Mpo Bhabay turned motorcycle-taxi work into a TikTok income stream

Mpo Bhabay was a full-time motorcycle-taxi driver for Gojek in Indonesia and a mother of nine. Her driving income was about 50,000 rupiah a day, while platform drivers across Southeast Asia were reporting falling earnings. She needed to keep driving, but could not rely on driving alone.

Her turning-point decision was to make her everyday life the raw material for a TikTok channel. She posted spontaneous stories about customers, work, motherhood, and life as a Betawi woman, using wait times and evenings to create and edit. Over three years she moved from offering free brand endorsements to paid sponsorships.

The audience changed the economics of the job. Bhabay had about 250,000 followers and earned 3 million rupiah—about $200—per sponsored video, with as many as four videos a month. The extra income helped her buy a house and nearly clear her debts, making content creation a material second business rather than a hobby.

The model still had a cost: she had to keep driving, worried that her content would become stale, and believed Gojek excluded her from larger campaigns because she criticized the platform. Her independence was part of the appeal to advertisers, but also limited the platform's willingness to use her voice.

She earned 3 million rupiah per sponsored video, sometimes four deals a month, bought a house, and nearly repaid her debts.

Her driving income was about 50,000 rupiah a day, so she needed a second source of money.

The job supplied a continuous stream of real situations and conversations that could become relatable content.

TikTok's accessible editing tools made production possible during waiting periods and after driving.

Brands valued the personal, authentic feel of a driver speaking from her own life.

When a low-margin job gives you unusual access to real stories, turn that access into a trusted audience and a second revenue stream without abandoning the income floor.

Bhabay continued to drive and create, treating the two roles as inseparable because she needed both. Her sponsored-video income had helped buy a house and nearly repay her debts, while her criticism of Gojek kept her from being absorbed into the platform's larger campaigns.