Becoming a full-time content creator is a journey that requires progressing through five distinct stages, each building upon the last, to achieve sustainable success and avoid burnout.
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There are five essential levels of
growth that every creator needs to pass
through in order to become a full-time
content creator. Each of these stages
build on the last to create a successful
creator career. And if you skip one of
them, then you'll either struggle to
actually grow an audience [music]
or you'll get burnt out before you
actually make any money. Full-time
creators are not an overnight success,
even though sometimes it can seem like
that. And going viral is not the key
that you think it is to unlocking this
as a career. I'm going to talk you
through these five stages of growth and
tell you the most critical thing that
you should be doing right now in [music]
order to level up. So, hopefully no
matter where you are on your creator
journey, you'll be able to push through
your current obstacles and get one step
further to being a full-time creator.
So, this is going to be a more chatty
video than normal, so go ahead and make
yourself a matcha, get comfy, and feel
free to listen to this one in the
background. If there's anything that I
think would be helpful for you to look
at, I'll include this little sound
effect to remind you to look at the
screen, but otherwise, happy listening.
Also, let me know what you think of this
format in the comments cuz I know it's
kind of different than what I typically
do, but yeah, I just wanted to have a
chat with you guys today. Stage one,
consumer. Everyone has to start by being
a viewer [music] first. You develop your
sense of taste and understanding of what
makes good content by watching other
creators. Just like being an avid reader
will make you a better writer, being a
passionate consumer of content will make
you better at creating it. But it's very
important that you don't just passively
consume content if you want to move up
to the next level. In his book, Better
Living Through Criticism, writer A.O.
Scott argues that the discipline that
turns a fan into an adept can be
acquired at school or in solitude by
direct tutelage or [music] dreamy
osmosis. In every case, it involves the
transformation of awe into understanding
and the claiming of a share of
imaginative power. To really hone the
skills that you need to become a great
creator, I think you actually need a mix
of that direct tutelage and dreamy
osmosis that A.O. Scott is talking
about. Watching content like mine, I
think, is an example of that direct
tutelage. You're learning the methods,
the techniques, the strategies. Like
you're literally being taught [music]
the tricks of the trade. And that's
great and all, but I think actually the
learning that you do through watching
and observing the creators that you love
who make the kind of content that you
want to create. That is the dreamy
osmosis through which you can absorb
inspiration, absorb the tactics and
strategies, and the methods for great
content by just seeing other artists do
their work. It's like you can't learn to
play the piano well just by reading
music theory books, right? At some
point, you're going to have to actually
listen to music. But listening to music
in itself is not going to make you a
great musician. [music] So, when you are
watching these creators that you love, I
really want to encourage you to be
intentional and active about that. It's
so easy for us to just get caught up in
passive content consumption, but I want
you to watch videos and think deeply [music]
[music]
about why you're enjoying watching it.
What's making you absorbed in the
storytelling. That level of critical
engagement with the content is what's
going to [music] help you actually
become a better creator yourself. A
consumer merely watches content, but an
aspiring creator watches content with a
critical eye. So, you might be in the
consumer stage if you love watching lots
of content online and you're always
thinking about stuff that you'd want to
create. Maybe you have like a notes app
note full of video ideas, but you've
never actually sat down to make one. The
main things that are probably holding
you back right now are like decision
paralysis, the fear of being cringe, and
ultimately just overthinking it. To
borrow some advice from a Substack
article that I read recently by writer
Erophile Gerani, it's called literally
just do things. And this really
resonated with me. She writes, "I would
take advantage of the momentum of
inspiration immediately and act on it.
That's the main trait I attribute good
outcomes to. It comes from being
impatient. When I'm excited or inspired
about something, there's no way I'm
delaying it. I want to launch myself
into it right here, right now, for
better or worse. And I love [music]
that." If you are in this level right
now, I want you to, before this video
finishes, I want you to actually create
that Instagram account, start that
YouTube channel. I know you're probably
scrolling on your phone while you're
listening to me talk anyway, so you
might as well make that scrolling time
productive and take that essential first
step to actually making this happen. The
second stage is the hobby creator.
You've started making videos here and
there just for fun. And at this stage,
you've already passed through the most
crucial filter that holds back the vast
majority of people from ever becoming
creators, and that is simply starting.
So, congrats. So, you might be at this
level if you're making content here and
there kind of as inspiration strikes.
You might be floating from platform to
platform trying to decide if like
YouTube is where you should be posting
or if like Instagram and TikTok is more
of your thing. You might also be
creating content that's kind of all over
the place. Maybe you're exploring
different niches or trying out different
formats. Maybe you've even seen a video
pop off here or there and get a bunch of
views, but nothing has really translated
into actually having a large audience.
So, here are the biggest things that are
holding you back if you're at this stage
and what you're going to do about it.
The biggest practical challenges that
hobby creators face are finding the time
to create and the confidence to tell
people about it. In terms of time
management, I just want to tell you like
it is hard. If you are struggling to
find the time to create amidst like a
full-time job, I just want to say you're
not crazy. Like this is a really
difficult thing. I think one of the
greatest things about making content as
a hobby is that A, [music]
you have a hobby at all. So, it's
something that forces you to stop
scrolling and focus on other things.
Like I think a lot of us think about
content creation as a very chronically
online thing, which in some ways it is,
but the nature of it is you create
content offline. You just post it
online. All the time that I'm spending
writing scripts, talking to my camera,
editing, that is time that I'm spending
not doom scrolling. So, I think it's
actually a really positive way to fill
your time, especially if you're feeling
like overwhelmed by just being on the
internet all the time. Approach it in
ways that you find relaxing and
enjoyable, and that is going to be the
key to making the time to do it more
often. Like if it always feels like a
chore to you, it is going to be
incredibly hard to fit this in amongst
your already busy life. So, I think my
biggest advice in terms of time
management, above and beyond the
practical stuff like time blocking and
creating routines, you need to make sure
that you're approaching content creation
in a way that feels fun and exciting to
you, because then you'll just naturally
make time for it. Now, in terms of
having confidence, I think you kind of
need to gaslight yourself into it. I
know we've all heard fake it till you
make it before, but it's actually really
true. The biggest way to have confidence
is to prove to yourself that you can do
something, but I know it's hard to feel
like you can do something if you don't
have the confidence yet. So, you kind of
just need to hack the system by creating
that first video, posting consistently,
then you prove to yourself you can do
it, and that in turn will make you feel
more confident. It's kind of a chicken
and egg scenario. So, you just have to
rewire that whole system by like pushing
yourself to take that first step, and
that will help you kind of snowball
towards more confidence. Okay, so here's
the practical exact next steps that I
want you to take if you're a hobby
creator. Okay, first, if you have just
arrived at this level, like you were a
consumer yesterday and now you've made
like your first video, I want you to
take some time to experiment. Don't push
yourself to move into the next level
just right away. Take 3 months [music]
or so to figure out what you enjoy
creating. Kind of what I was just
talking about. Figure out what puts you
into that flow state, what you have fun
doing. I know a lot of us get frustrated
at this stage [music] feeling like want
to start getting more views, you want to
grow your audience, but actually having
this time to sort of hustle in silence
at the beginning is kind of a blessing
in disguise because it means you get to
experiment without embarrassing
yourself. Because someday down the line,
once you do grow an audience, you are
going to end up somewhat pigeonholed. No
matter what you do, >> [music]
>> [music]
>> you're going to end up with expectations
on you from your audience about what you
should create. So, relish in this time
right now where you can do whatever you
want and you can really figure out what
you love. After experimenting for a
while, stage is I want you to really
pick a format to focus on. Not only like
long-form versus short-form, though I
think that is an important kind of fork
in the road where you need to figure out
which side you're on. Okay, but in
addition to long-form versus short-form
and like what your primary [music]
platform is, I also want you to hone in
on what your signature format is. A lot
of creators right now are having a lot
of success with having [music] their
content basically feel like a show. I
think really big name examples are
people like Cleo Abram who does Huge If
True, or Michelle Khare who does
Challenge Accepted. Now, obviously these
are big, really well-established names.
I also like to come up with smaller
creator examples for you guys. So, a
channel that I came upon recently >> [music]
>> [music]
>> is called Shameless Nerd, and the host
Reed does thoughtful video essays about
what it means to be online, creativity,
having hobbies, try to spend less time
on our phones, basically. And he has a
consistent format. Same kind of cold
open, joke, silly entry to it. Then
we've got the body of the video, which
is just like thoughtful video essay. And
then at the end, he does kind of the
after video video where he just chats a
little bit. And I think that is a really
solid format because as a new viewer of
his channel, I know when I go back, I
have the same type of video that I can
expect again and again. And people
really appreciate that. Okay, so once
you've locked in on what your show or
your format is going to be, then the
next crucial step is doing it
consistently. You're going to develop a
content calendar and you are going to
stick to it. So, if that's posting a
YouTube video every Monday, or if it's
posting your short-form every Tuesday,
Thursday, figure out what that's going
to be and then hold yourself accountable
to it. The plans that you make for
yourself are just as important as the
plans that you make with your friends,
and you wouldn't flake on a friend,
right? So, stick to that schedule, and
soon enough you'll be moving on to level
three. Level three is being a side
hustle creator. You will inevitably
achieve this when you follow through on
the steps that we talked about at the
hobby creator level. So, at the
beginning, I really just want you to
focus on creating great content and
doing it consistently, and don't get too
wrapped up in the monetization stuff
because eventually it will sort of come
to you. So, as a side hustle creator,
right now you're posting consistently,
maybe you have somewhere between like
10k or like 50k subscribers. Maybe
you've even had a brand deal or two, but
they're just kind of coming in
inconsistently, like here and there.
First of all, I want you to continue
posting consistently. If you're seeing
nice slow and steady growth from your
current content strategy, then keep it
up. I don't want you to change it. The
two main things that you're going to
need to do are develop a monetization
system, and then second of all, figure
out what your plans are for actually
leaving your current job. Like, what is
your financial strategy for that? Now,
in terms of your monetization system,
let's just go over the main income
streams that you're going to be looking
at as a creator. The first is AdSense.
If you're posting on YouTube, the nice
thing about that is it just runs on
autopilot. There's really no more
strategizing that you need to do other
than considering that you can have
mid-roll ads on any video that's 8
minutes or longer. So, if you're making
videos around the like 7-minute mark,
maybe consider making them, you know, 8
minutes because you could probably
increase your earning potential, but
chances are your videos are already
longer than that. Second big one is
brand deals. Now, when I changed my
strategy around brand deals, that is
when I completely shifted the trajectory
of my business. I went from making
around like 70k a year to multiple six
figures, and I just really want to
encourage everybody to basically do what
I did because I found it very effective.
First of all, I created a tracker for
myself, like a database where I would
list all of the brands that I had
contact with. I would write down any
communication that I had over email,
take notes about what we had discussed.
Because when you have a bunch of random
reach outs, it's so easy for them to get
buried in your inbox and for you to
forget about them. So, I would take
notes about all these things, I would
set my alarm to like follow up with
them. And very crucially, after I would
have a successful brand deal, the
project was complete, I would then give
myself a reminder to follow up in a
month pitching myself for another
project with them. This level of
organization and consistency is what
took me from having random brand deals
here and there to consistently having my
YouTube videos booked out with brand
deals like months in advance. If you
want to copy and paste the same strategy
that I used for doing this, I have my
brand deal tracker template as part of
my content creator starter kit. I'll
have that link in the description. The
starter kit is basically a compilation
of all of the resources, templates that
I have built for myself over the years
of being a full-time creator that I
think would also be helpful for you.
Speaking of that, that's an example of a
digital product, which is another income
stream that you might want to explore.
Selling digital products is a great
really low-overhead option for creators
cuz you make it once and you can sell it
infinite times. And trust me, it is not
just something that's available to like
business or like coach-type people. I
know sometimes it can feel like that,
but I personally have purchased digital
products from my favorite travel
creators, like a custom Google Map with
pins or like a travel guide to a
destination where I'm planning to go to.
I've even purchased like a
language-learning resource hub. Okay,
there's so much stuff you can do with
this. I feel like we get caught up in
the idea that all digital products are
just like ebooks on how to grow on
Instagram, and it does not have to be
like that if you just get creative with
it. Now, to actually logistically sell
your digital products, I'm really going
to recommend that you use Stan Store
because it's built specifically for
creators, and I think it is the most
user-friendly platform for selling stuff
online. And also just generally for
building your business as a creator cuz
there's so many other tools built in as
well. It just takes a couple minutes to
set up, and you can create your own
store, which is basically like your list
of links. This is going to be the link
that you put in your bio on Instagram,
[music] on TikTok. So, on mine, I have a
whole list of like affiliate links to
some of my favorite products. have my
most recent YouTube video embedded, so
you can watch it right there. And of
course, I have a link to my content
creator starter kit. To set this up, all
you got to do is go to your store page
and then click add product. And there's
actually a bunch of different options
you can pick from here. I've been
talking about digital products, but
depending on what you want to offer,
maybe you want to do a membership or
even host a course or offer consultation
or coaching calls. There's so many
different options. You don't have to
feel stuck with doing just one. You can
pick what's going to work best for what
you want to offer and what would be
helpful for your audience. And it's such
a seamless experience for your audience,
too, because they can purchase right
from you without having to like leave
the app that they're in. So, it feels
very integrated. Basically, Stan tries
to make the process as frictionless as
possible, which is ultimately going to
help you make more sales. There's other
really great built-in marketing
features, like their email flows and
auto DMs. Like, if you ever seen me make
a post where I'm like, "Comment link and
I'll send you the link to this product."
I'm using Stan auto DM to make that
happen. It's super easy. If you want to
start making money as a content creator,
I think Stan is the perfect place to
start. You can check it out using my
link in the description, which helps out
the channel. It lets Stan know that I
sent you. So, yeah, make sure you go
check that out. And of course, thanks to
Stan Store for sponsoring today's video.
Level four, full-time and burnt out.
When you implement the monetization
strategies we were just talking about,
eventually you will see them snowball
into a business and also a lot of work
for you. Creating content in and of
itself is very interdisciplinary. For
example, if you're a YouTuber, not only
do you need to know how to like write
[music] scripts and then also use a
camera, edit videos, graphic design to
create your thumbnails, plus a little
bit of like, >> [music]
>> [music]
>> you know, SEO search optimization stuff.
Like, all of that, it's like six or
seven different jobs, and you need to
know how to do all of them just to be a
YouTuber. And now, as a full-time
creator, in addition to all of that, you
also need to know all that business
stuff. Okay, but the biggest things
probably holding you back right now are
actually your time and energy. You just
simply don't have enough time in the
week to do all of the different tasks,
and even if you practically could, you
know, like you can fit it into the hours
in the day, it's more about your energy
and your ability to be constantly
switching tasks. Another thing that
might be holding you back that you might
not want to admit is your inability to
let go of control. Look, I get it. This
can be very difficult when you've built
everything yourself from the ground up.
It can feel really scary [music]
to hand over something to somebody else.
Like, if you've always done all of your
own emails and you have great
relationships with the brands that you
work with, it can be really scary to let
somebody step in and do that for you.
Finally, another component that's maybe
keeping you burnt out is [music]
this idea of golden handcuffs. And this
could be both in the sense of the views
that you're getting and the money you're
making. Typically, we talk about golden
handcuffs in the realm of like people
having like a really high-stress, very
high-paying job, and they want to leave
it, but they get used to having this
really high salary, and so [music]
they're kind of stuck in that lifestyle,
and they can't really leave because they
have this expectation of making a
certain amount of money a year. That can
definitely apply to content creators,
too, but I think another aspect is the
validation that comes from high views
and a lot of engagement. Like, sometimes
I even think about this for myself of
like, "Okay, I could post less. I could
even post about different stuff if I
felt like vlogging more often or doing,
you know, other type of content." But I
know that it would get less views, and
my brain is so conditioned to have a
certain level of success with my content
that having less would like feel really
bad. Okay, well, that's something that
we all need to work through in therapy,
but I just wanted to point it out as
something that you might not have
considered that's maybe keeping you in a
place where you're feeling really,
really stressed, and there is a way out
of it. So, let's talk about your
options. Okay, so one big obvious thing
is you can outsource. You can hire. One
option that I would love to pitch to you
is outsourcing your editing. So, if you
didn't know, I have a small agency of
all female video editors, and we work
with YouTubers called Creatorly Media,
and we've got a few openings for our new
retainer packages. So, basically, I
would highly recommend getting some help
with your video editing cuz it's one of
the biggest, most time-consuming parts
of your job, and it could open you up to
being able to focus on other stuff
[music] that's even more potentially
revenue-generating. Or, I will offer you
this, just relaxing. [music]
Maybe you would just take that time to
like hang out, and that would be so
valid, too. So, that is something you
could consider. Go to creatorlymedia.com
for details. But also, you could get
like an admin assistant. You maybe even
could look for a manager to take over
your brand deals, though typically I am
in favor of self-managing. That is what
I personally do, but you know, it
depends. Teach their own. Another thing
is taking time to return to the
creativity that got you to where you are
now. You need to ultimately decide
what's more important. And I feel like
this comes back to the golden handcuffs
situation of like, [music] do you care
more about getting reach and views, or
is creative fulfillment something that's
important to you in your life? And maybe
you need to sacrifice in order to go
back to that phase of experimenting and
trying out different stuff. But I think
for a lot of people who become full-time
as creators, you spent a lot of years
creating in the same subject area,
[music] doing similar stuff, and you
might find it really refreshing to have
a chance to do something different
again. All of these considerations will
help you get to the ultimate stage five.
And level five is work-life [music]
balance. This is the final stage
because, honestly, I kind of believe
that every creator needs to go through
that process of like [music] burning out
in order to achieve a more peaceful
balance between your work as a creator
and just living life. Cuz the thing is,
when you first start getting paid to
create, it's really easy to go overboard
because it's just like so exciting. This
idea that somebody wants to actually pay
you to like make a video, that's
incredible. And it also just feels
really like unstable and quite fleeting.
Like, you feel like at any moment you
might stop getting opportunities or
money might stop coming in. And so, you
feel this kind of internal pressure to
take every possible opportunity that you
get because you don't know when you're
going to get your next one. And it's
funny how even like 5 years into this, I
still often feel like that. And I
wouldn't say that I have reached this
ultimate stage of enlightenment of like
work-life balance, but I think where I
have arrived at is this understanding
that being a creator is kind of about
going through seasons. You've got your
planting seasons and your harvesting
seasons. And if you try to just
constantly harvest, harvest, harvest,
like create, make money, create, make
money, eventually you're going to
deplete your soil and you're going to
burn out and you just can't keep that up
forever. And so you kind of need to go
back into your own creativity, into a
moment of rest, into maybe making less
money for a time in order to, you know,
plant those future seeds for harvesting
down the line. I often think about like
musicians with album cycles and how that
is a very natural [music] process of
like planting and then harvesting. You
know, artists will like release a new
album, they'll do a ton of promo for
[music] it, they'll tour it, they'll be
in the media all the time, and then
after that dies down, they'll kind of go
away for a while and, you know, maybe
run a couple marathons if you're Harry
Styles, go back in the studio,
brainstorm, write, live a life to become
inspired by in order to make [music]
their next album. And unfortunately as
content creators, I don't think we
really have quite that benefit of time
because we're constantly, you know,
fighting for relevance in the algorithm
and staying top of mind with our
audience. Like I don't quite think it's
possible to just go away for like 2
years and then come back like nothing
happened. Unfortunately, we are not
Harry Styles. But I do think we can do
that on more of a micro level even if it
means, you know, spending a few months
posting super frequently and then taking
a few months to maybe like post a little
less often, [music] take more time for
yourself, learn something new, get
inspired. You don't have to just be like
foot on the gas pedal, go go go all the
time. I really believe in kind of
cycling through growth periods and then
more periods of like maintenance. I know
we've talked a lot about the emotional
side of being a content creator in this
video, but to quote the queen of social
media tips, Tess Barclay, it really is
that deep. I love how she acknowledges
like the emotional work that goes into
doing this career because there really
is so much like self-reflection and
analysis that is built into it. And I
think that that is often overlooked in
videos like this for the sake of, you
know, growth strategies, what's
trending, tips and tricks, and like all
of that stuff is really important, but I
just want to say that I appreciate you
taking the time today to do a little bit
of self-reflection, thinking about your
next step on the journey from this
bigger picture because I actually think
that that is going to help you a lot
more than if I would have made another
tips and tricks video for you. And yeah,
I just want you to know that I'm here to
support you on that journey of becoming
a full-time creator and I really believe
in you. I know it's hard, I know it
takes a long time, there's many ups
[music] and downs, it can be
frustrating, but ultimately I do think
it can also be a very fun and fulfilling
[music] journey as well. So, I hope you
found this video helpful. I hope you
enjoyed joining me for a little matcha
chat and >> [music]
>> [music]
>> as always, thanks so much for watching.
I hope you're having adventures and
following your dreams and I will see you
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