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How a 21 y/o finance TikToker is hacking the American dream | Freethink - YouTube
Channel: Freethink
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- What do you think about
your life right now?
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Like what do you tell yourself
in the mirror when you
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wake up in the morning?
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- This is step one;
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I have a thousand-mile
journey to complete.
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- This is Taylor Price.
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She's a social
media influencer,
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and this is her
American dream.
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When you
think of the idea
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of the traditional
American dream,
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it probably conjures images
of a corporate job,
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an eight-hour workday,
maybe a pension,
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not making videos on TikTok.
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But why not?
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- When we talk
about my generation,
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kind of canceling
out nine to five,
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it makes sense because
there's no sense of freedom.
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- Although entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart,
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spurred by the opportunities
created by the internet,
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many in Gen Z are finding
interesting new ways
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to earn a living and
achieve independence.
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These are stories of people
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reimagining the American
dream for a new generation.
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'Did you know,
you can invest
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in more than just stocks?
You won't believe this.'
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- On her TikTok channel,
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Taylor's built a large audience
and in turn a business,
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helping people learn
about financial education.
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But the life of a financial
educator is not the life
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she always dreamed of —
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far from it.
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- I get emotional
talking about it.
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Sorry.
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When I was 10 years old, I was diagnosed with scoliosis.
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They say that I
need major surgery
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and that my whole life
could be changed.
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I graduated a year early
from high school,
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and so I went straight into
Pre-med only to realize that
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sitting like this for
three hours in a lab,
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was not something that I
could like do with my life.
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When I came to the realization
that I can't do this anymore,
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that's when I asked
my mom, I asked her,
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"What should I do with
my life?"
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And she said,
"Why don't you try finance?"
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- 'Prior planning prevents
piss poor performance.'
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- When I made that transition,
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I'd no realization that
personal finance and
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corporate finance were
two different worlds.
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I think it was my
second semester;
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I started a blog kind of
discussing this, like,
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why isn't school talking about
this at the younger ages?
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Why is a major in
finance not having this
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within their curriculum?
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The void that I'm
filling — first off,
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it's not just gaps or
voids. It's like an abyss.
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There's a huge demand for
this financial education.
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And the content creators
are creating the supply of
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financial knowledge.
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- Taylor's blog quickly gained traction in her hometown.
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Then a friend in L.A.
told her about TikTok.
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- And he said, "Taylor,
you need to go on this
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platform called TikTok, your message would explode there."
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I took a look at the platform,
I downloaded it and I'm like,
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"Hell no, am I doing
these like little dances
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and stuff like that?
Especially with my like
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small-town neighborhood,
no way."
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And it was only until I went
out to L.A. in December 2019,
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January 2020,
where I took that step.
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I started posting on
TikTok and boom
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within like in my 10th
video, I had a viral video.
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And from there just TikTok
has presented so many
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opportunities in my life that
I don't think any other social
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media platform would
have been able to give
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in the time that it did.
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My whole focus is I wanna
make a difference within the
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world of finance, and teach
people that if you can control
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your life with
personal finances,
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you can basically
do anything.
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The way in which I make money as a content creator,
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it's through affiliate links.
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It's through brand deals.
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It's through sponsorships.
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And then, of course, I
do a lot of investing.
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'Uh...no, I invest in
the stock market.
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There's other
forms of investments.
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- Uh...yeah, you can
invest in crypto...'
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- There is a lot of work hours too. Most people think, "Okay,
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TikTok's a 15-second video
or a 60-second video,"
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but there's a process that
goes into it. So it's not just,
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"Hey, let me say whatever I
want and throw it out there."
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No, it has to be strategic.
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It has to be analyzed. And it
has to be well thought out.
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So what I'll do is I'll take
a look at any kind of trending
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video, scripts,
anything like that
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on TikTok, and then I'll
apply it to personal finance.
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So I'm kind of figuring out
the whole lighting situation,
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then I'll get to recording,
pull up the sound, and action.
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Once the video is kind of
done and over with, edited,
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I'll put it in drafts,
if I'm content batching,
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or if this is
something right now,
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like I feel like I have
to get on the trend,
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then I'll click post.
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- 'I like you have a cupcake.
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Ew....'
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- This industry is not
for the lighthearted.
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Yes, there are
so many supporters,
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but there is also
so many haters.
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It can really put a toll
on your mental health.
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It looks so fun
when you can travel,
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when you can get
paid to do things,
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but it can be a lot, especially
working for yourself.
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If you don't have
the personality,
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most people will fail.
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You have to have an intrinsic
motivation and drive to
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succeed within this field.
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I think when you're doing a
work-life harmony and that
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your work coincides
with the things
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that you love doing, that is
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when you ultimately achieve
that harmonious relationship of
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fulfillment, accomplishment,
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being genuinely
joyful within life.
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- The ideals of
independence and opportunity
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afforded by entrepreneurship have been
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hallmarks of the American
dream for generations.
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The internet has transformed
what this can look like,
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creating a new class
of businesses
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and ways to earn a living.
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This freedom has had a particular appeal
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for Gen Zers, eager to define
life on their own terms.
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- Gen Z really cares about their
lifestyles, their identity,
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who they want to
become. And I think
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they're pretty healthy
at kind of doing so.
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What I do on a
day-to-day basis is
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fulfilling in itself.
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Being able to really inspire,
especially other young women,
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to control their personal
finances and allowing
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them to feel that
sense of freedom
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when doing so is
definitely rewarding.
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I think my generation to begin
with is like full on with
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side hustles, full on with
working for themselves.
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And so the internet
really elaborated on,
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'Hey, there's these
different things out there.'
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There's accommodations
for everybody.
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The Earth is abundant, and
it kind of made that kind of
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volcano of everybody wanting
to live this new American dream.
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