempt a content creation career do not achieve the income that makes it a sustainable primary profession — though the minority who do can achieve significant financial success and professional freedom.
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What the 9-5 Actually Offers
The 9-5 has become something of a cultural villain in the era of entrepreneurship and social media aspiration — the symbol of selling out your dreams for a steady wage. This is, to put it gently, unfair and inaccurate. A stable employed income provides something that is genuinely underrated when you’re twenty-two: financial resilience. The ability to budget, to save, to build a credit history, to access employer pension contributions, to qualify for mortgages and loans — these are not trivial advantages. They compound over time.
A good 9-5 also provides skills development, professional networks, mentorship, and the kind of domain expertise that has long-term career value regardless of what you do with it next. Many of the most successful content creators have backgrounds in marketing, communications, fashion, food, fitness, or other industries that gave them both credibility and capability before they went independent. The 9-5 is not necessarily the end of the dream — it’s sometimes the foundation that makes the dream possible.
The Questions That Actually Matter
Rather than “influencer or 9-5?”, the more useful questions are: What do you genuinely want your daily life to look like in five years? How much income uncertainty can you sustainably handle, and for how long? Do you have a genuine niche, point of view, or skill that you’re passionate about enough to create content about consistently for years — not just months? Are you building an audience already, or is this still entirely theoretical? And critically: what is your financial floor? Do you have savings, family support, or a partner’s income that makes risk-taking financially survivable while you build?
These questions don’t produce a single right answer — they produce an honest picture of what the person asking is actually working with, which is the beginning of a real decision rather than an aspiration or a fear.
The Case for Doing Both, Initially
Many successful content creators started building their audience and income while employed. The 9-5 provided financial stability while the content career developed on evenings and weekends. This approach reduces risk enormously — you’re not betting everything on an uncertain income before you know whether the audience is there — and it provides useful information about whether this is something you’re willing to sustain under real constraints, rather than just in theory. If you’re still creating passionately after twelve months of late evenings and weekend work, you have much better evidence that this is genuinely for you than you would from just deciding and hoping.
The parallel path also means that if the content career doesn’t take off as hoped, you haven’t lost ground professionally or financially — you have both the experience of having tried and the continued foundation of employed income. Building genuine financial confidence throughout this period is crucial — this piece on financial independence is worth reading before any big career leap. And understanding how to build a career that truly loves you back — not just one that pays — is explored honestly in this personal account.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can you realistically earn as an influencer?
This varies enormously by niche, platform, follower count, engagement rate, and monetisation strategy. Micro-influencers (10,000-100,000 followers) typically earn through a combination of brand partnerships, affiliate marketing, and digital products, and income at this level can range from a few hundred to several thousand pounds per month. Full-time content creator income that replaces a professional salary typically requires either a large following (hundreds of thousands plus), a highly engaged niche audience, or diversified revenue streams. Many creators who appear successful are not yet earning what a comparable professional career would pay — it takes time, and the income is rarely linear.
What makes someone well-suited to a content creator career?
Genuine consistency and resilience are more predictive of success than raw talent or initial audience size. The creators who succeed long-term are typically ones who can produce content consistently under pressure, handle criticism and fluctuating engagement without significant psychological distress, have a genuine point of view or area of expertise that differentiates them, and treat the business side — contracts, analytics, income diversification — as seriously as the content side. Comfort with self-promotion and public exposure is also important; for some people this comes naturally, for others it’s a significant and ongoing cost.
How do I support a younger person who wants to become an influencer without dismissing their dream or setting them up for failure?
Ask honest questions rather than offering a verdict. What do you want to create content about, and why? Do you have an audience already? What does your financial situation allow you to risk? What’s your plan if the income takes two to three years to develop? Questions like these don’t dismiss the dream — they help the person think through whether they’re prepared for the reality, and if not, what preparation might look like. Supporting someone to do this thoughtfully is much more useful than either cheerleading uncritically or reflexively discouraging them.
Further Reading & Sources
Rubie Le’Faine is the founder of Rubie Rubie and a writer specialising in emotional well-being, self-identity, and the psychology of modern relationships. She holds a Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Skills and has spent over eight years studying attachment theory, cognitive behavioural principles, and human development — first through formal study, then through lived experience that no course can replicate. After navigating a significant relationship breakdown, an identity rebuild, and the complex terrain of rediscovering herself in her 30s, Rubie began writing to make sense of what she had learned and to offer honest, human guidance to others going through the same. She founded Rubie Rubie in 2022 as a space for women seeking real answers, not platitudes. Based in Surrey, UK, her writing is grounded in research, shaped by experience, and centred entirely on the reader’s genuine wellbeing.
