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I’m trying to earn an income in the creator economy. You might be, too.
It’s not easy.
But I’ve made some observations (and tested a few myself) and noticed something.
The most successful creators seem to perfectly balance:
These three levers are what I deem The Creator’s Levers for Success. And you can’t only focus on one or two of these levers alone. Here’s why.
→ Consuming too much leaves you less time to create and promote.
→ Creating too much gives you little time to consume new ideas and inspiration, and no time to promote your work.
→ Promoting too much turns people off.
Is there an optimal ratio for these levers? It’s different for everyone. But the balance is key.
For example, lacking any of the three will lead to negative results.
If you don’t consume anything, you’ll lose context to what’s happening in the world. You’ll become a media hermit. You’re creating and promoting — but is it even relevant? Is the idea inspired or is it old news and irrelevant? Will people care about your content?
If you lack creation, you become a media company without any original content. You’re just consuming and promoting. Massive media businesses have become massive with this strategy — but a creator needs creation. Create, even if it’s a little bit. A better strategy: create a lot.
If you’re not promoting, don’t get discouraged when your work isn’t getting attention. You need to tell people about it. Share it. Even a viral post will only get you so far. To be a successful creator is to be a good marketer.
I love listening to podcasts. It’s by far my most consumed form of media. But I’m guilty of doing it passively:
But that doesn’t do my content creating any favors. There’s a better way to consume content: ACTIVELY. Here’s how.
Just like you’d schedule the gym or a meeting, schedule your active consumption. Start with scheduling a few hours a week to actively consume content. This will help with your temptation to consume randomly and endlessly. NO CONSUMPTION outside of those scheduled times. It’s also important to plan time around organizing your notes and ideas, which brings us to Step 2.
Make capturing ideas as simple as possible while consuming content. You think you’ll remember a good idea but why risk it?
» Keep a notebook nearby to write down ideas.
» Keep a doc open on your computer or phone.
» Use a voice-to-text app like Otter.ai
» Or simply use voice typing to take notes on your phone.
Capture. Your. Ideas.
I recently tried a podcast player called Snipd that lets you snip AI generated notes from popular podcasts. It’s really neat. Highly recommend.
Plan time to organize your notes and ideas. The longer you wait between organization sessions, the longer the session will take. Use whatever tech you’re comfortable with. Organize your ideas into categories and content types. Save the links that you’re borrowing from or the inspiration source.
Not all consumption has to be active. Enjoy a YouTube rabbit hole or a Netflix binge — but you might start finding ideas everywhere, even in ‘passive’ mode.
So by all means, Netflix and chill — but don’t forget your notepad.
The most popular words you’ll hear when it comes to creating online:
“Just start.”
Useful — and terribly obvious. But that push is helpful.
There are is an endless array of things you can create, like…
→ a blog
→ a book
→ a video
→ a podcast
→ a drawing
→ a template
→ a database
→ a newsletter
→ a social post
→ a tool or app
→ a community
→ an online course
→ a live audio space
No matter what you create, the most important thing to consider at the start are the following:
Make it SUSTAINABLE and CONSISTENT.
Four points on creating in a sustainable way:
1) Don’t overcomplicate it — keep it simple.
2) Don’t overthink it — you’ll avoid paralysis by analysis.
3) Don’t worry about critique — nobody’s watching you right now anyway.
4) Start with tiny actions + habits — you can turn up the dial as you build momentum.
Aim to show up consistently. Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Your call.
→ Don’t create & publish daily if it’s going to burn you out.
→ Start at a comfortable pace— scale up from there.
→ It feels a lot better to ramp things up with positive momentum.
A note on FREQUENCY:
The more frequent you publish — the tighter your feedback loops.
Example: Tweeting once per week can work… but you’ll improve 7x faster posting one tweet per day and iterating.
Find your creation balance with CONSISTENCY + FREQUENCY + SUSTAINABILITY.
Creation is a journey. How and where you begin is not often where you end up. It’s okay to begin as a writer and find out you’d rather record videos. It’s okay to start a podcast, then realize building the website for it was more fun.
The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll get to where you want to go.
Consumption and creation are fine on their own. But you won’t get far without promoting yourself. It’s your secret weapon.
And this third Creator Lever is often the most under-leveraged.
I’ve seen it written: “if you feel like you’re promoting too much — you’re probably not promoting enough.”
So promote your work!
(And please don’t worry about spamming newsfeeds by “over-promoting” your product. The sliver of folks who see it initially are unlikely to act on it. You need repetition. You need to become top-of-mind and build awareness.)
Find ONE channel to share, distribute, promote your work:
→ Who is your ideal audience and where do they hang out (Twitter? IG? LinkedIn?)
→ Commit to posting & sharing your work in that ONE space.
→ Engage, follow, and befriend like-minded creators; these relationships can help create future opportunities
Remember: a single-channel focus is key at the start so you don’t risk spreading yourself too thin.
As more eyeballs see your work, you’ll (likely) want to capture their attention for the future.
COLLECT email addresses.
“Don’t build your house on rented land” — get people off platform by collecting email addresses.
→ start a newsletter
→ create a template you can give away
→ create a free guide/PDF
→ create a mini online course or email course
This strategy is simple, but it’s not easy. The more value you provide, the easier it will be to collect an email address.
Simple, right?
There’s a lot to digest here. I get it. Keep it simple with these three points:
Fill in the gaps as you go. But mind the levers and use them to your advantage. I know I will be focusing more on this going forward.
If you need help or guidance with your content strategy, I might be able to help you. Connect with me here or here and we can start the conversation.
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