College student earns a fortune by posting PowerPoint tutorial videos on TikTok

This college student has amassed $127,000 in just 6 months by making PowerPoint videos trend on TikTok.

This article recounts the conversation with Jakob Welle Smogeli, a 21-year-old college student in his third year at the University of Connecticut, who has taken TikTok by storm with his PowerPoint tutorial videos. He runs a business with a girl named Johanne Welle Smogeli and his income has been verified by Insider.

He is a soccer scholarship student at the University of Connecticut. In the summer of 2022, he unexpectedly fainted while playing soccer, leading to a jaw injury. At that time, he had to return to his hometown (Norway) and wait for recovery after the injury. During that time, he had to lie in bed all day and had quite a lot of free time.

Taking advantage of his free time, he started making TikTok videos sharing how to make PowerPoint presentations from bed. Six months later, he has 3.8 million followers on TikTok and has earned over $150,000 from the Jacob Ppt brand.

The spark ignited from a peculiar Excel tutorial on “Tóp Tóp' video.

That summer, while lounging and scrolling TikTok, I stumbled upon the triumph of creators teaching Microsoft Excel. If others could garner millions of views and even make money from the mundane software, why couldn't I do the same with captivating PowerPoints?

Though unfamiliar with crafting such PowerPoints, I knew the software held potential beyond conventional use. I embarked on creating my initial PowerPoints from bed, transforming them into short videos for TikTok and Reels.

I posted my inaugural video in July 2022 under the moniker 'Jacob Ppt,' and it immediately gained traction. While the first video didn't quite hit the mark, the third TikTok video I shared garnered 22 million views.

Never did I anticipate my videos trending on TikTok.

Creating videos was a joy, and with spare time on my hands, I kept making and posting them on TikTok. Little did I know that in the following months, I would become the CEO of a PowerPoint company.

Jacob shared that luckily, his first video trended. Prior to that, he hadn't researched TikTok; he simply made videos and posted them. Looking back, he realizes those initial videos had elements that made them trend, but at the time, he didn't pay attention.

Read more: How to make money online for students without capital

Afterwards, he delved deeper into making videos popular and began seriously considering making PowerPoint videos on TikTok. Initially, he had no intention of starting a company, but soon he began to envision turning those millions of views into income for himself.

Initial goal wasn't to make money

Jacob always wanted to start a business and had undertaken projects while in school, but they failed quickly. With the help of friends, he started a project to help Norwegian students improve their grades. However, Jacob Ppt was the first project he truly focused on and took seriously.

He had intended to monetize his PowerPoint copyright in August 2022. Many other entrepreneurs on TikTok had been selling products on Gumroad, a platform for selling digital products.

During the first two weeks of September 2022, he built a prototype for online sales. However, he still prioritized making videos and his third-year studies at school over creating PowerPoints and selling them. Some days, he only spent an hour on PowerPoint, while other days he worked until late at night.

First Earnings from PowerPoint Work

In mid-September 2022, when he officially launched his first product, he was staying in the dorm with his best friend. He uploaded templates to Gumroad and checked for payment and ordering errors. He gave his friend $18 to make the first order on Gumroad. Later, he received $17.20 profit in his account. He jumped with joy. It was a fantastic moment seeing the product he created earn money for the first time.

Jacob's sister, who is studying economics and business administration in Norway, helped register the Jacob Ppt trademark in October. Subsequently, he temporarily suspended payments on Gumroad to register his brand name. She now oversees the company's finances to make decisions about its future direction.

Read more: How to create professional PowerPoint presentations

In the first month, the company earned around $30,000. By November, the company was making up to $50,000 per month from selling PowerPoint copyrights. From September 2022 to February 2023, he earned over $150,000 from the Jacob Ppt brand and made $127,000 from selling PowerPoint templates along with some partnership deals with brands on TikTok.

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