A top TikTok influencer was shopping for a $15,000-per-month 'collab house' but his plan is now on hold. Here's how he's preparing to launch when it's safe.
- TikTok star Josh Sadowski, who has 4 million followers and manages 11 other creators, is planning to launch a creator collab house for his group.
- Collab groups and houses, like Sway LA or Hype House, are a popular trend among TikTok influencers, and a way for these stars to create content together.
- Sadowski is looking to rent an LA-based place once it's safe to do so, and this place will be home to him and three other influencers he manages.
- Sadowski spoke with Business Insider about what the process has been like to develop a TikTok collab house - and have his plans derailed by the coronavirus pandemic - and what he wants to do differently from other creator groups.
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TikTok star Josh Sadowski, who has 4 million followers on the app, thought his creator collective would be moved into an LA-based house by now, creating content together and preparing for a summer tour.
Since the start of the year, 20-year-old Sadowski has been looking to rent a house in the Los Angeles area for three out of the 11 TikTok creators he manages. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, his plans have now been put on hold.
Collab groups and houses, like Sway LA or Hype House, are a popular trend among TikTok influencers, and a way for these stars to create content together.
Some of these houses have temporarily closed in response to the outbreak, like Rihanna's Fenty Beauty House, which was home to five creators. And plans for others, like Sadowski's, have been postponed.
His group wants to move into a rented house in LA once it's safe to do so, he told Business Insider, and tour plans are currently being rescheduled.
"The blessing is that we are able to continue working and live off of what we do," he said. "I'm not stressed about that side of things because content is still being produced."
While Sadowski has been quarantined at his family's home in Missouri, he has been working on content for his digital business and strategically planning out how he will launch the house.
Sadowski spoke with Business Insider about what the process is like to develop a TikTok collab house and what he wants to do differently from other creator groups.
How Sadowski got famous on TikTok
Sadowksi began filming videos for TikTok when he was a senior in high school. After his videos went viral, he became known for the intricate characters in his comedy skits. As the app surged, his TikTok account quickly turned from an after-school activity to a business.
Sadowski treats his TikTok account and various social-media channels - he has 184,000 subscribers on YouTube and 157,000 followers on Instagram - as a full-time career.
He earns money through brand sponsorships and by managing creators and helping them land deals. The main four ways creators on TikTok can use the platform to generate revenue are through sponsorships, selling merchandise, livestreaming, and affiliate marketing.
Sadowski actively promotes companies like Chipotle, and he was included in Chipotle's #TikTokTimeout campaign alongside creators like David Dobrik and Brittany Broski earlier this year.
He's also built long-term relationships with brands for the creators he manages, and he plans to land collective brand deals for the house as a whole, as a way to help cover the cost of living together.
The TikTok creators that will be moving into the house are Sadowski, Hope Schwing (7.2 million TikTok followers), AceCrossCrook (2.4 million TikTok followers), and Sam Vicchiollo (951,000 TikTok followers).
Sadowski's original plan was to get the creator house at the end of March and move in during the first week of April. Now, he said they will look for a place and move in whenever it's safe. In the meantime, they are still working with brands and doing song promos, he's just communicating with everyone from home through video calls.
"If things calm down, the idea is to have everyone who is moving into the house actually be in a two-week quarantine," he said, before officially moving in.
Setting house rules
Sadowski has visited other TikTok creator houses in LA. He said by looking at what works (and doesn't work) for other creators, he's been able to work out his own plan.
He said the way some of the other houses are run can be "chaotic," with groups of people all over the place. His creator collective house will operate differently and won't be open to large groups of friends at all times, he said.
"We will have friends and visitors, just very cautiously, and well scheduled," he said. "It's going to be very organized, not just because of drama but also because of the health risk."
Hype House, the most popular TikTok group, has had some legal drama recently, causing some members to leave the group. Tensions between two of the collective's most recognizable faces, Daisy Keech and Thomas Petrou, has escalated into a legal dispute involving multiple applications to trademark the collective's name, Insider recently reported.
"There's going be a community guideline," Sadowski said. "Be honest, be open, I don't want any drama building up so if you have an issue with anything, or with me, you can come and tell me directly and we will fix the issue."
More specifically, some of the community guidelines will include certain rules in place around how content will be produced throughout the week, how many videos each creator should get done, and scheduled meetings.
Each creator who lives in the house will be required to post a certain amount of content each week, Sadowski said. The house will also have its own name, which will help them establish a larger brand similar to Hype House (which has 13 million followers on TikTok).
Payment in exchange for living in the house is still being figured out, he said, and he added that "housing will likely be provided to the creators in exchange for occasional content."
How much they will spend on rent depends on how many brands they get on board to sponsor the group, but for now they are looking at around $15,000 a month, he said. They are looking to sign a short-term, month-to-month lease, and once they are settled in LA, they may move into a larger $30,o00 a month house that Sadowski "has his eyes on," he said.
Rent-free living for creators is common among other collab houses, like Sway House, a Bel Air mansion home to six TikTok stars represented by TalentX Entertainment. The members of Sway House live rent-free in the company-sponsored place, but to live there, they have to meet a similar content quota.
- A crew of TikTok stars lives rent-free in a Bel Air mansion, but at Sway House you have to meet your content quota: The Sway House, or Sway LA, is home to six TikTok stars represented by TalentX Entertainment.
A TikTok comedy star who manages 9 other creators explains how he pitches brands on sponsorship deals and how much money he asks for: Sadowski spoke with Business Insider about the ways he earns money through the app, like sponsorships, music promotions, and helping his clients secure brand partnerships.
