The New Career Path Is a Sales Funnel
Editorial | New Stardom
Photo by Chase Chappell
Last week, e.l.f. Beauty confirmed its acquisition of Rhode, the skincare company founded by Hailey Bieber, in a deal reportedly worth $1 billion. The company launched as a direct-to-consumer brand in 2022 with a limited product line and no traditional retail partnerships. Rhode used TikTok to drive demand and customer acquisition, fulfilling orders through its own site while leveraging personal branding, creator seeding, and short-form video to build traction. The brand sold directly to consumers without relying on department stores, advertising agencies, or conventional product pipelines. Hailey Bieber’s existing visibility and large online following clearly played a role in the brand’s early traction.
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Brands like SKIMS (Kim Kardashian) and Goop (Gwyneth Paltrow) had already shown that a personal platform could be turned into a direct sales engine. But with platforms like TikTok Shop, content creators, even those with small followings, are turning their channels into functioning sales funnels, pushing products at speed and scale.
Anyone with a modest audience, any kind of physical product, and the ability to create watchable short-form content can now build a high-revenue business. What matters is not the product itself, but the volume and frequency of content created to seed interest, and enough inventory on hand to fulfill orders fast. There’s no longer a “go-to-market” strategy. It’s “go-to-customer now.”
This combination of high-output content and rapid delivery is what enables small influencers to scale quickly. TikTok Shop has become the core platform for launching and selling directly to consumers. They build their funnels around video, often casual, unscripted clips, that introduce the product and push viewers to purchase via profile links or direct checkout. For others who have a proper business, it takes more than that. But whether business or seller, the storefront is simple; the real work happens in the feed.
This is a system built on speed and volume, prioritising reach and responsiveness. We know that with social media, you don’t need traditional brand marketing if you know how to build basic visibility through short-form content. But now, you need to “build” nothing to make thousands in a day.
With the right video at the right time, even an unknown product can sell out in hours. One TikTok seller told New Stardom she doesn’t test products with surveys or focus groups. She posts. If it lands, she scales. If not, she moves on. Her funnel builds both product demand and personal brand at once.
This test-and-scale loop mirrors what larger brands like Starface have done. (Note: Starface co-founder Julie Schott was formerly a beauty editor at Elle, so she did enter the space with industry knowledge and network access, the contrast is useful here.) Starface, known for its bright acne patches and strong social presence, reported a 93% revenue increase last year. It now sells around 200 units per minute, driven largely by TikTok-first campaigns and creator tie-ins.
Smaller business owners are operating in the same environment. Many started during the pandemic. Others turned to it after layoffs or while transitioning out of corporate jobs. Some are in their twenties, others in their forties and beyond. What connects them is that they are building product pipelines from content, often without making the product themselves.
On the other hand, TikTok Shop influencers are choosing from a wide range of rather low-cost goods, skincare, mugs, shower caps, protein snacks, handheld gadgets, and moving units at scale. What matters is exposure and fulfillment. A viral post can drive thousands of orders in a single weekend.
There’s now little separation between content and commerce. Ads are embedded in casual posts. Checkout is a swipe away. If you have a product, build a repeatable content loop, and link it to simple fulfillment, you can operate at scale, even without a big audience. But it takes time and branding money, and chances are it won’t be a success. However, if you just sign up to TikTok Shop, all you need is 1,000 followers and the will to get in front of the camera and push any type of product that comes your way. You check what’s trending, what’s selling, you order “samples,” and you push the product.
You don’t need to store inventory. You don’t need to run a side hustle. You just need a funnel. And if it works, it can become a million-euro business, fast.
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