This month marks the 10-year anniversary of my journey as a content creator. I don’t wanna say just a blogger as a lot more has happened, such as being a podcast host, published author, and course creator.
So in this episode, I wanna share some things I’ve learned about the process of content creation over the years, what has changed about the industry as well as what remains the same, and the main principles that will always apply if you wanna make it as a content creator.
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Show Notes:
- What has changed about the industry
- How some people use content platforms the wrong way
- How the online course industry has changed
- The rise of the spiritual entrepreneur
- Why being professional and having a brand is much easier today
- What’s different about podcasting in the last decade
- How has the blogging industry evolved
- Principles that will always apply if you wanna make it as a content creator
Questions answered in the episode:
- Can you get viral quickly with video content?
- Can everyone build a business thanks to social media?
- How did the pandemic affect the online course industry?
- What’s a spiritual business?
- Do you need a website and an email list to have a real business?
- Can you still spot the real entrepreneurs who want to make a difference among the rest?
- What does it take to make your podcast rank?
- Is it easy to run a blog with no experience?
- It is still worth it to release free content?
- What will happen if you don’t create content consistently?
Mentioned:
Transcript
Content has always been the foundation of my business, the main way I grow my audience and build my brand, and what ultimately leads to the revenue that allows me to live the life I once only dreamed about. It’s all connected.
The topics I cover have changed over the years, the way I create and promote the content has evolved, I’ve tried different formats, I’ve experienced moments of low and high motivation levels, and so much more has happened. And yet, the content creation process never stopped.
There might have been big breaks. There might have been moments where I was more dedicated to one platform or content format and left the rest behind. And periods where I was more repurposing and updating old content rather than creating new pieces. But the magic was still happening, things were always moving, I was always teaching and sharing all I know about the topics that I deeply care about.
If you wanna learn more about all this, together with how to identify your target audience, choose the best platform and content format for you, create your content strategy, make your content magnetic and promote it with integrity and ease, you can check out my course Fearless Content.
It’s a program that will help you get clear on what’s no longer serving you and release it energetically, re-organize your whole business from a place of abundance, and achieve radical alignment in your content creation. As well as how to create more content in less time, overcome doubt and imposter syndrome, build your sales funnel and create content for each of its stages, and just let your content transform lives and become part of your legacy.
This is one of the best courses I’ve created and it’s very dear to my heart. If it sounds like something that will help you, head to the sales page to learn more about it and see what students are saying about it.
Now, let’s dive into the episode.
What has changed about the industry
I’ll start with how the industry was back then. Obviously, it was simpler. Less competition, a few dozen bigger creators in every niche and on every platform and I liked following them and learning from them.
Teaching personal development or blogging was still a good idea, while now it’s considered way too competitive so people go for more niche topics.
There were fewer blogs back then and just less of everything. Courses weren’t such a big thing yet and it was a rare occasion that a creator actually had a program to sell. Coaching wasn’t as mainstream as it is today either.
But things have probably mostly changed in terms of video. I’m a bit old school when it comes to this and prefer how it was back then, because platforms like Instagram and TikTok simply aren’t my place and short form video isn’t something that excites me. I don’t see much value in it, both as a creator and as a consumer.
But now that’s how you can get viral in no time, and it makes sense to have that as part of your marketing strategy even if you don’t like it. You can really build an audience with the right videos on a social media platform even if you have no experience, and even make a few sales fast if you have a paid offer.
Crazy how things have changed. And because it’s all happening on our phones, there’s no learning curve and not much strategy is needed either, all kinds of people can actually gain a lot from it. I mean teenagers and people who are just doing it for fun while on their day job, or random ones who don’t know anything about business.
What follows next is different for everyone. Some manage to monetize that attention and maintain the popularity. Others just disappear because they simply don’t have more to say, don’t know how to provide value and what next steps to take.
But to build a business is to build something scalable, to solve problems for people, to offer solutions with your content, to form relationships with your audience, to have a strategy behind all this, and to actually earn money. This isn’t easy and it’s definitely not for everyone.
How some people use content platforms the wrong way
Because everything is so available to both consumers and creators, many people use platforms the wrong way. They don’t respect the industry they are in, aren’t careful with the advice they give, or don’t really have good intentions. Some just want the attention to fill a void inside themselves.
Sadly, on the other side of the screen can be a teenager that admires them and listens to them. Or a person who’s struggling with something, is easily influenced and might take decisions based on what the creator said, but which isn’t beneficial to them. So some content creators definitely make the online space worse than it is.
Labels don’t mean much these days either, I think. That’s because everyone can create a profile on Instagram, call themselves a coach, post a few videos sharing 1 tip in each, have a paid coaching offer, and actually get some followers who see them as an authority.
But they aren’t. They don’t know much or anything about their niche, they don’t have the experience, aren’t ready to teach people, don’t know how to treat their work as a business, and just want quick money.
Sadly, they might have a paid client soon and this gives them the confidence to consider themselves a real coach and business owner and take themselves way too seriously. Then they use that one client as proof to show others they are professional and have experience, and basically to trick them into working with them.
That might be one of the main reasons why I left Instagram as a creator. This happens a lot there and I simply don’t approve it.
How the online course industry has changed
Another thing that changed drastically in the last decade is the online course industry. Especially in the pandemic as people spent more time than ever behind the screen and wanted to learn skills and just started trusting online education more.
With that, many new course creators came and there’s now a course about anything you can imagine. This is amazing. You can build skills in no time from the comfort of your home and you can then start teaching this in your own way.
I’m all about that and that’s why I started creating content to teach course creators how to design not just a program but build a whole digital product business around it and earn an income. The main place I teach this is my program Bold Business School.
There are also more platforms that allow you to create and sell your courses. I have always used Teachable and had the chance to see all the new features they released over the years and how everything became simpler. It’s so easy to use and you can get your program out there in no time as long as you have the video content.
The rise of the spiritual entrepreneur
Another thing that has changed for the better in the last decade is that as spirituality became more popular and a topic that was discussed so much everywhere, more business owners also got into it, as well as more spiritual teachers because entrepreneurs.
That created a special type of content creators who are conscious, speak from their heart, work in alignment with their energy and soul’s purpose, create the content they are meant to create, affect people’s lives in a deeper way, and create change that’s just more magical than before.
They are in control of their ego, replaced their limiting beliefs with empowering ones, operate from a place of abundance, and have practices to stay high-vibe and take business decisions intuitively.
These people have magnetic energy and it’s infused into their content. The way they inspire their audience is next level. So I love that about the business industry now. Running a spiritual business is the norm, not an exception like it was before.
Why being professional and having a brand is much easier today
Oh, and here’s something else that’s different. These days you don’t really need to be as professional as before. Meaning, you don’t need to have an email list or even a website.
You can just build a following on socials, and have a way for people to pay you to work with you. Many coaches simply use a software tool that allows them to book and onboard clients, manage payments, track projects, and everything else they need.
They don’t need to build their brand outside of the social platform anymore like it was back in the days. If they create valuable and regular content there and are growing their following all the time, this is more than enough.
When I teach business, though, this isn’t what I recommend. I’m all about having a website and an email list as these are things you can control. But today there are many more possibilities and that allows different types of business owners to do share their work with the world.
What remained the same
Some things in the industry remained the same as back in the days, though. There might be more wannabe business owners who don’t have the knowledge and integrity to help people online.
But there are also many more of the entrepreneurs who started from nothing, actually did the work to build something valuable, and change the lives of their audience. Who don’t go for the quick money but prefer to grow their brand over time and listen to their intuition, to create the products they feel called to and which their audience actually needs and to show up week after week for their business and to put it above most of the other things in their life.
They are also the people who are into personal growth and constantly keep learning more about business and do the inner work required to stay in business. They are the ones I’m learning from and whose programs I invest in and they make the world a better place.
I believe we can feel who are the real ones and who aren’t, so that’s one of the things that hasn’t changed about the online space.
Which means that whoever you are, wherever you come from, regardless of your professional background, you can become one of those people. You can create real impact, lasting change, a profitable business and something that you just love doing and which lets you be flexible and live the life you desire. How beautiful is that!
If you’re already doing that, I admire you, I’m here to support you and I really hope you stay consistent regardless of the results. You might see no progress and no money for some time, but you might still be impacting people with your content. Keep it up, this has a ripple effect.
What’s different about podcasting in the last decade
Another thing that remained the same is podcasting. I mean, of course, there are so many more podcasts, but the idea is the same, the tools we use haven’t advanced that much as opposed to content management systems like WordPress or any video platform.
The stats offered by podcasting hosting sites is still quite simple compared to others, and not much has changed about the options we have to rank well with our episodes. You optimize the title and description, you can add links to the show notes, you encourage your listeners to leave reviews so the show can do better. And the direct way to optimize your podcast channel is by sponsored ads on the show.
The learning curve here is the same as it was many years ago, I’d say. I even use the same program to record and edit my audio on my Mac – Audacity.
So that’s just a little something I thought of which hasn’t changed much and it probably doesn’t need to. It’s still about providing value with your episodes, choosing the topics based on what your audience wants to learn more about, and publishing them consistently.
How has the blogging industry evolved
Compared to that the blogging industry has evolved quite a lot. I remember how WordPress was 10 years ago, and how it is now. The plugins and widgets you can add can do anything for you and it can look pretty and perform well at the same time. There are incredible themes and page builders and it’s just all working so well, it’s lightweight and doesn’t really make your site load slower.
Platforms like Canva have improved so much that the free version now allows you to feel like a designer and create the most stunning social media graphics, book covers, or anything else you might need. And you don’t need to create it from scratch, there are templates for literally anything.
That also applies for page builders, email marketing tools and anything you can think of. So you have much less thinking to do compared to 10 years ago. Everything is also more optimized so you don’t need to worry about it and it’s just easier to focus on creating more content and getting it out there.
Principles that will always apply if you wanna make it as a content creator
What makes me happy is that the main principles of content creation haven’t changed. Genuine and valuable content is appreciated just as much, and people can notice when you’re fake or when you simply don’t give them much but are putting out a piece of content just for the sake of doing it.
You will be valued for your generosity and that’s why most creators have a lot of free content. It’s how they grew their audience and built trust.
So if you don’t give people much for free and instead just keep selling your offers, you might not build a business. Your free content is a way to welcome many new people to your world and show them what it’s like learning from you, give them something actionable and inspirational, something they will remember you for and thank you for, and then they will come back for more.
Some will want to work 1:1 with you or invest in one of your courses or buy your book. That’s a natural way to make sales. You don’t need to convince anyone or push them to buy. You just show them what you’re all about with your free content and if they want more, they will come back and be ready to pay for it.
Also, people want quality stuff online. If you’re a fraud, eventually they will be able to tell. Probably when they invest in working with you but see you don’t have much to teach them or simply lack the skills or confidence or integrity necessary to do a good job and create a great client experience.
Then they will tell others, will leave a bad review, and even if you try to hide all that for some time, it will eventually get out there. You can’t build a brand based on this. You gotta be all in, to have a purpose behind everything you do, to genuinely care about the subjects you teach and to do the work.
Consistency is still key.
If you don’t show up regularly, people will forget you. They also won’t really know, like or trust you. The relationship you form is based on regular interaction with them and is one where you keep giving.
It’s okay if you change direction, if you evolve as a person and change your business based on that. But you gotta have new pieces of content and to continue educating and inspiring people. Otherwise, they don’t have a reason to come back to your blog, podcast, or social platform.
So that’s what I wanted to share with you today about creating and marketing your content, and building a content-based business.
Everything that was possible 10 years ago still is, it might be more competitive but it still is. And there are so many more options for content creators today and so many tools that make it as easy as possible for you to get out there and share your content today, then see what happens and either create more of the same or change direction based on the results you see.
I’m curios what you think if you’ve also been around for many years. Do you agree with everything I said? Which of the changes in the industry do you love, and which ones aren’t you happy about? Reach out and let me know.
And if you need help creating a simple but effective content marketing strategy, learn more about my course Fearless Content here.
