What They Never Tell You About Being a Creator Is and Why I Almost Quit
I’ve just about had enough of creating content.
Another day of crawling out of bed, opening the laptop, and picking back up on the piece I was working on the night before. The endless need to keep creating. The never-ending cycle of having to create something for others to consume.
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Creators preach the point that you can’t be the consumer, but you have to be the producer. The creator.
Always feeding the mass social media population with something to consume.
You produce. They consume.
But there is no unlimited well of information within you to possibly produce so much content that you can build a long-term content business. At least not on your own.
The Endless Cycle of Consumption
Your life naturally procures moments of stress and challenges. Your desires drive you to want more in life. No one can escape the need for consumption to some level.
But to be a creator, consumption seems to be the devouring beast that feeds on you.
In order to create, you first must consume.
That’s why the fingerprints of the beast remain on all my devices. Caged into organized folders across my mobile screen. Tabbed across my browser. Easy points of access on the home screen. Notifications ringing to be fed or to feed.
We are the creators. But do we possibly create more than we consume?
My shelves filled with books. The top shelf stacked with book towers. Teetering pillars of more books litter my bedroom floor. Each stacked higher and wobblier than a game of Jenga.
The never-ending list of watch later videos on each YouTube account.
The growing list of read later articles on the Medium account.
The never ending scroll of bookmarked posts on X (Twitter).
Content is a mountain built by creators. Stacking higher with each passing day. Everyone shoveling more and more onto the pile. And as the content mountain grows, expectations of making it as a creator are raised. The floor continuously rising up.
The only way to really make it as a creator is to consume before you produce. And then continue to consume to continue to produce.
The Bar Continues To Rise To Make It As A Creator
The only way to the top is to climb the creator content mountain. And the mountain grows exponentially as more creators pile in. The floor of being an “ok” creator is raised, and so are expectations of what you should create.
This part made me nearly throw in the towel. The mountain that looks impossible to climb. How the hell am I supposed to catch up to creators who’ve been doing this for years? How am I going to compete with people who have a decade of experience?
But as you look back down the trail you’ve blazed, you realize that you’ve gone on for so long, that the trip back down is quite far too. This begs the question lingering from the back of your mind, “Should I keep going? I’ve made it this far, should I really quit now?”
The Decision You Make Is A Life Long Commitment
It’s a fair question to think through whether this life is for you. To create. To consume.
I’ve never climbed a giant mountain before (IRL), I’ve only climbed hills and small mountains. It’s always hard to get started, but once you’ve done it, it becomes easier and easier with each trip back up. It becomes so easy that you seek the next big thing. The next big climb. Because everything else is too easy and not as satisfying as it once used to be.
And here you are. Climbing the big mountain creators have built before you.
The one that every creator has to climb.
Now the question becomes a reminder, of “Why are you here?”
Why did you get started?
Why did you decide to climb this mountain?
What made you want to climb to see new heights?
For me, it was desire and dreams.
The inner child that dreamed of having a large house with lots of land. A home I can give to my parents as they age and need my support. A place that can house my kids in a place we all enjoy. To escape the tyranny of the 9-5 clock. To no longer trade 40-70 hours of my life every week to remain Just Over Broke. J-O-B.
I desire a life where I can spend more time with my kids. Hang out with family. Go out with friends. Spend more time in life living than working. Not give up work completely, but simply not to be enslaved by it.
The life of a creator can feel just like another job. Trading one for another. A business that pays close to nothing for months or years before you find a breakthrough. A mountain so steep, that it can be a long lonely climb before you enjoy those beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
How Long I Waited Before Reaping The Rewards Of My Journey
I spent 15 months climbing this mountain. Learning how to create content. How to write. How to film. How to edit. Then once you reach that rest camp on the side up the mountain, you take a break to catch your breath and look both ways: looking down to see how far you’ve come along, and looking up to see how much more there is to go.
You realize you have to pack back up the mountainside and create your online store, create your own products, create a brand, create a marketing strategy, create, create, and create. One step after another is what it takes. The trek up Creator Mountain.
Each step taking you closer and closer towards the goal of creating the life you want. The life you desire and dream. And with each trip you take, you find others along the way. Other creators who are journeying up for the first time, learning everything as they go. Some are slower than others. Some faster than usual.
Then you see groups blow right past you, moving 5x faster. Because they paid the upfront cost to acquire a guide to help them up so they wouldn’t have to do it alone. So they wouldn’t make the same mistakes that everyone else makes. So they can ensure they have the best chance to make it to the top and see life from the peak of this mountain.
It’s in the journey that you realize how much easier it would be if only you wouldn’t have gone up alone. If only you reached out to others who have gone up this mountain before you.
It took me 15 long months to learn how to trek up this mountain. I fell so many times and failed so many times. I nearly quit at least a dozen times, but as I treaded my way back down, I realized I was going back to a life I didn’t want anymore.
Looking back down, I was reminded of why I started this journey in the first place. All the reasons that made this long, difficult journey worth pursuing.
* 70-hour work weeks
* job terminations
* unemployment
* homelessness
* repossession
* starvation
* eviction
There’s a hundred other reasons that motivate you up that mountain. Each one fuels your will to continue trekking up. Each one giving you a reason to not give up.
It’s these reminders that tell you, it’s not about how you obtain the goal of getting to the top. But, to actually make it up far enough to where you want to go. Whether it’s on your own, or with the guidance of another.
That’s why I continue to climb this creator mountain. To create and enjoy a life that is far more rewarding for the effort you put in. What I learned is that it’s better to get help and support from those who have come before you to ensure you make it further up this mountain.
If you want to make your climb up, then here’s your opportunity to speed things up.
I’m not at the peak of this mountain, but I’ve climbed a long way. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I can be your guide to get you to the next level of this steep mountain.
The 5-Step Product Marketing Blueprint is the same guide I use that will help you grow your business and learn exactly how you can start making money online as a creator. This is your chance to receive the guide and make it further along with help from someone who’s been through it before.
You can get the free guide here →
This is your way to get started. With one jam-packed guide to help you make it further up in far less time and far less stress and headaches. It’s something I wish I had when I first started.
Not only will this guide help you with marketing and sales, but it will also walk you through each step with clear directions and examples for growing your audience. It’s a free 23-page guide loaded with the best of what marketing is all about. And if you want to speed things up, there’s also a premium version that will include social media templates, guides to help you sell throughout the funnel, email sequence templates and more.
There’s no need to journey up this creator mountain alone.
To become a creator, you first need to become a consumer. Just don’t create an imbalance by consuming far more than you produce. And don’t worry about finding that balance alone. I’ll show you and teach you how creators produce more than they consume to reach the peak of this mountain so you can enjoy the life you want and desire too.
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