This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Maverick Maltin, a 19-year-old AI content creator who travels full-time. His words have been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider reviewed financial documents supporting the earnings described in this story.
When I was younger, my dad was in tech and always gave me the latest technology to try out. That’s how I was first introduced to AI and ChatGPT.
In 2024, after I graduated from high school, I went to Arizona State University, planning to study digital marketing. But in the summer between my first and second year, I became an AI content creator.
AI was something I was interested in, and I was already teaching my friends and family about it in my free time. I posted my first TikTok video in May 2025, and one of my first videos got a million views. I left school to become a full-time AI content creator and have been making around six figures a month for the last few months.
When it comes to content, it’s a cliché, but I always tell people: don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
I went to college knowing I would probably drop out
Because my parents are very entrepreneurial and repeat founders themselves, I always knew I wanted to start my own thing and didn’t want a typical corporate career. I’m very lucky to have parents who were OK with me leaving school.
I knew I probably wouldn’t stay at school all four years, but I wanted to have the college experience for at least a little while. I think it’s one of the best things you can do for yourself socially.
When my first year ended and summer started, I saw my other college friends getting internships, but that route didn’t appeal to me. Instead, I thought to myself, “I have four months to focus and figure out what I want to do.”
I picked an audience that other AI creators weren’t serving
I was home for the summer, watching these creators talk about the more technical side of AI, when I realized there was a gap for someone who could make it practical and accessible.
My goal was not to teach people my age, or even people in their early to mid 20s. They can go off and watch the more complex videos. I wanted to simplify AI for everyone, but my main audience is middle-aged Americans ages 30 to 65.
I wanted to show people how to use tools like ChatGPT for everyday tasks, from finding useful prompts and selling things in their garage to preparing for a job interview or finding discount codes online.
The strategy that helped my content go viral
When you’re first posting, you probably won’t have a big audience, so you need to talk about the same things everyone else is talking about, but present them in your own unique style. The easiest way for me to gain an audience was, in a sense, to copy what was already working.
My first video to reach a million views came from watching someone else’s video about an AI hack that was going viral at the time, and I remember thinking to myself, “If only this person talked faster and had a better hook.” I made a video about the same topic with those two changes, and it went viral.
When I see a topic doing well, I also try to get my video out within the next day or two. I have to move quickly because a trend or conversation can pass me by. I also base most of my videos around my hook. One of my big rules is that I always try to have the AI tool that I’m talking about in the actual hook. I’m also a big fan of curiosity hooks, stuff like, “What happens when you ask ChatGPT to rewrite your résumé?”
I’m always analyzing my feed and figuring out what I should be talking about next. If I’m scrolling on my phone, watching Instagram Reels, and I see a video on a topic I want to talk about, I think of what my hook would be, write it in my Notes app, and then build the video around that hook whenever it’s time to film.
A lot of people say staying really consistent is important. I think that’s true in the long term and not as much in the short term. I try to post twice a day now, but there have been times I didn’t post for a few days. In April, I was probably posting three or four times a day because I was super locked in, so it changes. My consistency is probably my biggest challenge.
I waited to do my first brand deal
I went the first few months without doing branded deals, and I think it’s really important to build a strong audience that trusts you and your reputation before you take your first brand deal.
I had 80,000 or 90,000 followers on TikTok, and my engagement was pretty good. I kept getting emails about paid sponsorships. I was so against doing them that I didn’t really pay attention to the messages. Then I spoke to my dad about it, and he convinced me that if it’s a company or product I would normally talk about, why not partner with them and get paid for a video I was already thinking about making? It’s the best of both worlds.
He suggested I reply with a high rate to see what they said, and the first brand deal I made ended up paying $2,400 for two videos. I kept replying to emails, and the deals kept flowing in after that. Brand deals account for 100% of my revenue, and I’ve done over a hundred so far.
I had no formal contract review process for these brand deals when I first started. I was using AI to review the contracts. Luckily, I now have a legal team at my agency that reviews it, which is probably much safer than what I used to do.
I went full-time on this and hired a team
When I hit 100,000 followers last August, I was making enough money that I thought, “I don’t really need to go back to school.” I’m definitely happy with my decision to leave.
I told my friends I might come back, but I don’t see that happening. Being in that environment was really fun, but I knew I wanted to take this a step further, and I wasn’t surrounded by motivated people who were supportive of what I was doing.
I feel very lucky that I get to do this full-time now. I’m now signed with an agency I pursued and have a video editor. For a long time, I resisted getting an agency or bringing on help, but outsourcing editing has been life-changing because the time I used to spend editing one video can now go toward filming several more. I probably waited too long to hire help. My advice is to build a team once repetitive work starts keeping you from doing the part of the job you are best at.
My motto has been to make AI as simple as possible for all people. It’s a complex topic. Understanding it more than the person next to you already puts you ahead of 99% of the people out there.
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