This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Camillia Nwokedi, a 28-year-old content creator based in Pittsburgh. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
When the crypto startup I was working for was sold in July 2025, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to go all in on myself as a content creator. I had about $6,000 in savings and less than 40,000 followers on TikTok, but I believed I was worth the investment.
In less than a year, I’ve gained brand deals, consulting and coaching clients, and I’m launching my second cohort soon. I’m taking the lessons I learned from the startup to build myself from the ground up.
It’s been a difficult emotional journey, but investing in myself is the best decision I’ve ever made.
I worked at Accenture before getting into crypto
I worked at Accenture from late 2019 to 2021. Bitcoin was popping off at the time, and I started getting the itch to get into crypto, so I started listening to podcasts and building connections in that space.
In 2022, I connected with the CEO of a bitcoin rewards platform, and we hit it off right away. He offered me a job as a special ops agent, and I took it.
The team was really amazing, and I had a lot of senior responsibility, which I loved. At the same time, I was building a social media presence on TikTok and Instagram, where I posted about optimization, self-belief, competence, and more.
In mid-2025, the company was preparing to be sold, and I saw it as an opportunity to give myself a shot. I had been posting consistently, and it really gave me confidence to start looking at myself as an entity and not just a cog in the system.
I had helped scale and sell for other people, but now it was time to give myself that opportunity.
I did a 60-day trial run before going all in on content creation
In the 60 days prior to leaving the startup, I did a series on TikTok called SIM 60, where I posted a video each day pretending to act like a video game Sim. It was all an attempt to get me out of my head, put myself out there, and make content creation more fun. What it did was unblock me as a creative and force me to stop taking myself so seriously.
My audience significantly grew in that period, which gave me confidence that I’d be able to make life as a content creator work.
There are two necessary components for creating a startup: finances and self-belief. And sometimes, if you don’t have the financial component, your self-belief can make up for that gap. Getting my self-belief up helped me feel as though I could go all in.
I started with $6,000 in savings and created a research and development budget
A lot of the initial planning was trying to get my working capital in place so that I could make this leap. I had about $6,000 in liquid savings and a retirement account with about $30,000 in it, which I didn’t want to touch.
It wasn’t a lot to go off of, but because I had been putting myself out there on social media consistently and even had a few user-generated content (UGC) and brand deals coming in, I had a lot of self-belief.
I even gave myself a research and development budget, so I had a little money set aside if I wanted to invest in coaching or consulting to help me with my branding. Thankfully, I haven’t touched my retirement account.
I set quarterly goals and have days dedicated to things like CEO and CFO responsibilities
I looked at all the roles that I would have to maintain as a one-person business and decided to split my week into days dedicated to each role.
I have CEO day, COO day, CMO day, and more. It makes it so that every part of me can show up at the table, but I’m not necessarily asking myself to do it all at once.
Tuesdays are typically consulting and operations days for me. This is when I get things in order and execute things for my clients. As much as I’ve left the 9-to-5, I try to work within that realm for the structure. It helps me manage my time well without overwhelm.
I also give myself quarterly goals or KPIs, which has been comforting. It adds familiarity and structure to a space that is entirely new territory for me.
It’s been an emotional and lonely journey
The most challenging and the most worthwhile part of switching from tech to content creation has been the emotional journey.
One morning, I cried because I was so stressed. There’s a lot of discomfort that comes along with pursuing my goals. It can feel lonely to be building something entirely on my own.
I have to gentle-parent myself and my nervous system to keep going, and to keep believing that it’s going to pay off.
It’s hard to communicate to people how many internal conversations I have with myself on a daily basis to reframe old narratives and rewire limiting self-beliefs.
At the end of every week, I can’t believe I made it
If you’re considering leaving your job or making a big leap, don’t ignore that feeling or settle.
I think people often stay as close to their dreams as possible without actually going after them directly.
As someone with not much savings who is still pursuing her dream, and it’s working out, I could not recommend it more. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made, and I hope others can have the experience of pursuing what they want as directly as possible.
Do you have a story about leaving tech and pursuing a different career you want to share? Email the editor, Manseen Logan, at [email protected].
