Getting Rich in 2023: How To Become a Creator Millionaire
If getting rich in 2023 was part of your New Year’s resolution, but you’re still not a millionaire heading into the spring, it might be time to seek your fortune online.
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The internet gave the average nobody the ability to connect with absolutely everybody — and if you can make the connection stick, you can earn millions.
Or at least a living.
Here’s what you need to know about how to succeed in the creator economy.
Decide What Kind of Creator You’ll Be
According to the creator marketing platform ConvertKit, all creators fall into one of nine categories:
Podcaster: Podcasters are sometimes specialists, but there’s plenty of cross-channel overlap as coaches, authors, influencers and others often host podcasts on the side.
YouTuber: Some successful YouTubers take deep dives into complex subject matter while others excel at short-form video.
Writer: Like podcasters, writers often branch out into other channels — and they can apply their craft to just about any form of content creation, from music to comedy to academia.
Author: Authors engage in one of the oldest and most respected forms of content creation — writing books.
Blogger: Bloggers emerged as a force in the 2000s and remain the No. 2 biggest creator category behind only educators.
Educator: Able to adapt to nearly all formats, educators use blogs, podcasts, books, social media and YouTube to share distilled versions of their specialized knowledge.
Coach: Sharing much in common with educators, coaches impart their expertise on a more individualized basis, typically pursuing a specific outcome, like advancing in a career.
Artist: Artists use their status as creators to promote their work and connect with their audiences.
Influencer: The rock stars of the creator world, influencers make their livings online, often leasing their popularity through corporate partnerships.
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Get To Know the Players, Payers and Platforms
Once you find your path, learn as much as you can about the creators at the top of your chosen category and become a student of the industry, in general.
Publications such as Forbes rank creators based on metrics like audience size, corporate partnerships and, of course, income.
You’ll also want to dive into the platforms the top creators use to reach their audiences. For example, Business Insider recently profiled nearly two dozen industry professionals who changed the way creators use networks like TikTok, Discord, Duolingo, Fanjoy, LinkedIn, Meta and more.
If you’re in it for the money, you’ll want to know where that money comes from, so learn as much as you can about how successful content creators get paid. For example, Crunchbase reported on the $637 million worth of venture capital funding that poured into the creator economy in the first six months of 2022 alone, where it came from and how investors choose the creators they sponsor.
Join Creator Communities
No creator can succeed on an island. Surround yourself with like-minded people, exchange ideas and pursue symbiotic partnerships by joining creator communities on platforms like:
Clara
Scenes
Slack
Circle
Tribe
Discord
Become a Wonk
Once you’re part of a network of creators working toward similar goals, get granular with your research so you can form a data-based strategy.
For example, the ConvertKit “State of the Creator Economy 2022” report is one of many valuable sources, and it shows that musicians, chefs, filmmakers and artists are much more likely to use short-form video over long-form compared to YouTubers and streamers. While Instagram is the top channel for audience engagement, full-time creators still mostly grow their audiences through email newsletters.
Consider Aiming for the Creator Middle Class Instead
“Millionaire” certainly has a nice ring to it, but patience is a virtue; and, in the creator economy, income is something you build slowly over time. According to the ConvertKit report, a vast majority of content creators who earn six figures or more have been at it for at least six years or, more likely, a decade or more.
Even if you never get rich, your efforts very well might buy you a ticket to the creator middle class — 22% of full-time creators earn revenues of $50,000 to $150,000.
But, if you’re going to do it, give it your all. Two-thirds of those who make less than $10,000 do it on a part-time basis. Full-timers are almost twice as likely to make $25,000 to $50,000, and the gap widens dramatically for each salary level up.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Getting Rich in 2023: How To Become a Creator Millionaire
