Big News: LinkedIn Is Paying Me to Write
I got accepted into the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program in India.
This summer, I’ll get paid to do what I’ve been doing on LinkedIn for free for a year and a half — creating content.
I got accepted into the first batch of the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program in India.
The inaugural program was in the U.S. in November 2021, after which the second country to get it was India.
That was only sensible, as India is LinkedIn’s second-largest user base with 87 million people.
I’ve been a part of the Creator Management Program for a while, where the team handpicked a few folks and told them they’re good enough to know some inner secrets.
But this opens a different world now.
Not just for me, but for every single creator and aspiring creator out there who wants to tap into making a living via the internet.
What Is It?
During this program, we will:
- Have workshops conducted by top LinkedIn influencers
- Get growth strategies from the LinkedIn team
- Connect with other creators
According to LinkedIn,
“The LinkedIn Creator Accelerator in India includes 10 weeks of virtual programming, coaching and content creation.”
What Will We Do?
The application was super long.
We had to put forward an idea that we’ll work on coming to life during these ten weeks.
My idea was to empower people on side hustles and creator economy. It’s something that isn’t spoken about enough on LinkedIn, and hardly in India.
In India, we don’t even have the part-time job culture and everybody is encouraged to follow a very traditional career path.
But side hustling can empower:
- people in remote areas to pick up work and get paid, without relocating to big cities and paying sky-rocketing rents.
- more women to enter the workforce with their own rules
- people who want an additional source of income
- can help you quit the 9–5 (this is what I did)
Money
We’ll get paid for these ten weeks.
I’m not sure if I’m allowed to display the figure as I haven’t read the fine print of my contract, yet.
But to give you an idea, the U.S. participants were paid $15,000 each and we’re paid a fraction of it.
A much smaller fraction.
But not bad at all, considering we have been creating content for free anyway.
And if we compare, it’s far more than the Indian median graduate salary for just a few hours a week.
Creators Should Be Excited
It’s a brilliant time to do what you want to do.
It’s a brilliant time to create.
I mean, platforms are paying us to create on their site. How cool is that? So far, only Medium and YouTube have been the big players in the game.
If this doesn’t look like a ray of sunshine, I don’t know what will.
The Creator Lifestyle
I’ve reduced my working hours and increased how much I get paid by a tremendous margin in the past year.
Where else does working for 4 hours a day pay you far more than your corporate paycheck?
Of course, it isn’t easy. But at least I’m aligned with my purpose.
I’m genuinely excited to wake up and get working. This is a lifestyle that's absolutely doable for you, too.
My Advice for Newer Folks
Create.
Create a lot on one platform.
Once you have a catalogue of work, repurpose your content and move a bit to others.
Attract opportunities instead of going to Fiverr and competing for $5/1000 word gigs.
And get onto Twitter as soon as you can.
It’s a goldmine to learn, build an audience, make new friends, and sell your products/ services without being spammy.
Use your tweets on LinkedIn. Boom. You’re now creating across platforms with hardly any effort.
Stop This Already
When you start, people will call you names.
It’ll get even more difficult than it already is to share vulnerable stories. It’s already scary to go out there, and it gets worse when you know there are people judging you.
I was so afraid of old colleagues judging me. But I can’t do anything about it, so why worry?
You may think you’ve already missed the creator economy bandwagon. Maybe you’re too late.
The most common — you feel you have nothing original to put out there. Don’t worry, nobody does.
It’s your experience and opinions on concepts that make it unique (you-nique).
So stop with the excuses.
Last
Keep a lookout for the program coming to your country.
Keep creating on a platform of your choice. LinkedIn is great because it's open and organic. You don’t need followers to do well.
Virality is pretty doable.
Just writing for 15 minutes a day can help you:
- build a brand
- build an audience
- get a dream opportunity
Start right now.
Being at the right time in the right place is essential. You can get closer to that by showing up consistently.
The best time is now.
