How to Become a Financially-Unbreakable Creator

5 tools to thrive in chaos

There’s the old saying about the only two things we can count on are ‘death and taxes.’ Although the phrase is more of a bad joke than a motivational quote, we’re neck-deep in some really uncertain times.

This means we have a choice.

There’s always a choice.

We can either get upset that the old way is upside-down, or we can make the conscious decision to do something about it — to take acid rain and make sunshine.

As writers and creators we’ve got a responsibility to ourselves and our craft. I don’t know about you, but I’ll keep writing whether I get paid or not. But it sure is nice to also get paid.

• Quitting is easy
• Giving-up is expected
• Being mad at things we have no control over, is understood
• Whining is agreeable

…but all that makes us more fragile.

If there’s anything we can learn from the pandemic, it’s that we’ve all been asleep at the switch. I’m just as guilty. I wasn’t ready either. Every creator owes it to her well-being and her craft, to develop methods to keep the wheels spinning.

Folks without jobs right now are angry.

We define ourselves by what we do, and if we can’t do that thing, we feel lost. Overnight, we learned most of our employers won’t take care of us. We learned that it’s up to us to make our own luck.

For those of us deemed ‘essential’ (I really hate that term), the common feeling at work is “shut up and color!” not “thank you for risking your health to be here every day.”

There’s always a choice.

We can do some things to insure our own work will provide for us. There are five things I’m doing right now to help me stay unbreakable. In the next section I’ll explain them. Maybe they’ll help you too.

Five things to make you an unbreakable creator:

1. Wear-out, don’t rust-out — Most of our work is sedentary. If you aren’t careful, especially while we’re stuck at home, being sedentary will kill you. Not only will it kill your body, it’ll kill your mind and creative ideas. It’s critical to keep moving. I’ve been working-out like an animal every day. Partially to take out my anger for what this virus has done to us, and partially to keep me unbreakable. Protect the temple. You only get one. Our brains are made to do their most-creative work when we’re in motion. Your best ideas make you more money. Movement = freedom.
2. You need multiple income streams — A job is a single income stream. For most, this is the only income stream. In one day the faucet was shut-off for millions of people. Every book you write, product you create, and course you teach, is an income stream. Investments are an income stream. Your house is not. Create and invest in as many different things that put money in your pocket — even if it’s just a trickle. The average millionaire has seven sources.
3. Trust no one — This doesn’t mean be a jerk. This means you can’t rely on any platform to feed you. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, even Medium could fold tomorrow. If that happens what will happen to your work? We must take direct, 100% accountability for our own luck, else someone will do it for us. If you operate your business on a free platform, that platform must get paid somehow, right? If you aren’t the one paying the platform, the platform owes you nothing. No matter how comfy and nicey-nicey they make you feel. Follow the money and you’ll find who steers the business. If you’re not a customer or investor, that person isn’t you. While these platforms are important places to market your work, they are no place to build your shop.
4. Create every day — Most of the work we do won’t be a hit. Where new creators stumble, is in the manic phase. We spend all our time on one thing and if it doesn’t work we feel like a failure and quit. Being a writer or creator is a lifetime vocation, not a one-off event. When you practice your best work, even a little bit every day, you have so many more chances to uncover something that works. Most of my Medium stories fall flat. But that isn’t the goal for me. My goal is to uncover the few winners. The winners are in here somewhere, but I don’t get to decide what they are. You do. It’s my job to turn the crank every day, not to pick the parts of my work that will be a success. No one has that power. When we create every day we build a body of work. When we build a body of work we’re closer to making more of item number 2 above.
5. Never stop growing your tribe — When you own your email list, you own your traffic. A customer list you own and control is one of the key pillars of a strong creative business. When you own your tribe you have direct access to all the people who love your work. Like picking up the phone to call an old friend. As long as you treat your readers as you would be treated, they’ll stick with you for a long time. Your tribe is an insurance policy against all that’s happening right now. Not only can you sell your work directly to the people who need it, but you can lean on your group for help. You can send an email right now, asking for legal, marketing, financial, product, self-care, recipes, or any other kind of advice. Within minutes (or seconds) you’ll have responses from people who care. This is the value of building the right kind of tribe. Not only can you help them, but they’ll help you.

Your email list isn’t optional

If you want to build a business from your creative work, you need a Bat-phone. You need a hard line, directly to the people you serve. You can’t rely on your favorite platform. You can’t rely on word of mouth. You can’t rely on social media.

Yes, this takes a lot of work.

No, most creators won’t build a list, because it’s hard.

But those who do, understand.

When you’ve got a tribe you have a place to go when the rest of the world hits the fan. Think of your tribe as a place to go when there are no face masks. Your tribe is a metaphorical face mask for your creative business.

You’ve got direct access to the people you help, and those who help you.

…oh, and I’ve got something for you — the writer or creators.

I built a free email masterclass for you. I hand-crafted the whole thing. It took me a couple months. I call the masterclass the Tribe 1K.

I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 (or your next 1,000) readers without spending a hot nickel on ads. Past students include New York Times bestselling authors. Yep, the ones you see in the bookstore.

Your email list will help you build a legacy writing business.

If you want to grow your writing business you need email before you lose that valuable reader. Start your list before you need one. Once you need one it’s almost too late.

Tap the link.

Guarantee your seat before I start charging an enrollment fee.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August helps folks who want to make work that sells and sell work they make. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.