According to research by SignalFire at the end of 2020, there are at least 50 million influencers worldwide, who accumulate an annual turnover of US$ 100 billion through platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. In Brazil, considered the country of influencers, there are around 500,000, according to the Nielsen survey. But it was only at the end of February that the activity of the digital influencer was recognized as a profession, duly registered in the Brazilian Classification of Occupations (CBO). Until that moment arrived, many bloggers faced prejudice and the twisted gaze of those who don’t consider content creation to be an occupation to be paid for.
Fitness influencer Jaine Cassu left the countryside of São Paulo and today has more than a million followers interested in her content posted on social media. “People need to realize that influencing is a profession like any other, and that you work hard. It’s a huge responsibility to be an inspiration to others and to make recommendations about what we consume,” she says.
Instagram: Jaine Cassu (@jainecassu)
TikTok: Jaine Cassu (@jainecassu) Oficial
To officially become a blogger, Jaine Cassu had to change her mindset. “We live in a totally new and unknown digital world, especially among family members, who don’t see it as a profession. So, to get started, you often have to follow your intuition and cover your ears to opinions,” she revealed.
Until the turning point, Jaine Cassu experienced conflicts like anyone who wants to find themselves in the right profession. “I was fired from my last jobs, even though I was doing my best. Over time, I realized that it wasn’t my place. I wanted to do something I loved, but I didn’t know how or where to start. I just knew it was time to take a chance,” she recalls.
Trials and persistence
The 22-year-old remembers being judged a lot: “When I started recording videos, I heard people say that I wouldn’t amount to anything in life and that I should find a job to achieve my goals.”
She recognizes that choosing a digital career becomes more difficult when you have other daily obligations. “I had to work 8 hours a day in another field. It was extremely difficult to reconcile and manage the change of profession, since at the beginning I spent seven months without any income,” she says.
Until she understood how the monetization of the platforms worked, Jaine Cassu searched for information on the Internet. “I sought a lot of advice from other influencers I met along the way. I was criticized by family and friends, and to this day many still ask me what I work with.”
Jaine Cassu gives her advice to beginners: “There is a price to be paid and only those who are already in the field understand it. So I recommend that you start learning on your own, even if you make mistakes, that’s part of it. The challenges are huge, but the feeling of freedom in creating something is indescribable,” he concludes.