“One day, I just called [Jones], and I was like, ‘Bro, we’ve got to start doing stuff for us,'” Smith told rolling out. “‘We’ve got to start making our own stuff.'”
So, GA Followers started making public interview videos, local business reviews and sit-down interviews with celebrities.
“The page just became more personal,” Smith said. “You could put a face behind the brand at that point.”
Then, came the business side of monetizing the platform. They created GA Followers t-shirts and began posting sponsored content each month.
“We’ve been doing that for a minute, and that’s what’s been padding our pockets,” Jones said.
Jones runs GA Followers full-time. He hasn’t worked for anyone else since 2009.
“Family members used to be like, ‘You have to find something to really do,'” Jones said. “I was having so much fun doing this and I knew it really worked, so I was like, ‘I don’t know if I need to find something else. Let me just keep putting my energy into this and see what happens.”
Smith and Jones both dropped out of college after two years.
“Every path is different,” Smith said. “If I tell you I did, and you try to do the same thing, it might not work out for you how it worked out for me. I say take bits and pieces of what somebody says, but never take their advice. Don’t be scared. We’re so scary nowadays in this generation. Everybody’s just scared to do it. Do it. Why not? You can fail.”
