Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2010, when beauty YouTubers were a new phenomenon. The 10,000 followers and earning through AdSense on YouTube reflect that time; influencer marketing is now a mature industry with disclosure rules for sponsored content.
What started for many women as a hobby and a way to have fun has, without their looking for it, turned into a new kind of business and a source of extra income. Just today I saw a young woman on television who posted videos on YouTube to teach her friends makeup secrets. Well, what began as a pastime is now a business for her.
It all happened naturally. What started as a video for about 14 friends snowballed into a list of 10,000 followers, all potential buyers of the products that, in her view, work for her. Ten thousand followers isn’t a lot, but it’s about 4,000 more than a professional makeup site is able to attract, so cosmetics companies have seen their opportunity.
What started as a pastime has become a constant battle among the leading cosmetics brands to have her recommend their products, because they expect that, with time and her down-to-earth style, she could multiply her number of followers.
For now she’s already thinking about which product line to take on exclusively, since offers of every kind were quick to arrive. Add to this the chance to earn money from AdSense advertising on YouTube and the beauty products that brands send her free to try out and promote, and these young women have already become beauty figures in the online world.
Once again this proves that a passion for doing something pays off in the end.
If you want to see what I’m talking about, there’s the real case of an ordinary young woman with a website devoted to beauty secrets, who I’m sure will eventually build her own highly profitable online business. She’s also very pretty and friendly.
Featured image: Evi Michailidou, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
