Wealthy creators are rare.
Most hang in the pigpens full of mud in toxic Facebook groups complaining and blaming their entire creator dreams on someone other than themselves.
I’ve been lucky to meet many wealthy creators. They’re wealthy because they prioritize their peace of mind and their free time.
On a recent Twitter Space I hosted with Sean Kernan, he reminded me of many of these habits. Adopt them to become a kickass creator.
They use money to make money
Wealthy creators are investors at heart.
The money they make as creators isn’t used to buy dumb luxury cars or show off. Nope.
It’s invested back into assets — both financial and digital assets. These assets generate passive income for them while they sleep.
Eventually, the passive income allows them to slow down with creation, so they can spend more time enjoying life.
They prioritize lifting other creators up
The creator economy is a family. Many treat it like the Hunger Games.
The wealthiest creators don’t just selfishly try and reach their own milestones. No. They help other creators.
Why?
Because someone did the same for them. Inspired by seeing Sean help other creators, I put together a Twitter Thread of the best up-and-coming creators.
Using my audience to build a beginner’s audience is a habit I learned from the best. Copy. Share, ‘like’, and comment on other creators’ content. Don’t do it expecting anything in return. Do it because it’s the right thing.
When beginner creators rise through the ranks they remember who helped them. Being part of someone else’s success story is the best legacy you can create before you die.
They don’t rely on one creator platform
Creators have an overwhelming number of platforms to post their content on.
The wealthiest creators treat platforms the way they treat their investment portfolio.
They ensure their risk is diversified in case one platform creates a dumb moderation policy, or destroys their user interface or homepage with yet another useless feature.
The one platform life destroys creator dreams. The creators I know have at least three platforms they create on.
They own their audience
Creator wealth isn’t generated by collecting useless followers, likes, and views. These are the desires of a creator heading towards bankruptcy.
Wealthy creators own their audience by bringing them to their email list.
But you’re smart and knew that already. I met one wealthy creator who blew my mind. The problem with email lists is users can unsubscribe if you send one bad email — or if you email them on a day when their inbox is overloaded.
All that hard work dies when your audience unsubscribes.
What you need is an insurance policy. The wealthy creator I met uses a Discord group as a backup. If a user opts out of email then she still has them in Discord. Genius.
An audience you don’t own is one you have to rent with either enormous amounts of your time, or by buying ads from platforms.
Screw that.
They do a lot of online courses
This year I’ve paid for more than ten online courses.
I learned from the wealthiest creators that you have to be a learning machine to stay at the top of the game. I could have found the information in these courses on my own, but it would have taken an eternity.
Online courses are curation that’s done for you to save time. Saving time equals saving money.
More time gives you more hours to create.
Only bankrupt creators diss online courses because they’re too lazy to earn and don’t believe in making money. Stupid.
You have to spend money as a creator to make money as a creator.
They maintain a low ego
Ego destroys wealth.
Success as a creator can cause you to lose the plot and start posting content about the end of America to save your life, if you’re not careful.
Don’t worry, I’ve been there and written stuff that accidentally landed in this dangerous territory.
Wealthy creators don’t think they’re smart or amazing. They think they’re hardworking and a little lucky.
The gap between your current creator income and the amount you want is closed with humility.
No one likes a douchebag creator.
They have systems to enable automation
They have creator habits that help them know what to do next.
They don’t wait to feel like creating — their motivation is deeply ingrained in their brain because they’ve shown up every day for more than a year.
Energy management is a priority. Without energy they can’t create. So they don’t waste the best hours of the day in their email inbox or scrolling social media. They use their best hours to create.
Ideas aren’t an accident either.
They have a second brain that stores every idea and piece of content they come across that’s useful. When the time comes to create they can pull from this database with complete ease.
Systems make creativity look stupidly simple.
They adopt a high-performance mindset
Optimism is a common trait amongst wealthy creators.
They don’t have all the answers but they’ve programmed their brain to believe they’ll find the solutions they seek.
They understand that their psychology is directly proportionate to their success as a creator. So they read psychology books, train their brain, spend time with great thinkers, and see the world better than it is.
They don’t roll in the mud with pigs
Wealthy creators attract critics and haters.
Instead of rolling in the mud with the loudmouth pigs and getting their g-string in a knot, they simply get on with it. They don’t let one moron ruin their day or stop them from creating.
The mute, block, and ignore buttons are always within reach — although they try not to use them too often.
They value time over money
Their goal isn’t to make a million dollars. It’s to continue to create with fewer and fewer limitations on their creativity.
They never want to have to go back to a job again or be told what to do.
So they create as best as they can to keep ownership of their time away from slave-driving corporations that seek to exploit them for profit.
Creator success looks like an empty calendar.
