A man who ditched the 9-5 to become an influencer has infuriated people after comparing his job to a professional athlete’s and insisting it is harder work than you think
People are furious after an influencer compared their job to being an athlete. In the modern world, many people make money from social media content. From ‘get ready with me’ videos to dance trends and prank videos, it has become a popular and sought-after profession.
Not only can content creators make good money through viral content, they may also land brand deals or get sponsored by companies. That’s not the only perk – as it’s likely they’ll get freebies and invites to swanky events. When compared to sitting behind a desk all day or working in manual labour, it sounds pretty glamorous.
So since influencers became a thing, the role is often deemed to be easy and ‘not a real job’. People who are not a fan of influencers tend to complain about the lack of effectiveness, transparency and ultimately, real value.
However, those in the industry are quick to disagree with this common perception. One of these critics is a content creator named Brandon, who boasts 1.3 million TikTok followers on his Bran Flakezz page.
The 28-year-old, who lives in Philadelphia, used to work at Anthropologie during his university studies. However, he decided to start posting “chaotic” videos online as he was struggling with money.
Brandon, who has no regrets about ditching his 9-5, appeared on the aptly-named Delusional Diaries podcast to speak about his journey.
Defending his profession, he boldly stated: “Influencing is never going to be seen as a real job. People will give us less credit than an athlete.”
It’s not the only time he’s spoken out about his career either. Back in 2024, he told fans: “Being an influencer isn’t hard but becoming an influencer is hard”.
He claimed starting out “was hell” as he juggled a 9-5 job while also trying to grow his profile. Brandon added: “I realised I wanted to quit my full time job when I was making the same amount of money through influencing, but I was having so much more fun doing content creation/TikTok.”
Despite trying to highlight his struggles, Brandon didn’t get much sympathy from viewers. People weren’t happy that he’d compared himself to an athlete – as these sportspeople typically spend their whole lives training.
A critic called Daadi sarcastically replied: “Serena Williams may have won the Australia Open while pregnant but she has never filmed a ‘get ready with me’ and a PR unboxing in the same day. Lebron James may have 55,000 total points but has he tried coming up with a clever caption every day for a year? Noah Lyles may have won a medal with Covid, but he’s never survived a 14 hour TikTok ban.”
Another said: “I feel like influencers would be respected more if they were just honest. Like it’s not hard to film videos compared to working a 10-hour straight shift in retail or anything else. They confuse something being time consuming to being hard and it’s so annoying.”
A third wrote: “What’s crazy is that a lot of athletes do actually navigate everything an influencer does online…plus they perform their actual job. Like the brand deals are social media are literally their side job.”
However, others sprang to Brandon’s defence. Despite agreeing it was an “insane” comparison to make, they added: “I agree with the sentiment but Bran is out here doing good work in the community. He’s one of the good ones, he just made an off analogy.”
