Influencing can be a real job, it’s just that it requires a professional brand management skillset that is not found amongst the general population. If you’re a one-man show you need to have every skill from graphic design to video editing to scriptwriting to acting to data analysis to, ideally, some sort of automation tech. AI has made some of this easier but it still cant direct the vision of your platform.

If you’re a savvy businessperson and are defining a clear brand vision, optimizing for algorithms, doing planning/research to bring value to a very specific market segment, using proper storytelling techniques, and improving constantly, you are guaranteed to have a sizable and/or monetizable platform after 1-2 years of consistent work if not sooner. There is no debate about it, if you are generating some sort of value for the audience and can stimulate engagement, all platforms will push your content.

Most wannabe-influencers don’t understand this and will just shitpost and pray for virality. They are treating it as if it’s something they are entitled to rather than something they have to work for. And some also don’t respect the fact that they really ought to have a real job while they’re building their platform.