“I want to create an army,” Sam Jacobs says in his basement office. “The e-comm uprise army.” It’s an army that charges for admission.

The 21-year-old Jacobs has over 140,000 followers on Instagram, where he broadcasts videos of his rags-to-riches story as a drop-shipper. An increasingly-popular method for online entrepreneurs to launch a business with little to no capital upfront, drop-shipping describes a business model in which one sets up an online store, while others handle manufacturing and distribution. At the same time, he leverages his success as a drop-shipper and as an online influencer to sell others on getting involved: aspiring drop-shippers pay him between $1,000 and $10,000 for his instruction, and if he partners up with them 50% of their profits as well.

Quickly pulling up the sales for a clothing site he runs with a student, he shows the sales numbers for the month approaching the $50,000 mark and the profit margin hovering around 30 percent.

This business lifestyle has been full of changes for Jacobs. From shy and reserved homebody to traveling the world and buying his dream car. From attending Haredi Yeshiva Yesodei Yeshurin in Queens to living comfortably in the suburban pastures of Long Island.

But also changes as a Jew: though he prominently displays a yarmulke and his Jewishness to his six figure viewership, that wasn’t always the case.

“I wore caps,” he says, hesitant about the reaction he might face in presenting to the world as a Jew, thinking, “maybe if they know I’m Jewish they’re not going to want to do business with me.” Eventually, he decided to “screw it” and, contrary to his earlier fears, his business continued to grow, with one key difference: an influx of Jewish followers whom he estimates now comprise 25 percent of his students. And he sees his faith as central to his business approach: “God is very important in my business and in my life, otherwise, I don’t really have any substance for the money.” 

Jacobs also struggles with how to present himself online in a way that both grows his business, and maintains a sense of authenticity. “How I am on social media, I’m not like that in person,” he says, but “I need to show that side of the business, the freedom, because it motivates a lot of people.”

As a frum influencer in a world of e-commerce that is increasingly popular in the Frum world, he thinks the sector has something special to offer practicing Jews. “I think it works with [Frum peoples’] hours," he says. "You can have your business running throughout the entire day; it's you and your computer that’s it.”