How To Become A Content Creator And Make Money

50 million people all around the world considered themselves to be content creators albeit not every one of them makes a living as content creators. 

A recent study suggests that 29% of Gen Z want to be content creators. That’s nearly 1 in 3 people born between the year 1997–2012. 

If you were to travel back in time 20 years, most people wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer. But today, that’s no longer the case. Being a doctor or a lawyer isn’t as glamorous as it used to be. I mean can you blame them? 

If you could choose between spending $300k on student loans plus 8–10+ extra years of schooling to become a doctor while sacrificing family and friends as you work 50–120 hours a week as a resident doctor vs. working <5–30+ hours a week creating videos, uploading blog posts, doing what you love, and pulling in a full-time income, which would you choose? 

By the way, if you’re interested in knowing the true financial cost of becoming a doctor, click here. 

It’s no surprise that so many of us want to be YouTube stars or Instagram influencers. The possibility of escaping the rat race simply isn’t high 10 or 20 years ago. We live in an unprecedented time. You might as well take full advantage of it. Today, we’ll look at how you can become a content creator and start making money online this year! 

Who is a content creator? 

A content creator is a person who creates content on the internet and attracts an audience. Their content could be in the form of a video, a blog post, a picture, etc. 

As a content creator, you can upload content on YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok, or your own blog among other places. 

Be a blogger
If you want to start your own blog, I recommend getting your hosting service from Hostgator. They give you a 1-year domain for free and can help set up your WordPress and SSL certificate all without extra charge. You don’t need to spend hours learning how to do so. They have a fast live chat service to answer all questions you have. They’re one of the best hosting service providers out there. Click here to see Hostgator. 

Btw: I don’t really watch Casey’s vlogs but I know a lot of you do so I put it here as an example. Are you a fan of his vlogs? What do you like about it? Knowing how successful YouTubers attract viewers can be helpful when creating your own content for YouTube.

How to become a content creator

Here I outline 8 simple steps that you can take to become a content creator and start making money this year! 

Step 1: Choose a niche 

Not all niches are the same. Some niches earn more than others and some niches barely make you any money even if you have millions of views each month. 

Click here to see the most lucrative niches in blogging. 

Click here to see the most lucrative niches on YouTube. 

Click here to see the best sub-niches in personal finance. 

3 criteria when choosing a niche
The best niche is a niche that is lucrative, that you’re interested in, and you’re somewhat knowledgable at. If you aren’t knowledgeable about it, be at least willing to learn. 

Don’t just choose a niche because it’s lucrative because you’ll stop working on it eventually as you get no joy from the niche. Remember, it’s normal to take you one to two or more years to make it, if you don’t find it fun at all, you won’t push through those 2 years. 

A personal example
4 years ago, I started a blog and was doing quite well in the health niche but I had to let it go because it felt like extra homework for me. I didn’t enjoy it, I found the content I was writing boring and dry, it didn’t excite me, and I had to juggle that blog with 6 other courses. It simply wasn’t something that I could continue given the circumstance and my lack of passion for the niche. 

Some of the most popular niches include: 

• Tech
• Money
• Pet
• Health
• Lifestyle
• Travel
• Gaming
• Unboxing
• Food
• Education
• Makeup

Think about how you’ll make money from your niche
If your end goal is to make money, when you choose a niche, you should also think about how you’ll make money from your brand. You don’t have to think too much about it for now but it’s good to have some ideas. 

Step 2: Choose a platform 

Not all platforms are created equal. You need to consider your strengths and weaknesses when choosing a platform. 

A personal example
For instance, I tried starting a YouTube channel many times over the past few years but never get past a few videos because my strength isn’t in being on camera or talking into a microphone. Instead, my strength lies in writing. I can type fast and write things fast. Although my writing isn’t perfect, it does get the job done and it’s good enough to bring in viewers so I choose to have my own blog as my main and only platform. 

(Maybe I’ll try YouTube again in the future. I’ll post videos about how to blog full-time).

You need to think about what you are good at, is it being on camera? Drawing? Talking into a mic? Writing? Use that to your advantage and use that to help you choose the right platform. 

Don’t try to be everywhere at once because the jack of all trades is the master of none. Focus all your energy on building up your brand in one or a few platforms first and then branch out if you wish. 

Tip: You can also use social media sites to help bring in traffic to your blog even if you don’t plan on building up your brand on those social media sites. 

Click here to read the article on “10 Easy ways to drive free traffic to your site”

Some of the most popular platforms include Tiktok, YouTube, Instagram, and your own site. 

• Tiktok 

Short-form content is highly sought after today but you won’t make as much money from ads on Tiktok compared to YouTube ex. $200–400/1M views vs. $2000/1M views. You’ll have to make up the difference with affiliates, sponsorships, and your own products. 

Want to find out whether TikTok or YouTube drive more traffic to your blog? Here’s my own experiment. 

• YouTube

There are many people making a living on Youtube but compared to the number of total YouTubers out there, the ratio isn’t high. Still, YouTube can be a great place to get more eyeballs on your brand. If you have a blog, having a YouTube channel can drive some traffic to your site even if you don’t intend on making it on YouTube. 

There are many ways to make a living on YouTube. You don’t always have to rely on ads. You can do so through affiliates, sponsorships, merch sales, etc. 

Want to know how to make money on YouTube and how much you can get for 1k, 10k, 100k, and 1M views? Click here. 

Want to know how much MrBeast makes and how he did it? Click here. 

• Instagram

There are many people who post only pictures on Instagram and are making a living from affiliate deals once they gain enough followers on Instagram. If that appeals to you, you can try building a brand on Instagram. Utilize hashtags to your advantage. Make sure to engage with your followers by commenting under their comments for instance. 

• Twitch

Twitch is a platform for people to stream themselves talking and/or playing games. Most Twitch streamers play video games. If you’re in the gaming niche, Twitch is a good option. 

• Your own website

The best place to host your own platform would be your own website as you won’t be subjected to an algorithm change like you would on other social media platforms and there isn’t any restriction on what kind of content you can create when it’s your own site. You’ll also open up more rooms for monetization. 

You can use other social media sites to draw an audience to your own website. 

I recommend using HostGator to host your website. For better SEO, you should have your own domain name instead of hosting your website through Wix or Squarespace, or Blogger.com (You can still pay to connect to a custom domain on Wix, Squarespace, or Blogger but those places aren’t good for the SEO). 

Want to find out how to make extra money this month? Click here. 

Step 3: Study the best people in your niche on the platform of your choice 

Go and study the people who are doing well in your niche. Find out what they are doing that is working. Take a look at the type of content they produce, how do they structure their blog posts or videos, what colors do they use, what thumbnail pictures do they use, how do they deliver their content, etc. 

For example, my competitor would be other people blogging in the make-money niche. I would study Makingsenseofcents.com to see what articles are on there, how does she format her blog post, the layout of the website, freebie opt-in strategy, which affiliate companies she works with, etc. 

Michelle from Makingsenseofcents.com makes 100k per month from her blog. That’s 1.2 million per month! Go check out her site, she’s got amazing content and an inspiring story. 

Step 4: Set up your account and/or website

At this stage, you’ll need to think of a name for your brand. You’ll also need to decide on theme colors and the logos. Maybe even slogans. 

You can hire someone to design a high-quality logo for cheap on Fiverr.

Step 5: Gather all equipment

You’ll have to gather all the equipment that you need. This can include a microphone, screen recorder, camera, domain name, website, etc. 

Check out this article to find out what equipment you need for a YouTube channel and how to start a YouTube channel with a less than $100 budget. 

Step 5: Start creating and uploading 

Now you gotta start putting up some content. Select a schedule to stick to. You’re more likely to retain an audience if people know when they can expect you. 

For example, you can release a video every Sunday or you can release an article every four days.

Step 6: Monetize your brand

Now you need to think about how you’ll make money from your brand. There are many ways to do so and the most popular ways to monetize a brand is with the following methods: 

• Ads
• Affiliate
• Sponsorship 
• Merch 
• Course 
• Book 
• Printables

As you grow your brand further, it’ll open up a lot more ways to monetize your brand. The affiliate programs that you couldn’t get into before will now be available to you. The companies who wouldn’t work with you before will be more than happy to work with you now. You may also be able to sell more digital products. 

Step 7: Network 

At this stage, you would have at least a bit of content up on your platform(s) of choice. You’ve established yourself in the niche as a beginner. Now, you’ll reach out to other people in your niche and ask to collaborate. 

You can also start to reach out to companies you want to work with. Some companies will say okay to working with you even if you got a small audience If not, you can try again later when you have a stronger presence in the niche. 

Step 8: Persist and innovate 

It’s not common to see people successfully build up a brand within a year. Typically, it takes about 2 years of consistent effort to build a brand up from scratch. 

You must persist and continue to innovate. Learn what your audience responds better to and implement what you learn to create the next batch of your content. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different ways of making and delivering your content to see what gets more results. 

When you’re doing things right, it’s only a matter of time before you succeed but you must push past the doubts. 

What’s the reality of being a content creator

Now I can sit and tell you about how great the life of a content creator is like but you wouldn’t get the full picture and I’d be concealing some truth. 

Most only see the curated side
You see, most people only see the bright side of what being a content creator is like, the side that content creators choose to show, but they fail to consider things that not many content creators talk about. 

It’s hard to make it as a content creator
The truth is, despite how promising and free the life of a content creator seems, you should stop and think about how hard it is to make a full-time income as a content creator. I’m not here to discourage you. I’m here to give you a full picture and that includes the bad. 

2+ years of unpaid labor
You could be working 1–2+ years of unpaid labor on your brand while you build up your audience before you can make a living as a content creator so you better love doing what you do. 

You’ll need to learn a lot and fail a lot before you can succeed. Many people give up before they cross the threshold to success. 

You’ll be wearing many hats at the same time
As an individual content creator, you won’t have a whole team to manage everything for you so you’ll have to learn how to do things yourself which can be overwhelming for a lot of you. There are indeed a lot of hats to wear. You’re not just a Youtuber, you’re also a social media manager, you’re a graphic designer, you’re a video editor, you’re an analytics analyzer, etc. 

There’ll be lots of haters
Some people will make some mean comments. Once your brand gets big enough, it’ll attract some haters. This is always the case doesn’t matter who you are. No one is liked by everyone. And you shouldn’t strive to be liked by everyone. Just know that mean people are everywhere and every brand has some haters. Have a thick skin and keep going. 

Some stats of content creators
Observers.com released a study that showed that some of those at the top 3% of content creators on YouTube expect only $16,800/year. That’s only 1/3 of the US medium income($67400). (If you want to know how much YouTubers make at different levels of monthly views and how to make money on YouTube, click here) 

Furthermore, if you want to earn the US median income of $67,400/year on Twitch, you’ll have to be in the top 0.015%. (If you want to know how to make money on Twitch, click here) 

And if you want to make a living as a podcaster, you’ll need to be at the top 7%. (If you want to know how to make money as a podcaster, click here)

You really have to work hard if you want to succeed as a content creator.

Some good news
These stats may be discouraging but you’ll realize that most people who claimed to be content creators on these platforms don’t put in as much work as they should have. Most people only upload 1–2 videos or 1-2 streams or 1–2 podcasts or 50 articles before giving up altogether. 

The amount of people who made it after 2 years of consistent effort and high-quality content is a lot more than you’d think. 

How much money can you make as a content creator? 

The amount of money you can make as a content creator differs based on the niche, the platform you’re using, how monetized you are, how big your audience is among other factors. 

Here’re some numbers: 

(1) Anastasiablogger makes $30k per month from her YouTube and blog about how to make money as a blogger

(2) If you have 5k downloads per month, you can expect $4925/month as a podcaster from sponsorships, Patreon, and course 

(3) If you have 100,000 views per month on YouTube you can expect $5600 from ads and affiliate 

(4) If you have 1600 subscribers and you stream regularly, you can expect $4000 per month on Twitch

How long does it take to become a successful content creator?

You should give it at least 2 years of consistent effort to become a successful content creator. Most content creators don’t persist past the 2 years mark so not many content creators are able to make a living doing what they love. You must try to produce as high quality of content as you can while persisting through 2 years.

Click here to learn how to drive free traffic to your blog so you can reduce the time you need to make a full-time income blogging.

Click here to learn how to use Google Keyword Planner to do content research. 

Why a blog is the best platform for a content creator

The best platform to post your content and grow an audience is a blog. People get more personal with you through a blog than through other platforms. A blog is also where you can get your audience’s personal email address which you can use to pitch to them personally 

With a blog, you aren’t at the mercy of an algorithm change. Many YouTubers in less profitable niches, rely on the current algorithm to maintain views. If the algorithm changes, their view counts drop. 

There is also a lot of restriction when you release your content on someone else’s platform rather than your own. The restriction could include what kind of content you can release, how you can monetize your content, when you can monetize through ads, what topics you better not cover, etc. 

A blog is a place where you can release your creativity freely and have full control over how you want to establish your brand. 

Building a brand on a blog is like building a house on a piece of land that is yours. You get to design the house however you like because you own the land. Building a brand on someone else’s platform (ie. Twitch, Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, Snapchat, etc) is like building a house on a land of quicksand that you don’t own. You’re vulnerable to all the changes and rules the owner of the land makes to it and you have little say. 

You can use other social media platforms to draw in an audience and increase your reach but you shouldn’t rely on it fully. 

Create a website with HostGator today. Get a free 1-year domain with Hostgator using this link when you sign up for any hosting plan. 

Something to note with blogging is that you can bring your brand in front of more eyeballs sooner with Tiktok and YouTube as it takes 6–8+ months for Google to rank your article. This means you can create content on Tiktok and YouTube but try and lead your viewers to your blog as you’ll have more control over your viewers and thus monetization there.

Why you must branch out as a content creator

If you’ve successfully built a brand on someone else’s platform, you must branch out and build your brand on your own platform. Go create a website for your brand. 

Don’t rely on one platform for all your income. What if something happens to it? 

YouTube can suddenly decide that they are going to change the ad payout policy and back to the beginning you go. Now you lost so much income that you may have to get back to the rat race. People don’t understand how vulnerable they are when they rely on only one source of income. 

Branch out to other platforms, build up another source of income, create other brands maybe in a similar niche. 

For instance, a person who has a brand in the programming niche may post videos on YouTube about programming, blog about programming, and sell courses on programming. Then, they may create another brand in the adjacent niche where they teach people how to become a self-taught Java developer from the ground up. It can be an online BootCamp with a completely different brand name and purpose but similar enough that he can easily attract an audience from his other brand. 

You should also explore other ways of making money on the internet. Click here to see 50 ways to make extra money today. Having more sources of income is a good way to establish financial security. If you have a 9–5, you’re still faced with the possibility of being fired every day so don’t think you are doing better in the job security department compared to a content creator.

Is being a content creator sustainable

Depending on where you create your brand, it could be unsustainable. You may just be waiting for another social media platform to take hold and then overtake the platform that you are currently doing well on. This is why you need to be on the lookout for new social media platforms, reserve your username, and start posting content there if you sense that people are leaving the platform you are using. 

You should also save money. Don’t think you’ll continue to make $10k per month from your brand on YouTube. 

If you’re lucky enough to make more money as a content creator than most people with a 9–5. You should learn how to turn your money into more money by investing. You could get to a point where you don’t even need to maintain your brand anymore. You have made enough money and invested enough that you can basically retire. 

Don’t stop with one brand. Start another. In another platform this time to spread your eggs into different baskets. 

Many people don’t think being a content creator is a legit job because they think it’s unsustainable. In reality, once you made a name for yourself in the niche and platform of your choosing, you can easily attract an audience on another social media platform. It would also be easier for you to start a brand in an adjacent niche. 

You can make a living online as a content creator sustainably if you know what you are doing. 

Why you must love what you’re doing as a content creator

You must love what you’re doing as a content creator because it may take you more than 2 years to make it. During that time, if you don’t love what you do, you’ll easily give up. 

Should you be a part of an agency or do everything yourself as a content creator? 

There are agencies out there that manage talents. They’ll hire someone to live stream for them on Twitch. The brand will be built in your name and face. And they get to control how you establish your brand. They’ll lend you the equipment, they’ll set up your workspace, they’ll help you succeed, but at the same time, they may take a huge cut of the profit. And they may also impose rules that make your life a lot harder. Rules such as how many hours you must stream, what you should wear when streaming, what you shouldn’t talk about when streaming, how you should talk when streaming, how many years you must work for them, etc. 

This channel called Liziqi is a channel that used an agency. She did extremely well on YouTube. All her videos have millions of views. 

They have people shoot the video, edit the video, create the merch, dropship the noodles, and maintain the brand. But a legal dispute over profit and media ownership (I believe) occurred and now it’s been 7 months since her last upload. 

You should always try to build up the brand by yourself. Maybe outsource some work but you shouldn’t be managed by an agency. You should make it clear that everything is owned by you. The people you hired don’t own any of it. 

A large part of content creator culture is so that you can have more control over your life. You can escape your 9–5 and become your own boss. With an agency, you’re really just another tool for companies to exploit. You may end up realizing that you don’t own any videos of you because you signed something you didn’t fully understand (what happened to Liziqi I think but don’t quote me on that I’m not too clear on the whole legal thing). 

Not everyone wants you to succeed 

I can be all rosy and cheesy. I’ll tell you how the world is an amazing place full of nice wonderful human beings who all want you to succeed and be happy but I’d be lying to you. Anyone who told you that is either too naive or trying to paint a picture that simply isn’t true. 

The truth is that not everyone wants you to succeed when you’re building up your brand as a content creator. 

I’ve noticed this since the beginning when I was trying to establish a presence in my other niches and after hearing some successful YouTubers talking about the same thing they experienced I’m more convinced what I felt wasn’t a trick of the mind or me overthinking. 

Don’t tell people everything. Don’t tell people your full plan. Don’t update people on how well your brand is doing and how fast it’s growing. People don’t like progress because it reminds them of what they aren’t doing. 

Some people would rather spend time and energy on sabotaging your success than use the same time and energy to work on their own goals. There are a lot of lazy, unmotivated people who want you to stay in the same hole with them. They’ll be negative, they’ll tell you that you can’t make it, they’ll tell you that you’re wasting your time, they’ll tell you that you aren’t good enough, they’ll critique your work without being constructive, they’ll try and disrupt your progress, they’ll make you feel guilty or greedy for wanting more for yourself. 

It gets lonely when you’re getting your ducks in a row. This is why a Lamborgini has 2 seats and a bus has 50 seats. 

Be ambitious, build up your dream, be realistic about your expectations, be persistent, be determined, network with other like-minded successful people, go find a new tribe of people who are supportive. 

Final thought

There are so many opportunities to make a living on the internet as a content creator. People will tell you how slim the chance of success is (and they are right) but they fail to recognize how few people make it past the 2 years mark.

If you take all the people who put in serious effort and have given it enough time, you’ll realize that the chance of success is much higher than you think. 

You don’t need a whole team of people behind you. You need to find a profitable niche, create your own unique content, fail fast, learn from your mistakes, continue to learn more, and give it at least 2 years of consistent effort. Good luck!