Holly lands fantasy job thanks to ultrafast broadband

Holly Shand is feeling top of the league after finding her fantasy job.

The 29-year-old maths teacher from Beverley has become one of the world’s most influential Fantasy Football commentators after creating  her own website Fantasy Football Community – or FFCOM – and becoming a sought-after source of insight and knowledge for the online game.

As well as being the top female Fantasy Football influencer in the UK, her blog regularly attracts 50,000 views a month and live podcasts are watched by followers around the world – from the USA to Malaysia. Watch Holly talking about her online life here.

Holly’s burgeoning online career has taken off while she’s on maternity leave with her six-month old daughter as she’s able to blog, podcast and run her website from home using ultrafast Lightstream broadband.

She said: “Fantasy Football started off as a hobby for me. It was by accident really that it started to become a business for me that I’m doing part-time as well as spending time at home looking after my daughter.

“I try to keep on top of social media posts throughout the day while I’m with my daughter and then I spend evenings blogging and recording YouTube videos and podcasts.

“The USP of my website compared to other Fantasy Football websites is a lot of the content on there brings together what other people have been discussing. I’ll have a look at what the hot topic of the week is and I average around 50,000 page views per month – and that goes a lot higher than that in July and August when everyone’s doing their research for the start of the new season.”

Holly says the arrival of the internet has enabled YouTubers and influencers to create careers that were unheard of just a short time ago – with digital technology opening up whole new horizons for many people.

“Digital means everything to me,” she says.

“When I was a teenager I was destined for a career in maths and statistics. I never really dreamed I could be doing something that I loved in terms of football and statistics as well.

“We are very lucky to be in this age now where you can grow an authentic account online and create that online brand from a small starting point.

“You don’t need high profile organisations to notice you anymore to get that growth and make a career from it.”

Follow Holly on Twitter @FFCommunity