Have you ever wanted to know what it feels like to have your words reach millions of ears? Jaden Dunn did, but unlike the rest of us who leave that as a dream, he got after it. Now Jaden has millions of followers between his platforms and has found ways to turn this following into a decent income. I talked with Jaden to learn about him, his journey as a creator, and what’s coming next!
It all started back in 2019 when Jaden first got into TikTok. He’s always been good at finding ways to make things people love to see that can grow his name as a creator. Back then things were simple, Jaden just had a fun hobby of making people smile through the internet. Even though he was getting great reach, Jaden hadn’t been making much money off of social media. As he grew older he had to pick up a job outside of the content world, which took away from his ability to come up with ideas and make videos. It was at this point he started to focus on bringing in revenue, initially with tips from people who watched his videos and streams on TikTok. Jaden soon expanded to streaming on Twitch, which brought in an alright amount for the first year, but he was looking to make more.
Things started to get serious when Jaden started using his videos and social following to work with companies for partnerships and promo deals. This opened up a whole new world of entrepreneurship for Jaden where he was able to start making a decent amount of money while only focusing on content creation, allowing him to travel across the U.S. while only 19/20 years old! Now he’s keeping the grind up, working on growing both his revenue and name in the social media space at the same time.
One of those things was launching his own clothing line - Main Character (MainCharacter.online). In his words on starting out - “I know that it’s going to be one part of my brand that follows me in the long run because I want to keep pursuing the Athletic/ street wear apparel and make my mark there.” Jaden had been wanting to do this for some years now, but only got into it recently because whenever he tried what seemed to be the best way to get started, it would always seem to be not quite what he wanted. The biggest help for Jaden in getting a great line started was his friend William Michael, founder of the “Displaced By Design” clothing line, who essentially taught Jaden everything he needed to know in order to get a great start. It was important to Jaden for this not to just be some merch with his name pasted on, but rather a real brand with meaning beyond himself, perhaps something that could be the next big thing if he ends up moving out of content.
Over the past couple years Jaden has learned a lot of lessons, one that’s particularly interesting is his mindset toward success. Not everyone is given the opportunity to have a big audience follow them, so he works doubly hard not for his own sake, but rather for the sake of the people who follow, support, and look up to him. If he were to fail, then he’s not just failing himself, but also his community. Jaden’s here to leave a positive mark on the world, whether it’s producing content that motivates people or making content that helps them make it through another day.
Jaden has also learned an important lesson in keeping his audience happy and engaged- consistency, keep doing the things that gathered them there in the first place. For example, he’s been doing comedy videos for years, so it wouldn’t be the brightest idea to suddenly 180 on your following and start uploading differential equations lectures. Jaden’s niche is in memes/comedy, so he’s moving to conquer it. The key is to find interesting trends, ride them, and keep making little tweaks to keep things fun and interesting. Right now he’s averaging millions of views a week, so that means he must be doing something right!
At this point between his dedicated following and his clothing line, Jaden had opened up the door to endless opportunities, so what’s next for him? That’ll depend on what he’s interested in- could be acting, music, fashion, or something else entirely, but for now he’s back in school finishing up his last year of college. For Jaden, thinking about the future isn’t what he wants to do, he wants to make the most of the present he has right now, so that means keeping the grind up on social media and his clothing line. To close out with his words “I’m sure the things I’d like to do in the future will come and I’ll keep steadily grinding toward them but right now I’m just going to enjoy what I have at this moment.”
If you want to ride along on this journey with Jaden, check out his Instagram @jadendunntv, TikTok @jadendunntv, and clothing line, Main Character.
