#3 You don’t need a big audience to make money

Learning (and struggling) to make money online has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the pandemic. With the additional time on my hands, I decided to jump into the world of content creation.

After 18 months in this space, I can say I have a newfound respect for full-time content creators and side hustlers who support themselves with their creativity and persistence.

Not that I didn’t respect them before.

But you can never grasp the reality of someone’s profession unless you live it. I’ll never know what it’s like to be a surgeon and operate on a human body. And I hope I never will.

The content creation space is fun but so darn hard.

There are no rules. Virality is fickle. And there are many different styles of writing that can attract an audience.

One day I would think my writing was the best thing in the world. The next day I would doubt anyone would even read anything I wrote. To this day, I still swing through cycles of triumph and doubt.

I started publishing articles in 2020 and made anywhere from $1 — $20 a month. A fraction of what I make at my six-figure full-time job.

But I was so happy. The sense of validation from getting paid for my writing and filled me with excitement… and dread.

“How on earth would I keep producing good content?” was something I constantly asked myself. Every day I would be racking my brain for something to write about.

I persisted. And I am glad I did.

In 2021, I’ve managed to 10x my output and the money I make through my articles. I’ve joined the exclusive club of Medium writers (roughly the top 10%) who consistently earn more than $100 a month.

Again, nothing to brag home about. But progress for me is validation. I am developing the skills required to scale my income in the long term. Here are some things I’ve learned along the way.

This is the first thing I’ve learned:

When the cost of entry is low, the premium of authenticity is high.

Anyone with a computer and internet connection can become a content creator. Competition is fierce and there are always new entrants into the marketplace. Not a great environment to launch a business.

Whenever I tell people you should start a blog or podcast, the most immediate response I get is: “Yeah I would but there are so many blogs and podcasts out there. How will I even stand out?”

I tell them:

You can escape the competition just by being yourself.

The people I talk to aren’t wrong. They asking the right questions, but are coming up with the wrong answers.

With the abundance of podcasts, blogs and online courses, purchasing decisions are made out of brand loyalty rather than price. People will pay more for being genuine.

There are hundreds of people giving personal finance advice using the same information and knowledge. But people want to hear from others who look and sound like them.

Don’t underestimate the power of context and identity.

Joe Rogan’s $100 million Spotify deal was not because his podcast is qualitatively better or had a higher production value than others. The value of Joe Rogan’s podcast resides in his ability to be himself all the time. For better or for worse.

You can have all the same equipment, studio design and even interview the same guests and you won’t be able to replicate Joe Rogan’s success. Many people have tried and failed (me included).

The value of the podcast lives and dies with Joe Rogan. If you replaced him with someone else it would no longer be the “Joe Rogan Experience”.

People who attempt to copy in order to compete are under the industrial model of business where cheap knock-offs of products can be easily tweaked and copied for a profit.

They have failed to understand the new logic of the passion economy.

We buy into dynamic people, not static products.

We buy into personality, not just quality content.

In the passion economy, eponymously named brands will be the future of the creative market.

“Being yourself is a continuous effort. There is always another expectation placed upon you, another person pulling you toward their preferences, another nudge from society to act a certain way. It’s a daily battle to be yourself, not merely what the world wants you to be.” — James Clear

This is the second thing I’ve learned:

When the cost of entry is high, the premium of authenticity is low.

Less competition results in less innovation. Being like everyone else helps to maintain the status quo and reinforce your position in this exclusive market.

Why do you think most major news media organizations look and feel the same? CNN, MSNBC, Fox News might have slightly different content to suit their audience but everything else is essentially the same.

You might have slightly different personalities but generally, they look and sound like a template. They all have that reporter voice that drives me mad. You can easily replace one news anchor with another.

There is a reason why traditional media outlets are declining. People are bored of them. People crave ideas and people they can identify with, not just information.

Many TV presenters have been stripped down of their personalities and sanitized to not offend. Those who do stand out are often polarizing and shock-jocks.

Thinking of Joe Rogan again, I am not saying you have to smoke weed with Elon Musk or become a UFC commentator but you have unique traits, knowledge, and abilities that when combined together make you unique.

As Dr. Seuss once said: “Today you are you. That is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you”

Don’t try to grow as one of many on a production line, you’ll get lost in the crowd. You need to build and invest in your terminal uniqueness, or you will die as a bland commodity.

Almost every idea and experience has been documented online in some way. The primary way we can stand out from the crowd is through our personality.

This is the third thing I’ve learned:

You don’t need a big audience to make a decent amount of money.

Kevin Kelly is famous for claiming that you only really need 1,000 true fans to make a living from your creative work. I would go even further and say that you can make a pretty decent income from just 100 dedicated supporters of your work.

These are people who will generally read everything you publish and purchase any product you put out there.

For so long, I got lost in the thought of: “How will I build an audience of 1 million people?”

This time I was asking the wrong question, but I got the correct answer: I needed my articles to solve a real problem for a specific subset of people. It doesn’t need to be million people but it has to be more than one.

Marry the problem you’re trying to solve rather than the outcome (i.e money) you want to achieve. Consistently providing value with no expectation of any return is how you build a loyal following.

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