Food Influencer
Startup Costs: Under $2,000
Part Time: Can be operated part-time.
Franchises Available? No
Online Operation? No
THE BRIEF:
Love food, but don't want to run a business preparing and serving it to customers? Share your experiences instead. It takes a lot of time and dedication to turn blogging, vlogging on YouTube and/or posting on Instagram into a paying career, but in what other job can you travel the world to eat food and get paid for it?
ASK THE PROS:
How much money can you make?
"Sometimes, in one day on Instagram, I earn the same amount as I make as a university professor in two months. But Instagram is not stable. In general, it’s very variable. You could make a lot of money in one Instagram campaign, but you don’t know -- one day, you could wake up and Instagram isn’t here anymore. I get loads of campaign requests, and I turn down so many -- either because I don’t like them or they don’t align with what I do. Two weeks ago, I got a request for something I would never do: 25,000 pounds for two posts to advertise for electronic cigarettes. And I don’t even drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t support smoking and that’s not something I agree with."—Samira Kazan
What kind of experience do you need to have?
"I had always been weirdly the person of my friends who took pictures of their food and was obsessed with where they were going [to eat] next, and no one really related to me. So when I saw that there was this whole world who did the same thing, I was like, wow, I need to be a part of this. I remember the first year was pretty slow, and then once I hit 10,000 followers, it shot up to 100,000 within a few months. I was just showcasing who I was, and I found that people really related to it."—Jessica Hirsch
What’s the most important thing to know about this business?
"People think I don't have a real job or that I just have fun and eat all day long. I'm fully grateful for what I'm able to do, and I am having fun for sure. I post two videos per week, so that means two days of filming per week, but then the other four days of the week I'm probably sitting at my computer for 14 hours either editing or marketing or researching. That's the part that is not publicized. You're always thinking about it. It takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of effort, but it is possible [to make it on YouTube]. Every person has a unique personality and unique ideas, so if you are someone with an idea and you want to make videos, the number-one thing to do is to just do it. A lot of people might make excuses about making videos, or publish one video and see that it doesn't do anything and then give up on it. But I'd encourage you to, if you believe in it, just go for it and keep doing it."—Mark Wiens
Related
This Instagrammer With More Than 2 Million Followers Literally Cooks Her Content
This Former Math Teacher Now Gets Paid to Travel the World and Take Pictures of Her Meals
This Man Makes Money Off YouTube Traveling the World and Eating Street Food and Other Local Delights
Food Influencer Ideas
Book publishing
The book publishing industry has more competition and more readers than ever.
Self-Publisher
Don't want to deal with agents? Become a self-publisher.
Niche Greeting Cards
Let others use your unique perspective to express themselves--with a niche greeting card biz.
More from Business Ideas
New Research Reveals the Most Profitable Side Hustle — and You Could Make an Extra $15,000 a Year From Home
If you're ready to start a side hustle, it pays to consider which one will give you the greatest return.
How to Start a Lucrative Side Hustle on Taskrabbit, From 3 People Who Did It — One of Them Earns Over $70,000 a Month
Why not get paid for skills you already have?
Subway's CEO Steps Down Amid a Major Transition for the Sandwich Giant
John Chidsey will step down at the end of 2024, marking the close of a transformative five-year tenure.