[Ivex]

Hey HF,

It's been 2 years, which is crazy because it feels like a lot, lot longer.

For the last four years, my life has been on a massive upward trajectory, and HF was an important part of starting that momentum off.

I've been messing around on forums and websites trying to make money since I was 10 years old, well over a decade ago. In the last few years, I finally made it.

I currently own a digital media business with 15 million followers across platforms and brands and a marketing agency attached to that business. Whilst not a millionaire, this has been my ticket to financial freedom (multi 6 figures a year is the only benchmark I'll confirm, company profit, not my take-home pay) and these days my team run most of the tasks for me. This has allowed me to pursue a master's degree in psychology and now neuroscience (with the aim to do a PhD researching dementia) so I have financial freedom and purpose in life.

When I first started this business, selling services and my guide on how I initially grew my social media pages on HF was an essential revenue source that helped me invest in advertisements which helped me get my first page to 1 million followers.

From there I could hire a team, expand by growing more pages, eventually buying up pages and improving them.

Without HF, I probably couldn't have broken through the barrier separating a side hustle and a viable full-time business. So, a big thank you to Omni and the team, the people who mentored me here, and the clients I worked with here.

Right now I'm in a small period of reflection, temporarily moved back to my hometown before I decide where to move to next.

And this brings me back to HF, nostalgia. I'd like to contribute here again, maybe teach a few things to the younger members who are on a similar journey to myself, just a few years behind.

If anyone does want to ask me anything, please do.

Beyond the digital media industry specifically, I can advise about starting a business from the working class with no financial support, balancing with studies (I can answer general questions on postgrad education too), and especially a good thing to quiz me on would be changing from a lazy person to a super motivated person.

[RangoWorld]

Hey HF,

It's been 2 years, which is crazy because it feels like a lot, lot longer.

For the last four years, my life has been on a massive upward trajectory, and HF was an important part of starting that momentum off.

I've been messing around on forums and websites trying to make money since I was 10 years old, well over a decade ago. In the last few years, I finally made it.

I currently own a digital media business with 15 million followers across platforms and brands and a marketing agency attached to that business. Whilst not a millionaire, this has been my ticket to financial freedom (multi 6 figures a year is the only benchmark I'll confirm, company profit, not my take-home pay) and these days my team run most of the tasks for me. This has allowed me to pursue a master's degree in psychology and now neuroscience (with the aim to do a PhD researching dementia) so I have financial freedom and purpose in life.

When I first started this business, selling services and my guide on how I initially grew my social media pages on HF was an essential revenue source that helped me invest in advertisements which helped me get my first page to 1 million followers.

From there I could hire a team, expand by growing more pages, eventually buying up pages and improving them.

Without HF, I probably couldn't have broken through the barrier separating a side hustle and a viable full-time business. So, a big thank you to Omni and the team, the people who mentored me here, and the clients I worked with here.

Right now I'm in a small period of reflection, temporarily moved back to my hometown before I decide where to move to next.

And this brings me back to HF, nostalgia. I'd like to contribute here again, maybe teach a few things to the younger members who are on a similar journey to myself, just a few years behind.

If anyone does want to ask me anything, please do.

Beyond the digital media industry specifically, I can advise about starting a business from the working class with no financial support, balancing with studies (I can answer general questions on postgrad education too), and especially a good thing to quiz me on would be changing from a lazy person to a super motivated person.

I'm so happy for man. It's awesome that HF that a positive impact in your life.

I've been trying to make my life better too. Been working on a YouTube channel right now to then ultimately make a whole media production house. That's my aim.

Right now. I'm struggling with motivation and I kinda slip into laziness. I had a health crisis last month so that was tough on me. Now I'm trying to get back up.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated 👍🏻

[Prawnster]

Nice to see you back mate! :)

If you work with any smaller influencers with USA traffic then lmk cuz I've been on the hunt for some good influencers aye haha.

What I will ask is how do you find good influencers to reach out to? Every single influencer I email thru their biz email or reach out to on my accounts just don't reply or want like $1000 for a post on a low/medium engagement account hahaha it's frustrating.

[Ivex]

I'm so happy for man. It's awesome that HF that a positive impact in your life.

I've been trying to make my life better too. Been working on a YouTube channel right now to then ultimately make a whole media production house. That's my aim.

Right now. I'm struggling with motivation and I kinda slip into laziness. I had a health crisis last month so that was tough on me. Now I'm trying to get back up.

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated 👍🏻

Well health is certainly a barrier. My business success tied into my fitness success. A lot of people think like this:

You have 100 energy points. If you spend 50 on fitness, you only 50 left for making money and everything else.

Whereas it's more like you have 100 energy points. You spend 50 on fitness, and the next day you have 110 energy points, and everytime you work out your energy cap increases.

So definitely focus on your health right now and if you are able to focus on fitness with your current health issues, do so.

Then, as to your specific aim, you've got to see YouTube as a hobby right now. Play around with it; it's just a game and a way to hone your skills. The reason I didn't pursue YouTube videos is after a few videos I realised I only cared about this if it could make me money.

Whereas, with my Instagram pages, the first one I started it was a fun way to teach people the things I was learning about investing, entrepreneurship and self-dev. I enjoyed making the content and growing the page and then a business came out of it.

But we all have to make money and earn the capital to turn our hobby into a business right?

So in my case, whilst running my page as a hobby, I was making content for other people at a really low price. I was probably making 50 Instagram posts a day at one point. This gave me connections, it allowed me to see what went viral on pages much larger than my own, and it gave me money to invest.

So in your case, I'd try to offer cheap but quality work to YouTubers bigger than yourself and develop those relationships, see if you can help those guys go more viral, and then use that as a springboard not only for your own channel but to launch that production company.

Don't make your channel's ability to grow or produce revenue your metric of success right now, that's a playground.

Nice to see you back mate! :)

If you work with any smaller influencers with USA traffic then lmk cuz I've been on the hunt for some good influencers aye haha.

What I will ask is how do you find good influencers to reach out to? Every single influencer I email thru their biz email or reach out to on my accounts just don't reply or want like $1000 for a post on a low/medium engagement account hahaha it's frustrating.

Well don't reach out to 'people', reach out to theme pages. You get way more bang for your buck from theme pages. It used to be that you could get more value from influencers because people trust personal accounts more, but these days everyone is as suspicious by a celebrity endorsement as a normal ad.

I've had ads get 2 million reach+ on a $500 spend from theme pages.

I can get you discounted rates on 2000+ theme pages if you're interested, including the biggest like Worldstar and Pubity, just hmu. I work with an agency that buys in bulk and shares some of those savings with other agencies.

[RangoWorld]

Well health is certainly a barrier. My business success tied into my fitness success. A lot of people think like this:

You have 100 energy points. If you spend 50 on fitness, you only 50 left for making money and everything else.

Whereas it's more like you have 100 energy points. You spend 50 on fitness, and the next day you have 110 energy points, and everytime you work out your energy cap increases.

So definitely focus on your health right now and if you are able to focus on fitness with your current health issues, do so.

Then, as to your specific aim, you've got to see YouTube as a hobby right now. Play around with it; it's just a game and a way to hone your skills. The reason I didn't pursue YouTube videos is after a few videos I realised I only cared about this if it could make me money.

Whereas, with my Instagram pages, the first one I started it was a fun way to teach people the things I was learning about investing, entrepreneurship and self-dev. I enjoyed making the content and growing the page and then a business came out of it.

But we all have to make money and earn the capital to turn our hobby into a business right?

So in my case, whilst running my page as a hobby, I was making content for other people at a really low price. I was probably making 50 Instagram posts a day at one point. This gave me connections, it allowed me to see what went viral on pages much larger than my own, and it gave me money to invest.

So in your case, I'd try to offer cheap but quality work to YouTubers bigger than yourself and develop those relationships, see if you can help those guys go more viral, and then use that as a springboard not only for your own channel but to launch that production company.

Don't make your channel's ability to grow or produce revenue your metric of success right now, that's a playground.

I understand that. You gotta have passion for your hobby first. One step at a time.

Thanks for reply. I will be following this thread

[Sick4n]

Hey Boss thanks for making this post!

Hey looks like you made it, im glad for you.
And I hope it continue your journey of success.
When I see these kind of post I get motivated to push myself forward a little.
I like to see people success.
And I want to think that everyone can make it, if you just put the right time on the right things, ofc with some efforts.
But for your case it seems like you put alot of effort and time, but it was worth it in the end.
Look where you are now.
Goodjob boss.

Wish you a good weeknd.
Take care & Stay safe.

[Jamika]

Hey HF,

It's been 2 years, which is crazy because it feels like a lot, lot longer.

For the last four years, my life has been on a massive upward trajectory, and HF was an important part of starting that momentum off.

I've been messing around on forums and websites trying to make money since I was 10 years old, well over a decade ago. In the last few years, I finally made it.

I currently own a digital media business with 15 million followers across platforms and brands and a marketing agency attached to that business. Whilst not a millionaire, this has been my ticket to financial freedom (multi 6 figures a year is the only benchmark I'll confirm, company profit, not my take-home pay) and these days my team run most of the tasks for me. This has allowed me to pursue a master's degree in psychology and now neuroscience (with the aim to do a PhD researching dementia) so I have financial freedom and purpose in life.

When I first started this business, selling services and my guide on how I initially grew my social media pages on HF was an essential revenue source that helped me invest in advertisements which helped me get my first page to 1 million followers.

From there I could hire a team, expand by growing more pages, eventually buying up pages and improving them.

Without HF, I probably couldn't have broken through the barrier separating a side hustle and a viable full-time business. So, a big thank you to Omni and the team, the people who mentored me here, and the clients I worked with here.

Right now I'm in a small period of reflection, temporarily moved back to my hometown before I decide where to move to next.

And this brings me back to HF, nostalgia. I'd like to contribute here again, maybe teach a few things to the younger members who are on a similar journey to myself, just a few years behind.

If anyone does want to ask me anything, please do.

Beyond the digital media industry specifically, I can advise about starting a business from the working class with no financial support, balancing with studies (I can answer general questions on postgrad education too), and especially a good thing to quiz me on would be changing from a lazy person to a super motivated person.

Congrats bro , a marvelous success story as it
should be !

[Prawnster]

Well don't reach out to 'people', reach out to theme pages. You get way more bang for your buck from theme pages. It used to be that you could get more value from influencers because people trust personal accounts more, but these days everyone is as suspicious by a celebrity endorsement as a normal ad.

I've had ads get 2 million reach+ on a $500 spend from theme pages.

I can get you discounted rates on 2000+ theme pages if you're interested, including the biggest like Worldstar and Pubity, just hmu. I work with an agency that buys in bulk and shares some of those savings with other agencies.

Dropped you a PM, super interested on theme pages as I've worked with em before and had good results!

[Ivex]

Congrats bro , a marvelous success story as it
should be !

Thank you, much appreciated!

[The Pact]

Congrats dude, very impressive.

[Ivex]

Congrats dude, very impressive.

Thank you!

[Money-]

I remember you back then with your face on youtube or something. Regarding making money. Dropshiping I think? Was IG or Youtube you shared back then.

I think was 2018 I guess or 2019.

Long time no see man.

[Moooookie]

Congratulations on achieving your dream. I also started my own digital media agency a couple years back, and it was the best thing I ever did. It has opened so many doors that would have never been opened had I never taken the first step, which was registering the business. That was an obstacle in itself since it was my first time. I would recommend anyone to go into business for themselves, if they're able to do it. Find something you love doing, and chase that dream.

Congrats again to you OP