NEED TO KNOW

Influencer Hannah Krohne, who posts under the handle @hannahlizzy on Instagram and TikTok, quit her full-time corporate job in fashion to become a full-time fashion influencer

While she was initially nervous to make the switch, Krohne says she fell "in love with being an entrepreneur"

However, like with starting any new job, there’s an inevitable learning curve, and she tells PEOPLE about the top things that surprised her about the behind-the-scenes of being a content creator today

In September, after a year and some change working in corporate fashion, influencer Hannah Krohne quit her full-time job and made a leap that is becoming increasingly common in the ever-changing world of social media.

Krohne, who was previously working in strategy and merchandising for British fashion retailer ASOS, had been posting fashion and lifestyle-related videos online since her sophomore year of college.

Born out of a desire to share her budding eye for fashion with the world (and perhaps the chance to snag a few free clothes while doing it), Krohne grew her following throughout her undergraduate career, gaining more and more followers and brand deals and revenue from affiliate links, until she felt safe to cut her corporate job down to part-time hours.

In the back of her mind, however, Krohne had already decided that she wasn’t long for corporate life. When she moved to New York for her job at ASOS, she almost instantly began getting invited to brand events and growing her social media presence larger and larger.

"It was just getting to the point where my social media — I had fallen in love with being an entrepreneur," she explains.

Krohne admits that, when she first cut down on her hours, she was hesitant to tell people that she was pursuing a career in content creation.

"Even though it was only 20 hours, whenever anyone asked me about my job – whether I’m on a date with someone, I meet someone random, my third cousin — whenever they asked me what I did, I always just said I worked at ASOS, because... that was the more acceptable answer," she explains.

"And they could be like, ‘OK, she has a corporate job,’ and move on," she says.

Eventually, though, Krohne knew she needed to quit and, in September 2025, made the final leap.

Social media content creation is somewhat uncharted territory, and many people might not be aware of the small, niche details that go into making it into a full-fledged career — especially when it comes to the financial side of things.

Krohne, who now has over 400,000 followers across her Instagram and TikTok, reveals some of the most surprising things she learned about what it takes to support yourself as a creator.

Influencer brand gifting isn’t always ‘free’

Krohne laughs that when her college friends first encouraged her to start her influencing side hustle her sophomore year, the thought of free clothes was a major draw for the sartorially "obsessed" student.

She shares that, as a content creator, she does get sent PR and has access to some perks through her role. However, she also reveals that there is slightly more to what just looks like free clothes than meets the eye.

She reveals an example involving online retailer Revolve, which sends Krohne a certain monetary amount of clothes per month that she can select.

"I was maxing out the Revolve clothing fund," she explains. "It’s free clothes from one of my favorite brands."

However, come April, when Krohne went to pay taxes, her financial advisor informed her that she owed $3,700 to Revolve.

"What I didn’t read in the fine print of this Revolve Gifting was that they were gifting it in exchange for posting," she says. "So, AKA, the clothes are the income in exchange for my post, so they’re taxing it like it’s income."

Krohne made a video about her discovery around the time it happened and was met with mixed responses from her commenters — some of whom believed Krohne should have known better and others who were of a similar mindset of confusion as she.

Influencers must set a sizeable portion of their income aside for taxes

*Hannah Krohne. *

Hannah Lizzy

Another learning curve that came with her influencing job was getting used to setting aside a significant portion of her income in order to pay taxes.

As nearly all influencers do not work for corporations, they are considered 1099, or contract employees, in the government’s eyes. This means when it comes to paying taxes, influencers must be diligent throughout the year about setting aside money for when April rolls around.

"It was so shocking," Krohne laughs about her first time paying taxes as an influencer. "With a corporate job, the taxes are taken out before you even see the money. So the money that you get paid is truly yours."

When you work for yourself, Krohne says, "it’s not like that."

"To be safe, I will put away, like, 30% of everything," she reveals, including brand deal money, affiliate programs like LTK or ShopMy and money from the TikTok Creator Fund (though Krohne says she isn’t a part of it).

Influencer managers tend to take 20% of influencer earnings

*Hannah Krohne. *

Hannah Lizzy

Many influencers have managers, whose job it is to help them source things like brand deals and partnerships.

According to Krohne, who also has quite a few influencer friends in New York City, where she lives, the standard rate is that 20% of deals and partnerships that they help bring in.

"My manager doesn’t get 20% of my affiliate earnings. I’m doing that, but all my brand deals, everything else, 20%," Krohne says.

"That’s industry standard," she says. "There’s some managers that take more. I’ve never heard of one taking less, but maybe there is."

Influencers can’t just ‘write off’ purchases they make to showcase in videos

*Hannah Krohne. *

Hannah Lizzy

While viewers online might be convinced that their favorite influencers are able to "write off" the purchases they make and use in videos on their taxes, the reality is much less glamorous.

Krohne says, "I feel like people think that I’m just, like, writing off everything that I own, but you have to be able to prove that it was only used for business."

Other content creators have been vocal about this common misconception recently as well, with popular influencer Madeleine White, who addressed the matter in a video in October 2025.

"No, influencers cannot write things off because they put it in a whole video or they did an unboxing," White said. She went on to clarify that buying anything from clothes to shoes or bags cannot be written off, though she said that she assumed that "some people are doing it."

"If they get audited, they will be asked for the money back," she said.

Going on, the content creator, known for her fashion and lifestyle-related content online, explained that "You have to be able to prove that you have never used it for personal use."

"That is why you can write off buying a uniform for a job, but you cannot write off buying a plain black T-shirt because you cannot prove that you have never worn that plain black T-shirt for anything else on any other day of your life."

Influencers function as their own employers

*Hannah Krohne. *

Hannah Lizzy/TikTok

In addition to setting aside a certain portion of their income for taxes, influencers and content creators must also set aside money for things like their 401K and insurance.

While the same is true for those working for corporations, Krohne says that it is different for influencers who aren’t being met with an employer contribution match for their 401K.

"I have to contribute to my own 401 as my employer in order for me to have a retirement fund," she shares.

Luckily, Krohne, who is 23, is still on her parents’ health insurance. But she says she’ll have to "figure that out" when her 26th birthday rolls around and she can no longer stay on it.

Read the original article on People