Lucy Zheng has a full-time job as a senior corporate counsel at a tech company, but it’s only one piece of her family’s income.
The San Francisco mother of three’s household has 10 income streams, including her W-2 pay, her husband’s business, out-of-state rental properties, options trading, dividend and interest income, and five revenue channels tied to her social-media business.
Zheng began looking for ways to earn outside her day job shortly after law school, when a low-paying role at a small firm left her struggling to cover student-loan payments and bills.
“I tried to start with side hustles that were very low barrier to entry,” Zheng said.
Her first was a fashion blog in 2012. Apart from a camera, the startup costs were minimal.
Courtesy of Lucy Zheng
Once she gained followers, she began reaching out to brands and agencies for partnerships and ran ads on the site. She still remembers her first major deal: TJ Maxx paid her $500 to shop at one of its stores and write a post about seasonal fashion trends.
“I was like, wow, I can’t believe I’m getting paid $500 to do a blog post,” she said.
The blog led Zheng to YouTube, where she learned another lesson about building income online: a video could continue generating advertising revenue long after she published it. She said she still earns money from videos she made years ago.
Her most lucrative income stream: content creation
Since 2012, Zheng and her husband have tried a range of businesses, from a bounce-house company to a real-estate-sign business. Not all worked out: among their flops were a men’s leather-hat business and one selling totes made from recycled plastic.
One of Zheng’s more successful ventures was a planner business that sold digital inserts and physical accessories. It generated six figures, she said, but she shut it down in 2025 after it became too operationally demanding.
Her goal, she said, was to make more money with less time.
Lucy Zheng
In mid-2025, Zheng shifted her focus to content creation. An earlier attempt to build a real-estate-focused account had stalled while she was also running the planner shop, working full time, and raising three children. This time, she chose a broader focus: money.
For three to four months, Zheng posted every day, helping her build traction on platforms like Instagram, where she has more than 200,000 followers. She now creates content about building income streams, investing, real estate, and financial independence.
“Money and financial freedom had basically consumed my entire life for three years,” Zheng said. “Money is what I want to talk about. It’s what I could talk about every single day, and I would never run out of stuff.”
She says her content business now generates enough income to replace her legal salary, though she does not plan to leave her job. She spends about 20 hours a week on content, usually during lunch breaks and after her children go to bed.
The business has five main revenue streams:
- Brand deals and user-generated content. Brands pay Zheng either to publish content to her own audience or to create videos they can use on their own channels and in advertising.
- Affiliate marketing. She earns commissions when followers use links to products or services she recommends.
- Digital products. Zheng sells products including an out-of-state real-estate guide and a budget tracker.
- Platform payments. Facebook and TikTok pay her based on views, watch time, and engagement.
- A paid community. Members pay $50 a month for live calls, coaching, and forums about building income streams.
You don’t need a following to get paid creating content
For people who have time but little money to invest, Zheng thinks content creation — particularly user-generated content, or UGC — is one of the most accessible ways to create an additional income stream.
UGC creators make videos for brands to use on their own social-media accounts or in advertising. Unlike traditional influencer deals, they do not necessarily need to publish the content to their own audience.
“You don’t have to have a following for that,” Zheng said. Instead, create three or four sample videos that demonstrate your editing and storytelling ability, then use them as a portfolio when pitching brands or applying for gigs.
Zheng said beginners can earn roughly $100 to $500 per video.
The equipment requirements are also modest: a phone, a roughly $10 tripod, and, if you need to film at night, a $15-to-$20 ring light. Editing tools such as CapCut and Instagram Edits are free.
“You just film videos on your own time,” she said, “edit them with free software, and then start pitching yourself.”
