What does it mean to be a content creator?

I’ve been very shy in front of the screen, cameras, taking pictures of myself, or even making videos. However, when I first created the N8N Discord bot, a lot of people started using it. Even today, I think around 3,000 servers are still using it on Discord.

One of the struggles was that people didn’t know how to install or use it. That’s when I created my first YouTube video. It was so "shanty"—I used a loom recording, and the quality was quite bad compared to my standards today. But I released it anyway and got decent views. People actually benefited from it; they said thank you and watched the full thing.

Watch Hours

I feel like maybe one hour of my time can be equivalent to 100 hours of their time. That is actually what I think the "watch hour" metric on YouTube means. It represents how much of your time invested is equivalent to the time other people spend consuming your content.

If your content is super valuable and you create it within two hours, but people spend 1,000 watch hours viewing it, that means it is so valuable that people are dedicating parts of their lives to consume your content because they get something out of it, right?

Intrinsic Value

Being a content creator, to me, is a loudspeaker. I can take my ideas and distribute them to as many people as I can find. I really want to find other solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, failed entrepreneurs, and wantrepreneurs to give them a little insight into my life and how I do things. I want to share with them, connect with them, and build communities together.

I want to tell them about the tools I use, get their feedback, and learn what tools they use. I would like to learn from them as quickly as I can, and I would like to be paid to do so.

Goals

1. Serving as a funnel for other brands:

(a) Promote their products, ideas, tools, and creativity

(b) Help them land with the right audience so their products actually get used and go viral

2. Finding an audience for my own work:

(a) Connect with people who will use the products I build

(b) Overcome the difficulties I have had reaching the right target audience in the past

Audience

I want to find my people: the hustlers like me who run agencies or content farming operations and have let go of the idea of a stable job. These are people finding the smartest ways to make money online, whether they are:

1. Selling on e-commerce

2. Selling digital products

3. Selling courses

4. Flipping cars

Why I Do it ?

Distribution

As an entrepreneur, I am filled with ideas and I want them to reach the right people. That is why it is super important for me to have a large following on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. I feel my ideas are valid and smart, and they can help a lot of people.

Getting Paid to Learn

Another reason I want to start is that I want to learn a lot, but I don't have the time to explore everything myself. Having someone put a price on my time, paying me to learn something so I can promote it to my audience, actually makes it fun. It keeps me exposed to new things and makes me more inclined to try these products and ideas. It is a great way to speed up the process of finding the right tools and doing things the right way.

What I dont like about it ?

Rented Opinions

I don't like that brands can pay me and tell me what to say. It feels like somebody is putting money in my mouth and dictating what I can and cannot speak. I do have the option to say no and reject them, and I have done that several times, but it still feels weird. It feels like I'm a puppet to them.

Power Play

Second is the power play. I don't know if it's just a "me" thing or something in general, but whenever someone gives me money, it always feels like they are in a position of power and I am not. Because they can give me money and I am in a position of receiving, it feels like I must do whatever they say. It feels like a master-slave relationship.

I know that it's supposed to be a partnership and a collaboration where we help one another. Maybe it's just a personal inferiority complex that I need to work on.

Brand Partnerships

Some brand partnerships have been fun, while others were not so great.

Difficult Partnerships

(a) PayRam: I remember one video partnership that took two months. The technology was so difficult to learn and implement that it took a long time just to produce the content and send it to the editor. I kept prolonging it for no reason, which was very frustrating.

(b) Pet Live: They take weeks and three or four emails just to respond or give feedback on something, which is incredibly annoying.

Amazing Experiences

(a) Typeless: This was when I stepped out of my comfort zone and started recording videos outside in the park, at the beach, or while driving. I had to overcome a lot of self-doubt and self-consciousness, but it was a great experience.

(b) Higgsfield: I really enjoyed working with them because they paid the most. The process was super simple, and I could use infinite creativity to make any kind of content.

(c) Hostinger: I liked them because they gave me a free VPS to use for the whole year. Their technology is the best and I've been using it for so long

(d) Zoer: was also one of my favorites because I got the creative freedom to explore a business model of creating websites for local businesses and to see whether it actually works or not. I always saw YouTubers, Instagrammers, and all the other content creators talk about how much money they make, but once I finally tried it, I realized that it was an over-inflated idea.

That is the cool part of being an influencer: you get free stuff, and some of it is actually awesome things that I really benefit from and use. It makes me feel important when a brand wants to partner with me. I get very happy when I open my email and see a proposal, even though many companies eventually ghost me or leave me on read. I still enjoy the opportunity to earn more money.

Outbound Sales

One thing I really need to work on is outbound sales. Every day, there are about ten new AI companies launching that need marketing. I want to reach out to them with my rate card and offer to make YouTube videos.

I think I should set up a YC automation pipeline. Whichever company applies to YC, we can broadcast a message to them saying we can do a video for them. Maybe that is one way to go about it.