Dear Young Creative: Between Content, Monetization and You
A day with passionate creatives in Accra.
On 22nd October, I moderated a panel discussion at a Creatives’ Hangout organized by the Earnest Writes Hub in partnership with e-Ananse in Accra.
The topic, “Being a Creative: Between Content, Monetization and Me” was the focus of the session and was discussed at length.
The panel members were Mrs Adwoa Amoako Adjei, a Lawyer, and Author; Mr Delan Bond, Media Director, Author and President of Noarmen and Mr Mohammed Seidu, the Creative Director of Createx Pro.
As a creative, you occasionally find yourself wondering if there will ever come a point in your creative journey where you will be able to sit down, reminisce about the journey you have had and find contentment in the achievements you have made up to that point.
Hence, you are almost always filled with the anxiety of making the most out of your creativity. First, you try to understand yourself as a creative—to know what you are made of and what you stand for. You want to be able to do what you do best—create the most amazing content and we (sometimes) want to make a living out of it.
All these were the major highlights of the panel discussion.
I have always been passionate about the growth of young creatives (that is why I founded Earnest Writes Hub) and about creating enabling environment for our growth. This is mostly captured in some of my discussions and write-ups. One such would be a writing project that got published in GUAP Magazine, UK.
Due to this, I structured the conversation under sections like "Being creative," "Content creation; the what, the when, and the how," "Ways to monetize," and "the emergence of the Creative economy," to draw attention to the most salient aspects of the theme.
Creating content can be likened to giving birth in a creative’s world.
In the past years, technological breakthroughs have made it possible for the process of content creation to experience exponential growth. The several processes involved in the production of high-quality content, from the inception of an idea through the evaluation of its effectiveness, have gotten smoother. There are platforms (more now than before) readily at the disposal of young creatives to take advantage of to make a living.
Where there’s a dedicated audience, there’s content ripe for monetization. As a creative, you must know when inspiration hits and know when to make the most out of it. You must know where to get ideas for your various art forms and how to bring these ideas to life. Many of the points made by the panellists on “finding ideas” are covered in the article: Dear Young Creative: Inspiration Works In Mysterious Ways.
Consistency is also key in your creative journey. There is a need to develop a “content creation habit”. This is the act of working regularly to help you produce content consistently.
Watch this Youtube video where I talk about consistency
Creative collaboration is also one aspect to look at if you want to make the most of your creative journey. The process of working with other people to achieve a common objective in an innovative approach is what is usually meant when creative collaboration is mentioned. Working on projects on your own can reduce the amount of input you get during the creative process, which can result in you missing out on alternative viewpoints.
The concept that creatives can think beyond their creative lenses and into the domain of business came to be viewed as a unifying theme. During the discussion, we talked about different ways that creatives can create a profitable business out of their creative pursuits and even hire other people to work for them.
Many monetization methods for content creators were explored.
Some were:
Starting a blog
Advertising
Video monetization on YouTube
Affiliate marketing
Starting a podcast
Creating digital products
Self-publishing a book
Participating in competitions/contests
Freelancing on platforms like freelancer.com, Upwork etc
Teaching your creative skill
Outsourcing
among others.
(Watch this space for an exclusive article on these monetization options and how to make the most out of them. Subscribe to not miss it.)
There are many ways to make a living in today's creative economy. The hardest part isn't making money; it is deciding which of the many potential avenues to pursue to maximize your earnings. You may easily transform any of these possibilities into a sustainable revenue stream for your content creation pursuit with a little bit of effort.
As the global unemployment rate climbs, I want to urge creatives to find a means to thrive and create a living on their own so that they do not later become part of the unemployed statistics.
I am very passionate about this topic and so you should expect more write-ups and projects aimed at exploring it further in this space.
Join the conversation.
What do you think creatives can do to make a living for themselves? How are you doing yours? Share your thoughts in the comment section. Can't wait to hear from you.
Follow me on:
Twitter: @let_alpha_write
IG: @let_alpha_write