The #1 Thing You Must Know As a Content Creator

To reach my apartment, you have to climb 126 stairs.

These aren’t your typical “normal” stairs either.

These are old, European-style building stairs. They’re steep, narrow, and painful. They wrap around in circles to make it seem like you are in an endless loop. Imagine using the stair-stepper at the gym on the hardest setting, and you’ve got a relatively accurate comparison.

I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that these 126 steps are sometimes the difference between me throwing together 5 eggs in an omelette for lunch versus going down to the store for some variety.

But of course, over time, the stairs have gotten easier as those muscles developed. My girlfriend would say the same. You know what made those stairs easier?

Taking them every single day, multiple times a day. Consistency.

A Background on Content Creators

Just about every type of online business these days requires some sort of content creation—whether it’s podcasting, YouTube videos, or writing a blog.

Many businesses even use content creation as a form of driving sales and traffic to their page—even if the backbone of the business itself isn’t the content creation.

Let’s use a podcast for example.

You can either make money from the podcast in the form of advertising on the show itself. Or you use the show as an opportunity to grow an audience, with the hopes that they then visit a website you’ve created where you are making money—either in the form of selling a product, or again—selling ads.

Even brick and mortar businesses (read this article for ideas to sell to them) use a type of content creation. They entice you with ads on Facebook to visit their page. On said Facebook page, they might share photos, videos, and more of their local brick and mortar store. Even if it’s small, they’re still creating something.

Content creators are the key to making business go ’round.

The problem is, everybody these days wants to be a content creator.

It scares good people (like those of you reading this) that have a message to share with the world from doing so.

Now everybody and their mom can be an “Instagram Model” these days.

If you removed “Instagram Model” as a career the unemployment rate of girls aged 18-25 would skyrocket.

— Kyle Trouble (@KyleTrouble) August 5, 2017

As with everything in life, if you want to be a content creator, you will be far, far ahead of most people if you are simply consistent with what you do. How do you be a consistent content creator then?

Excellent question.

#1. Do It FIRST Thing In The Morning

Last year, I posted just about daily to this blog. This resulted in it having well over 1,000 posts by now.

I’ve scaled that back now. My audience is so large that it’s good to give you a day or two to catch up on things, actually enjoy the content, leave a comment (do it on this article!) and share it on your social media platform of choice.

But, when I was posting every day—I had to stay ahead of the curve. So even morning, the first thing I’d do when I sat down with my coffee and smart drugs was to write. Didn’t even matter if I had nothing to say. I would just make my fingers move, and put them into action.

The results of making it my #1 priority paid off.

I knew that today I needed to do some writing. So when I was creating my to-do list last night, I wrote at the top: “Write article for This Is Trouble first thing in the morning”.

The creative juices will flow best for most people first thing in the morning.

This isn’t a cut and dry rule, but it’s a good place to start if you’re struggling to find your consistency as a content creator.

#2. Have A PURPOSE Behind Your Content Creation

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Not everybody needs to be a blogger.

It’s a brutal field.

I do think everybody should have a website.

I think everybody should have an online presence. And, I think most people should have some sort of online income—even if it’s a simple supplemental form of income in addition to your full-time gig.

So, you’re made the decision to create content in some form, you need to define why you are doing it. To merely share your thoughts with the world is not a good reason. You must have a mission and purpose behind the content you create. Otherwise, people may or may not enjoy it, but you will be aimless.

Are you looking to build an email list (disclaimer: affiliate link to ConvertKit—they rock) to launch a product? Great, then do it that way. Starting a YouTube following, getting them on to your email list, and then helping them design your product for them is a great way to go about things.

Do you want to travel the world and share it? Fantastic. Find a way to make money in an ethical way from the content—this will allow you to travel more and continue to fund the adventures that inspire the content. But WHY do you want to create it?

Define who you are, what you want to become. Define the mission and purpose behind your content creation so people know exactly what you’re about.

But you can’t just write and hope it gets found.

Because…

#3. You have to understand how to help machines (Google) find it to share it with people (you). But…keep it simple.

If you’re a new content creator, do not obsess and lose sleep over learning all the technical ins and outs of every part of content creation.

That is a rabbit hole that you can go very, very deep into.

But you need to know the basics. Building a nice-looking website these days is very simple with a platform like Thrive Themes.

You need to know the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

PRO TIP: Look at how many times I used the keyword ‘content creator’ in this post. Then look at the slug (URL bar) of the page you’re on. Look at the headlines. Check out the names of the images. You can learn a lot by looking at the details.

If you know the basic technical skills in many areas, you will be ahead of:

1. All the “nerds” who specialize in just one area.
2. Every other rookie content creator out there.

The best advice I can give is to learn fundamentals in as many areas as you can. If you excel at that area, keep it to yourself. If you struggle, outsource them when you have the money to do so.

These days, I don’t write niche site content (that will sell, every time) that I don’t enjoy. I hire someone to do it. Otherwise I’d stare at a screen, goof around, and it would take me two hours to write an article I can pay $15 for.

I’m now producing three separate podcasts, and don’t enjoy audio editing and compilation. Nor am I good at it. So I’m in the process of finding the right person to take on all three. I want to DropBox the files to him or her and get the final file back for publishing.

Podcast #1: Troublesome Radio

Podcast #2: Dating Abroad

Podcast #3: Nomad & Nerdy

Closing Thoughts On Being A Content Creator

Again, the most important thing is to be consistent. And it doesn’t need to be a daily thing.

If you manage to put out a blog post twice a week you will be so far ahead of most. You can apply the same thing to podcasting, videos, or just about any medium.

Put in the work, reap the rewards.

Create now and prosper later.

I’ve got a podcast to record now. Five episodes a week is a lot.

But I have to be consistent.

Talk to you soon,

Kyle

PS: If you want to write as a content creator, I’ve got a free 6-part workshop (disclaimer: there is a paid product after the 6 videos but you’re under no obligation to buy it) on how to build a website and start creating. Click here to get the free workshop.