Why You Shouldn't Become A Creator

The idea of being a "Creator" as a career path seems to be quickly picking up steam as one of the most desired opportunities.

However, is this a wise path to go on?

Looking at the Truth of it, I would say no - BUT that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't "create".

Let's look at the reality of being a "Creator" and what that means you should do for your future.

The UGLY Statistics Of Being A Creator

According to the research, it seems that 85% of creators either don't make enough money to support themselves or make "just" enough to only support themselves.

They aren't able to support any other family on their income - not their spouse, not their kids, ONLY themselves.

But don't let that number fool you.

Generally, when people self-report on these types of reports, they skew a "little" higher than the actual truth.

This means that for many of these creators who make "just" enough, they are really just one bad day away from not actually making enough money to support only themselves.

This is occurring in a $100 Billion industry.

So, it is just that a few people at the top make all the money?

That is a part of it, but there is another truth you need to understand.

In the creator economy, "Creators" aren't the ones who profit - the PLATFORM that the creator is on is who wins the largest chunk of that $100 Billion.

It doesn't matter if it is TikTok, Instagram/Facebook, YouTube, or any other platform, ALL of them win significantly more than even the highest-paid creator.

YouTube alone (the LARGEST creator Platform) experienced a 30% growth in revenue due to the hard work of creators who weren't making enough for just themselves.

However, it gets worse, because in order to win, you can't win on only ONE platform, if you really want to win as a creator, you need to win on multiple platforms.

Take YouTube again, less than 5% of YouTubers make more than $12,150 per year - this means that if you want to even make a livable wage you'd have to be in the top 5% of YouTube AND also do incredibly well on other platforms.

Also, don't let follower counts fool you - less than 25% of Instagram accounts have over 100k followers, but as we can see above, a large chunk of these still aren't making a livable wage.

If you think that using a platform like Patreon will be your savior, think again, because only 69% of creators on Patreon make less than $100 using the platform!

Plus, the statistics show that it takes 6 months to "start" earning ANY income (still under the poverty line), and at least 1 year to potentially have a "livable" income (even if only temporarily).

This assumes that the Platform doesn't change the game on you (which they always do), and you are able to keep up with the high content demands (which most can't).

The amount of burnout from "creators" is staggering, and it only gets SIGNIFICANTLY worse as you grow in the industry.

Not to mention that most creators end up with a large list of psychological challenges due to how their identity, work, income, and self-worth all seem to be tied together due to the nature of how the "Creator" industry works.

The statistics show that it doesn't pay to be a "Creator", however, that doesn't mean there isn't hope.

The Completely Missed Opportunity

It's true, being a "Creator" isn't a feasible long-term career unless you are in the top 1%, and even then the burnout and psychological trauma likely won't be worth it.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't "Create".

The problem isn't that creating itself is bad.

The problem is that ONLY creating as your SOLE income source profits platforms more than it will ever profit you!

This is the key to successful "Creators" - you don't win by being a full-time "Creator".

The way you win is to use the platform as a funnel toward a business where you ACTUALLY earn your income.

See, as a business owner that utilizes platforms, your income potential significantly increases.

Let's say that you're on Instagram and have 10k followers or more (that's over 60% of people).

Let's say you provide a service that cost $100/month (which is actually extremely simple for most people to do).

You just need 84 people (Less than 1% of your followers) to use your service to earn $100,000 per year.

That's enough to support two adults and two children in the US.

The key here is that a real business, that actually serves people, will ALWAYS work better than just being a "Creator".

In fact, if you look at the top creators, they almost ALL have other businesses where they earn money as well!

Why?

They know that the platforms could change at any minute, which could destroy their Creator income (which we've seen happen every year to top Creators).

To avoid this, they have other businesses, often earning MORE income than their "Creator" income, so that when platforms inevitably change they still have a business they can rely on.