In this turbulent world, nothing is guaranteed. Nothing is guaranteed, full stop. All we can do is count our blessings and work on what we can control.
Two things that are in our control are what we choose to do for work (to make money), and how we choose to spend our time. What we need is to know our options, and this post hopes to give you just that, another option.
I enjoy working. It motivates me and drives my day. As I get older, what I do, why I do, how I do, when I do, and how much I make from what I do, is becoming an increasingly important question on my mind.
I want to:
1) do work that I enjoy
2) that adds value in some way
3) that pays me what I’m happy with, and
4) gives me the freedom to schedule my day.
I also do not want to be dependent on one source of income.
Do you feel this way too?
The more I delve into the creator economy, the more I believe that it can give us these things.
What is the creator economy?
In simple terms, the creator economy is a sector of business where creators make a living online from monetizing their presence, skills, passions, or talent. As Web3 grows, it presents more opportunities to everyone in the creator economy, every day.
So, if you can ‘create’ something, anything, that offers value to anyone else, you can monetize it online. Your audience gets something of value, you get the satisfaction of providing that value, plus some money.
Since what you ‘create’ will be made and sold on the web - be it a product, service, book, course, cheat sheets, calendars, templates, designs, recipes, anything - you create it once, and sell it over and over again, making it a potential stream of recurring income.
A trickle of income that comes from something you have created, is a taste of liberation from a conventional 9-5 job or supporting income for your already existing business.
For 2022, my focus is going to be on getting this trickle of income. Once there is a trickle, the stream should not be too far behind. Everything is at our fingertips, quite literally!
The creator economy is booming
Some numbers:
There are more than 50 million independent content creators, curators, and community builders fueling the creator economy; this generation of what can be called micro-entrepreneurs is valued at $20 billion.
$800 million in venture capital has been invested into Creator Economy startups since October 2020.
From a survey of 2000 creators, 46% of whom have been building an audience for 4+ years earn over $20,000 annually across their monetized channels. 43% make about $50,000 annually.
The total creator economy market size is estimated to be around $104.2 billion with a steep growth trajectory predicted. That’s a future valuation of trillions of dollars.
You do not have to be an influencer to be a ‘creator’. Influencers form part of the creator community, however, they are just a segment of it.
You can be part of the creator economy by:
Creating an online course on something you are good at (managing your to do list; teaching yoga to your kids; doing your daughter’s hair; hacks on getting ready quickly; cooking biryani; making toys at home; sketching; meal-prepping; having a method that boosts your productivity; literally anything)
Selling digital products (templates; designs; how-to guides; art; ebooks; calendars, etc)
Sharing information on social media that is useful to others (recipes, parenting tips, cooking shortcuts, productivity hacks, hairstyles)
Sure, you’d have to build and audience to get your ‘creation’ out there, but you do not need to have a massive following to make it happen for you. The ‘riches are in the niches’, as they say. You just need to pick your niche: Who will your creation benefit?
Learning to build an online business based on your ‘ability to create’ something is now easier than ever before. You do not even need any special online skills to get your creation out there. Sites like Convertkit, Kajabi, Teachable, Gumroad, and Notion have done all the hard work and offer sophisticated, easy platforms to create on. You don’t even need to know how to design anything! Sites like Canva and Mojo give you ready templates. We just need have an idea of what to ‘create’ and create it so that it offers value to someone else.
Having said that, it may not be technically difficult, but it does require work and it will take time to materialize; like anything built for long-term success, there are no shortcuts.
I have written about a few mums who have built their business in the creator economy. If the creator economy interests you, I urge you to read these articles.
I’m convinced that the future of work is 100% remote. If you can take ownership of your time and money working remotely, ah, wouldn’t that be a mega win!?
Are any of you already in the creator economy? Would love to hear from you!
I hope you found this useful. Would you like me to write more on my journey in the creator economy? Shall I share what I am learning and experimenting with? Leave a comment and let me know!
Have a great week x
I also think like this. I want to multitask successfully. Use my time and my money well. Wealth.