On influencers “not having jobs”

Prefacing by saying that I am genuinely hoping to have a respectful dialogue on this topic - and curious to understand everyone’s view!

With that being said, something I notice as a common insult in this sub is this knock on influencers for “not having jobs.” I just saw it yesterday but I see it all the time.

Obviously influencing REALLY blew up after the pandemic, and we started to see it become more accessible with the rise of TikTok. Now it feels very oversaturated, but at the same time, still approachable - it’s no longer a beauty or wealth contest. If girls like Carly Weinstein or Eli Rallo can do it, it feels like anybody can.

As we all should know by now, there is crazy money in influencing. I have no doubt in my mind that the most talked about girls on this sub (with maybe the exception of Carly) are easily raking in 20-30K+/month and that’s a low, conservative estimate.

All of this is to say that I find it a little ironic that a lot of people seem to think influencing isn’t a real job simply because it’s easy, or doesn’t require a lot of time, or doesn’t happen with the four walls of an office building.

I’m not denying that there’s inherently not much value in it unrelated to consumerism, but if a woman earning 20-30k/month (minimum) while working for herself isn’t employed…what makes somebody employed? Do they need to have a boss? Work in an office? Be miserable? Make LESS money? Add value to society?

I’m not an influencer, just somebody who feels strongly about women making their own money on their own terms - and as snarkworthy as some of their behavior is, to me it’s silly (and maybe even a tad misogynistic) to deny that these girls didn’t get extremely lucky, leverage that luck into a career (whether it’s one you approve of or not), and cashed out big time.

Influencing might not be a traditional “job”, but what else would you call making a quarter million dollars a year in your early or mid 20s? (I feel the same argument could be made about something like OnlyFans too which is obviously even more controversial.) Is making money enough to qualify something as a “job”?

Ok I’m done…let’s discuss!!!!

EDIT: very interesting responses so far! It seems most here do not conflate making money with having a job, and instead seem to think how hard one is actually working/how much value they’re adding to society determines if it’s a “real job” or not. While I have to disagree, I’m loving seeing all the reasoning and appreciate the respectful convos happening

EDIT 2: no need to send me hate DMs, I’m not an influencer, I don’t even have a job anymore I’m just wedding planning and bored Xo