I quit boring 9-5 job & make £40K a month on TikTok shop working 3 days a week… I didn't even use social media before
LIKE most parents, Jordan Payne was always keen to find ways to bring in a bit of extra cash.
But when she decided to start promoting items for TikTok shop, she never expected to make £40,000 in just ONE month.
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And she reckons she's made a staggering £150,000 since opening up her profile on the video-based platform in 2020.
The mum-of-two barely used any of her own social media when she first began posting on the app, hoping she might make a few extra quid.
By December 2023 she was earning thousands a month - and 18 months later she managed to quit her 9-5 job as a technical product manager to focus full-time on her new TikTok career.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, she said: 'When I first realised I'd made £40,000 in a month, it just seemed crazy.
'You can't quite believe that it's even possible. Most people just don't manage that.
'I did it in November last year around Black Friday. I normally bring in around £10,000 a month, but it's taken me years to build up to this.'
TikTok Shop is a marketplace on the social media app, selling everything from beauty products to clothes and garden items, often at bargain prices.
When Jordan started you had to have 1,000 followers before you could promote items on the shop. You'd then earn a commission on each sale that came from people clicking through a link on the post.
To gain followers Jordan posted tips for brides, as she had got married the month before.
Now you need just 500 followers to start doing work for TikTok shop.
I've made £18k on Vinted - my clever tip means your photos will stand out
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Commission ranges from two per cent up to 25 per cent, depending on the product and the creator's following and previous success.
Jordan, who is appearing in Channel 4 's Secrets of TikTok Shop, first considered joining the app to make money in 2020, after a friend who'd been furloughed during lockdown told her how much money they'd been making from it.
The Kent-based mum, 33, was initially a little sceptical about if she'd be able to do the same, as she didn't really use social media like Instagram or Facebook, nevermind TikTok.
'At first, it was really awkward making the videos,' she said.
'In the first week, I felt uncomfortable talking to the camera, and I was focusing on that rather than who I though might be watching the content.
'After a bit, you just forget about it. Once I got my first sale, I was like, 'This is all worth it, so worth putting the time and effort in.'
'I do look back at my old videos now and think, 'Wow that's different'. I've just learnt what works and what doesn't.'
Jordan's account, jordanpayne25, focuses on family life, as she has two boys aged one and three with husband Lance, 36.
It took her a while to find her niche, but now she reviews kids toys, clothing and items for the family home like air fryers and parasols.
Booming business
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Once she'd found products that sold well, it took a few years for her to start making around £10,000 per month from TikTok Shop.
'This time last year, it started really booming,' she said.
'It is life-changing. It's enabled me to quit my job, and I had a good, quite highly paid job before. Now I get to be at home with my kids a lot more.
"I tend to work three days a week. I spend all day creating content, editing it, looking on TikTok to see what is doing well.
'I do get more time with my kids but I worry they don't realise that when I'm on my phone, I'm working.'
Jordan revealed the most important element of a TikTok video is the opening three seconds - called 'the hook' by creators.
It's the short time period it takes TikTok users to decide if they want to watch the video or not.
'One I found worked was saying 'I'm buying this for my nan', because it got people intrigued,' she said.
'It worked so well that I repeated it across several videos. It's one of the important things I've learnt over the years.'
Jordan always viewed working with TikTok shop as a business venture, and now all of her earnings from the app are paid into a business account.
Storage rooms of products
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She pays herself a set salary of £1,048, plus dividends, every month, and resists spending every penny she earns on her ongoing home renovation project.
Jordan is one of the top 120 sellers on TikTok in the UK - and as a result, she has to dedicate rooms in her home to storing products.
She said: 'I've got content rooms which are just storage because I've so much stuff that I try to keep to promote.
'I've got about eight air fryers in there. Obviously I can't use them, because nobody needs that.
'But I keep them all because the brand sent them to me... it could be that one of them's on sale tomorrow, one's on sale in a few weeks, and I can promote the different ones, because they're all good for different reasons.'
While promoting items from the shop is all about getting sales, Jordan does give her honest opinion when she feels an item isn't up to scratch.
'I have given negative reviews as well, which is a bit of a controversial one,' she said.
'Some people do it, some people don't. Mine blew up, which was a bit difficult for me, because it was a Mystery Toy Box, and they are a nice company.
'But I just really didn't think the particular Paw Patrol box was good value for money, so I said that.
'It mainly just had paintings in it and not much variety, and I think a kid receiving that would be disappointed.'
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Jordan is keen to encourage others to replicate her success on the platform.
She's helped family and friends set up accounts - including her sister, who promoted products on an account that didn't feature her face.
Jordan has also noticed a number of people using the app have told how much they are battling financially with the cost of living crisis.
She said: 'I see a lot of people online talking about how they struggle. I saw one lady, who was a nurse, saying that she and her husband were struggling despite both having full time jobs.
Jordan's 5 top tips for bossing TikTok Shop
Jordan has been encouraging family and friends to start selling things on TikTok Shop. She offers these top tips to budding sellers...
1. Just go for it. I think that's where most people get stuck, they're too scared to even start it. So just give it a try, even if it's faceless, just try. You can always stop doing it.
2. Follow other creators that are doing well in the same kind of products that you're interested in. If you're beauty, follow them. If you're home, follow accounts that do that, because that'll give you lots of ideas.
3. Look at your analytics. We get lots of information, our watch times and all sorts of stuff. Look at which videos have done the best and repeat that if you had a good 'hook' (first three seconds). If you've got a video that's done particularly well, do that exact thing again, on the same product or different ones.
4. Buy the product. Don't always wait for free samples or worry about not spending the money (within reason!) because if you miss the early stages of it being viral, you're probably going to miss out on sales. Someone else will get it. If you get to it too late, it's probably not going to go viral for you, even if it was a trending product.
5. Make sure you are using good lighting. The visual of the video matters. If it's dark or blurry, that video won't get pushed by TikTok. Plus, no one's going to want to watch it.
'Everybody at the moment is looking for a side hustle or a way to just get by with the current cost of living.
"TikTok shop is just a great way for people to earn an extra income.
'It doesn't have to be £10,000 a month if you don't want to put time in.
"Some people just want a little extra to help out. My sister-in-law makes about £500 a month, which makes a big difference to paying bills and things.'
UNTOLD: Secrets of TikTok Shop is now streaming on Channel 4
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