How a 20-year-old turned football content his full-time job

_{Making a living as a creator shouldn’t be some elusive thing. And what’s the best way to learn how creators are making it work? To go behind-the-scenes. These bi-weekly interview issues are like having coffee with your favorite creators.} 

_{If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about solopreneurship and the creator economy.}

Good morning. What I love about reporting in the creator space is seeing the endless ways people turn their passions into legitimate careers. This week’s interview is another example of this. 

There are some niches – sports, travel, fashion – that are “dream jobs” for many of us. Now, imagine creating a career in one of these fields, just from posting videos. 

Let’s dive in.

Jackson Trump didn’t set out to become a creator. He loved sports and storytelling, so he landed an internship writing scripts for a sports agency. They just wanted to get their TikTok up to 10,000 followers. After some time, Trump realized he could do this for himself. American football content was his thing – posting 60-90 second videos on the NFL, college and high school football. 

He started his TikTok in early 2023. Before then, he’d never picked up a camera or opened editing software before, so it took a few months to find his rhythm. He was sitting at the 200 views mark for a while, then he cracked 10,000 with a video sharing his theory that a specific referee didn’t like a certain player, and as such, kept penalizing him. The video tapped into the biggest rivalry in college sports: Ohio State vs. Michigan. 

This video was the first signal that he was onto something. 

“It kind of just snowballed from there. My views and followers have been consistently rising over time,” Trump said. He’s now at 135,900 followers on TikTok, 71,500 on YouTube, and 41,100 on Instagram – which he believes are the baseline platforms every creator should be on. 

“I just see myself as a dude that talks about football. I never thought I’d be able to make a living off all of this content stuff,” especially at the age of 22. 

It can be challenging to get consistent reach every month, given the nature of the content. “When football season is on, videos might perform better because there’s a lot happening. But at the same time, videos also do well off-season because people miss football. While making videos off-season can be difficult, as long as you’re creative with it, people will tune in,” Trump said. 

During football season, most of his videos are spontaneous, because there’s an abundance of stories. I can post random videos like why this one guy coming out of high school that no one’s heard of could have a crazy game. But out of season, he has more time to storyboard and schedule. 

“I could do a video on what happened to the football player that has a viral moment, for example. I could start a different series, like the reasons why I’d get fired as an NFL GM. I covered dumb decisions I would make as someone running a football team, like a bad signing or draft pick. 

He usually doubles down on posts that are popping, and replicates that format or theme until it gets stale. 

Trump makes money primarily through TikTok’s Creator Rewards Program. “It’s based on the RPM, where you’re paid a certain amount per 1,000 views. TikTok also added bonus rewards where on top of your original video, there’s extra earnings based on watch time, likes, and shares.” He also generates income via YouTube Shorts. 

Over time, Trump has also had players reach out to him directly for collaborations. This is an underrated growth strategy, as Trump’s posts are prompted by professional players. 

One of the more memorable brand partnerships was with Under Armor. “They had four athletes playing in their Under Armor All America game and they wanted me to collaborate with them and the players. I did a video about their upcoming season and them playing in the All America game.” 

He’s also collaborated with Elevate Impact, which is partnered with Under Armor. Elevate was launched by Ross 500, a large creator in the football space. I really like the message of the brand which helps younger athletes become better in their sport and better people overall,” Trump said. 

In terms of trends, Trump has seen live streaming on Twitch blow up. “I know a lot of people are doing IRL streams, which is basically them broadcasting their day-to-day.” But not all trends work for every creator, and he doesn’t find this to be all that interesting. 

Anyone can do this, as long as you enjoy the videos you’re making. 

“If you ask any of my friends if Jackson would make TikTok videos about football and do relatively well, they wouldn’t have believed you. I’m the most introverted person in the world.” 

While faceless videos are a thing, Trump believes you should show your face. “There’s nothing wrong with faceless content, but to connect with your audience and put a face to a voice, it’s better to show yourself.” 

Just post and be consistent – that’s all it really boils down to. Don’t agonize over it too much. 

As always, hit reply if something in here hits home.

Speak soon,
Amanda

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