It takes Charlize Rebelo three tries to achieve the perfect 15 seconds.

After checking the playback and resetting the ring light, she repeats the process, each time landing the effortless smile a little differently.

This isn’t seen by the audience on the other side of the screen.

For content creator and business owner Rebelo her phone is more than just a phone; it’s her office, marketing tool and, increasingly, her livelihood.

Rebelo is one of the many young Australian influencers who have funnelled their on-camera confidence into a source of income.

According to creator content agency Izea, 25 per cent of Australian social media users between the ages of 18 and 44 identify as influencers, and 55 per cent between the ages of 18 and 60 say they would quit their normal employment to become one.

This love of being on camera came naturally to Rebelo. At six years old she would reach for her parents’ camera and record herself doing arts and crafts lessons, joyfully entertaining herself.

“I think I’ve always naturally gravitated towards creative industries,” Rebelo says.

By the age of eight, her parents put her in acting classes after noticing her love for performing, giving her an early taste of life in front of a lens.

On her birthday four years later, they handed her a phone of her own – a way to text her friends after school. Her love for a phone hasn’t changed, but its purpose has evolved. No longer just a line to her friends is now offers endless possibilities.

As the creator industry grew, so did her curiosity about how social media platforms work.

Her curiosity turned into posting videos on TikTok every day, getting brand deals with Australian clothing companies, managing other businesses’ socials, before she decided to build something of her own.

“That’s where Be 4 Real Babe came from. I wanted to create something that felt like a community for young women and talked about the things we actually experience,” she says.

Be 4 Real Babe was founded in 2024 and started with the concept of building a space for young women to come together and learn from each other.

Today, Rebelo has transformed it into a podcast on Spotify, as well as its social media presence.

Rebelo posts constantly on the Be 4 Real Babe Instagram and TikTok accounts to connect with likeminded people. Whether its advertising a new podcast episode or just a ‘thought of the day’.

Curtin University academic and researcher in the digital economy Dr Jin Lee explains how Rebelo’s journey reflects a broader shift in how young people view traditional work.

“This new landscape of the creator economy has blurred the traditional work-leisure divide by encouraging people to turn their leisure or everyday activities into business opportunities, thereby enabling more flexible forms of labour while emphasising entrepreneurship,” Dr Lee says.

“For young people who grew up with these changes, this type of flexible work may appear particularly attractive in relation to autonomy and freedom highlighted in the creator economy.”

Although it hasn’t always been easy for Rebelo, she says, “I’ve launched things that worked well, had ideas that didn’t perform how I expected and changed direction plenty of times.”

At the beginning of the business, Rebelo collaborated with a production team she trusted and considered to be her friends.

Until one day she didn’t. Money, expectations and ownership of the company became an issue, and the partnership came crashing down.

“It was a really big learning experience for me and taught me the importance of contracts, clear communication and treating your business like a business,” she says.

What comes across as effortless online is rarely so.

“People sometimes only see the finished 20-second or 30-second video and assume that’s the job,

“There’s coming up with the concept, researching trends, scripting, organising locations or talent, filming, editing, finding audio, writing captions, posting, responding to people, and then looking at the analytics afterwards to understand whether it actually worked,” she says.

The job doesn’t typically work like a 9-to-5.

“Even when I’m technically not working, I’m often editing, replying to messages, checking content or thinking of ideas, so it can be hard to switch off fully,” she says.

According to Dr Lee, this constant nature is one of the aspects of the work that is least understood.

“Greater flexibility also means there is no boundary between work and personal life – one’s leisure time can be taken up by work-related activities, such as filming content, ideation, casual check-in of their social media accounts, although one may not consciously realise,” she says.

Rebelo rejects the notion that a creator’s value is solely determined by their reach.

“Brands care about whether you understand their audience, whether you can communicate their message and whether you can create something people actually want to watch,” Rebelo says.

Dr Lee says this shows how congested the social media world has become.

“Against this backdrop, self-branding has become an important imperative to stand out, differentiate from the masses, and establish one’s presence in the rapidly changing media landscapes,” she says.

According to DataReportal, Australia has 20.9 million social media users, or 77.9 per cent of the population, creating an enormous potential audience for businesses built online.

Maia Magoutas, a content creator and founder of a Pilates and brow company, has used her online profile to grow her business.

“The majority of my brow clients have come from Instagram.

“I have so many clients tell me they booked because they saw my personality online and felt like I was welcoming and someone they could trust with their brows,” she says.

For Magoutas, creating content is nothing new. Since she was around nine years old, she has been filming, editing and sharing films online.

“Honestly, it’s become much more than just a marketing tool. Social media has become a big part of my identity and my career,” she says.

In a field where remaining stagnant can lead to falling behind, Rebelo has found that diversifying her income sources is crucial.

She says, “The creator industry can be unpredictable, so I’ve tried to develop different sides of what I do, creating content, marketing strategy, freelance work, brand partnerships and building Be 4 Real Babe.”

It’s been a learning curve for Rebelo throughout her journey.

“I think you must learn the business side quite quickly. Things like knowing your rates, invoicing, negotiating, contracts, managing your time and understanding when an opportunity is worth taking,” Rebelo says. “Sometimes saying no is just as important as saying yes.”

Magoutas explains her similar experience with uncertainty in her business.

“Some weeks I’m fully booked and feel so grateful, and other weeks can be a little quiet. You learn not to take the quiet periods personally and instead use them as motivation to keep showing up and creating content,” she says

Both of these women in business have had to form their own boundaries. Being burned once, meant contracts and precise terms for Rebelo. Magoutas draws a more intimate line by removing parts of her personal life from social media.

“I’d love to get my boyfriend in a video of me doing his brows, but he doesn’t like social media.

“But I’ve learnt that being authentic doesn’t mean sharing everything,” Magoutas says.

Visibility is a two-way street for Rebelo.

“When you put yourself online, you’re essentially allowing people who don’t know you to form opinions about you, and sometimes those opinions aren’t going to be positive.

“There will always be someone who thinks you post too much, you’re trying too hard, you’re doing something wrong or you should be doing something differently,” she says.

Rebelo had to decide whether she’d rather be judged for doing something she loves or hold herself back because she was worried about what someone might say.

“Confidence doesn’t necessarily mean never caring what people think,” Rebelo says. “Sometimes confidence is caring and choosing to put yourself out there anyway.”