People leaving their jobs at big giants and becoming YouTube stars has seen a rise in trend in recent time. The question that arises here is why are people leaving their well-paid jobs? The reason for this question can be many, like, not having job satisfaction, time pressure, no work-life balance, too much of stress, working culture and ethics, etc.
Working in a reputable organization sounds like a matter of pride, and the grass seems much greener on the other side of the fence. People start considering you as their role model, society starts recognizing and respecting you, within a short period.
But the reality that lies within is something that only you know. You understand very well how people are, and if you are adding value to the company and economy or it’s just a scam that you are doing that is benefitting only the company and you.
Following your dreams and passion has become a rare event these days; the generation is trapped in an illusion, of getting a high paying job that will get you the life you have always dreamed of. But among those rat races are few daring minds who tried to get themselves out of the trap.
YouTube is a great platform, and many success stories are present around the world. Top YouTubers from around the world have generated good income from making a video on YouTube. People leave their high paying job to follow their passion for making videos because there are lots of advantages of working under no pressure, and the most important fact is- It makes you happy!
So, let’s find out about 10 People who Left their high paying jobs to become top YouTubers and stars!
1. Rhett and Link
One of the most successful Youtubers in the world are Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln “Link” Neal III, who are popular as Rhett and Link
Early life and Career- Rhett McLaughlin was born in October, 1977 and his partner Charles Lincoln was born in June, 1978. They met in an elementary school in North Carolina, USA. Rhett and Charles were very creative boys since childhood, as they were utterly interested in music composition, song writings, and documentary and film makings. They started making documentaries and screenplays while they were in school.
In 1996, both went to the same university in North Carolina, Link studied electrical engineering and Rhett did graduation in civil engineering. After graduation both of them worked in their respective fields, Rhett worked for Black and Veatch, whereas Link worked for IBM, both are highly reputed organizations in the world. While working they were involved in making videos an performing comedy acts for a religious organization known as Cru.
Later, they decided to quit their high paying job to pursue their passion of comedy and acting. They started making duo comedy videos which was an instant hit and since then, they have expanded and run many YouTube channels, production houses, music etc. the list of achievements is quite long.
Recognitions: The duo run a number of YouTube channels including Good Mythical Morning, which has over 6.5 billion views and more than 16.5 million subscribers. They run a show with similar name, Good Mythical Morning, which is a talk show and a third channel called Good Mythical MORE airs directly after the talk show.
The fourth channel is named as “Mythical Kitchen” that features behind the scenes clips. It has over 1.4 million subscribers. Their 5th channel is where they release weekly podcasts known as Ear Biscuits, which has over 2.5 million subscribers and more than 3 million views.
Their net worth is estimated to be around $25 million, which is equivalent to 180 crores in India. Rhett and Link are among the most successful and top YouTubers in the world. They have a celebrity status now, as they do guest appearances, in reputed and popular shows like Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Lopez Tonight etc.
The duo of ‘internetainers’ hasn’t seen a dull moment since their YouTube start; they have even done videos for McDonalds’s, Wendy’s, and Cadillac etc. Their web series were sponsored by Starbucks Candy, and have also written songs for Taco Bell.
Their lists of awards are too long as they have won more than 30 plus awards some of the major includes LА Web Award for funniest YouTube video; in the year 2015 & 2016 they received Awards from the Ѕhorty Аwards for best podcast, best web series, and best web personality awаrd.
2. Biswa Kalyan Rath
Popularly known as a comedian, writer and producer, Biswa Kalyan Rath has an incredible journey on YouTube.
Early Life and Career- Born in December 1989 in Bangalore, India; Biswa Kalyan Rath has been an utterly curious and intelligent person since his childhood. He pursued his higher education in Biotechnology from IIT Kharagpur, in 2012. After graduation, Biswa worked in graphic designing, software engineer, and advertising. He worked for some highly reputed firms. In 2014, while he was working for Oracle he quit his job to pursue his passion.
Biswa Kalyan Rath began his journey of becoming a full time comedian and with his partner they started working and made Pretentious Movie Reviews, a YouTube channel which had series of videos that featured Bollywood movies review in a humorous way that soon gained popularity on the social media. The videos went viral and were even shared by few celebrities that soon opened the gates for Biswa and his partner for live performance.
From 2015, Biswa hasn’t looked back and is continuously climbing the ladder of success. His live performances are uploaded on his Youtube channel which is a secondary source of income for him.
YouTube opened the gates for Biswa Kalyan Rath in 2015, and in today’s scenario he has collaborated with India’s top Stand-up Comedians like Kenny Sebastian, Kanan Gill, AIB, Zakhir Khan Etc. He has produced many videos, web-series and comedy series himself and with collaboration on Amazon Prime and has been a judge for two comedy based shows.
Recognitions: Biswa Kalyan Rath’s Youtube channel has more than 639K followers and over 30 million views. His earnings from YouTube range from 12.2k to 73.4k annually which is around 7 to 54 lakhs. His total net worth including his YouTube earnings and other sources is estimated to be around more than 30 crores.
On Instagram Biswa has more than 322.6k followers, and on Facebook he has more than 2 lakhs followers. In overall social media platforms he has millions of fans and followers.
He has been featured in a movie named as Brahman Naman which is his debut movie, where he played a very short role. His solo works on Amazon Prime are Biswa Mast Aadmi, Improv All Stars: Game Night and Sushi.
He has co-created and co-written web series named as ‘Laakhon Me Ek: season 1 & 2, and Going Viral Pvt. Ltd. on Amazon Prime.
Biswa has been featured in the show of Son of Abish S2E8 with Kanan Gill, who is his partner from a long time and has been a part of AIB Video Podcast on Soundcloud with Sumukhi Suresh. He has been a judge of a really popular comedy show named as Comicstaan for Season 1 & 2.
3. Technical Guruji
Commonly known as Technical Guruji, this YouTube channel is run by Gaurav Chaudhary.
Early life and Career- Gaurav Chaudhary was born in 1991 in the city Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. He completed his schooling from a public school. Later he moved to Dubai for pursuing this higher education. He studied micro-electronics from BITS Pilani which is based in Dubai. A few years later, he started working for Dubai Police in the security system department.
While working for Dubai Police Gaurav Chaudhary started following his passion for providing technical informational videos and started his own YouTube Channel in 2015. He began his journey with product reviews of electronic products. The channel witnessed rapid growth and Gaurav understood his call of becoming a full-time YouTuber. By 2017, he launched his second channel, where he started sharing information about his personal life and events.
Technical Guruji gained its popularity not because the idea was new, but because his channel was run in the Hindi Language. This channel has emerged as the largest tech Hindi YouTube channel in the world.
Gaurav Chaudhary’s Technical Guruji channel has very engaging content and his way of explanation is quite interesting. You don’t need any technical knowledge to understand the features of the electronic devices. Gaurav’s introduction and the whole video is quite engaging, funny and informational, he is well known for reviewing the latest electronics that are launched in the market, may it be a TV, Smartphone, or any consumer electronics goods.
Recognitions- In the current scenario, this YouTube channel- Technical Guruji has more than 18.5 million subscribers with over 3200 videos. His earnings from YouTube can vary from $12.8K – $204.8K, which is around INR 9,56,000 to 1.50 crores monthly and $153.6K – $2.5M, which is 1.14 crores to 18.65 crores annually. He has already received his silver and gold play buttons from YouTube.
Gaurav Chaudhary has marked his place in Forbes India’s 30 under the age of 30 lists. He is one of the two YouTube stars mentioned on the list, apart from Bhuvan Bam, who runs his YouTube Channel as BB ki Vines.
Technical Guruji is one of the most popular and top YouTube channels in India, and in 2019, Cannes festival; he was recognized as the World’s Best Technical Influencer.
With growing popularity, Technical Guruji has interviewed some of the celebrities like Virat Kohli, Guru Randhawa, Honey Singh, Nora Fatehi, etc.; and has done many brand promotions, events, and collaborations.
4. Supercar Blondie
The name SuperCar Blondie is more famous than her original name; Alexandra Mary Hirschi who is an Australian social media influencer known for her unique automotive featured videos.
Early Life and Career- Alexandra Mary Hirschi was born in 1985, in Brisbane Australia. She pursued her higher education in Journalism & Business at the Queensland University of Technology. Later in 2008, she moved to Dubai for her job.
She remained in Dubai for more than 9 years, where she worked as a newsreader and presenter for a talk radio show in an organization known as Dubai Eye 103.8. Mary interviewed many celebrities like Liam Neeson, John Travolta, etc. during her career.
She was always passionate about cars, and later in 2018, she left her high paying job to pursue her passion of becoming a social media influencer. Alexendra introduced the world with supercars and its features. In the small town of Australia where Alexandra hailed from didn’t have many exquisite vehicles and automotive.
She witnessed her first introduction with the luxury car when she visited the USA as a teenager. Alexandra was always interested in the tailoring of the vehicles and its unique design, features, shape, and art done on it, instead of the in-depth mechanical aspects.
She began her journey of making videos with her husband and worked day and night for getting permission to shoot and display the cars and its features. Supercar Blondie makes videos displaying unique cars, helicopters, and boats.
She displays all extraordinary features of the automotive and includes high-end car brands like Land Rover, Buggati, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Bentley, etc. Within a short period, she gained a huge fan base which motivated her to give her 100% every time.
Recognitions: Super Car Blondie has 4.2 Million subscribers on YouTube making her a YouTube star. And 6.2 Million followers on Instagram and over 10 Million followers on Facebook, in overall social media platforms including TikTok, she has more than 30 million followers.
This 35-year-old social media influencer YouTube earnings is quite an impressive; as her annual earnings from YouTube and other platforms are around $1.4 Million, which is more than INR 10 crores!
In 2019, she was mentioned as one of the top 30 most influential women of the Arab world. She has been awarded as the ‘Influencer of the year’ by the Esquire Middle East. In the same year, she was mentioned as ‘Vlogger of the year’ by Cosmopolitan Magazine (Middle East) and ‘Lifestyle Influencer of the year’ from the Monaco Influencer Awards.
Within a short period in August 2019, a TV Show named as ‘Car Crews with Supercar Blondie’ has been launched on Insight TV. In May 2020 she won Breakout YouTuber of the year by Shorty Awards.
5. Arunab Kumar
He is popular as The Qtiyapa Guy, and runs his Youtube Channel which has millions of subscribers and fans.
Early Life and Career- Arunab Kumar was born in a small city of Muzaffarpur, Bihar; in the year 1982. Being an intelligent mind since childhood, he pursued his higher education from IIT Kharagpur, where he studied B.Tech in Electrical Engineering.
After graduation, Arunab directly joined the US air force, where his job was related to Image Processing, but he didn’t enjoy the work. He had lots of great minded friends from different IIT’s from there he gathered some inspiration of trying in the Film-making industry. So, later he joined Red Chilies Entertainment, which is a big production house owned by Shahrukh Khan. He worked there as an assistant.
Later he worked as an assistant director with Farah Khan for the movie production of Om Shanti Om.
In 2009, Arunab came up with his first self-produced short series named as ‘Engineer’s diary’, the plot was liked by many but was rejected by youth channels like MTV. This rejection allowed him to explore other opportunities present around him. So, he went on YouTube and uploaded his video and met his partner who re-edited the video and uploaded it again. Within a few days, the video got 17-18k likes and became the second most viewed video in the entertainment category that week.
From then, the term Qtiyapa became a popular word among the IIT’s and NIT’s, and gradually with the next video, their views started reaching millions within a few days of uploading. The Viral Fever (TVF) has gained serious popularity since then.
Recognitions: Arunab Kumar has a huge fan following, especially from the youth population of India. The YouTube channel TVF has more than 7.3 million subscribers, with only 341 videos with over 90 crores views. Many different channels have been started by TVF and these are named Girliyapa, The Timeliners, and The Screen Patti.
The estimated earnings from YouTube are $45.6k to $730k annually which is around 33 lakhs to 5.5 crores. Apart from YouTube, Arunab has also designed a website for TVF where he uploads videos first and later on YouTube.
The TVF productions have given some serious humor loaded content to the youth of India; their few major hits include web series like Tripling, Kota Factory, Pitchers, Yeh Meri Family, etc. He was mentioned by Man’s World – Men of the Year, and AFAQs – “Newsmaker of the Year” In 2014.
Arunab Kumar was mentioned by The Economic Times 40 under Forty list in 2016; Fortune Top 40 under 40 lists and GQ’s List of Most Influential Young Indians of 2015 and 2016. He was also in the “Entrepreneur” List of 10 Geniuses Redefining Creativity, in 2016.
6. Nas Daily
Popular as the YouTube name, Nas Daily, is run by Nuseir Yassin, a Harvard Alumnus, who quit his job to travel the world.
Early Life and Career- Nuseir was born in Arraba, Israel, in 1992. He was born in a Muslim family who was a Palestinian descent, that’s why he describes he describes himself as a Palestinian Israeli. His mother was a teacher and; father a psychologist, and he has three more brothers.
Nuseir was an extremely intelligent and curious child, as he received a scholarship from Harvard University, where he applied for aerospace engineering, but he graduated with an economics and computer science. While he was undergoing his graduation, he co-founded a pay-it-forward registration service, and also a social media search engine; which is enough evidence of his intelligence.
After he graduated in 2014, he started working for Venmo, which is a mobile payment service owned by PayPal. It is a very reputed organization, where he was able to earn $120k annually which is equivalent to 90 lakhs in Indian currency. After working for 2 years, Nuseir wasn’t satisfied with his job so he quit, in 2016.
Later he decided to pursue his passion for traveling the world and started documenting his journey. Afterward, he decided to make 60 seconds vlogs with lots of information and started his page on Facebook. His idea of filming a video every day for 1000 days was a major reason for his success and popularity.
His video gained such huge popularity that in 2018, he got an opportunity of meeting Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, after that his followers increased to 8 million, and by 2018 end, it reached a 10 million milestone on Facebook.
In 2019, he launched his YouTube channel by the name of Nas Daily Official. And he posts old videos on his YouTube channel, but now he has started giving equal attention to his Facebook page and YouTube channel as well.
Recognitions: Nuseir Yassin, a Harvard alumnus who quit his high paying job to travel the world and make vlogs for social media platforms, has a huge followers base today. On his Facebook page, he has more than 17 million followers with over 78 million likes. On his YouTube, he has only 1.51 million subscribers but has more than 200 million views.
Nuseir’s YouTube earnings are not high as he delayed in launching his channel on YouTube. His earnings from the YouTube channel gets him around $4k on monthly basis, which is around INR 3 Lakhs; but from his Facebook videos, he manages to make around $80k every month, which is around 60 lakhs.
Nas Daily has gained much popularity from making informational and motivational 1-minute videos, for 1000 days daily, which he has completed in 2019. He is working towards his next plan of making 1 video every week for the next 100 weeks, which will continue till 2021.
7. Alex Costa
Alex was an employee of YouTube, who quit his six-figure salary to become a top YouTuber!
Early life and Career- Alex was born in Brazil in July 1988, and by the age of 14, he barely spoke English. Alex was a vivid thinker and he went to Cape Cod Community College; but later dropped out from his college and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career in the entertainment industry as in 2011, he received an invitation from the MCN Machinima for the role of the main host on their Brazilian channel.
Apart from that Alex has impressive work experience with some highly reputed organizations of the world, like Google and YouTube. Getting a job at YouTube was a dream come true for Alex as he worked hard for getting it, there he was working for some well-known celebrities. Life seemed to be going great for him soon; he started his YouTube channel, wherein the initial phase he made gameplay videos of the games, like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Later he switched his genre of content on YouTube to men’s fashion and tips. Now, Alex was working two jobs in a day, one with YouTube for other celebrities and in the night he worked for his channel. The growth his channel was not much until he posted a video about the hair growth in men, from then his YouTube views started getting high.
And from that day, he decided to quit his six figures and a more stable job to become a YouTube star. His YouTube earnings are higher than his Google salary now.
Alex’s decision of quitting such good job was questioned by everyone, but his hard work paid off within 14 months of his start, as the niche which he chose was especially for men, and men don’t generally feel confident in taking fashion tips from other men, from YouTube there was no judgments and lots of information was available, this is one of the major reason for the success of Alex’s channel, that made him a YouTube Star.
Recognitions: Alex’s YouTube channel is named as his name Alex Costa, and has over 2.75 million subscribers with more than 260 million YouTube views on the channel. On his Instagram, he has over 1 million followers.
His earnings from YouTube are estimated to be around $6.23k on monthly basis, which is equivalent to 4.6 lakhs, and his annual earnings from YouTube ranges in between $ 97.6K – $ 586K, which is around 72 lakhs to 4.3 crores.
He has expanded his niche from men’s fashion tips and hacks to fitness, health, grooming, unboxing’s, travel vlogs, and technology-related content as well.
He has worked with top brands like Ferrari, Nike, and MasterCard and has recently been signed by United Talent Agency, and is planning on launching his own business in the grooming line.
8. Becky Sheeran
She runs her YouTube channel by the name of TalkBeckyTalk, at the age of 28; Becky Sheeran quit her job to pursue her career as a YouTube star.
Early Life and Career- Becky Sheeran was born in February 1988 in Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom. As a child Becky was slightly confused about her career, she wanted to go to vet school, sometimes be a graphic designer or sometimes a carpenter.
But later in her life, she went for journalism, from the London School of Economics and Political Science she worked very hard for getting her degree. While she was at college, she started her YouTube channel after becoming good friends with Fleur de Force, who is a very successful YouTuber today.
After graduation, she got the opportunity of getting with one of the most reputed news organization of the world, that is BBC, she didn’t think twice. She worked in BBC as a journalist and continued her hobby of making cooking videos on her YouTube channel.
Because of her BBC appearance, her fan following on YouTube started growing, and this became an issue in her workplace.
In a short period, people started recognizing her more because of her Youtube rather than her presence on the BBC. The conflict in her workplace grew at such a level that she was given an ultimatum for shutting her Youtube channel.
Realizing her passion for fashion and beauty vlogging, when given a choice between her high paying job in a reputable organization and her YouTube channel, she chose the former.
She quit her job at BBC at the age of 28 and became a full-time YouTuber. Becky Sheeran started focusing more on her video quality and increased her productivity. In the present time, she posts weekly videos related to fashion, style, beauty, wellness, self-care, daily routine, and hauls, etc.
Recognition: Becky Sheeran’s YouTube channel is known as TalkBeckyTalk, and it has 209k followers, with more than 22 million YouTube views. She has more than 44k followers on Instagram. Her total estimated net worth is around $5 million which is 40 lakhs in Indian currency. This woman is one of the most successful vloggers in England.
She remains very active on her social media accounts. Becky he continuously gives a glimpse of her life, travel blogs, pieces of information and tours of her houses and hotels, etc. She has worked with some reputed brands and organizations like Bills, Impress Nails, Voucher Cloud, Olay, and Yesto, etc. Becky became a loyal brand partner and brands started sponsoring her promoted content across her social media sites.
9. Nitibha Kaul
Nitibha Kaul was working at Google India, and then she quit her high paying job to pursue her passion and explore the better opportunities in life.
Early Life and Career- Nitibha Kaul was born in Delhi, India, in 1992. She did her schooling from St. Thomas School and later pursued her higher education in Business from the University of Delhi. Nitibha was always an ambitious person, looking for more problems to solve and spent lots of time with like-minded people. She always aimed for the finer things life has to offer and to never settle for less.
She worked at Google India as an Account Strategist, but at the age of 23, she quit her job to be a part of India’s one of the biggest reality show BIG BOSS season 10. Nitibha entered the show as a commoner but gained the confidence and love of the Indian audience with her charm, strategies, wit, and beauty. After the reality show was over, Nitibha gained a huge fan base and was known as beauty with brains.
There was no looking back in the past for her since then. She started exploring and grabbing every opportunity life threw at her because a job at one of the most reputed organizations in the world wasn’t the end for her.
Although Nitibha didn’t change her career path directly into YouTube, she was deeply interested in beauty and modeling. After the show ended, she received huge brand endorsements and modeling contracts; after that, she became a social media influencer as well. She started her journey on YouTube in 2011. And being a known personality she gained huge followers and fans within a short period.
She makes informational videos related to her fashion ideas, lifestyle, career tips, beauty and makeup vlogs, personal life events, songs, etc. and shares it on her YouTube channel and other social media accounts. Nitibha is now a full-time social media influencer.
Recognitions: Nitibha Kaul has 218k followers on YouTube; on Instagram, she has 789k followers and 1million followers on Facebook. The net worth of Nitibha is estimated to be around $1 – $5 million, which is INR 7 Lakhs to 37 lakhs. Although her earnings from YouTube are not much but being a full-time social media influencer her combined income is quite high.
She has always been competitive and has won cash prize worth Rs.10 Lakh, in an application making contest organized by Nokia; where the judges were Bollywood celebrities like Priyanka Chopra and Shahrukh Khan.
Nitibha has been a part of the beauty pageant Miss India organized in 2015, but she couldn’t make it to the finals. But she secured the 1st runner up place in Dabur Miss Rose contest and was crowned Delhi Times Fresh Face. She has done brand endorsements with Hollywood celebrity Bruce Willis in 2019.
10. PerkyMegs
PerkyMegs is an emerging YouTube star. This top YouTuber is Megha Bahuguna, is a civil engineer by profession. She left her 9 to 5 job to pursue her passion.
Early Life and Career- Megha Bahuguna was born in Delhi. And being one intelligent and curious child, she decided to pursue her higher education in civil engineering. After her graduation, she landed a high paying job in a reputed firm. Megha was never really much interested in the technical field. She describes herself as a person with a creative soul.
As a side hobby, Megha started her YouTube channel by the name of PerkyMegs, but couldn’t devote ample time to it. After a few years of working her 9 to 5 job, monotony started settling in. The charm of going to the workplace started fading away. Megha started getting depressed from her job. That was the moment when Megha decided to quit her high paying job and become a YouTube star.
The decision of leaving a high paying job was a risky one. But the decision made her happy and energetic like before, so she went on with it. The idea behind naming her YouTube channel came from her college days. A cultural festival with the name of ‘The Perkies’ were organized her university, which means energetic and positive people. So she named her channel as PerkyMegha.
Megha is among top YouTubers in India, who delivers interesting and engaging content. It is about lifestyle, fashion, makeup, Indian jewelry trends, and lots of other things. Her personality is fun and charming, which has attracted even more followers recently.
Recognitions: Megha Bahuguna has expanded and now runs two YouTube channels today, named as PerkyMegha and PerkyMegha Hindi. On her PerkyMegha channel, she has 459k subscribers and on the other channel she has 1.14 million subscribers, her combined YouTube view is over 150 million, which makes her a YouTube star.
On her Instagram, she has more than 201.5k followers. She single-handed manages her all social media accounts and is one her way of becoming a popular YouTube star. Megha mentioned that in a day she spends 14 hours on her YouTube channel, and shoots, edits, and uploads every video on her own.
Her earnings from YouTube vary as from her Hindi channel she can make $2.4k every month which is 1.79 lakhs. From her English based channel, she earns around $1.5k every month, which is over 1 Lakh in Indian currency.
These were 10 people who left their tiring 9 to 5 jobs to become full time and top YouTubers. Many budding Youtubers take inspiration from them, but fame doesn’t come easily. Being a YouTube star has both pros and cons of its own.
The benefits of becoming a full-time Youtuber includes no boss, no workload, no sitting at one place and waiting for the clock to tick 5, etc. There’s fame, popularity, recognition, you become your boss, and you earn well, of course. The earnings from Youtube are not high in the initial phase. You need to be patient and dedicated towards your channel to be a top YouTuber.
But there are lots of hard work and creative thinking required from the content creators. Creators are required to work hard, and spend days in editing and delivering a perfect video. Also any budding YouTuber need to understand the algorithm of YouTube views, earning, and its working. With a few thousands followers, the earnings are not enough for your survival.
If you are creative, who has the passion of making videos then YouTube is the platform for you. If you are capable, then giving a try to some off-beat career won’t do any harm.
