Illustrations by Dale Stephanos
For our November issue, we surveyed 36 Boston-area content creators anonymously. The participants include from faces you’d probably recognize from your feed to comedians whose sketches you’ve definitely sent to the group chat, with followings that range from eight million to 10,000. Half of the respondents do this full-time, which means 18 of these 36 have looked at the precarity of building a career on leading of an algorithm and said, sure, let’s make this my entire income. And for today, it’s working.
Their answers were self-effacing and candid. Our participants lamented screen time that makes them want to puke, the trolls, the fact that their kids beg them to put down their phones. They admit they’ve yelled at their children and edited it out, that they don’t actually love eating in the cars, that the effortless aesthetic they present to the world requires an absurdly un-photogenic amount of real-life chaos. One creator who’s been grinding at this for 13 years says they don’t have much to show for it. Another says the hardest part is “having morals.”
What emerges are snippets of an industry that didn’t exist 15 years ago, governed by rules no one fully understands, where you can have 500,000 combined Instagram and TikTok followers (or in one case, nearly 8 million) and still feel like you’re one algorithm change away from irrelevance. These are people who are simultaneously their own bosses and beholden to thousands of them—every follower, every brand partner, every platform that could change their livelihoods overnight.
But it’s not all so bleak: Influencers are having a lot of fun. They get a lot of free stuff. They enjoy a lot of comped perks. They aren’t bored—they don’t have time—and sometimes they even end up being asked to talk about themselves in magazines.
Here’s what they said.
Q: What’s the most difficult part of being a content creator?
“Being on my phone all the time. Ugh, I hate it. My screen time makes me want to puke.”
“The fact that this is 24/7. You have to really get good at balance, taking breaks, and putting things into perspective.”
“The inconsistency of income.”
“The financial aspects of being an influencer are extremely stressful if that is your sole source of income. Not only making sure you have a steady income, but also the transience of the platforms and media themselves: Social media changes and evolves, and you are at the mercy of the platform’s ever-changing algorithms and the caprices of the public. Also, it can be a bit difficult to explain what I do—the concept of being an ‘influencer’ has gotten a bad rap in the last few years.”
“Dealing with trolls! And the content you worked hard on not performing well.”
“The hardest part of being a content creator is not having control over how your content performs. We can only control how the content looks and the info it contains, but once posted, it’s up to the Instagram algorithm how it performs. I always try to post at optimal times and use strong keywords, but it’s always a crapshoot as to whether your content will be shown to 2,000 people or one million people. And that can be a hard thing.”
“Having morals. I’m very conscious of the consumerism I’m promoting, so I turn down a lot of opportunities because I don’t believe in encouraging people to consume in excess. I’d rather make less money and feel good about what I’m putting out in the world.”
Q: What’s the best and the worst part of being your own boss that no one talks about?
“It’s a double-edged sword. You are not your own boss—every person is watching, every brand you work with is your boss. So you are always at the mercy of your audience.”
“I’m the one who has to yell at me to get to work on time.”
“Best part: making your own schedule. Worst part: making your own schedule.”
“I think people don’t realize that content creating is basically a one-person production company with the secretary, management, driver, producer, director, talent, editor, and sometimes videographer being all the same human!! It’s a lot of work BTS [behind-the-scenes]. For a while, I was putting my well-being last and focusing on building my brand. I’m not doing that anymore because burnout is real, but I have to physically add ‘me-time’ to my calendar.”
“There’s no one else to blame or point the finger at if things aren’t going well.”
“The best part is the freedom. The worst part is the freedom. You are the only thing holding you back from being successful. If you don’t do anything in a day, the only person you’re hurting is yourself (and your family). So there’s pressure in that. And with the constant changes to the algorithm, you can feel on leading of the world one minute and at the bottom the next. So you need to have the mindset of a goldfish.”
“Best part: This job gives me so much freedom and flexibility. I am able to make a substantial amount of money in a short amount of time from home. It did take me years to get to this point, but today that I am here, it’s something I will never take for granted. Worst part: Feeling like you are on a content hamster wheel. Also, knowing that you don’t own these social media apps and they could all be gone tomorrow! It’s a scary thought.”
Q: What’s the shadiest thing you’ve seen another influencer do?
“Promote a product everyone knows is genuinely crap.”
“Literally just blatantly copy someone else’s post.”
“Pretending to be friendly in real life, but not following you back or supporting your content when you support theirs.”
“Probably buying follows or likes. You can absolutely tell when someone is paying for their audience/engagement.”
“Promote a product that is complete shit. Or steal another influencers’ video content. Some people have no shame.”
“Get free food and promote restaurants without being honest with their audience about the actual quality.”
“purchase followers and manually recruit their comment sections.”
“Influencers who blatantly copy my content.”
“Lie to their audience/exaggerate their numbers to seem cooler/aspirational. One time I went to an *incredibly* cool event where there were about 30 creators invited (and to be selected felt like a big offer). I then went online to see one of the creators talk about how she was one of 10 people invited. I’m just like… why lie?”
Q: What would surprise people most about your real life versus your content?
“I am as much of a hot mess in real life as I am online.”
“I think a lot of people assume that the life of a content creator is to go to a fabulous place, snap a few photos, and then sip margaritas around the pool, but that’s far from reality. I’m often on a tight schedule, including meeting with representatives from the places I’m visiting, hitting all of the shots on the shot list, editing, and then drafting captions. While I enjoy it, content trips are far from relaxing!”
“My house is constantly a mess, lol. Not in a dirty way, but more of a disorganized way. Because I’m always filming GRWM [get ready with me] content, the ends of my days consist of me picking up clothes, accessories, shoes, and bags from all over my house! It’s an unending cycle.”
“I am super shy and very much an introvert (except around my friends and people I know really well), but I really do love what I do, and pushing myself out of my comfort zone is never a bad idea.”
Q: What’s the most fake thing about your online presence?
“I don’t have a thick Boston accent.”
“[It looks like] I get dressed up every day. I don’t.”
“My voice! It’s so different from how I talk in real life.”
“Some people think all the clothes are mine that I keep in my closet! I donate 90 percent of the clothing.”
“My photos are always very neatly staged, but if you took a picture of the absolute mess I made while setting up the shot, it would not be Instagram-worthy!”
“Probably how effortless it can look. Behind a single post or reel, there’s often a lot of planning and shooting that people don’t see. The moments themselves are real, but the polish is definitely curated. I try to be intentional about keeping it authentic, but at the end of the day, my account is still definitely a highlight reel.”
“I have yelled at my kids before and edited it out! EEEEEEEK hahahahaha—I come across as a chill mom, which I am, but sometimes I lose it, too.”
“My photos are always very neatly staged, but if you took a picture of the absolute mess I made while setting up the shot, it would not be Instagram-worthy!
Q: What do the people in your life really think about the amount of time you spend on your phone/social media?
“They think it’s a waste. Especially after 13 years. I don’t have much to show for it.”
“They probably think I’m on my phone and social media too much. And they’re absolutely correct.”
“Once I started buying people gifts and bringing them places, they stopped caring.”
“My husband gets annoyed by it sometimes, especially when we are at a restaurant or on a trip—but he also understands that a lot of the perks we are afforded are a result of the content I post on Instagram. I do try to be mindful of putting my phone away when I’m not shooting for a brand or on a content trip. It’s important to disconnect every today and again!”
“My boyfriend definitely gets jealous about the amount of time I spend on it/checking how well a video is doing, but generally I think my family loves that I have the ability to make people laugh without anyone else’s permission.”
“My kids think I spend too much time on my phone, which breaks me. Whenever they say, ‘Mom, put your phone away,’ it’s an immediate wake-up.”
Q: What do you want to be doing professionally in five years?
“Five years from today, I’d like to be a much larger influencer and an established TV personality.”
“I’m honestly not sure. I hope to figure that out!”
“Entertaining. As long as I’m still making people laugh and feel good, I’m happy—whether it’s on their phone, in their local comedy club, on their TV screens or beyond.”
“I hope to expand the current state of my [influencer] business! I would love to have a large office space where I can hire employees and scale every aspect of the business.”
“Creative directing video shoots for brands. “
“I want to be touring the country as a musician. I started this journey to figure out how to use social media and to generate a platform so that when I put my own beat out, I’ll already have some people interested. As much time as I’ve put into my online platform, I’ve put in twice as much to my beat, so I’m super excited to share my beat with Boston and the world!”
“It’s hard to answer because I feel so fortunate and grateful to be doing content creation full time. And I’m proud of myself for taking the leap from my sales job when I absolutely was not making enough on social media to do it full time. Three years later, I’m still a fulltime content creator.
But, with all the positives there are a lot of negatives. Burnout is real and I feel it often. I think five years from today content creation will be more prevalent of a job in general in society, but I’m not sure if it will be 100% of my income anymore. I would love to either be involved in starting a brand, or a cafe, or start writing again. Something more tangible, maybe.”
“I would love to be acting on a TV series or film.”
“In five years, my goal is to be a published author. Writing, like social content creation, is a way to express my creativity and storytelling.”
“In the next five years, I’d like to be an actor.”
“I hope to be hired as a writer or actor for a big name studio or company.”
“I hope to still be doing this! It’s fun, allows me to be a mom and keep creative and connecting with people. I hope my YouTube channel blows up more and can be a source of income.”
“I’d like to be a lead actor in Hollywood. And social media is the new TV. It isn’t going anywhere.”
An abridged version of this was first published in the print edition of the November 2025 issue as part of the package: “The Relentless, (Sometimes) Lucrative, Surprisingly Wild World of Boston Influencers.”
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