Like it or not, being an influencer could mean big money (though it might be a tad tricky now with COVID-19 drying up every company’s advertising funds).
The influencer marketing industry is set to be worth up to USD$15 billion by 2022—not sure if COVID-19 has derailed that figure but you get the gist: like any industry, if you perform well, you can get wealthy from being an influencer.
So wealthy that you can, like, buy a Lambo.
24-year-old Naomi Neo, a Singaporean blogger and social media influencer, made it to the news recently after she posted a video of her latest purchase: a Lamborghini Huracan.
The entire video is all about how she purchased the supercar and then a long monologue of her opening up to her audience she recounts her journey as a social media influencer and how her perseverance has enabled her to achieve her dreams. She then urged her viewers to follow their dreams as well and hope that her achievements have inspired others.
Needless to say, while comments on her YouTube channel and Instagram have been positive, people on Facebook have been criticising her pointedly.
Some claimed that she was being boastful while others think that now is not a good time to show off the purchase since everyone’s losing this or her job.
So, as an influencer who should be used to haters’ comments, did she just brush them off, or was she so affected that she sold off the car and donated all the money to charity?
Influencer Naomi Neo Responds to Criticism of Her Buying a Lambo & Posting a Video About It
It turns out that she was affected by the comments after all.
In an interview with 8days.sg, she mentioned that she had expected the backlash but didn’t expect to draw so much flak, and so she started to feel “upset about something that was meant to make myself happy.”
She had done the video because she…wanted to create content as that’s what content creators do: they create content.
The reason for doing the video is to inspire others to go for their dreams, and hope that it “kind of serves as an inspiration or motivation to people who felt like me, whether they are a mum, or if they relate to my life ‘cos I was constantly looked down on by the people around me.”
She said that she has contributed to the less privileged as well, but it would sound weird if she spoke about it. After much probing, she revealed that during the Circuit Breaker Period, she didn’t just buy a car; she and her family also distributed 100 bags of food and essentials to underprivileged households.
Man, she should have done a Rebecca Lim:
Planned the Purchase Since Last Year
Buying a Lamborghini isn’t like buying a Hot Wheels toy in Toys’R’Us —it needs lots of planning, and so Naomi has been planning the purchase since 2019.
She finally bought the car in May this year after she found the second-hand dream car, and it was supposedly a deal that was “too good to pass up”. The five-year-old Lamborghini Huracan cost $600,000, and the modification alone was allegedly cost $100,000—the cost of a new Toyota car that can be driven for ten years.
Reader Bao: But how did she buy the car when Circuit Brea—
The mileage was also very low for the car, so it was “quite a steal.” Despite it being a five-year-old car, she’s now the third owner. The car also has a unique 2-digit car plate number, though it’s unknown if she bid for the number or the car plate number came with it.
Now, if you’re a driver and you first saw the video, you’d most probably think, “Eh, wait, 24 years old, Lambo? Can buy insurance meh? No company would dare to insure her!”
You’re just half-right: according to Naomi, she registered the car under his father-in-law’s name and she’s the named driver for the cheaper insurance premium. Usually, for supercars, you can’t just get someone else to drive the car unless your name is in the insurance policy.
Bought With Own Money
She’s said it in the video and she has reiterated it in the interview: she bought the car with her own money.
The influencer currently has over 632K followers in Instagram and over 448K subscribers in YouTube, and she has a six-figure annual income. I’ll do the maths for you: since six-figure means it’s either $100,000 or $999,999, her monthly income is about $8,333 to $83,333.
And to further do the maths for you, for a purchase of a $650,000 car, one would need to pay an upfront cost of about $250K even with a full loan, and make a monthly instalment of at least $6k.
Reader Bao: You can’t measure the happiness of driving a Lambo with money
Right.
Also, Naomi hasn’t sold off her old car, a two-year-old Mercedes C-Class, to fund this latest purchase, as the Mercs is a “daily drive car” while the Lambo is a weekend car.
Trying not to cry because my daily commute is SBS Transit and my weekend commute is SMRT.
In the meantime, if you’re inspired by her to go for your dream and buy a car, I’m sorry to announce that Goody Feed is another type of content creator, because we’ve done a video about the real cost of owning a car in Singapore (if you hate us for being a wet blanket, then don’t subscribe to our YouTube channel here for more informative videos):
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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