Like many 17-year-olds, Bobby Moore’s plans were turned upside down when his exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He decided to throw himself into making TikTok videos and build up the followers on his account @BobbyMoore44, which he set up at the end of October last year.
Now, Bobby, from Southend, Essex, has 5.2 million followers and earns £5,000 a week on brand deals, thanks to his short informative fact videos.
He’s due to go back to school in September and Bobby plans to throw himself back into studying A-levels in maths, economics, physics and politics.
But once he finishes school, he will take a gap year and use his earnings from Tiktok to build a property portfolio and trade on the foreign exchange market, after spending some of his time over the last few months learning all about it.
The teen explained: ‘With TikTok, anyone can blow up. You can go from being a nobody to something in a very quick amount of time.
‘I’ve just been doing videos in my bedroom since December, so nothing’s really changed in lockdown. But it feels good to have so many people enjoying my videos.’
He came up with his trademark style of bringing random facts alive by talking into a tiny microphone while pictures appear in the background when he was just messing about in his bedroom.
Bobby explained: ‘I was just trying new ideas, and I stumbled across the informative format with the microphone and for some reason, it just blew up. I think it’s because I condense the information and concentrate on interesting stuff – at least in my opinion!
‘When I share uplifting stuff – it’s so nice to get that message out to so many people. Some people have even messaged me to say that I’ve made their lockdown or that I’ve helped them through a really bad time. And that just makes me want to make more videos.
‘It’s amazing to see that you have an actual effect on real, actual people. That makes you feel so good.’
Bobby makes his money on TikTok through brand collaborations organised influencer network Yoke.
He’s already had work with leading companies including the banking app Revolut and group video chat app for gamers Bunch.
His dream collaborations would be with River Island and Hugo Boss, his favourite clothing brands.
He will head back to school in a few weeks but will keep up his videos alongside his studies and then he has big plans for his gap year.
He wants to grow TikTok to 7 million followers and then go into the buy-to-let property business with his father, who runs hairdressing colleges, to set himself up for the future.
Bobby explained: ‘I’m taking a gap year to grow these platforms, because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing – once I’m older, I won’t have much of a following. Right now, I have to use it. This opportunity isn’t going to come around again – it’s not going to last forever.’
Throughout his rise, his parents and his two older sisters Danielle, 21, who works for a law firm and Olivia, 26, an executive producer, have been a huge support.
Bobby said: ‘I was showing them the first video that got 2 million views as the figures were going up, and they were like ‘what is going on?’
‘Then we had the chat that the more followers you have, the more responsibility you have. They said it’s important not to put out any irresponsible content because you don’t want anything to affect your future career away from TikTok, so I’ve taken that approach from the start.’
Bobby does get some negative comments online but doesn’t let it affect how much he is enjoying his current success.
He said: ‘There’s always haters but I find it quite funny – I don’t let it get to me. I just keep spreading positive energy.’
Of course, he’s not the first Bobby Moore to gain notoriety.
Despite sharing a name with the late footballer, he doesn’t like the sport himself but he said it does come up in his comments.
He laughed: ‘I do get it mentioned quite a lot. But with younger kids on TikTok, they only know me, and not the football legend Bobby Moore.
‘That’s when all my mates get annoyed – they obviously put him at number one!’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/08/06/teen-reveals-how-makes-5k-week-tiktok-13092465/
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