Why a 23-year-old TikTok influencer with 1 million followers is ready to leave it all behind for a 9-to-5 job

Striking it big as an influencer might be an apt equivalent to winning the lottery. It instantly bestows fame, fortune and notoriety on an otherwise normal person. And much like actually winning the lottery, for 23-year-old TikTok influencer Ana Wolfermann, the luck has become an exhausting, endless curse. She’s hanging up her ring light, returning her free PR packages, and joining the rest of us on the morning commute—if she can get a job.

Wolfermann, who graduated from Notre Dame last year and currently boasts a TikTok following of 963,000, is no longer satisfied with what might be the most lucrative and laidback career a fresh college grad could hope to have. Indeed, the promise of full-time social media influencing has gripped young people in its talons: Nearly 60% of Gen Zers said they’d want to be influencers if given the chance, per a 2023 Morning Consult report. Three in 10 young respondents said they’d even pay to take part in the flash-in-the-pan lifestyle.

Not Wolfermann. She began amassing a following as a freshman, chronicling her outfits, her makeup looks while preparing for Fighting Irish tailgates, and nights out with her friends. Soon after graduating, Wolfermann realized just how lucrative the business proposition of influencing could be, and she eschewed a full-time corporate job in order to focus her time and attention on her brand—which is to say, herself.

The plan soon revealed itself to be more taxing than rewarding, and the constant self-awareness more crippling than empowering.

While Wolfermann does believe that some influencers may be able to do their job sustainably for the long haul, she nonetheless thinks a healthy balance is out of reach for most of her peers—unless a major shift in the entire ecosystem comes soon.

The following is a Q&A with Wolfermann, lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Why are you quitting influencing?

I have a weird relationship with the fact that I’ve been taking time out of my day just to go on TikTok—and that that’s kind of productive because it’s industry research. At the end of the day, I’ve got to keep up with the trends.

When I was in college, a lot of the people I looked up to and ultimately wanted to follow in their footsteps career-wise are full-time influencers. So I was extremely eager to graduate into full-time influencing and continuing to grow.

But within six months, I started to have very real thoughts of “I don't think that I want to do this full time.” I don't think that I want my entire life to be about “how can I market my life?”

I've always loved the power of media, and making videos where I capture my life, and bringing joy to people's life through media. And I love social media—I want to continue to do it. But making it my full-time thing has meant that I was putting all of my focus towards that.

For example, while I was in school, there were other things taking up my mind that challenged me as well, even though they weren't necessarily things that I enjoyed. But I haven’t been challenged since pursuing this full-time. There's only so much you can do if you're focused on yourself. When you are the brand, and you are the product, it can be very unsettling.

With myself being my full focus, I would wake up every single day and think: What can I say today? What can I share today? What can I post today? My entire day became focused on what I was doing and what I had to say. That's fine when you have something you're excited to share, or there's an outfit you want to show people because you just bought it and you love it. But because it was the constant thought in my head and my main focus, it just led me down a very narcissistic and anxious route.

I put a lot of pressure on myself every day to deliver something. And at the end of the day, I prioritized views. I prioritized how much people like me, because the engagement on my post is based on how much people care about me and how much people want to have an opinion on my life, because they care. That directly converts towards my income, so I don't know if doing that full-time will generate joy.

Influencing made you self-centered?

I wasn’t feeling challenged, and I felt myself becoming more superficial. But I don't think that has to be everyone's experience. I think a successful full-time influencer provides value, whether that’s by sharing their life, giving tips on something, or encouraging their audience to live a certain way. I feel like a lot of the full-time influencers we see now are people who are very passionate about something specific.

Successful full-time influencers are extremely passionate about fashion, or somebody who's extremely passionate about hormonal health—and that's what they do full-time. And they use that in order to reach people and give value. My case was that I was not; there was nothing to my content outside of my life.

I want to call attention to that, because I think so many young girls idolize the idea of sharing their life on the internet. I think it would be so easy to just talk about my night, or the trip I went on, and get paid. It sounds great, but you’ll burn out if you follow that route. You’ll be in murky waters. You’ll ultimately become self-obsessed because you—what you’re doing, who you’re hanging out with, what you look like—become your priority. It's a little dystopian.

When I was really, really, really grinding on social media, I realized how ungrateful I was being. I got so caught up in the fact that my house wasn't bright enough; my walls weren't white enough; there wasn't enough good lighting in my bathroom; my roommates were making noise. I was so focused on the wrong things because I was so hyper-focused on what I needed to do so my content would grow. That's where I'm saying that ultimately it makes you a little bit selfish.

What were your followers’ and friends’ reactions when you told them your plans to apply for full-time corporate jobs?

Everybody thought I was possibly delusional and I just didn't get it. They were like, why would you want to work for somebody else? Why would you want to not have control over your own time? Why would you want to take time away from what you could be building?

But influencing is all the time. TikTok requires you to post three videos a day. Imagine all day, every day you wake up and think about yourself. For me, that was a huge disappointment. I realized that I had been prioritizing the wrong thing for a long time and if I stopped, my posts would dwindle, and therefore brand deals dwindle.

Why do you think corporate life will be better than influencing?

First and most importantly, coworkers. To see people every day and have relationships with them day-to-day is my number one priority, even though I know that's probably the least important one. To me, it's a pretty big deal. Number two: I'm extremely excited to work for somebody else.

One of the things I've always found the most gratifying is delivery. I grew up as an actress, and when a director would tell me ‘I need you to do this’ and I would do it, I drew satisfaction from knowing I did a good job. When it's all about me, like it's like, okay, this is my standard. But I'm very excited to work for somebody else. I'm very excited to learn new skills—I'm just really excited.

Do you expect you’ll be able to match or exceed your influencer income in a corporate role?

Part of the reason why so many people idolize social media, and want to make their full-time job, is because it pays very well and it comes with a lot of incredible opportunities. Having an online platform and pursuing TikTok has been the best thing I could have ever done for myself. And I think it helps me position myself in a place where I’ll never feel alone. I feel like wherever I go, there's somebody who I can talk to, somebody who will recognize me, somebody who's willing to help me. It connects you to so many people and lots of power. That's why there's so much power in it, and there's a lot of money in businesses and in marketing and definitely [more than] any other job that I would have gotten as a new grad.

I’ll probably end up with a job I'm very passionate about and excited to show up to work for every single day. But I don't think it'll pay me more than my yearly influencer salary.

Basically, as an influencer, you do commercials—that's how you make your money. Companies think about the budget that used to go towards producing a commercial, and they redirect it towards an influencer to create a commercial and post it, because marketing has changed. People aren’t scrolling through their TV channels anymore.

Do you think your years as a full-time content creator will be an asset or a liability as you look into applying to a full-time corporate job?

I’m a very optimistic person, so I think it'll be a huge asset. I think people gravitate towards people who are confident in their skills and who have already done something. So whether or not social media is considered controversial in the traditional corporate world, I think anybody in this day and age understands that it takes a lot of knowledge, a lot of dedication, and incredible work ethic, and a really good understanding of psychology and branding and marketing to be able to build an entertainment audience and then monetize it.

Do you plan to share links to your social channels in your job applications?

It depends on what route I want to take. So far I haven't, but if I were applying to a digital-marketing position or a social-media manager position, or for a reporter, I do think I would.

What are the most valuable skills you honed from your time influencing?

Time management, wearing all the hats, and doing things all on my own, getting things done. But also, a lot of those have led me away from influencing. I’m constantly working. But I did learn those skills of essentially being in charge. I also learned a lot of networking skills and building brand relationships.

Especially being in New York City, a lot of my time is taken up by going to influencer events, which from the perspective of seeing it on TikTok. It looks like just eating and drinking for free. And yes, it’s really fun, but a big part of it is cultivating real connections with people, and I think it’s helped me tremendously.

Influencer events are actually a large part of what got me really intrigued in corporate America. I was naturally talking to people on marketing teams and social teams all the time—people who work for a brand or agency. I would hear about their life in the corporate world and they would complain about it, telling me, ‘trust me, you don't want to be on this side. Stay where you are.’ But there’s an element of teamwork and working towards something together that I really hope I can experience again.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com