Transcription
Becoming a full-time content creator has completely changed my life. And in this video, I want to give you the easiest, smartest path to achieve the exact same thing if you are starting completely from scratch. But here's the thing. I am definitely not the hardest-working content creator out there. And I'm definitely not the smartest content creator. The only reason I've been able to get millions of views, hundreds of thousands of followers in such a short period of time was because I just got started and did the right things in the right order. And that's what I'm going to teach you in this video. So, let's dive into this.
Then if you are thinking about becoming a full-time content creator, you essentially have three paths to choose from, and it is so crucial that you pick the right path because if you get this wrong, you could waste months or even years creating content that nobody watches. So the first type of content creator that you can become, I call the jester. Now this is your Mr. Beasts, your Logan Pauls. These are the guys where their only real job is to keep you entertained. Now these guys are amazing at capturing attention; you know, they've got the crazy thumbnails, the insane editing, but at the end of the day, becoming this type of content creator is exhausting because you have to rely 100% on views. So, all the money you make comes from YouTube ads and TikTok sponsorships, things like that. And nobody wants to tell you this, but if you are a YouTube channel that solely relies on YouTube ads to make money, you need to get so many views to actually make a good income, especially if you're an entertainment channel.
Okay, so the second type of content creator that you can become is the influencer. Now, obviously, you've heard this term before. This is the aesthetic Instagram feed. This is the "everything I eat in a day" type of videos. And you know what? I don't actually think there's anything wrong with taking this path. But let's be honest, you're building a brand around your lifestyle and also the way you look. And that only really works if you have a life that looks amazing or you want to fake a certain type of lifestyle, which I definitely wouldn't recommend. So, at the end of the day, the influencer game is all about perception. And there's usually very little depth to what you're doing. Now again, I'm not saying that this is a path that you should never ever take because for some people this is absolutely perfect, especially if you have an interesting aesthetic or an interesting lifestyle and you're comfortable posting about your day-to-day life. But I think for most people watching this video, you love the idea of becoming a creator, but you don't really want to turn your entire life into content. Like I cannot imagine going out every day, bringing my camera, and, you know, filming myself in public. Like for me, I cannot imagine anything worse. And unless you are sponsored right up to your ears, it's actually really difficult to make good money as an influencer.
Okay, so the third and final path is the value creator. And I'm sure if you've seen my videos before, you'll know that this is what I recommend because this is actually the path that I took on my own journey. And let me tell you, as soon as I got started down this path, everything made sense, and everything just started to click. I managed to build my own content business to over $10,000 a month as a completely clueless beginner. And I was making videos about Photoshop and teaching people how to make kind of artsy poster designs in Photoshop. Like it wasn't a highly profitable niche like finance or business or anything like that. And there is no question about it. This is the laziest, or let's say the smartest, way to go full-time as a content creator. And I'll actually prove it to you. So, this channel you're watching right now, it's around about 2 months old, and I have no products, no coaching, no courses. I'm not selling anything right now. But I have people reaching out to me asking, "Do you have a course? Like, how much do you charge for coaching?" Like, I want to give you my money essentially. It's just absolutely insane. And that really is the power of becoming a value creator because that just wouldn't be happening if you were, let's say, an entertainment channel.
Now, let's get into this then. So, what exactly is a value creator? So this is where instead of, you know, trying to be funny on YouTube or showing off your lifestyle on Instagram, you essentially teach what you know, you focus on giving value to people, and you build an audience by solving their problems. But the real question is, how do you actually become one of these creators and actually make a full-time income? Well, that's exactly what we're going to break down right now. So this is the four-step road map to becoming a full-time value-based content creator.
Okay, so step number one of the road map is defining your niche. Now, probably the most common question I get asked is, "What do I even make videos about?" And for some creators, the answer is extremely obvious. Like me, for example. So, back in 2023, I started making videos about Photoshop, which is an interest I've had for quite a while. It's a genuine hobby of mine, so it just made sense. But for others, it's not immediately obvious what to even make videos about. Maybe you have many different interests, or maybe you have this one idea, but you're not sure if you can actually build content around it and actually make money in that niche. And don't worry, this is completely normal. But I think the system I'm about to give you is really going to help you. So, in order to solve this issue, we're going to choose a niche that ticks two boxes. And the first box is personal fit. So, we need to make sure this niche is right for you. And you want to be asking yourself, what is a subject or a topic that I could talk about for hours on end? Like me, I could yap on about how to make videos for hours on end, which is exactly why I'm in this niche. And it's helpful because if you can talk about a certain subject for hours, then you're probably never going to run out of video ideas. And a good personal fit also means that you could teach it authentically and create genuinely valuable content in that niche. And what I mean by that is, do you have knowledge or experiences that you could share that would be genuinely helpful to other people? And the second box that you want to tick is profitability. And what I mean by that is we need to make sure that there are people actually spending money in that niche and that we have something called market demand. And this is so important because what I don't want to happen is for you to fall into the trap of creating content and maybe building out a product in a specific niche only to find yourself in a situation where you just can't make any money and nobody is buying your products because there's no market demand in that niche. But how do we actually determine if a niche is profitable? Now again, you know, I like to keep things simple. So what we want to do is instead of trying to, you know, reinvent the wheel, we want to look at this niche and see what's already working for other creators. Because if you can find successful creators in that niche that are selling coaching or they're selling digital products that people are clearly buying, then there is absolutely no reason why you can't also make money in that niche as well. And if you can think of a niche that ticks both of these boxes, so it's a really good personal fit for you and it's also very profitable, then you are onto a winner.
But having said that, I know that there is one question that you might be asking right now which is really holding you back. And that is asking, "But what if I'm not an expert?" Well, I'm about to give you the truth that nobody wants to tell you, and that is most content creators are not experts. So, when I started making content about 2 years ago about Photoshop, I was definitely not an expert. You know, I don't have a degree in graphic design. I never went to school to do design or art or anything like that. I just love messing around in Photoshop, and I had enough knowledge and enough experience to genuinely help complete beginners. And I've said this before, but most people don't actually want to learn from the absolute top experts because they're just not relatable. Most people want to learn from someone who is maybe just a few steps ahead of them. So yeah, if you're not an expert in anything, don't even worry about it. That is how pretty much every creator gets started.
Okay, so step number two is to create a content system. So here's the truth. If you want to become a full-time creator, you need to upload consistently. But if you've ever tried social media or content creation before, you'll know that that's much easier said than done. Because being consistent over a very long period of time, it is really difficult. Like, I'm not going to lie to you. Especially because when you're getting into content creation, it takes quite a while to start seeing results, which makes it even more difficult to stay consistent in those early days. And unfortunately, this is the exact reason why most creators quit. So, in order to stay consistent and avoid that dreaded burnout, you need a simple system that you can stick to because every single piece of content that you create shouldn't be this huge task, and it shouldn't suck the life out of you. And you definitely shouldn't feel relieved when you finally upload a video. And this actually brings me onto a huge mistake that I see beginners making all the time, which is trying to master every single social media platform all at the same time. And this is because they've heard some YouTube guru tell them that they need to repurpose their content onto YouTube and Instagram and TikTok and LinkedIn and X and just everything all at the same time. But please, if you are a beginner, don't even worry about that stuff yet. Don't even worry about being on loads of different platforms at the same time. That comes later. That comes when you already have a video editor. You know, you're already a full-time creator. For now, all you need to do is pick a content format. So, you need to pick long form or short form. So, simple as that. Now, if you're not sure which content format to choose, I'll be honest with you, as someone who has built an audience on YouTube and built an audience on Instagram and TikTok, you know, with with short-form content, I always recommend YouTube. And the reason for this is while it is harder to grow on YouTube at first, in the long term, it's much easier to build something sustainable because what you can do is build a library of what's called evergreen content, which means you can post a video, and then a year later, it can still be getting views and still be making you money.
So now you've got your niche and you know what type of videos you're going to create. Now let's talk about how to start actually building some momentum. And step three is called the anti-launch. Now this brings us on to a very important part of the journey which is actually getting started. Because I've been getting a lot of questions recently like, should I launch my channel now or should I create a digital product first? Should I buy a new camera or should I practice my speaking before I upload my first video? And I'm going to be honest with you, all of these kind of questions are just procrastination in disguise. Because let's just be honest, the real thing that you're worrying about is maybe looking a little bit awkward on camera. Or maybe you're worried about what people will think if they find your videos. Like, let's just get it all out there. That that's probably what you're actually worried about. But let me put your mind at rest. It is near impossible to not make bad, awkward videos when you first get started. And if you are a beginner who's making awkward videos and nobody's really watching them, that's absolutely fine. That's exactly where you're meant to be right now. In fact, you should see how bad my first videos are on YouTube. Like, they're not on this channel. I deleted them a long time ago. Actually, now I think about it, I should find those videos and I should show you them because they are just dreadful. But anyway, I'm kind of getting sidetracked. So, what do I actually mean when I say an anti-launch? Well, because everyone on the internet seems to be obsessed with launching. So, launching your first digital product, you know, launching your personal brand. But if you have no audience and you're just getting started, none of that stuff even matters. Your only goal right now is to get out of your own head, start messy, as I call it, and just get creating. Because once you start posting consistently, even if it's a little bit uncomfortable at first, something weird starts to happen. You start making better videos. You become more confident. You start becoming more articulate and more engaging on camera. And eventually with time and with these improvements that you're making, people will start to notice.
And that actually brings us on to the final step, which is something I call content synergy. Now, this has to be the number one thing that I see beginners getting wrong. And that is that their content, whether it's on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, wherever it is, their content has no structure. And I see so many creators that are making videos about loads of different topics, and they're aiming their videos at loads of different target audiences. And I'm sure you've heard the advice niching down, but this is a little bit different. This is where I see creators making videos about literally everything. But when your videos all speak to the same type of person or the same avatar, let's call it, that is the real path to building an audience as a creator. Like take my channel for example. This channel is 2 months old. I have less than 20 videos. But I'm seeing some pretty good results already. And I think the main reason for that is all of my videos target the exact same type of person, which is early-stage creators. And to prove my point even more, there are two videos on my channel that are not really in the right niche. They're more in the self-improvement niche. I kind of messed it up a little bit. And those are by far my worst-performing videos. And the point I'm trying to make is that if all your videos are specifically aimed at one type of person, people are going to start binging your content because it will feel like it's specifically created for them. And that is so powerful. And also when you do get to a point where you're creating products for your audience and starting to build a business around your content, that is when this content synergy really starts to pay off because your free content actually becomes the marketing for your paid product. And then you can build this very natural streamlined path from your free content which is all targeted towards the same type of person. And then you can target that specific person again with your paid products. And if you're thinking about starting your journey as a content creator, I actually made this video right here about how to make your first $1,000 as a content creator. So yeah, click onto that video, and hopefully, I'll see you.