Here's How This Gen Zer Brings In $9,000 A Month And It Takes Just 8 Hours A Week

Generation Z only started to enter the workforce about four years ago but many in the age group, who are the first generation of lifelong technology users, are restless and find holding down multiple jobs, or at least having a lucrative side-hustle, offers satisfaction.

Morgan Eckroth is one of those Gen Zers who has found value in working on the side. And not just through personal enjoyment, the social media influencer brings in up to $9,000 a month from her side-hustle and works at it just eight hours per week, according to CNBC’s Make It.

The 24-year-old marketing strategist for Onyx Labs, a coffee brand, brought in an extra $96,000 last year through revenue from ads, branding deals and merchandise sales from TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, where Eckroth posts videos reenacting coffee shop experiences and creating her own brew to recreate orders.

How Eckroth Does It: After opening her TikTok account in June 2019 as an experiment to help her increase her social media marketing skills, Eckroth found success in February 2020 when the Gen Zer started her YouTube channel, which is geared toward the art of making coffee.

“I always knew I wanted to go into media marketing and digital advertising. I started making TikToks as practice, and it was a very natural progression,” Eckroth told the outlet in an interview, adding, “My content on TikTok and Instagram is short-form, vertically oriented sketches focusing on barista life — like how baristas really react when they say, “Enjoy your drink,” and you respond, “You, too!””

She boasts more than 6 million TicTok followers and although she never intended to make a living off it, according to the publication, her side hustle brings in far more than the $45,000 she makes working her full-time day job.

There are risks associated with this type of side job. “It’s very easy to lose yourself, your voice, if you’re just online and posting what everyone else is,” Eckroth told CNBC. She’s also careful to not become fully immersed in social media and makes sure to keep balance in her life by keeping up with offline hobbies.

“I’ve also had to carve out hobbies for myself that are not monetizable. When I’m not doing my multitude of jobs, I’m usually in vintage bookstores, looking for science fiction and fantasy books,” she said.

Read Next: How This Single Mom Lived By The 25x Rule And Retired Early With $1.3M In The Bank

This story is part of a new series of features on the subject of success, Benzinga Inspire.

Photo: Shutterstock