from side hustle to six figures: the unsexy part of being a creator
because freedom comes from ownership, not algorithms
Everyone talks about becoming a creator full-time and getting paid to talk about their passions, but no one really talks about how to get there.
It’s been decided that Frugal Chic will always be about saving money with style, but my deeper passion is personal finance and business, specifically building wealth in your 20s. I would be lying if I said my six-figure net worth came from simply saving what was left of my 9–5 paycheck. It came from going beyond that.
It came from deciding I was worth more than £30k in a junior role, realising I had more creativity and expertise to offer, and choosing not to wait five years for a “dream income” but to create it myself instead.
What started as a side hustle became my full-time job, which has given me greater time, location and financial freedom.
That is why I have decided to focus more of my paid letters on monetisation and the creator economy. I live and breathe this every day and have accumulated more lessons than I could ever fit into short-form content alone. For a while, I was on the fence about mixing these two worlds.
Was Frugal Chic only meant to be about tortoiseshell clips and journaling? No. It was always about building a life with more autonomy, and increasing your income is one of the fastest ways to do that, not cutting out the £5 latte.
A lot of the advice I share here will apply to any online brand or business, not just those showing up on short-form content. Short-form simply happens to be a skill I have mastered, having built over 600k followers across Instagram and TikTok in my first year and a half, but my goal is to create a digital brand that doesn’t require my constant presence.
This is not a guide to becoming an influencer, it’s a guide to building a personal brand that feels like a powerhouse, that works for you while you sleep.
✰ In this issue:
Why influencing is the new 9-5
The core pillars to get right before monetisation
The different income streams I have
The tools I use to monetise
What I would do differently if I had to start again
