Yet, here it is January 14th, and I've never even started to share with you this new leg of the Journey. If you follow me on any of the social media platforms where I hang out, you probably have already seen me testing products, giving reviews, and promoting things I've found to be useful and beneficial for myself.

In case you have no clue what I'm talking about, here goes:

TikTok Shop is basically QVC for social media, except...that TikTok recruits the "presenters" from ordinary people like you and me. This type of content is called UGC, or User-Generated Content, and it's all the rage nowadays (that's how us GenXers would have put it a few years ago!)

But when I started on TikTok in July 2024, you had to have a minimum of 5000 followers and have applied, often repeatedly, to become a TikTok Shop Affiliate. People went into "grow rooms" to pay the LIVE host with "gifts" (onscreen tokens like digital hats, hearts, roses, etc) and follow everyone that was also in the LIVE session. All in an attempt to get to that coveted 5K, in the hopes of having their own "showcase".

But sometime this past Fall, TikTok released a Beta program that anyone who had over only 1000 followers could apply. I saw videos of women crying with joy when they'd only had to apply every day for a week before getting that magical admittance!

I also saw just as may videos of women frustrated, disillusioned, and downright angry that they had more followers, had been applying everyday for a month and just couldn't get into this Shangri la that's is TikTok Shop!

Why is it so highly prized?

Because you can make BIG money...I mean BIG money on TikTok Shop. As always with TikTok, the odds sort of have to be in your favor, but just the hope of getting that "big brand deal" is enough to make people post 10+ videos a day (which would be EXHAUSTING, in my opinion!) all to earn 10% commission of $10 items.

Yep! You read that right! You make a grand total of $1 commission on some of these items. But obviously, the more that sell from your content, the more you make. And commission rates vary, as do prices, and some companies will pay specific creators who have the right niche', the right look, the right number of followers, THOUSANDS to promote their product. So of course, that's the dangling carrot that inspires so many!

But with this Beta program, the market became very diluted and people like me who weren't even interested in TikTok Shop were invited, all in a huge holiday push.

Since I've now been doing this about six weeks, there's a WHOLE lot more I could say...and will say, in the coming weeks, but it's too much to do justice to it here, for now.

I've started an "Insider's Guide to TikTok" series over on YouTube, so go subscribe and follow along if that's something you're interested in knowing more about. The truth is that it's unlike any other social media platform out there and it's a definite mixed bag of feelings. It REALLY has been an astonishing Journey of frustration for this middle child that believes everything being fair and equal should be the foundational bedrock of any civilized society.

We all know life isn't fair, but TikTok specializes in the "unfair".

I hope you'll join me for that YouTube series. It seems especially pertinent as TikTok's fate currently hangs in the balance in the U.S. at the time of this writing.

But honestly, what most people aren't aware of is that there are families that are dependent on TikTok for paying their bills and having food money. Just as when so many were banned from other social media platforms for going against a progressive agenda and saw their life's work demolished overnight, the loss of TikTok will impact THOUSANDS of people instantly.

As we all wait to see what happens, here's a couple of videos I did that are pertinent to this topic.

This first video was poking a little fun at how clueless I truly was about how to do this TikTok Shop thing!

This second one is where I wanted many of the stay-at-home moms I engage with to start thinking about options for earning money if TikTok disappears.

And guess what, in a nod back to my previous comments about unfairness, TikTok only let 30 views happen before they stopped it from being seen, so I deleted it on TikTok, but here it is on YouTube.

I'll be back soon on this blog, and also over on YouTube with my TikTok Insider's series.

Leave a comment below and let me know about any good or bad experiences you've had with TikTok or TikTok Shop.

Also, please share this on X and let people know why they should read it!

See you again soon!

Angela

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