Entrepreneurs of the self are the future:
“It’s easier to grow on Instagram than it is to get a raise at a job,” says Angie, a 17-year-old from Montana who says she has made $1,500 since she started posting sponsored content in June. “You manage yourself.”
Put me down as a doubter. From everything I’ve heard, financial success on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and the blogosphere is about as reliable as the possibility of writing a best-selling book. It’s almost a black-swan event. That is, it’s unpredictable and quite rare. For every person who makes a fortune, or even a halfway decent living on the web, there are hundreds or even thousands of people toiling in obscurity. For every writer who makes the best-seller list, there are hundreds who earn only a meager advance, and thousands more who never earn a penny. You could probably do better by going to Hollywood or Broadway, waiting on tables and hoping to become a star. The future looks more like Uber, to me. And Uber is working furiously to make drivers soon obsolete. Am I cynical, or what?
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Of course, the problem with selling one’s “self” on YouTube, is that your fans then feel that they own you. YouTube stars have been harassed and stalked, had fans threaten and harass their partners (if fans believe that they should be with one of their co-stars, instead of a person who is not a YouTube personality) Hollywood actors have had to deal with similar issues, but it seems like there’s even less of a distance between the YouTube set and their craziest fans.
In addition to that, a YouTuber who is found guilty of using whatever profanity has been decided to be unacceptable can be driven off the platform rather quickly.
Instead of selling your time to a company and having some stability, you put your whole life up for the judgement of The Internet and hope for the best.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
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