5 Dark Sides of Being an Online Creator that Nobody Talks About
Not sure if my former self would become a creator after reading this
Fifty million people around the globe call themselves creators.
There are courses and almost every second article on my Medium feed telling me how to succeed as a creator.
Creator economy has become as sexy as Bitcoin was in 2011.
I have been a creator way before I understood the meaning of content creation. It was only recently when I learned how paradoxical this journey has been while contemplating my journey as a content creator.
Despite showcasing my work to millions of people and creating a solid digital blueprint, I couldn't ignore the dark side of being a creator.
Here is the side of the story that might not be visible behind the heavily edited blogs and Insta reels.
The Urge To Document Everything
Great ideas come when we’re not looking for them.
Yes, you can practice James Altucher’s famous idea journaling and collect multiple notes about whatever comes into your mind. But it’s been universally understood that the best ideas will come when you least expect them, which means you have got to be ready all the time.
I get my best ideas at 2 am or in the shower. But, unfortunately, they also come when I am out with friends. And I’d hit with a solid idea, and I’ll have to mentally pause our conversation to document it in my notes app.
Content. Content. Content. Content.
We chant this word more than my mom chants Lord Vishnu’s name. Whenever I consume anything new, every cell in my body gets hyperactive and wants to share it with my audience.
The urge to document everything gets so high that we miss living in the moment, which is the ultimate way to happiness according to eastern philosophy.
The Paranoia of Perfectionism
Does my hair look fine? Is the lighting perfect? Could I have spoken louder? Can I make the Thumbnail more appealing? Did I forget the Oxford comma in the heading?
I can add a hundred more such points to explain what it likes to be a creator.
The articles that look effortless have taken me nights and days to compose and edit. My Instagram feed that looks neat and symmetrical took me months to plan, design and curate. And there’s still some scope for improvement.
It’s never enough.
The worst part is when you feel it’s enough is the moment you stop growing because you think there’s nothing that you can improve.
Finding that balance takes ages to build and sustain.
I have started calling my projects Work in Progress. It helps me to get rid of the perfectionist mindset and focus on growth instead.
I often ask myself, what if it’s not perfect? So what if I made a mistake?
Isn’t making mistakes a big part of growth?
As Michael Law, a medicine professor from UBC quotes
“At its root, perfectionism isn’t really about a deep love of being meticulous. It’s about fear. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of disappointing others. Fear of failure. Fear of success.”
The paranoia of perfectionism is the constant battle you have to make peace with every day. If you don’, you’ll not be able to publish anything.
You Can’t Escape Online Hate.
I received the most awful and horrifying comment last year. This person had slandered me and slut shammed my mom and me, for I don’t know why. I don’t even share my personal life online, yet people bringing my family into online hatred was devastating.
I got teary and was losing my mind, but I had no control over that angry commentator or anyone else for that matter.
No matter how much you try to help and entertain people through your content.
There will be tons of people who would not appreciate what you do. Some of them may even go out of their way to leave hateful comments on your work.
Some will troll you or spread hate in your community.
Escaping is not possible because these are the very people responsible for your success, and if they get pissed because of hunger or heartbreak, they might use you as a punching bag.
How many people can you report and block?
The Constant Reinvention
I took a break from IG in March and recently decided to revitalize my 3.5k member community.
Rejoining the platform after five months felt like an uphill battle. The views were low; there was hardly any engagement.
The platform had introduced reels and changed its algorithm. So I had to refigure my strategy and train myself to catch up with the trends.
Being a solo creator requires you to spend tons of time on the platform, keep an open mind about the changes and reinvent yourself with every significant update. It’s a constant challenge.
One moment you’re working on creating carousels. The next moment you want to dance to a trending song, all of this while ensuring that your audience is getting what you promised.
Other than adapting to new updates, you also have to reinvent and improve yourself to match your competitors now and then.
It’s a neverending cycle, and it happens across platforms.
The Unbalanced Life
I could be the only one who feels this way, but a creator's life is quite unbalanced. There have been days when I have woken up at 3 am to write a poem or a super sexy headline that could be a potential viral article.
The creative outbreaks can happen at any time, and if you don’t take action, you might lose that idea forever as they come with an expiry date. I lost some fantastic half-written poems and prompts because I was too lazy to document them.
If you’re trying to create content on tropical trends, you’ve got to follow a slim timeline and adjust your plan. It creates instability if you’re on a tight schedule and have other engagements.
Unlike a 9–5 where your time is fixed, being a content creator is more likely a 24x7 job where you’re constantly creating content or thinking about creating content.
This instability affects your relationships and your lifestyle drastically.
Parting Thoughts
Seeing your favorite creator making $50k/month and traveling the world looks lucrative from afar, but you have no idea what goes behind the curtain.
Like anything else, content creation comes with baggage. Nevertheless, we must talk about it as much as we talk about the life-changing opportunities it brings.
As much as I love being a content creator, I feel overwhelmed with everything I have to take care of. Not sure if I’d have still chosen the same path if I had seen the struggle that goes behind creating content.
What we see online is not always the full story.
What’s the biggest challenge you face as a creator?