Woman Who Quit Her Corporate Job to Be a Full-Time Influencer Breaks Down 5 Shocking Realities of Content Creation (Exclusive)

YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Influencer Hannah Krohne, who posts on Instagram and TikTok under the handle @hannahlizzy, left her full-time corporate job in fashion to become a full-time fashion influencer

• Although she was initially nervous about making the transition, Krohne says she “fell in love with being an entrepreneur”

• However, as with starting any new job, there’s an inevitable learning curve, and she tells PEOPLE the top things that surprised her about the behind-the-scenes of being a content creator today.

In September, after spending a year working in corporate style and making some changes, the impressive Hannah Krohne She quit her full-time job and made the increasingly common splash in the ever-changing world of social media.

Krohne, who previously worked in strategy and merchandising at British fashion retailer ASOS, had been posting fashion and lifestyle videos online since her sophomore year of university.

Born out of a desire to share her budding eye for fashion with the world (and perhaps the chance to pick up a few free clothes while doing so), Krohne grew her following throughout her undergraduate career, earning more and more followers, brand deals, and income from affiliate links until she felt confident cutting her corporate job down to part-time hours.

But in the back of his mind, Krohne decided that corporate life wasn’t too far away. When she moved to New York for her job at ASOS, she almost immediately started getting invited to brand events and growing her social media presence.

“Social media was getting to the point where I fell in love with being an entrepreneur,” he explains.

Krohne admits that when he first reduced his hours, he was hesitant to tell people he was pursuing a career in content creation.

“Even though it was only 20 hours, whenever someone asked me about my job (am I on a date, meeting a random person, am I a third cousin) I always said I worked at ASOS because… that was a more acceptable answer,” she explains.

“And they can say, ‘Okay, he’s got a corporate job,’ and move on,” he says.

But eventually Krohne realized he had to quit and took the final step in September 2025.

Social media content creation is untapped territory, and many people may not be aware of the small, niche details that make it a full-fledged career — especially when it comes to the financial side of things.

Krohne, who now has more than 400,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, reveals some of the most surprising things she’s learned about what it takes to support yourself as a creator.

Influencer brand gifts aren’t always ‘free’

Krohne laughs that when college friends first encouraged him to start his impressive side hustle during his sophomore year, the thought of free clothes was a big draw for the sartorially “obsessed” student.

He shares that as a content creator, he was sent PR and was able to access some benefits through his role. But it also reveals that what seems like free clothes is a little more than meets the eye.

She describes an example with online retailer Revolve, which sends Krohne a certain amount of clothing to choose from each month.

“I was maxing out the Revolve clothing fund,” he explains. “Free clothes from one of my favorite brands.”

But when Krohne went to pay taxes in April, his financial advisor informed him that he owed $3,700 to Revolve.

“What I didn’t read in this Revolve Gifting brief was that they were giving it as a gift in exchange for publishing it,” he says. “So in other words, the clothes are income from my job, so they tax it as income.”

Around the time of his discovery, Krohne made a video about his discovery, which was met with mixed responses from commentators; some of these believed that Krohne should have known better, while others had similar confusion with him.

Influencers should allocate a larger portion of their income to taxes

Another learning curve that came with his influencer business was getting used to setting aside a significant portion of his income to pay taxes.

Since almost all influencers do not work for companies, they are considered 1099 or contract employees in the eyes of the government. This means that when it comes to paying taxes, influencers need to be diligent about setting aside money throughout the year as April approaches.

“It was very shocking,” Krohne laughs about paying taxes for the first time as an influencer. “In a corporate job, taxes are deducted before you even see the money. So the money you are paid is truly yours.”

When you work for yourself, Krohne says, “it’s not like that.”

“I’ll put aside about 30% of everything to be safe,” he says, including brand deal money, affiliate programs like LTK or ShopMy, and money from the TikTok Creators Fund (though Krohne says he’s not a part of that).

Influencer managers tend to receive 20% of influencer earnings

Many influencers have managers whose job it is to help them source things like brand deals and partnerships.

According to Krohne, who also has many influencer friends in New York City, where he lives, the standard rate is 20% of the deals and partnerships they contribute to.

“My manager doesn’t take 20% of my affiliate earnings. That’s what I do, but all my brand deals and everything else is 20%,” says Krohne.

“This is the industry standard,” he says. “There are some managers who get more. I’ve never heard of anyone getting less, but maybe there are.”

Influencers can ‘delete’ purchases they make to showcase in videos

While online viewers may be convinced that their favorite influencers can “write off” purchases they make and use in videos on their taxes, the reality is much less appealing.

“People think I just deleted everything I owned, but you have to be able to prove it was only used for business,” says Krohne.

Other creators have also been calling out this common misconception recently, such as popular influencer Madeleine White, who addressed the issue in a video in October 2025.

“No, influencers can’t delete things just because they put it in an entire video or unboxed it,” White said. He clarified that anything from clothes to shoes or bags could not be purchased, but said he assumed “some people do that.”

“If they are audited, they will want the money back,” he said.

The creator, known for her fashion and lifestyle-related content online, continued: “You must be able to prove that you never used this for personal use.”

“So you can write off buying a uniform for a job, but you can’t write off buying a plain black T-shirt because you can’t prove that you’ve never worn that plain black T-shirt for anything else every day of your life.”

Influencers work as their own employers

In addition to setting aside a certain portion of their income for taxes, influencers and creators also need to set aside money for things like 401Ks and insurance.

While the same is true for those who work for companies, Krohne says the situation is different for influencers who aren’t covered by employer contributions to their 401Ks.

“In order to have a retirement fund, I, as my employer, have to contribute to my own 401,” he shares.

Luckily, Krohne, 23, still has his parents’ health insurance. But as his 26th birthday approaches, he says he needs to “figure it out” and can’t keep doing it anymore.

Read the original article People