You open TikTok and a woman shows up recommending kitchen tools. She has thousands of followers and leaves a link in every video. You wonder whether that account makes anyone money, and how long it took to get there.
This road is optional. The two offers in this module do not need an account of your own. If you want to build one, this is what the creators who already do it say.
The ways to get paid
The creators we studied describe 17 ways to make money with an account. Thirteen need followers first:
- Amazon affiliate links: you recommend a product and get a percentage of each sale. Creators talk about 1% to 10%, depending on the product.
- Direct affiliate deals with a brand: the same link, but the deal is with the brand, which pays a higher commission. Creators talk about 15% to 50% on open programs.
- A fixed fee from a brand: on top of the commission, a brand pays you every month, plus a bonus when you pass a click or sales target. Creators talk about 300 to 500 dollars a month to start.
- Sponsored posts: a brand pays you to show its product in your videos. The same creators say big deals are rare.
- The shop inside TikTok: the buyer pays without leaving the app and you get a commission. Creators talk about 20% to 30%, and ask for about 1,000 followers before you start.
- Your digital products: a guide or a program you sell from the link in your profile. Creators talk about prices of 9 to 50 dollars.
- A paid community: your followers pay every month for a private group. One creator talks about some 10 dollars a month per person.
- Fan subscriptions: your followers pay every month for exclusive content and messages with the character. It is the riskiest way on this list: closed accounts, and ethical and legal problems.
- Paid messages and tips: inside those platforms, you sell single pieces of content and chat with each fan to sell to them. It is sales work all day long.
- Platform pay per view: TikTok, YouTube or Facebook pay you for every 1,000 views. Creators talk about up to 10 US cents.
- Referral links for tools: you recommend the software you use and get a share of each subscription. It works if your account teaches how to do something.
- An email list: you collect your followers' emails, with their permission, and sell to them by email. Creators give no figures.
- Selling your method: you teach others to do what you do, with courses or coaching. For many of these creators, it is what earns them the most.
Four need no followers:
- Your own product or shop: you sell something of yours, such as a supplement or clothing, with paid ads and videos made with AI. The ads take the place of followers.
- Paid view campaigns: a brand or a creator pays you for every 1,000 views of the short clips you post. Views count, not followers. Creators talk about 0.50 to 10 dollars per 1,000 views.
- UGC videos for brands: a brand hires your character to make videos of its product, and posts them on its own accounts. Creators talk about 20 to 25 dollars a video.
- A UGC ad agency: you sell packs of ads made with AI to businesses and brands, often every month. It is a service business.
What this road asks of you
Almost all of these need followers first, and followers take weeks or months to come.
One creator ran a 7-day test. His account reached 348,000 followers and millions of views. He calculated that an account paid by views would have made between 3,400 and 4,000 dollars. This is what he actually got:
“Probably less than 5 cents.”
An AI influencer creator, on what he earned in those 7 days
Platforms pay little for each view. Creators talk about up to 10 US cents for every 1,000 views.
Every figure on this page is what creators say in their videos. Nobody checked them, and many of those videos sell a course.
How it fits with the two offers
The offers for businesses need no followers. So you can start there and let your account grow alongside, with the same videos and the same face.