We recently connected with Laney Green and have shared our conversation below.

Laney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful is subjective. But in my eyes, the key to living a successful life is not just about financial gain; it’s about personal fulfillment, strong relationships, and overall well-being.

To be successful, one needs to be able to find that sweet spot where they feel both productive and fulfilled. Making time for the things that bring you joy – spending quality time with loved ones, pursuing hobbies, or simply relaxing – is key. Successful people understand that these periods of relaxation are not indulgences, but rather the fuel for continued success. They allow you to recharge and reset, allowing you to approach your work with renewed focus and effectiveness.

Success is not a race, but rather a lifestyle. And truly successful people know it’s okay to step on the break every now and then.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Laney and I’m 22 years old living in San Diego, California.

I have loved all things content creation since I was little. At family events, I always wanted the camera on me and would make up the silliest dances with my cousins just to be able to get some screen time. My dad bought me a vlogging camera when I was in 4th grade, and ever since then, I was hooked.

I ended up starting my own YouTube channel in 6th grade, where I posted lifestyle and beauty content. I did that up until my senior year of high school, when I decided to take a break and focus on my final year of school and preparing for college.

But content creation didn’t stop there. I ended up going to San Diego State University and majored in Integrated Marketing Communications. I’m very fortunate to say I never doubted my major and stuck with it from the start, joining the American Marketing Association club my freshman year, which I continued throughout my junior year, and then becoming Director of Marketing for SDSU Girl Gains my junior and senior year. While at San Diego State, I interned for two great marketing agencies- AFMKTG and Power Digital.

Throughout all of this, my love for content creation and being a business owner grew even more, and I decided to get online again. I started doing TikTok, and found my spot in the food community. Throughout high school, I struggled with an eating disorder, and found comfort in creating food content and letting others know it’s okay to eat the foods you love. My TikTok eventually blew up, and I’m currently sitting just shy of 200k followers.

While doing that, I heard of UGC. Since it was everything I loved (content creation/marketing/being a business owner), I decided to give it a shot back in December of 2022, and haven’t looked back since. I’ve been able to make this my full-time job, and have created content for amazing brands like Amazon Prime, Blue Apron, Rakuten, and so much more. It’s truly been a blessing, and I cannot wait to see what doors open next.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

At first, I thought UGC and TikTok would be side hustles, or supplemental income. But as I started to see the money roll in, I knew it was something I could make a living from, I just needed to figure out how.

So the first milestone was visualizing exactly what I wanted to accomplish, and following a plan that ensured I got there. I would have daily goals, whether it’d be post 3x a day or reach out to 5 brands a day, and I would stick with that. Vision boarding was also huge, and kept me on track as I knew there was a goal I wanted to achieve, and being able to constantly refer to my vision boards kept me motivated.

The second milestone of going full-time is having your first few successful months, and then taking a step back and processing how it went, how you can do better, and, again, developing a plan. To grow, you need to learn, so it’s crucial if you want something to last long-term that you take a step back and reflect every now and then.

And then the third milestone, for me at least, is sacrifice. This is where you’re making business moves that may be a bit financially scary, for example, but you know they’ll propel you 5x further. This can look like hiring employees, subscribing to better softwares that help you run your business more smoothly, or even moving. When I moved to a place that was double my previous rent, I ended up making double every month since.

How did you build your audience on social media?

While cliché, my biggest piece of advice for anyone wanting to grow online is to figure out their niche BEFOREHAND. While I don’t recommend sticking to one niche as a UGC creator, I do for influencers, as this is what people will come to know you by. And this doesn’t have to necessarily mean sticking to filming JUST beauty, or JUST food/fashion/fitness etc. It can literally mean filming a certain way in all of your videos, or editing a certain way. Have something that makes your content YOURS, and stick with it.

Another great way to breakthrough on social media is with a series. Growing my presence really took off when I started doing themed dessert bowls, as, like I said above, people came to know me for this, and wanted to stick around for more and see what I did next. Some great examples are, 7/21/30 day challenges, finding the best __ in [city], and so on.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bizwlaneygrn.my.canva.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laneygrn.eats
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bizwlaneygrn/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@laneygrn