Many content creators will never dedicate themselves to make their dreams come true just because they didn’t dare to leave a more traditional career or they thought they weren’t good enough to follow that path. If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of the brave ones who decided to give it a try but now because of the situation or just considering there’s too much competition and not enough jobs, maybe you’re having second thoughts. Whatever your situation is, I have good news for you! There are some platforms like MintMe.com willing to give you a hand so that not only you can continue being a creator but also become a successful one. All you have to do is register and you will have the opportunity to create a token that will represent you and your project and can be used to pay for the services or products you provide, this could also be an opportunity for both you and your followers to immerse in the world of crowdfunding and cryptocurrencies.
Decide what you want and then stick to your decision
Creatives are a rare breed, very few people have the needed skills to become creators and, as I mentioned before, not many of them are “discovered” because they never decided to share their creations. So think about it, do people like what you do? Are you getting positive feedback when you share your work? Do you consider what you do is good enough so that people will pay for it? Whether you’re a creator and for some reason, you’re now considering to change your career, or you’re planning to leave your job to become a creator, this is the time to make a decision. Are you willing to give up what you wish and make a decision you might regret for the rest of your life? Or, will you step up and do whatever it takes to follow your dreams? If you choose the second option you must be ready to face hard times, especially at the beginning, but with a good plan, hard work, some marketing, and a solid platform helping you handle the finances of your project, you have a good chance to succeed.
Be willing to make adjustments
There’s no way to continue your daily routine and start a new important activity that will require a lot of time and effort. In every stage of our lives, we have to make adjustments every time something important happens, it can be going to school/university, getting a new job, having a baby, or starting a new project. Some of these required changes can involve time, money, or other resources. In the past becoming a creator could have implied moving to another city or even to another country to get the promotion you need, meet the right people, or just be in the right spot. In the age of social media, this is no longer the case, there’s the possibility you won’t even have to leave your house to start your project and make it known. No matter what kind of changes you have to embrace, challenging times are better dealt with following the principles of Agile, providing that you have a team or at least a couple of collaborators: Share ideas, fail fast, make the best decision you can with the information you have, release often and work as a team.
Use your best ideas and then get some more
We’re indeed living in difficult times but life goes on, if you have something worthy to say you can reach people, they’re just there waiting, they watch and they listen, as long as you can build a community of followers, you’ll be able to build a business. But sometimes being good at what you do might not be enough, we live in a changing world, new generations are used to a fast-paced life so you have to innovate, change, adjust, invent, anything just to keep them interested. If at some point you’re lacking ideas, you can have a brainstorming meeting with people around you, or you could also ask your audience using a poll or just straight asking them using your favorite social media platform. Even if you believe Sturgeon’s law is true you will still have ten percent you can use.
Creators are influencers, be a positive one
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls” Pablo Picasso. Since ancient times people have turned to art as a way to escape reality at least for a short while. Be it good reading, music, movies, pictures, paintings, or any other form of art, creators should always try to express their emotions and ideas and use them to connect and inspire their followers. It’s a great opportunity to have a positive impact on the life of people in the middle of all the negative circumstances we live day after day. It’s also a way to show some reciprocity and express how you value their support, whether they’re your patrons or just fans. Being a positive influence will have an impact on your project too, people will always remember what made them feel good, and not only they will go back to it every time they need it, they will tell other people about it as well. Finally, if they know you’re working on something new, they will have great expectations about it, which will have a positive impact on your sales.
Stand for your community and they’ll stand for you
Difficult times are also times of opportunities, every day more and more companies are understanding this and they’re using part of their budget to help the communities around them, they’ve discovered these people going through a hard time will be their more loyal customers in the future and also their main marketing strategy. People will value projects involved in some kind of social work and the possibilities are numberless. So, what can you do to help your followers and your community? How will you serve others? It could be sheltering pets, providing food for homeless people, helping fix the local school lab, or just being flexible when it comes to your customers being late to pay their bills. Also, contests and giveaways work great when it comes to getting more followers and have them engaged with your project. In a few words, we could say the focus during challenging times must be building stronger relationships and not only selling or upselling.
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” T. S. Eliot. This can be the time to change your life and you will only find it out if you dare to take the first step. Be brave and follow your dreams, the sky’s the limit! Things will probably be different on the other side of this crisis and even when we don’t know what the future will bring, as a creator you probably know the best way to predict the future is creating it.
