TIKTOK A STEPPING STONE TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Updated: Sep 12, 2020
TikTok is a Chinese based video sharing social media app by ByteDance. Users create short music, lip-sync, dance, comedy, and talent videos of 3 to 15 seconds and short looping videos of 3 to 60 seconds. Available in 40 languages it was released worldwide after ByteDance purchased Musical.ly, merged that with Douyin, and changed its name to TikTok in August 2018.
With the Covid-19 pandemic issuing a “new normal” call to action, the TikTok platform steps up to the challenge. In fact, due to the millions of dollars currently being earned by the Millennial Generation and others while utilizing the platform, Forbes has issued a list of TikTok’s highest paid stars (TikTok’s 7 Highest Earnings by Abrah Brown).
Addison Rae Easterling: $5 million earned and 54.1 million followers
Charli D’Amelio: $4 million earned and 75 million followers
Dixie D’Amelio: $2.9 million earned and 32 million followers (The release of her first single Be Happy already has more than 58 million streams)
Loren Gray: $2.6 million
Josh Richards: $1.5 million
Michael LE: $1.2 million
Spencer X: $1.2 million
Receiving an honorable mention is Sam Lyon, an Uber Eats driver who made a whopping $8,000 in one month and documented the experience with the TikTok platform. So, while navigating these unchartered waters during Covid-19, side gigs can be a boast entrepreneurs can’t afford to pass up.
Heads up though, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will force the sale of TikTok to a U.S. company or ban it from the country. Trump states that the app has ties to China that pose a threat to national security and data privacy that could later be used for blackmail and corporate espionage. TikTok has been given until September 21st to find a buyer or leave the U.S. market. TikTok plans to sue Trump over the ban.