$10K/Month Creating Content for Businesses at 25 Years Old
The Story of To Be Social
Who Are You and What’s Your Business
Hi, I'm Maribelle Su. Before starting my business, I was a student at SMU, majoring in Economics and Marketing.
I decided to start my own business because I couldn't find a job that aligned with my aspirations. During school, I had been doing UGC content creation as a side hustle, so I took the leap and went full-time, launching my social media agency, To Be Social, in 2024.
We specialize in social media management and strategy, helping businesses grow their communities and strengthen their branding.
How I Started UGC
I got into UGC because a friend mentioned she was doing it and said it was a good way to make money. Since I enjoyed making videos but didn't have a large following, I decided to give it a shot.
I put together a portfolio and started cold outreach to land my first few gigs.
It was a fun side hustle, but I didn't initially see it as a long-term business. I wasn’t sure where UGC was headed, but I could see the future of social media as a whole. UGC felt like a trend—brands were jumping on it, but over time, it started to feel like just another type of ad. Social media, on the other hand, was always evolving and had a broader scope, making it a more sustainable service to offer.
I also had prior experience managing social media accounts during my internship at The Smart Local and running my home-based bakery, Flourworks, in 2020.
While the transition from UGC to social media management wasn’t drastic, it required more ideation and strategy, making it more challenging yet rewarding.
What Inspired To Be Social
While creating content for small to medium-sized businesses like Skin Belief, YoloFoods, and Qanvast, I noticed a common struggle—many business owners didn’t know how to effectively manage their social media. Their content was often too focused on sales and promotions with little brand storytelling.
For example, many brands only post about discounts or push products without educating their audience on how they solve specific problems.
I've always been passionate about social media content creation.
My time as a social media assistant at The Smart Local gave me valuable insights into how social media works. I also genuinely enjoy video editing and storytelling, which initially drew me to UGC as a way to earn side income during my studies.
When I couldn't find a suitable job after graduating (partly because I was selective), I decided to transform my content creation skills into a full-time business serving brands. I gave myself a one-year timeline—if it didn't work out, I'd return to traditional job hunting.
My First Client
My journey started with a referral. A friend working at Camel Nuts as a marketing executive recommended me as a freelance content creator. That first gig became my stepping stone.
I also started sharing my process on my personal TikTok account—sharing how I created social strategies for clients, educating viewers about social media's business potential, and "building publicly" by showing my day-to-day life. This approach generated warm leads from clients who connected with my personal brand. I've never needed to do cold outreach because investing in building my personal brand proved more valuable.
Today, most of my client work involves retainers.
On average, each retainer provides clients with 12-16 videos monthly for both TikTok and Instagram. When a client comes onboard, we craft their social media strategy, write scripts, film, edit, and manage all their video content.
I couldn't find a job that offered the salary I wanted or aligned with my interests. I'd always contemplated working for myself, so I decided there was no better time to try than the present.
The business model is inherently lean with minimal startup costs—just a website and software. The website introduces our brand and services, while the software supports video and photo editing for delivering our services. I already owned a camera and phone for filming, so the main barrier was my own imposter syndrome.
But I wouldn't say I had overwhelming confidence; it was more of a "let's see how it goes" attitude.
If it worked, great.
After getting my first client and several leads, I realized that securing just four clients would exceed the starting salary of most job offers. This goal of four clients motivated me, and eventually, I surpassed it.
Despite doubts about my experience level, I remembered that everyone starts somewhere, so I decided this would be my starting point.
Challenges Along the Way
One of the biggest challenges was learning how to delegate as my client base grew.
I needed to shift from thinking like a freelancer to thinking like a business owner. Building a team was difficult after being accustomed to working independently and relying solely on myself. Delegating meant trusting others to maintain the same standards.
I only decided to hire when I realized I couldn't handle the increasing workload alone. I also reflected on why I started a business in the first place—to have freedom. If I continued doing everything myself, I wouldn't achieve true freedom as I'd remain tied to the business. Now I'm hiring with the goal of eventually stepping away from daily operations so the business can run with minimal guidance.
This is a multi-year process, but it's in progress.
I've also experienced fluctuations in generating new leads and clients. This partly correlates with how consistently I post about my expertise and services on social media—something that became increasingly challenging as my client load grew since I was caught up with client work so I didn’t have time to post for myself.
To navigate these challenges, I sought advice from other business owners in the same space, which proved invaluable. Learning from experienced individuals from TikTok and occasionally from podcasts like The Diary of a CEO.
In terms of the advice, I think the main one that stuck out is that progress doesn't always look like growth in your business revenue or number of clients. Progress can come in the form of building better systems, hiring people and even just personal development. So while your business seems to be plateauing, as long as you're making progress in other ways that would potentially result in business growth in the long term, it's normal!
Our Biggest Milestones
It's been a year since the business started and we now have a comfortable revenue stream of five figures monthly, with a goal to grow to six figures!
To be completely honest, whether it's inertia, stubbornness, or delusion, I find it difficult to envision returning to a conventional career path. I've reached a point where I'm committed to succeeding no matter what. I won't quit even through difficult periods without sales or leads.
Having a partner who shares the same goals and vision for the business certainly helps.
A big turning point was finding my business partner through TikTok. We were at similar stages in our journeys and had complementary strengths—she focuses on client relations and sales, while I handle the technical and creative aspects. Since partnering, we’ve doubled our client base to 8-10 clients per month.
Our clients are coming either organically through social media or referrals from clients or our network. But we're planning to possibly start running ads for ourselves!
We've finally built a team! We're experiencing about 20% growth. Though our team is small, it's effective.
I've also gained significantly more confidence in my work and client pitches.
The Future of To Be Social
I'm currently focused on building a team and creating replicable systems to scale the business.
Our team size is currently five people. We plan to hire more full-time account managers and possibly video editors and videographers who excel at the creative aspects to improve our work quality over time.
I envision an ideal team size of 10-20 people.
It will be a gradual journey, but our aim is to ensure all systems produce quality work as we expand—delivering excellence to clients is one of our core commitments. My main job shift would be managing the people that we hire and overseeing the overall direction of different projects.
While I won’t have full control over every detail, stepping back will allow me to focus on bigger projects and passion-driven work that I actually love, be it for potentially bigger clients in the business, or just personal projects.
Ultimately as a manager, I still foresee myself still doing on-the-ground work from time-to-time, because I do believe that's the best way to really understand how the operations work and ensure that the business runs smoothly. So while my role changes,
I think it will be really gradual and will shift over a few years at least.
While I have goals for six to seven-figure monthly revenue in the medium to long term, I focus primarily on taking small, incremental steps each day and remaining grateful for the present.
What I’d Do Differently
If I could change one thing, I’d overcome my fear of putting myself out there and negotiating with clients sooner.
Building in public is incredibly powerful. More startups are realizing the importance of humanizing their brands. If you’re just starting, document your journey—even small updates can create meaningful connections and unexpected opportunities.
It could be a simple tweet, video, or post that helps people understand your mission and what you stand for.
These small actions add up and can open doors you never imagined.
If you want to learn how to build your business, join the Dreamer’s Diary or let me know who I should reach out to next!