The Habits of Successful Content Creators

Create your way to side-hustle income.

I read a comment in a Facebook group from a woman who said her husband isn’t happy she is writing stories about her past. The story in question was one of an experience she had before she met and married him.

I rarely comment on Facebook posts, but wrote,

“Tell him they are your stories to tell. You are a creative — you must write.”

I sympathize. Sometimes, those closest to us act strange when we start to write or follow dreams of creativity by taking a leap into the unknown. They often react by demanding more of our time. If someone wants the best for you, they want you to follow your dreams.

Often the reality is people aren’t always going to give you the space to be creative. You need to take it.

Because we have entered the creator economy, more people and more people are trying to make a side hustle income from home. The pandemic forced us to acknowledge what’s been simmering below the surface, something we need to reckon with — what most of us want is control over our time.

Control to work when we want to. Control to sign off from email and text when we want to spend quality time with our loved ones, free from distraction. Control over our schedule.

This is what building a business online gives us. Control over our schedules. And if we’re lucky, make money while we sleep.

The next generation’s fortunes are going to be made in the creator economy.

Everyone is a creator. Everyone is either creating products, creating ideas, books, podcasts, YouTube videos. The creator economy, in that sense, is the apotheosis — above other economies — a level above the labor and capitalist economy because it’s permission-less. You don’t need anyone’s permission (even your spouses) to write a blog post, create a product, code up a new cryptocurrency, write a book and self-publish, make a podcast, create a YouTube channel or a movie on your iPhone.

If I really wanted to follow my lifelong dream of being a director, I could write a script, hire actors, and shoot my vision on my iPhone. Creator Billie Eilish made a record that got the attention of a label, got her song played on KCRW all from her brother’s bedroom.

We are creators. Or at least the opportunity is there for everyone to create. All you need is the internet and a computer.

You don’t need anyone’s permission to be a creator on the internet. You only need a desire and the time to do it.

If you have independence and are accountable to your output (what you create), not your input — that’s the creator’s dream. However, you can’t just like the idea of being a writer or content creator. You have to put in the hours. Come up with a strategy, and, maybe, shift your mental models.

The idea of getting a book published and the process of writing a book are two very different things. Anyone who writes seriously knows this.

Here are some of the habits of successful content creators that get them started in the creator economy

1. They concentrate on the ten percent of work that makes the most impact on their career

Must people spin their wheels and spend a lot of time in ‘make work,’ and before you know it, half of the day is gone. It’s lunchtime!

It’s best to save busy work, like email, phone calls, meetings and texts, for later in the afternoon. Meetings are often just social gatherings and a huge waste of time. It is fine to meet with someone, but it most likely won’t end in productive work.

The more confident you get in what you’re pursuing, the easier it gets to say no to tasks that cut into your creative time.

Ninety percent of the work most people do doesn’t account for the 10 percent that makes an impact.

You do have to go through many iterations to figure out what works; once you do, you’ll get much further in the pursuit of your goal, whether that is making money from writing, building a product, or creating a YouTube channel.

It takes experience and trial and error to find the ten percent that works. As you go through the creative process, you also get better at going right to the thing that will work best, creating the most significant impact.

For example, my output increased when I switched up my writing schedule and separated editing from writing, meaning designating certain days to the writing process and certain days for the editing process. This took trial and error and a lot of hard work until I figured out there was a better way.

I make most of my income from writing, so writing is the thing that gets the most focus.

Writing well covers a lot of bases. It covers content, marketing, and building products. All three of those things require you to write well. Most creators start out writing a blog or publicly sharing their work because you can quickly build an audience from writing well, which leads to other opportunities.

2. They know hard work isn’t everything

Hard work is important. It’s not the most important thing, though. Focusing on the 10 percent that moves the needle and knowing what that 10 percent is, is important.

Working on one thing during your power hours moves the needle on your goal. It’s about judgment. Hard work builds up judgment

Most people make work harder. They spin wheels. Just focus on the ten percent.

3. They know the ability to say no is a superpower

If you want to be creative, you have to be ruthless about protecting your time, so you have blocks of solitary time to get real work accomplished.

The ability to say no and be correct that it was indeed a time to say ‘no’ is a superpower. Through many iterations of creativity and trial and error, you get better at knowing which activities and tasks to say ‘no’ to.

As a creator, you need — and must take the time any way you can — large blocks of alone time. Or with one partner brainstorming exciting things.

Writing is a solitary activity. It isn’t something you can do in large groups. Other people will not give you the space to be creative. You’re going to be most creative on your own or with one good thought partner, so you need to set aside and take the time.

Other people will always fill up your time with well-meaning tasks that need to be done, whether that is a boss calling you in for another meeting or your spouse asking you to stop at the grocery store.

Be protective about your creative time, and don’t feel guilty when you say no.

4. They do busy work after their power hours and aren’t afraid of taking a break

You want to be able to filter out things more efficiently. That means, make the work that is meaningful and impactful a priority during your day.

When I first started writing, I wasted hours in the morning — my power hours when I have the most mental clarity and focus — going through email, appointments, figuring out WordPress. It wasn’t a good use of the time when I have the most energy — the morning. You may have the most energy at 10 pm.

When I pushed the non-essential tasks (the tasks that don’t make much impact — the 90%) to the afternoon, when my energy was naturally lower, my writing output increased because I had all morning free from distractions to write. My content makes me money, so adding writing to my power hours makes sense and increases my impact.

Every job doesn’t take 8 hours a week. That is just what we’ve been told. It is difficult for a human being to sustain focus for more than an hour at a time.

A University of Illinois study cited before suggest taking a break once every hour. Inc. Magazine suggests a break every 60–90 minutes. Time-tracking app Desktime says it’s best to take a break every 52 minutes.

When we take breaks we are actually more productive.

Summary

If you want to be creative, there is no better time. These habits and strategies are just some I’ve used to make a good side hustle income from writing.

Even if you just have the weekends to create, there is no better time than now.