How to Turn Content Creation Into a Career

‘You are not a businessman, you are a business, man.’

In my last week’s piece, I argued that content creation is a legitimate career. I also said it might be the only one left soon.

Yes, there are no degrees in ‘content creation’ (yet) — and it’s not something your grandmother would approve of — but there are people who create multi-million dollar businesses by simply being who they are.

I received a lot of good feedback on that post, as well as further questions. Specifically, readers wanted to know what do you do once you’ve agreed that — yes, content creation is a career and one you’d like to pursue.

How do you define yourself and your content from the start? How do you make a living out of it? And what should your best strategy be going forward?

Writing, speaking, communicating isn’t new. Having a content creation career is.

Here’s how to build one for yourself.

Step 0: Adjust Your Mindset

First things first. If you aspire to be a content creator, you’ve got to start thinking about yourself in the right way from the start.

You create content, of course, but you’re also a marketer. You are a person, sure, but you’re also a brand. But most importantly, as a content creator, you are a business.

Most people think I am crazy when I say that.

But I agree with Jay-Z here,

‘You are not a businessman, you are a business, man!’

Think of Joe Rogan, who’s making $100M+ per year from his brand, which is largely fueled by his content.

Or Casey Neistat, who has launched several businesses in addition to receiving sponsorship deals from brands like Nike.

Or the Kardashians which are famous for…being famous. But still, build million-dollar revenue businesses completely from their brand on Instagram.

This doesn’t mean you should be like the Kardashians or Neistats of the world. No. It’s OK to be a small content creator, making a living doing what you love.

The majority of future content creators aren’t going to be huge successes — they are going to be small happy creators, making enough to pay the bills and enjoy life.

Whatever size you become, when you’re creating content for a living, you’re not just typing or words for cash. That’s freelance work.

As a content creator, you are a legitimate business — with revenue streams, marketing, and branding strategies, and cash flow.

You are the CEO of a business of you.

And if you’re just starting, it’s best to think of yourself as a startup.

Step 1: Your Product/Market Fit

In the startup world, there’s such a thing as product/market fit.

In short, it means finding the sweet spot between what you create and what other people want.

You’ve got two variables: your product (business) and your audience — people you’re targeting.

In content, it’s a bit more complicated. Your ideal fit has three variables.

1. Medium — through which you communicate. There are four: visual, audio, text, video. This will determine the platform through which to distribute content.
2. Message — this is what you want to say. Your core message or idea. What people remember you for. Your niche. Every successful content creator has one. Think Tim Ferriss — ‘The 4-hour dude’.
3. Audience — the people you seek to influence. Your tribe. Your fans. It’s all about them.

In content, your ‘product’ = your message delivered through a specific medium. That’s why we have three variables, and not two like in startups.

These three variables comprise the holy trinity of creative success. Every successful creator has these three variables aligned in the right way. Their medium is natural to them. It’s supporting their core message. And the audience adores the creator — in Kevin Kelly’s terminology, they are ‘true fans’.

So if your content isn’t yet successful, it’s probably because you’ve got one of them wrong.

Either you’re in the wrong medium (you should be writing instead of vlogging), the wrong message (you’re not saying what you believe in), or the audience isn’t buying what you’re trying to say (you’re targeting the wrong people).

Spoiler alert: Many successful creatives you see are super-focused. This is survivorship bias. The best way to find your product/market fit at the start is not to focus, but to experiment with many different mediums, messages, and audiences. Go nuts, until you feel it ‘click’.

Now, let’s break these variables one by one.

Step 2: Understand Your Medium

Figuring out your medium is important because that’s what you’ll be doing regularly. So if you chose ‘blogging’, but you’re an extrovert who loves talking, you might find yourself bored too quickly. As a result, your content will suffer.

Pick what you love doing most. The best way to do that is to not focus too early. Successful podcasters record podcasts not because that’s how you become a successful creative, but because it works for them.

So try a bunch of different things. Experiment.

Before I came to Medium.com, I was creating content for five years in my native language (Russian). I wrote blogs, published a self-help book, recorded video interviews, and launched two (failed) podcasts in addition to my video production business. Most of my attempts failed, but that experience became invaluable when I finally decided to create content in English.

I already knew what my medium was (writing). It’s where I was most comfortable, and its what I did best, so that’s what I kept doing.

Try podcasting, YouTube vlogs, IGTV series, create TikToks, a blog on Medium every day for a month, and so on before you settle down on one thing. And once you do, make sure it’s what you love doing.

One quick word of caution. Beware of thinking that one medium is better than the other. It might seem that YouTubers have all the glory these days, but I don’t agree with that. You can become equally successful in recording podcasts as writing books or having a blog.

It’s all a matter of preference, ability, and choice.

Step 3: Figure Out Your Core Message

Your message is your niche. It’s what you say in your content. It’s what you are about. And it also has to do with your voice. You can’t figure it out by thinking.

You’ve got to create your way to finding your voice.

The best advice on this subject I heard was from the bestselling author, Neil Gaiman. When he gave a speech at Google, an aspiring author asked him to give advice.

Neil replied,

«Assume you’ve got a million words inside of you. Get them all out.»

Which is to say, work hard until you know.

In the first few months, you’ll feel like you have to push things out of yourself. Your brain will feel as if someone is scrubbing it with an ice-cream scoop.

That’s good. It means there is progress.

The key is to stick with it, not give up, and forget about ‘focus’. You don’t need to focus on your first 12 months of content creation. You need momentum.

When I started writing on Medium, I told myself I’d write daily — no matter what — for six months, and not judge my results until those six months are up. I called it the ‘six-month-rule’, and it helped me get through the many ‘dips’ that inevitably arise on any creative journey.

During those six months, I wrote about everything from relationship advice to self-help to personal diary entries to poems. Eventually, I slowly started to see the patterns in how I feel about specific writing and how the audience reacts.

How do you know your message is striking a chord? By looking at the only data you’ve got as a creative — feedback.

Not quantitative feedback in the form of likes, followers, claps, or money. But qualitative. Comments. Replies. Responses. Emails. Thank-you notes. And questions.

When I just started, I was so insecure, I shut myself away from the world. I didn’t allow myself to read comments on posts because I was too afraid someone might say something bad about my ideas. I wasn’t aware of just how much I was ridding myself of the opportunity to understand what’s making an impact, and what’s not.

Feedback is essential to understanding what works.

To understand your message, ask yourself this, «What’s the goal of all this?» Why do you create? The real reason. And then seek validation of that.

Personally, I create for the «a-ha» moment. And every time I get a comment from a reader that says something like,

«Wow. That’s an interesting idea, I never thought about it this way.»

Then I know I am unto something.

It’s just like in standup comedy. If you hear the laughs, push further.

Step 4: Find Your Audience

I went to a social media marketing conference last fall. Everyone was talking about how ‘attention’ is the most important asset of the 21-st century. I would argue that the most important asset today is trust.

When is the right time to market your book, business, or project?

Three years ago.

Three years to build a reputation, credibility, trust, and permission — you can then market your idea to people who actually want to get it. Launching a Kickstarter page is always the last step in your fundraising campaign. Building trust comes first.

In 1999, Seth Godin came up with the term ‘permission marketing’. It’s the opposite of ads: they interrupt, and we hate them for that because we didn’t give them permission. That’s why Super Bowl ads don’t work — they appeal to too many different people.

If you have a loyal following of people who are ready to listen to what you have to say, who trust you, they will buy anything you send their way.

The obvious question is, how do you build that trust? How do you have people give you permission?

It’s simple, yet very difficult. It’s also just like in the real world: trust is nothing but your reputation online.

If you are a good human being, we will believe you. If you fuck us over, we will probably click «unsubscribe». In the modern world, where there is so much leverage, every decision you make is amplified — in both ways.

You build trust by showing up for people you care about. Notice that I didn’t say ‘everyone’ — you can’t appeal to the masses and still be meaningful. If you try to reach everyone, you’ll end up resonating with nobody.

Instead, figure out who you want to serve (your audience). Who are those people? Find them.

Then ask, What can’t they miss? And show up regularly, trying to surprise them with the best ideas you’ve got. Give them everything you’ve got.

Woody Allen’s famous advice that ’80% of success is showing up’ still holds true.

You know you’ve got an audience when somebody will miss you if you don’t show up tomorrow.

That’s it, in a nutshell. Now you can figure out what your revenue streams are — and I would suggest using platforms like Patreon, where fans can pay you directly, to build a more genuine relationship with your audience.

But a final important thing to remember is this.

We live in the world of Amazon Prime.

Meaning, everything you want is delivered to your doorstep tomorrow morning, with free delivery. But in ‘real-life’, that’s still not the case.

Things take time. And building a ‘career’ used to take decades. Today, it might be less, but it will still take years.

If you look at most successful creatives, you’ll find the same pattern over and over: they were consistent (meaning, they kept creating), and they were patient. It took Casey 10 years to get to where he is now, not counting another decade of work, self-doubt, and hustle you won’t ever see.

So be patient. Be consistent. Show up. Mix that with the right product/market fit — and you’ve got a recipe for a successful career as a content creator.