Do you want to become a content creator? Perhaps a content writer? Will it be a good option for you for your career? Maybe you love creative activities or “making things”, whether it is for aesthetics or entertainment?

Becoming a content creator is really fun and rewarding, but a lot of work and there is a lot of mystery around how exactly you can pursue this as a potential career path that will allow you to be able to work from anywhere.

Content Creation is one of my FAVORITE jobs. I absolutely love it and it’s allowed me to fully embrace my love of creating aesthetic visuals and videos while being PAID to do it.

It has also allowed me further freedom to be able to work from anywhere and work on my own schedule. I personally have found content creation to be even more lucrative for my career, especially paired with the fact of growing an audience on social media.

So let’s dive into how YOU can become a content creator and what you need to know.

What is a Content Creator & is it for me?

A content creator is someone who creates content that is consumed and viewed by the public, generally online. It can be anything from writing to photography to social media content.

So how is content different from creative art? The purpose of content is to provide some sort of value for an audience, is created to be viewed by a specific type of audience and it is how we communicate, learn, entertain, and become inspired in modern times.

Content is how a brand, business, or a creator communicates some sort of message. A content creator might also create content that is then used in content marketing.

Additionally, content creators can become influencers if they grow a major impact and grow an influenced audience.

The different types of content:

• Visual (photo, video)
• Audio (music)
• Written (writing, copywriting, blogging)

One of the most popular ways content is shared is through social media platforms or through blogs/online publishers.

Is content creation for me?

How do you know if it’s for you? You don’t already need to be creative or have the creative skills required to execute creating content, so here are some key things to ask yourself.

• Do I have a point of view/perspective on something that I have a burning desire to share about?
• Do I love or have interest in doing creative things?
• Do I love or have interest in using creative tools?
• Do others come to me to learn specific things?
• Do others look to me to be inspired by specific things?
• Do I already have an interest/knack for photography, making videos or music or writing?

How to become a Content Creator

Now, let’s talk about how you can become a content creator. You don’t have to go to school to become a content creator. However, you will want to refine your skills in a specific area for creating when you start.

In the beginning, it’s important to try out different “types” of content and categories (like travel photography or writing vs. street style photography or fashion writing) to see what you enjoy the most.

Something to consider is that being a creator DOES require that you are regularly (if not continuously) creating. Many can experience burn out, so if you find what type of content you truly enjoy making and sharing, you’ll always find the motivation and have the stamina for this field.

1. Learn the right skills

First, we need to learn the skills for content creation. Creating content is creating consumable forms of writing, photography and/or videos. Basically, content creation is taking a product, a concept/theme, a destination, or a service, and creating content around it.

Apart from being creative and self disciplined, there are skills that should be learned to be a successful content creator. You DO NOT need to learn every form. The best approach is to start with ONE.

Let’s talk about the different types of content and skills.

Web content

Write content that is great online. This can be anything from copywriting to blogging to more traditional forms of writing like journalism and writing articles.

Video content

Create cool, informative, or entertaining videos. Most people don’t have enough patience to film AND to edit them afterward. Being able to create great video content whether it’s short form, a vlog, or cinematic.

Photography content

Take and edit killer photos. Photography is so versatile and you can really specialize in a specific niche of photos (like travel, portraits, food, creative, etc)

Instagram

Nowadays, a lot of people create their brand using Instagram as the main channel. Connecting with people with visuals is the most popular way to establish your brand as a creator.  Of course, you have to be willing to go beyond creating amazing photos, but create connection with an audience through captions and stories.

Tiktok

The newest social platform on the block, this one is all about short form video. Becoming a creator on tiktok can happen quickly in these early stories and it’s all about creating relatable and entertaining short video content.

Youtube

Youtube is the perfect platform for long form video. You don’t only have to be a vlogger and create engaging or entertaining videos, as Youtube is an amazing “evergreen” (search-optimized content that is relevant over a long period of time) platform to create educational or informative videos. 

Blogging & SEO

If you’re able to create great articles and written content that is SEO friendly – it’s going to be a big plus. This is another “evergreen” way you can create content for an audience that is able to be found and seen for a long time.

Social Media Management

If you can master many of the different social media channels, along with Pinterest and/or Twitter, you can drive your audience to different platforms and types of content to expand your opportunities as a creator (and income potential).

2. Identify your style and hero content

After we learn the skills, next we want to refine our technique, narrow down our niche, and develop our unique style for our content. Once you start learning one or a few skills for content creation, use that time to play around with different categories (like food photography and styling vs. home photography and styling) to find what type of content and creative you enjoy making.

As a creator, it is immensely helpful to create a brand and style for your content. You do this by finding and establishing your “hero” content, which is just your niche combined with your style.

How to identify your niche:

You might say “I want to be a travel photographer” and create travel content, but if you have travelled little and are not able to travel at least a few times a year, it will hard for you to not only practice creating travel content, photography, or videos, but take longer to improve at it.

Ideally, you want to find something that you will be able to create regularly so you can build your skills quickly (which will help you to start to develop your style and aesthetic quickly).

Ask yourself the following questions to figure out what your content niche will be:

• What do you enjoy/love?
• What are you really knowledgeable about?
• What is currently a part of your lifestyle or can be accessible to add to your lifestyle?
• What do others come to you for advice or inspiration on?

Build your portfolio

Lastly, after you have settled on a specific category to create content that you enjoy and start developing your look and style, you’ll want to focus on building your portfolio. Your “portfolio” can be on your own website, but your social media channels also act as your portfolio.

The most important thing is to create cohesiveness with your work. Your work is how you will attract clients, brands, or businesses to work with you. Thee more specific your style and type of content is, like hotel photos, or styled food photos. the easier it will be for these potential clients or brands to know they want to work with you.

Your goal is to already have content and work made for the type of work you WANT to get paid to create.  For example, if you want to work with hotels, you need to have photography or videography content of hotels already in your portfolio or examples of work (like on your Instagram)

The most important elements for your work and portfolio:

• Having a consistent style
• Having a clear niche (type of content and category)

3. Find resources and a mentor/community online

The most important thing about becoming a content creator is to keep learning. Find resources and places online you can continually uplevel your skills and improve (like from our blog here!) or even better, find a mentor or online community to be a part of.

Feel free to join us over on the Work Anywhere Club on Instagram for daily inspiration.

How to make money as a Content Creator

Now that you’ve deep dived into creating, building your skills and portfolio of work, let’s talk about turning that into your job.

It varies how you can make money as a creator and there is no “one way” to work.  For some, it can take years of creating before they replace their full time income. Others can start full time quickly – it depends on how much work you put into it.

Having some sort of following on a social media platform or audience on a blog/website also can increase the opportunities you have to make money as a creator.

A few ways you can make money as a content creator:

• Have a full time position as a content creator or as photographer, videographer, or writer for an agency or in-house at a company.
• Run your own content creation business offering your services to business or brands
• Freelance/contract for businesses/brands
• Monetize different social media platforms from having an audience and following. Both Tiktok and Youtube pay creators monthly based on their views or monetize your blog/website by running ads.
• Partner with businesses or brands to advertise them on your social media (Instagram, Tiktok, or Youtube) or blog/website

Content Creation Tools

Your tools are important! I list my full kit of creative equipment here if you want to get started in photography and videography. Let’s take a look at some options for different tools, software, and platforms you’ll need to create:

Photo Editing Apps:

• Lightroom
• VSCO
• PicsArt

Video Editing Apps:

• Inshot
• VideoLeap
• Splice

Professional Editing Software:

• Adobe Creative Suite (Lightroom & Premier pro)
• Final Cut Pro

Business Tools:

Project Management:

• Asana
• Notion
• Todoist
• Clickup

Invoicing and Contracts: 

• And.co

Social Media planning:

• Planoly
• Later
• Unum

Books for Every Creator

Start getting your creative juices flowing with these books to inspire your inner creative.

• Big Magic: How to Live a Creative Life, and Let Go of Your Fear
• Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media
• Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being
• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity 
• You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life
• Create: Tools from Seriously Talented People to Unleash Your Creative Life

Final Thoughts on Becoming a Content Creator

Becoming a content creator can be a lot of work and dedication, but it is a really fun career path especially if you’re creative. A content creator can create content about pretty much everything with any form of media – whether it’s photography, videography, or writing/blogs.

I have my full story of how I first become a content creator in this video on youtube. I absolutely LOVE being a content creator and love creating aesthetic photos and videos and working with brands and companies that match my vibe.

It is extremely rewarding and I honestly never experience “burnout” because of 2 things: that I LOVE creating and making things and that I know WHY I do, and also that I “batch” my creating, which is where I dedicate one day a week or month to creating a specific type of content instead of having to create every single day. This allows me to stay focused and get in the flow when creating.

In the next few months, our brand new course to take you through the ENTIRE process of becoming a creator and teach you ALL the skills if you want to pursue photography, so join our waitlist to stay tuned for when it launches and learn more here.

Let me know if you want to become a content creator and drop any questions you have below! Otherwise, enjoy and have fun on your path to becoming a creator!

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I’d love to invite you to my FREE training below!

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