🧑‍🎨 What Full-Time Creators Actually Do

Good morning.

Last week was my first week as a full-time creator. 👨🏻‍💻

So, what does that actually mean? 😅

Let’s get into it.

— Gordon

Everyday Insights 👀
Keeping you in the know

• How Starbucks Devalued Its Own Brand [Harvard Business Review]

• OpenAI releases o1, its first model with ‘reasoning’ abilities [The Verge]

• Apple AirPods Pro granted FDA approval to serve as hearing aids [TechCrunch]

👨🏻‍💻 What Full-Time Creators Do

Being a full-time content creator looks like a dream job.

Who wouldn’t want to make six figures every month, working from their laptop anywhere in the world, just by posting a video weekly on YouTube, recording a podcast, or posting “valuable insights” a few times a day on Twitter?

It looks effortless—post content, get likes, sign sponsorship deals, and spend the rest of the day at the beach.

LOL. The reality is a bit more complicated.

Behind the scenes, full-time creators run complex businesses, fill multiple roles, and strive to balance creativity with relentless consistency.

So, how do creators spend their time?

And, why should you care?

The Creator Economy: The 30,000 Ft View

The creator economy has seen explosive growth over the past few years.

In 2023, over 50 million people worldwide considered themselves creators, with 2 million earning a full-time living from their content.

Three things have driven this rapid expansion:

1. A failing education system

2. A global awakening of what matters in life (post-pandemic)

3. The rise of platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and, more recently, beehiiv and Patreon allow creators to monetize directly from their audience

The global creator economy is estimated to be worth over $250 billion and is expected to hit $528.39 billion by 2030.

So, who gives a shit (or who should)?

1. Employees

2. Employers

It continues to become more accessible (especially with generative AI) for people to reconsider their 9-5 jobs.

Sure, jobs can provide stability and traditional benefits, but they also have limited income potential, questionable cultures, fixed hours, and returning in-office requirements.

Instead, people are exploring the possibility of working from anywhere, replacing their income (and often earning much more), and making a bigger impact by sharing their expertise online to help more people get what they want out of life.

Employers will have to (and many already are) follow their own advice and think outside the box to attract and retain talent.

It’s also crucial for employers to better understand how creators work, as more marketing and advertising strategies require multifaceted creators to produce content and execute those strategies quickly and on budget.

Get the picture? Perfect.

Let’s zoom into a creator’s day-to-day.

Content Creation: The Tip of The Iceberg

As consumers of content, we only see the final result.

We only see the outputs and none of the inputs.

We don’t see the dozens of hours of work behind a single piece of content, often by a small team.

The process behind creating high-quality content is far more involved than simply hitting record or writing a newsletter issue.

For video creators, especially those on platforms like YouTube or TikTok, the production cycle involves multiple steps: researching, scripting, filming, editing, and post-production.

Depending on complexity, a single, 10-minute YouTube video can take 20 to 40 hours to complete.

Creators spend hours researching topics, engaging with their audience, and refining their writing to make it engaging and actionable.

The goal isn’t just to create but to create something valuable that stands out in an endless sea of online content.

The goal is to entertain and/or be helpful.

For creators, content is their product.

Audience Engagement: Turning Consumers into Community

If content is the product, the audience is the customer base.

Creators know that producing content is only half the battle.

The other half is engaging with their community daily.

Many people don’t realize audience engagement is more than responding to comments or liking a few posts.

It's an intentional effort to build relationships with viewers or readers.

This can involve answering direct messages, interacting in the comments, replying to emails, and hosting live sessions.

This is where creators gain critical feedback.

By paying attention to what their audience enjoys, complains about, or suggests, creators can shape their future content to serve their community better.

They use these touchpoints as informal market research—invaluable insights for growing a loyal, engaged audience.

Every morning, I invest an hour replying to comments and DMs on my account and posting insightful comments on posts of larger accounts in my niche.

For example, in addition to my three Twitter posts, I average between ten and fifty replies daily, all written as if they were standalone posts. 😅

The Invisible Business of Content Creation

Successful creators operate like a business because they run one.

That means setting long-term goals, tracking performance metrics, and refining their content calendar.

Creators review their analytics to understand which posts are performing well and what times their audience is most active, and they use those insights to double-down on what is working well.

Strategy also includes thinking about income streams.

Most full-time creators diversify their revenue by combining platform monetization (like YouTube AdSense), sponsored deals, affiliate links, digital products (courses), and paid community memberships.

This isn’t done willy-nilly—it requires careful planning.

Creators evaluate which partnerships make sense for their brand (careful to protect their invaluable reputation), how to launch a product successfully, and which niche and platforms provide the highest ROI (return on investment).

A YouTube channel in the finance niche can earn CPMs (Cost per 1,000 Impressions) far higher than the average due to advertisers with deeper pockets and an audience proven to spend more—every decision matters.

Full-time creators aren’t just creatives—they’re entrepreneurs.

That means dealing with everything from contracts and invoices to brand deal negotiations, hiring and firing, and taxes.

As their platforms grow, so does their business complexity.

Many creators start out solo, handling every aspect of the business themselves.

As they scale, creators hire virtual assistants or editors and then often build small teams to handle the workload and improve the quality of content through specialization.

The most successful creators think like CEOs—they’re not just working in their business; they’re working on it.

Skill Development: Staying Relevant

The creator economy moves quickly.

What works today is dusty tomorrow.

Creators set aside weekly dedicated time for personal growth—watching tutorials, taking online courses, joining cohorts, or attending industry conferences.

Creators must continually evolve by learning the latest video editing trends or staying updated on platform algorithm changes.

This isn’t just about technical skills, either.

It includes building skills like storytelling, copywriting, or brand positioning.

These skills enable creators to produce better content and grow their influence, keeping them competitive in an ever-changing environment.

Rest and Recovery: Avoiding Burnout

No creator can sustain their career without focusing on their health.

The constant pressure to create and engage can quickly take a toll on mental and physical health.

Earlier this year, many of my favorite creators were “quitting YouTube” or taking an extended break for this reason.

Ten years is a long time to grind like this, even for the best.

Without rest, creators risk losing the passion that fueled their growth in the first place.

This is why 10,000 steps daily, whether two walks or a run and a walk, is critical to keeping my energy and mind fresh. It’s the standard for me.

I know what burnout is like. It’s how I got here. 🫠

Hard pass on doing that again.

Being a full-time creator is far from a passive endeavor.

Creating and posting into the void for months before seeing signs of traction.

Feeling kinda crazy, alone, and uncertain if this will work.

It requires creativity, strategy, business acumen, and personal care.

What’s the alternative, though?

Regret. ☠️

ONWARD TOGETHER.

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My Favorite Things 💙
What I’m reading, watching, and studying

Course: Today is the first session of a five-week cohort I joined called “Write, Grow, Sell.” It’s a group of 250 newsletter owners/operators around the globe learning how to start, grow, and monetize their newsletters. The cohort is led by Matt McGarry, the guy behind the growth and wild success of newsletters The Hustle, 1440, Milk Road, and Sahil Bloom’s “Curiosity Chronicle.”