This Canadian Micro-Influencer Broke Down How Much Money She Makes & It's Surprising (VIDEO)

With a recession looming and grocery prices rising, many Canadians are keeping an eye out for ways to make a little extra cash. To give you insight on whether content creation's actually a lucrative side hustle, Narcity spoke with Kaya Marriott — a micro-influencer based in Vancouver, B.C. — about how much she makes and how she got to where she's at in her career.

The Vancouver influencer has been hustling for seven years, and now she's making around $75,000 annually (that's well over the average salary of $50,900 in B.C. according to WOWA).

The amount she made in the past year definitely fluctuated: Marriott's 2022 started slowly in January with a $172 monthly income before popping off in March ($10,691) and taking a huge hit in April ($339). After that, her income levelled out a bit.

Overall, her biggest month was November, when her monthly total invoiced was a whopping $18,203.

Not a very "micro" income, but the term micro-influencer is actually defined by the number of followers someone has. The sweet spot, according to Marriott, is between 50,000 to 100,000 followers.

The content creator revealed a big perk of landing in this category: "What people don't always realize is that brands often prefer working with micro-influencers and nano-influencers (those with under 10,000 followers), as our audiences are more connected and feel like a community."

According to Marriott, that's where the money is — brand partnerships. "These tend to come about pretty organically when you are regularly sharing products you love with your audience," she shared.

It's all about working at it and growing your audience — which won't happen overnight.

"What I most often hear from people who tried content creating and gave up is that it was too hard to stay consistent—and I get that, it is really hard to keep at something when it’s not going well, or you’re not seeing results, and the only person you have to answer to is yourself."

Marriott started as a blogger, hoping to inspire other Black women to love their natural hair texture.

"[I've] grown slowly but steadily since then, learning to secure and navigate brand deal negotiations," she told Narcity. Once the influencer started earning enough to replace her day job, she took the plunge.

While she recognizes that it's a privilege to be able to work as a content creator, Marriott also emphasized the hard work that this career path is paved with.

"[It] isn’t nearly as glamorous as people make it seem," she revealed. "90% of my time is spent crouched over my computer doing emails, drafting concepts, writing, and editing."

Though that image is not quite as glamorous as the ones you see on social media, the influencer is refreshingly honest with her following — and it's certainly paid off.

Now her own boss, Marriott's success story is one worth modelling after, especially if you're looking to make some extra income right now.