The Rise, The Fame, The Trap. Nobody Talks About This Part.

By Amantha Perera | The No BS Marketer

Let me tell you exactly how this goes. Because nobody actually talks about this part. Everyone shows you the highlight reel. The brand deals. The follower count. The “look how far I’ve come” post with the motivational caption. Nobody sits down and tells you the full story. The uncomfortable, unglamorous, painfully honest version of what it actually looks like to build something online in Sri Lanka. So today, I will.

Stage One: You Are the Joke

It starts with people laughing at you. Not with you. At you. You post your first video. Maybe it’s a bit awkward. Maybe the lighting is bad. Maybe you’re trying too hard and everyone can see it. And the comments? Brutal.

• “Apoo, look at this clown.”
• “What is this fellow doing online? Doesn’t he have a job?”
• “Machang, is he okay?”

Your relatives are WhatsApping each other about it. Your school batch is screenshotting it in the group chat. Someone’s aunty is using your content as an example of what not to do with your life.

 And here’s the thing nobody prepares you for. You know about it. All of it. You see the comments. You hear through people. You feel it. But you keep posting anyway. Not because you’re fearless. You’re not. You keep posting because something inside you genuinely believes this is going somewhere, even when every single person around you thinks you’ve lost the plot. That period is the most important one of your entire career. And most people quit right there.

Stage Two: It Works. And Everything Changes.

Then one day, something lands. A video hits. A post goes around. Your phone won’t stop buzzing, and for once it’s not your mother asking if you’ve eaten. Numbers go up. DMs pour in. Suddenly, people who were screenshotting you in group chats are watching your content every single week. The same aunties who thought you were wasting your life are now proudly telling their friends, “Yes, yes, I know him.” Then come the brand deals. A company reaches out. Then another. You’re sitting across a table at a real meeting, talking about deliverables and content calendars, and you’re thinking, wait. This is actually working. I am actually doing this. Then comes the fame. And I’m not going to lie. It is fun. People recognize you in Odel. Someone asks for a photo at the airport. You walk into a room and the energy shifts just slightly, just enough for you to notice. And the girls? Listen, I’ll just say this: content creation does things for your social life that your MBA never could. This is the part everyone talks about. This is where the Instagram posts get made.

This is the version of the story that gets shared at panels and podcasts and “how I built this” conversations. But nobody talks about what comes next.

Stage Three: The Haters Clock In

The moment you get comfortable, they arrive. Hate pages. Anonymous accounts with a profile picture of a footballer and zero posts, dedicated entirely to taking you down. People who have never met you, never spoken to you, never had a single interaction with you, who have made it a part time hobby to want you to fail. And they are watching. Closely. Every move you make. Every campaign you do. Every partnership you sign. Every opinion you share. They are waiting. Patiently. For the moment you slip. And when you do slip? Because you will. Everyone does. They are ready. Screenshots. Reaction videos. Quote tweets. Whole threads. It spreads faster than anything you ever intentionally put out, because outrage is the algorithm’s favourite meal. You start second guessing yourself. You overthink captions. You hesitate before posting. You wonder if this opinion is worth the three days of chaos that will follow. That fear? That’s the point. That’s what they want. They want you small. They want you quiet. They want you to go back to being nobody so they can feel better about being nobody themselves.

Stage Four: The Trap Nobody Warned You About

Here’s where it gets really interesting. And really complicated. You’ve done it. You’ve built the audience. You’ve survived the haters. You’ve monetized the attention. Now you’re not just a content creator, you’re building a business. Multiple businesses. Real ones. With real money and real clients and real responsibilities. And you’re a different person now. Because you have to be. You think differently. You move differently. You carry yourself differently. The version of you that was posting chaotic, unfiltered content in 2022 is not the version of you that’s sitting in a boardroom in 2026 talking about six figure campaigns. And then the audience, the very people who helped you get here, they start saying it.

• “You’ve changed.”
• “Bring back the old you.”
• “You’re not the same anymore. You used to be real.”

And here’s the painful truth that I’ve had to sit with. They are not wrong. You have changed. But they are also completely missing why. Because here’s the thing about public image that nobody explains when you’re just starting out, posting videos from your bedroom. The moment brands start associating their name with yours, your personality is no longer just yours. It becomes part of their reputation too. You cannot be the same wild, chaotic, say anything person you were when you had nothing to lose. Because now you have something to lose. And so do the companies trusting you with their image.

That joke that used to land? Now it’s a PR crisis. That unfiltered rant that used to go viral for the right reasons? Now it could cost you a contract. That raw, messy, completely authentic version of you that built the audience in the first place? The very brands that came because of that audience are now quietly hoping you dial it back a little. So, you are stuck. Genuinely, painfully stuck.

The Choice, Nobody Tells You You’ll Have to Make

At some point, every content creator who turns this into a real career faces the same crossroads. Do you stay the person your audience fell in love with? The unfiltered, no boundaries, post anything version that built the following in the first place? Or do you evolve into the businessman? The one who thinks before posting. The one who protects his image because his image is now tied to other people’s livelihoods, including his own. The internet will tell you that you can do both. That you can be authentic and professional. That you can keep it real and keep the brands happy. Sometimes you can. But not always. And not forever. Because authenticity built the audience. But strategy keeps the business alive. And those two things are not always pulling in the same direction. I’m not here to tell you which choice is right. I made mine. I’m living with it. Some days I’m completely at peace with it. Some days I genuinely miss the version of me that had nothing to lose and posted whatever he felt like. But this is the rise and fall of content creation that nobody shows you. The rise is real. The fall is not the end. But the trap in the middle, the one where your audience wants you to stay the same while your business demands you grow up, that is the part that will test you more than the hate pages ever could. And if you’re in that middle right now? I see you. It’s not comfortable. But it means you’re building something real.

That’s the No BS truth.