Content creators have created a complaints epidemic.
It’s showing up all over the internet. Squirrels are coming out of their dirt holes to watch the fireworks. Some people are adding to the festivities.
I’m not.
Time separates the content creators we remember, from the wannabes we’ll forget in a day. Or the ones that may wind up on News-Break-Your-Dreams.
Time discovers truth — Seneca
All the evidence of the algorithm apocalypse showing up on platforms like LinkedIn is an illusion. All you have to do is look at two factors:
- When was the content creator’s account created?
- How often do they publish content?
Those damning pieces of evidence tell us the truth. You know what the truth is? They’re impatient. They’re expecting to have a one-hit-wonder.
Worse, they’re desperate for attention. That’s what I hate about the content creator industry. It can quickly become a beauty pageant for attention. We can accidentally do dumb stuff to get ‘likes.’ In case you think I’m innocent, I’m not. I’ve been stupid, too, at times.
Whatever your motive is to be a content creator, time will determine whether you get what you want. Or end up in a Facebook Group full of broken dreams and negativity that will ruin your online career.
The weak hands quit. The strong hands create.
It’s harsh, I know. I’m not trying to be mean, but it’s the truth.
Quitting just means the content creator world isn’t for you. That’s okay. Nothing wrong with that. It’s better for time to reveal a goal as fake than for your time to get wasted on a journey not meant for you.
The creator economy is brutal. It’s easy to become lost or get sucked into the echo chamber of noise about nothing.
The best example of a content creator I can give you is Ayodeji Awosika. I’ve quietly followed his work across multiple platforms for years. The guy doesn’t stop. You can throw whatever mud you want at him and he simply keeps creating.
The best way I can describe it is like this. He’s in a competition with himself.
In the world of Ayo there are no other content creators. I swear a tornado could be ripping through his house and he’d stay glued to his laptop. That level of focus turns any rough cards you’ve got dealt in life into enormous strength and discipline.
Us Aussies call it head down, bum up. Try it.
Many will get revealed as frauds, fakes, or weak hands
As time rolls on by it’s an unfortunate reality.
Some of the pseudonymous names will disappear off the face of the earth. Or they’ll get found out to be completely different genders or members of society. They could even turn out to be professional actors, no better than Hollywood’s band of coked-up misfits.
Some will get revealed as flat-out frauds. One of my favorite crypto content creators ended up being a fraud. He ripped off his followers for millions of dollars. No one knows where he went. He seemed like a good guy. Behind the scenes he did many horrendous crimes.
Some will be not so controversial. They’ll simply get identified as weak hands that didn’t have the drive to keep creating. That’s fine.
Time inevitably reveals the difference between creators and fakers.
As creators churn the patient ones reap the upside
For the serious hard-working content creators the upside compounds.
Patience starts to pay off. Tiny seeds planted in various pockets of the internet start to grow and bear delicious fruit.
It looks like it’s too-good-to-be-true. It’s not
If, as a content creator, you can be patient for 5 years then the internet is literally yours to dominate. You can do whatever you want. That sort of long game just isn’t idolized by the dopamine junkie generation of content creators, platforms like TikTok have produced.
We want it now. We want it fast.
It ain’t going to happen. Not in the world of content creation, and not in any other industry. You have to sit back and put effort in.
Consistent work makes results look effortless if you’re patient enough.
Algorithms massively reward time
You hear about algorithms a lot from content creators. It’s the maker or breaker of dreams (apparently).
Let me tell you a secret. I’ve met some of the guardians of the algorithm galaxies over the years.
They all told me that algorithms have an experience metric. Algorithms reward consistently and time on the platform. No platform is going to grant you access to their gates of heaven unless you’ve earned it.
How? By spending time.
Time is the currency of social media algorithms.
Not lottery luck, random viral hits, silly little tricks, engagement groups where you like each other’s stuff, complaining, blaming, sending letters to the tech giant CEO, messing with the title, tagging influencers … none of that stupid nonsense that gets you nowhere, works.
Don’t fall into the trap.
The truth that wipes smiles off content creators
When you spend time creating content you get good. When you slack off your quality decreases. I’m guilty of this.
The truth is, if your content views have fallen off a cliff, it’s likely because of quality. Not Mark Zuckerberg’s minions.
None of us want to admit it. Especially not me.
Sometimes my content sucks. I create too much. I publish too much. I get stuck in my own little world. I write about stuff nobody cares about. I use too much jargon. I forget about the audience. I become too god damn selfish.
Us content creators are responsible for our quality. Nobody else.
I’ll say it again for the kids down the back…
Us content creators are responsible for our quality. Nobody else.
Time in the market beats time out of the market
This is an old investing cliche. There are two types of investors:
- Those who do their research and invest for the long term.
- Those who jump in and out of the market and constantly change the stocks they buy and try to time the ups and downs of the market.
The first type of investor ends up filthy rich with enough money to build an orphanage in a place that needs one. The second type of investor ends up bankrupt, down, and out.
The same applies to content creators. There are those that stay in the game no matter what like Ayo. There are those that jump in and out of the game and spend a lot of the time on the bench or completely out of the ballpark.
Then there are the platform jumpers. The guys and girls that constantly think the grass is greener somewhere else rather than doing the one thing that matters: investing time consistently in one spot.
Seneca was right. Time discovers truth.
Takeaway
If you want to stand out as a content creator then stay in the game, continue to learn, and iterate as you go. Remember that your content stinks sometimes. Mine does too. That’s okay.
Nobody is coming to save content creators. We’ve got to save ourselves by letting time reveal the truth.
Invest for the long term. Stay patient. The rest is noise that will cause you to give up. That’s the truth I’ve got for you after 7 years in the game.
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