- What do you think about your life right now?
Like what do you tell yourself in the mirror when you
wake up in the morning?
- This is step one;
I have a thousand-mile journey to complete.
- This is Taylor Price.
She's a social media influencer,
and this is her American dream.
When you think of the idea
of the traditional American dream,
it probably conjures images of a corporate job,
an eight-hour workday, maybe a pension,
not making videos on TikTok.
But why not?
- When we talk about my generation,
kind of canceling out nine to five,
it makes sense because there's no sense of freedom.
- Although entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart,
spurred by the opportunities created by the internet,
many in Gen Z are finding interesting new ways
to earn a living and achieve independence.
These are stories of people
reimagining the American dream for a new generation.
'Did you know, you can invest
in more than just stocks? You won't believe this.'
- On her TikTok channel,
Taylor's built a large audience and in turn a business,
helping people learn about financial education.
But the life of a financial educator is not the life
she always dreamed of —
far from it.
- I get emotional talking about it.
Sorry.
When I was 10 years old, I was diagnosed with scoliosis.
They say that I need major surgery
and that my whole life could be changed.
I graduated a year early from high school,
and so I went straight into Pre-med only to realize that
sitting like this for three hours in a lab,
was not something that I could like do with my life.
When I came to the realization that I can't do this anymore,
that's when I asked my mom, I asked her,
"What should I do with my life?"
And she said, "Why don't you try finance?"
- 'Prior planning prevents piss poor performance.'
- When I made that transition,
I'd no realization that personal finance and
corporate finance were two different worlds.
I think it was my second semester;
I started a blog kind of discussing this, like,
why isn't school talking about this at the younger ages?
Why is a major in finance not having this
within their curriculum?
The void that I'm filling — first off,
it's not just gaps or voids. It's like an abyss.
There's a huge demand for this financial education.
And the content creators are creating the supply of
financial knowledge.
- Taylor's blog quickly gained traction in her hometown.
Then a friend in L.A. told her about TikTok.
- And he said, "Taylor, you need to go on this
platform called TikTok, your message would explode there."
I took a look at the platform, I downloaded it and I'm like,
"Hell no, am I doing these like little dances
and stuff like that? Especially with my like
small-town neighborhood, no way."
And it was only until I went out to L.A. in December 2019,
January 2020, where I took that step.
I started posting on TikTok and boom
within like in my 10th video, I had a viral video.
And from there just TikTok has presented so many
opportunities in my life that I don't think any other social
media platform would have been able to give
in the time that it did.
My whole focus is I wanna make a difference within the
world of finance, and teach people that if you can control
your life with personal finances,
you can basically do anything.
The way in which I make money as a content creator,
it's through affiliate links.
It's through brand deals.
It's through sponsorships.
And then, of course, I do a lot of investing.
'Uh...no, I invest in the stock market.
There's other forms of investments.
- Uh...yeah, you can invest in crypto...'
- There is a lot of work hours too. Most people think, "Okay,
TikTok's a 15-second video or a 60-second video,"
but there's a process that goes into it. So it's not just,
"Hey, let me say whatever I want and throw it out there."
No, it has to be strategic.
It has to be analyzed. And it has to be well thought out.
So what I'll do is I'll take a look at any kind of trending
video, scripts, anything like that
on TikTok, and then I'll apply it to personal finance.
So I'm kind of figuring out the whole lighting situation,
then I'll get to recording, pull up the sound, and action.
Once the video is kind of done and over with, edited,
I'll put it in drafts, if I'm content batching,
or if this is something right now,
like I feel like I have to get on the trend,
then I'll click post.
- 'I like you have a cupcake.
Ew....'
- This industry is not for the lighthearted.
Yes, there are so many supporters,
but there is also so many haters.
It can really put a toll on your mental health.
It looks so fun when you can travel,
when you can get paid to do things,
but it can be a lot, especially working for yourself.
If you don't have the personality,
most people will fail.
You have to have an intrinsic motivation and drive to
succeed within this field.
I think when you're doing a work-life harmony and that
your work coincides with the things
that you love doing, that is
when you ultimately achieve that harmonious relationship of
fulfillment, accomplishment,
being genuinely joyful within life.
- The ideals of independence and opportunity
afforded by entrepreneurship have been
hallmarks of the American dream for generations.
The internet has transformed what this can look like,
creating a new class of businesses
and ways to earn a living.
This freedom has had a particular appeal
for Gen Zers, eager to define life on their own terms.
- Gen Z really cares about their lifestyles, their identity,
who they want to become. And I think
they're pretty healthy at kind of doing so.
What I do on a day-to-day basis is
fulfilling in itself.
Being able to really inspire, especially other young women,
to control their personal finances and allowing
them to feel that sense of freedom
when doing so is definitely rewarding.
I think my generation to begin with is like full on with
side hustles, full on with working for themselves.
And so the internet really elaborated on,
'Hey, there's these different things out there.'
There's accommodations for everybody.
The Earth is abundant, and it kind of made that kind of
volcano of everybody wanting to live this new American dream.