The definition of what it means to be a "successful entrepreneur" today has shifted as new technology lets people carve out their own paths in non-traditional ways. It's also made "content creation" a full-time profession.
When Courtney Tillia was looking for a new income path after quitting her job as a special education teacher in 2017, she joined Onlyfans — a service that allows content creators to charge fans and viewers for exclusive content via subscription or one-off fees.
Now, she's a top creator on the platform, making anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 a month. In just three years of being full-time on the platform, she's made over $1 million.
"I'm the modern-day American dream," Tillia told Entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur spoke with the Los Angeles-based content creator about her lucrative profession, working with her husband, and how the public has reacted to her controversial career choice.
When did you decide to leave teaching to be a full-time content creator?
I was a school teacher for six years, and towards the last year, I found myself anxious, depressed and really withdrawn from my family. At the time, my husband and I only had my one teacher income — he had resigned to start his own business, which hadn't fully gotten off the ground yet. But I still resigned, finished up the school year, and started doing some personal training, life coaching, and some modeling. On the side, I started selling videos and photos via Snapchat and Instagram. I didn't promote it, I just would only fulfill it based on people asking for it. In 2019, I just started to decide to start OnlyFans because I was kind of frustrated with the community guidelines that Instagram was starting to buckle down with. I wanted a place where I could like fully express myself and be myself, and I was hoping to make $500 a month. In my first month, I made $1,700. And it's just kind of been flourishing ever since.
Ready To Get Started? Below we provided some quick links to the popular platforms most creators are using now.
