Dorian Dufour-Vorfeld, aka @FollowDorian, shares his daily life as an entrepreneur on social media

” For me, it’s a way to spread what I learn daily to as many people as possible. “. Dorian Dufour-Vorfeld is a content creator on social networks. He shares his passion for entrepreneurship with his community every day through practical advice. His FollowDorian account, which was fully launched in 2020, now has close to a million subscribers (800,000 on TikTok, 800,000 on Instagram and 128,000). Within a few months, Dorian Dufour-Vorfeld gathered an audience and turned this passion into a profitable business. Content creation is the opposite of entrepreneurship. By sharing your passion, it will keep people interested and create a community. From the moment your content is seen and resonates, brands come to you for partnerships“, – assures the entrepreneur.

From entrepreneur to content creator in social networks

Dorian Dufour-Vorfeld had an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age. ” At the age of five, I collected everything from the plot of my parents’ house that was under construction and then sold them to them.“, he recalls. A few years later, when he was a student in England, he created a questionnaire with a sports-loving friend to develop a nutritional supplement specially designed for athletes. “It was very artistic, it only lasted six months, but it made me realize that by working hard at something that moves you, you get energized.“Says the entrepreneur, who admits to having a nature that gets bored easily.

Dorian then began his master’s degree at HEC, where he distinguished himself by developing an entrepreneurial project that replaced the internship originally required by the institution. “All my friends went into finance or consulting in large groups. I wanted to prove that there are other ways to be successful“. He then restarted his career as an entrepreneur, working on the concept of booking exercise classes at a discounted price in rooms that were not fully booked at the last minute. “Within a week, 1,000 people had already registered. It happened very quickly, we had about twenty partner brands. It was the first time we made money with an idea“.

Three weeks after starting his business, the dream of a successful entrepreneurial project turns into a nightmare. “On March 15, 2020, the President of the Republic announced the ban and closure of gyms.“reminds the content creator. With his partner, they are trying to build a digital offering.”We pulled our hair out trying to keep the action going, but eventually we had to call it quits. It was very difficult“. Trapped at home, he decides to share his experience on social networks. “I started posting a video on TikTok to show what I learned from this failure. I also shared what I learned about entrepreneurship at HEC“. Very quickly, his “in front of the camera” content and practical tips attracted the most people and marked his debut as a creator on social networks.

“The content creator is the scaling freelancer”

Four months later, a brand contacted FollowDorian to set up a partnership and asked for his prices. “I had no idea, I tried to bluffhe is joking. This first contact with a company shows him that it is possible to monetize his content on social networks. It then opens the self-employed status. “A content creator is an expanding freelancer. A freelancer devotes his working time to a small number of clients. By creating content on the Internet, it is possible to reach more people. That’s why they are launched more often in social networks“.

Thanks to his activity, Dorian Dufour-Vorfeld quickly meets his needs every month, even forgetting to ask for Acre (help for business creators and buyers) when he created his status. “This control cost me about 15,000 euros“, he admits. An amount equal to one month’s turnover for the entrepreneur.

The price of a partnership with a creator on the Internet varies according to his audience, statistics at the time and other criteria. For example, Dorian Dufour-Vorfeld values ​​a story on Instagram at around 1,000 euros, while a wider partnership through sponsored videos is around 10,000 euros. “But this is done individually. If I work with a fledgling startup, I can work for free because I like the product“.

By annotating content and partnering with brands, FollowDorian is also putting its reputation on the line.It requires a lot of responsibility. Some companies with questionable ethics sometimes come up with offers of hallucinatory sums“. If Dorian Dufour-Vorfeld has never succumbed to siren songs, he has already been subjected to virulent comments. “I accidentally said something stupid in the video and got an instant backlash. It is very strong, you need to be strong so as not to crack. We are never ready for it“.

Today, through various social networks, a content creator collects from 3 million to 15 million impressions per month. His business continues to grow. In recent months, he has changed from the status of an auto owner to a one-man simplified joint-stock company (Sasu). “I no longer work alone. I started delegating some of the work, especially for publishing content and collaborating with brands“. Seeing content creation as a new business model, the entrepreneur now wants to offer training to anyone, based on his experience, how to get 1 million views in 30 days and, why not, become an entrepreneur in turn.”The idea is not to force people to abandon everything overnight. By devoting an hour a day to creating content around a passion, it is possible to federate a community and possibly generate income as a result.“.