Currently, TikTok can be seen as a gathering place for everything imaginable where people search for all sorts of content. Want drama? It’s here! Want something light and chill? It’s here! Or if you want to reminisce about childhood with countless toys and silly games, it’s immediately available!
The TikTok channel Childhood Rice is the place that fulfills the desire for those who are eagerly asking “give me a ticket back to my childhood” mentioned above. But first, to know how quality this ticket back to childhood is, just watch the clips and you’ll see!
The main character in the clip is Nguyễn Chấn Nam, born in 1998 and from Gò Công (Tiền Giang). Currently, Nam is also the Childhood Rice channel with 802k followers and over 12.3 million likes. On Facebook, he also has over 19k followers.
Chấn Nam’s videos focus on sharing childhood toys and games that anyone has experienced at least once, such as handheld game consoles, “brick” phones, ice cream, cotton candy, renting comics,… This closeness and authenticity has won him a lot of love and admiration from the online community.
A Young Man Starting His TikTok Journey with Only 3 Million VND
About 6 years ago, after finishing high school, Chấn Nam did not continue his studies but started working. From waiter, factory worker, to a milk tea shop employee,… he has gone through many different manual jobs.
But those were only temporary jobs to make money while Nam’s mind was pursuing a different dream. At that time, Nam admired JVevermind and the interesting, humorous vlogs of this vlogger. Therefore, he always had the determination to make engaging videos with many viewers like his idol.
By 2020 – 2021, when TikTok exploded, Chấn Nam quickly noticed that many young people, born from 2000 – 2004, were very successful on this platform. So he was determined to try his luck; partly to challenge himself and find a new path, and partly to fulfill his dream of being like his idol.
The theme Chấn Nam chose is childhood – quite rare on TikTok. “I want to go against the majority. While everyone is chasing new trends continuously, I want to return to the past to create a unique color for myself, easy to leave an impression on viewers. As for the name Childhood Rice, I just wanted to choose something familiar and easy to remember, not carrying much meaning” – the young man from Tiền Giang shared.
After determining the direction, Nam put all his savings into “building” his TikTok channel: “At that time, I had an old phone worth about 3.5 million VND as a tool for filming and editing clips. I had a carpenter make a shelf, bought props, decorated the background for about over 3 million more. In general, I used all my savings to ‘start up’. On the last day of 2021, I had my first clip”.
Trending from the First Clip, Almost No Negative Comments
Immediately, the results proved that Chấn Nam’s decision to go against the crowd was completely correct: Trending from the first clip. Nam himself did not anticipate this: “That was completely beyond my expectations. Initially, I just hoped to get 10k views and would be very happy, but it just shot up to hundreds of thousands and then millions of views”. Riding the wave, the subsequent clips of the young man quickly went viral, making Childhood Rice an impressive “brand” on TikTok.
However, Nam’s TikTok journey was not always smooth, especially with rare childhood items that are hard to find. He shared: “At first, I also faced some difficulties in finding old toys or childhood snacks. After that, anything I couldn’t find, I bought online; although rare, there are still people selling them. The harder part for me was my voice. Initially, my voice was very bad and hard to listen to, so I spent a month practicing to improve my clarity as in the clips”.
The ideas for this TikToker’s clips mainly come from his own childhood experiences. However, since it’s about the past, there are many things Nam has forgotten and had to rely on his friends’ ideas or the comments of netizens below the videos. This also creates pressure for him to constantly think of ideas, striving to have a better script to attract and retain viewers.
Regarding his current fame, Chấn Nam is quite honest: “I really don’t dare to say I’m famous. I’m just happy to be known by more people on social media. Besides, I’m also a little proud because I currently have a certain position while I had to drop out of school while my friends continued their studies”..
When a “spiritual gift” Brings Material Value
Not only bringing spiritual value to viewers, Nam’s TikTok channel began making money after 18 days of its launch.
“About a month after posting my first clip, I used the money I earned to buy a new phone to continue filming better quality clips for everyone. Coincidentally, my old phone lagged and the camera was broken. This is why some of my clips were blurry; fortunately, they were still supported by everyone. I’m very grateful for that” – Nam shared.
By the time the live-stream selling format appeared on TikTok, Chấn Nam quickly ventured into this area and gained a significant additional source of income: “Business has been my long-time dream. In the early days, there were days I closed more than 1000 orders right on the livestream. Currently, the number has decreased somewhat, but for me, I’m satisfied with that”.
Like many people who are livestreaming to sell products, Nam also faces pressures. “The price to pay is when customers get to rest, I have to livestream selling products. Those are days of livestreaming until 1 – 2 AM. In fact, many people even have to endure negative comments while they did nothing wrong” – the young man expressed.
Photo: FBNV