Online Influencer Business

4 Online Influencer Business Success Stories [2024]

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Updated: October 7th, 2024

An online influencer business is a company or service that gets products or services sold through popular online users. It can be a very lucrative form of marketing.

As technology has advanced, more and more influencer businesses are starting to rise. These are people or companies who become famous for being influential on various topics.

More and more companies are investing in online influencer marketing because this channel is successful for new product exposure or for sharing news about a brand through voice-overs on popular online videos. You can work with these online influencers in different ways including the use of affiliate marketing or product embeds with sponsorship.

In this list, you'll find real-world online influencer business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a online influencer business that makes money.

1. FinCon ($1M/year)

Philip Taylor, a CPA and personal finance blogger, came up with the idea for FinCon after being inspired by personal finance bloggers who had achieved financial freedom. He saw a need for a conference tailored specifically for personal finance content creators and brands, and after receiving overwhelming interest from the community, he launched the first Financial Blogger Conference in Chicago in 2011.

How much money it makes: $1M/year
How much did it cost to start: $25
How many people on the team: 4

How I Created An Annual Conference That Generates $1.6M/Year

Discover how Philip Taylor built FinCon from scratch to a 3,000 attendee annual conference and achieved $1.6M in revenue in less than 10 years, by allowing customers to help build the event, fostering a sense of community, expanding offerings, pricing strategically, and surrounding himself with talented people.

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2. SARAL ($600K/year)

Yash Chavan, founder of SARAL, pivoted from running a marketing agency to creating an influencer relationship management platform after managing influencer programs manually for over 10,000 influencers. Frustrated by existing expensive and outdated tools, he pre-sold the idea to five early adopters, validating the market need and securing initial funding.

How much money it makes: $600K/year
How much did it cost to start: $25K
How many people on the team: 8

Our Influencer Marketing SaaS Works With 13,000+ Influencers ($50K/Month)

This case study is about SARAL, a bootstrapped influencer relationship management platform for E-commerce businesses that has over 200 paying brands and works with over 13,000 influencers, offering users everything they need to succeed with influencer marketing.

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3. The Big Talk Academy ($600K/year)

Tricia Brouk, an award-winning director and producer, came up with the idea for The Big Talk Academy after directing a friend's talk. Realizing there was a market for speaker coaches, she immersed herself in online marketing and invested in mentors to grow her business to a 7-figure company in less than 3 years. Brouk's risk tolerance and dedication to serving her clients have led to the success of her virtual and live speaker programs.

How much money it makes: $600K/year
How much did it cost to start: $3K
How many people on the team: 8

How I Went From Zero To A 7-Figure Company Coaching Public Speakers

Tricia Brouk went from having zero online presence to building a 7-figure company in under 3 years by creating The Big Talk Academy, where she offers virtual signature speaking and thought leadership certification programmes, and The Speaker Salon, a live speaker intensive course which grew into a $30k investment.

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4. Afluencer ($24K/year)

Brett Owens, the Founder and Chief Matchmaker at Afluencer, came up with the idea for his business while working on his previous company, LeadDyno. Many prospective LeadDyno customers expressed a need for influencers, which led Owens to start Afluencer and create a two-sided marketplace that connects brands with influencers. Since its launch, Afluencer has seen significant growth, with a 10% monthly increase in influencer and brand users, and a revenue growth of 100% year over year.

How much money it makes: $24K/year
How much did it cost to start: $500K
How many people on the team: 0

I Created A Two-Sided Marketplace That Helps Brands Find Influencers

Afluencer is a two-sided marketplace that connects brands with influencers and helps influencers, creators, and ambassadors find paid gigs, with 6,500+ active influencer users and 1,000+ brand users yielding 100% YoY revenue growth.

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Read by 3,752 founders