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The Ultimate Guide to Become a Content Creator in 2022


I recently wrote an article about how I earn $8k per month in under 15h a week. It resonated with a lot of people, and I got a ton of questions about how I did it.

So many people think my journey is a freakish accident, that only luck and some kind of algorithmic deity allowed me to create this lifestyle. But it’s not true. Anyone can do what I’ve done — even you, reading this right now.

I’m a freelance content creator living my absolute dream. I work very little. I love my life. This article will help you do the same.

Table of Contents

Step 1: Select Two Platforms to Post Content

The very first and most exciting step is deciding where you’re going to publish content. For me, my main two homes are YouTube and Medium. For you, they might be Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. Probe your feelings — where do you feel most excited about doing a lot of work?

There are a few reasons it makes sense to focus on two specifically. First, you shouldn't spread yourself too thin. Posting on too many is exhausting, demoralizing, and pointless.

But you should choose at least two. First, it’ll give you a place to cross-promote content. For example, I frequently post the same post on both my YouTube channel and my Medium blog. It’s a great way to get additional content, research which types of topics you’re best suited to, and determine which platform likes what sort of content.

Second, you may find that you’re better suited to one than another. If I had started my journey just on YouTube, for example, I would have struggled and probably given up because writing comes easier to me.

The most important factor is that you have to be able to be consistent with them. While it’s possible you’ll get an early hit as a content creator, it’s far more likely that you’ll continue on with highs and lows.

If the thought of writing twice a week fills you with dread, don’t start a blog.

If the idea of filming, editing, and publishing a video twice a week exhausts you, don’t start a YouTube channel.

Look for the type of content that will allow you to continue even when you aren’t successful. Despite what many people will tell you, unless a platform is literally defunct, it’s not dead. You can still start a channel on pretty much any platform — LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook — and make it work.

There’s no one hot channel where it’ll be easier to make a living. All take work, dedication, and time. What you should look for is where your skills and interests will best align.

2. Create a Profile

As a content creator, the most important step is that you need a platform to post your content. Platforms make it easy to create content without worrying about distribution.

But the second most important step is to create a profile where you control the narrative. Someplace where you can post your content to your own rules and not worry about any distribution, whether the platform’s algorithm or SEO. This is merely a place for interested followers can get a sense of who you are.

While you will create a profile on something I consider a platform, it’s separate in intent: you’re not posting content here to earn money, go viral, or anything like that. It’s simply a place to develop your brand and post your contact information.

There are a lot of free options out there, and I recommend you start with one of them. For instance, I created this one on Wix in under two minutes. Your website should be:

  • cheap
  • easy to manage
  • simple to customize later on

The bulk of your efforts will be spent on your platform, so you want to remove as many obstacles as possible to keeping your website up-to-date. Later on, it’ll become more important, but today it’s just one of the ways your future followers will be able to contact you.

You may have already chosen one of these as your platform, but I recommend selecting another if so. For example, I use Twitter and Instagram purely as part of my profile, where I post my contact information and the odd post in a strictly non-professional capacity.

Your social media here should be separate from whatever your real-life one is. It can be the name of your company, or your name and a verb (like Zulie Writes) blog. The reason is so that your content creation has a profile, not just you. It’s a place for followers to get a bit of extra flavor and for you to reach more areas with very little effort.

Step 3: Design a Content Plan

This is the actual meat of the matter. A content plan is going to be the skeleton of your content creator income. Don’t worry too much about finding a niche early on and sticking to it — I find most people at this stage have no idea what they’re best at creating content in and aren’t keen on picking just one niche. That’s OK! This can shift as you grow.

Try to select 4–5 topics that you enjoy talking about. For example, I love writing about cats, programming, pop culture, pop psychology, and freelancing, and Medium as a blog. I love creating videos about freelancing and blogging.

What you absolutely must keep in mind is that your topics have to be:

  • Valuable for an audience (entertaining, informational, or both), otherwise nobody outside your family and friends will consume your content
  • Interesting to you, otherwise you’ll burn out
  • Something you have experience in, otherwise you’ll be outcompeted

You’ll find the topics that match these criteria shift over time, but that’s totally OK! Your audience won’t expect you to be totally static.

The most important factor here is that it’s something you’ll be able to keep up. Be honest with yourself: can you post twice a week on your platform? If no, then scale back to once.

The danger is that posting becomes a chore and something you resent. At the start of your content creation journey, you’re probably still working or in school, with lots of other time commitments. It’s easy to burn out. Don’t overcommit — you can always add more if you are able, but start low and slow and build up.

There’s always a misconception that more is better. I find that’s false for two reasons. First, I’ve found content creators on every platform (yes, including TikTok) who don’t post as often as they “should.” Content creators with mediocre content have to post often to stand out, but those with high-quality content can do so much less often and trust their audience will wait.

Second, how many fantastic content creators have given up because they tried to post the “optimum” number of times to their platform and weren’t able to keep it up? Even if it means a slower start, better to start on a once-a-week- posting schedule and actually continue than try a three-a-week posting schedule and give up a month in.

I actually print out a big monthly planner at the end of every month and write out what my content plan is, as well as the topics I’ll be creating in. I try to mix it up while staying in my lane. This gives me the freedom of choosing topics I’m interested in that week, while staying consistent for my audience.

Step 4: Track Your Time

When you’re doing what you love, it's easy to sink hours into it and not look back. Don’t fall into that trap: track your time.

I use Clockify, a free tool, to track how I spend every minute of my content creation — answering emails, meetings, actually writing or filming, editing, and so on. This helps me see what I’m actually spending time on, and finding a return on investment.

For example, I tracked all my working hours in November 2020 and found a surprising breakdown that I spent a lot of time on YouTube and not as much as I thought on writing.

Many platforms give you money through ad revenue share, like YouTube. There are also alternatives to YouTube monetization that grant income through other methods, like subscriptions.

Even if the platform doesn’t have a native monetization method, like Twitter or Instagram, it’s possible you can start earning money earlier through brand partnerships and sponsored posts.

You should keep track of all that income in a spreadsheet and attach it to your time, so you know exactly how much you’re earning per platform.

If you’re not yet earning any income, you should instead attach the factor that is most likely to help you earn money. For example, a good metric for YouTube is hours watched. On Twitter, impressions earned is a decent metric. While it’s much harder to compare, it’ll at least give you some basis for measuring your efforts and outcome.

It gives you total clarity on your return on investment. At this stage, your time is absolutely precious. If you’re spending an hour a week on Twitter and that isn’t earning you any income, it may be time to scale that back. Meanwhile, your YouTube channel may still not earn money, but you’re growing your hours watched much faster than you had originally hoped.

Tracking your time can help you plan out your time better and more effectively for the future.

Later on, it’ll also help you understand what your hourly rate is. For example, I earn about $150/hour for my blog. This helps me know what I should charge clients — which you’ll begin to get later on in your journey!

Step 5: Start Building Your Mailing List

Don’t skip this step: building a mailing list matters. For one, it’s one of the few places that is truly without rules. No algorithm, SEO, or platform rules. You can write literally whatever you want and still reach the same audience.

Second, it’s a place to start gathering your fans. Your audience will happily consume your content — but your fans want to hear more from you. A mailing list gives you a place to talk to them directly.

Don’t overthink the beginning! Many mailing lists are free and easy to use, like ConvertKit’s basic plan (up to 1000 free subscribers before you pay a penny), or Substack.

You can start very simple and ask people to sign up for a weekly roundup of content. Post this call-to-action at the end of all the content you post, with a hyperlink to your mailing list.

Then, simply send it to them once a week. It can link to your content or you can send links to content you really enjoyed. This is just a way to start a conversation with your subscribers and fulfill the promise you made them in the call to action.

Content creation is more about relationships than content, to be honest. This stage is critical to begin building those relationships between yourself and your audience.

The Next Stage

Those five things are all you need to start your content creator journey. However, at some point — maybe a month, maybe six months, maybe a year and a half like me — you’ll get to the point where you feel you can give more. You want more. And you have the bandwidth and expertise to do that.

This next section details that stage.

Step 6: Come Up With a Brand

At this stage, you have a fully fleshed-out profile. Your brand is going to be how you polish that into showcasing who you are as a creator.

A brand does the very important work of conveying two things: who you are professionally, and the fact that you are professional. You don’t need a brand at the start, but when you’re burgeoning into a full-time content creator you absolutely will.

You’ll need a color scheme, a logo, and a bio. Choose your color scheme based on the mood you like to evoke. My color scheme is floral and bright, for instance. I hired a designer to help me with a logo.

Your bio should be 50–75 words that describe who you are as a creator — whimsical? Fun? Educational? — and what your audience can expect from you, such as topics, frequency, and platforms.

Your brand is something a little more nebulous, too — your content makes up your brand. At this stage, you should have narrowed your niche a little bit as you discover what content you enjoy and are good at creating.

Step 7: Give Fans a Way to Give You More Money

This is such an exciting stage in any creator’s journey! Your audience will be giving you some money by ad revenue, or royalties. But your fans will love what you do and want to give you more money. You should begin giving some thought to how you can do this.

This differs from creator to creator. Some fans will want exclusive, backstage content. Others will want 1:1 time with you, or access to you, like through a private Slack channel. Still others will want courses or ebooks.

For me, it made the most sense to go the educational route. I offer coaching, consultations, and courses. I used to offer a Patreon, but shut that down when my time tracking showed me it was an ineffective way for me to communicate with my fans and earn money.

This is not a way to scam your fans or anything like that. A lot of creators feel dodgy asking fans for money without realizing that it’s a two-way street. Your fans want more from you, and providing exclusive content for them allows you to give it.

Pick content that makes sense with your brand and the content you post, as well as what your audience is asking of you. For me, many people wanted to learn what I know, so it made sense to do a course. For you, you may find that your Instagram fans want printouts of your artwork.

Whatever it is, create multiple tiers to cater to the various levels of fans. You may have casual fans who want to give you $15-$20, but you will also have those who want to give you $1000s. It may feel unrealistic at this stage, but you need to know that they’re there.

Step 8: Secure a Proper Home Office

OK, when I started my content creation journey, I did all my content creating sitting on the floor of my living room, with my laptop on my coffee table. It worked! It worked for over a year. No complaints. I wrote and I filmed and I posted from that spot. My most popular YouTube video to date is filmed there on that humble carpeting.

But about a year later, I needed more, and you will too. You’ll need a place to be creative uninterrupted by cats, partners, or construction workers. Especially if you’re filming, it’s critical.

All you really need for a home office as a content creator is a desk and a closed-off area. I have a spare bedroom I now use and invested in a standing desk which I highly recommend.

You don’t need anything else, like a ring light, a microphone, or a fancy keyboard. You might look for little accouterments that help you get into the creative zone — for me, this is a pencil, a notebook, and a small potted plant — but you don’t need them.

The upshot is no matter what kind of content creation you’re doing, it’s going to be a lot easier to get it done if you have a quiet area dedicated to helping you create, set up the way you like.

Step 9: Identify Ways to Improve

When you’re a beginner content creator, you suck. No hard feelings, it’s just true. None of us really take classes in how to create content — we just start because we like it. So in the beginning, there’s no use looking for specific areas to improve because you need to improve at pretty much all of it.

At this next stage, though, you’ll have a much better idea of what you need to go to the next level. Your craft is good, but you’ll notice areas that could use polishing. Your job is then to find ways to do that.

There are three ways to do so: research, product investment, and outsourcing.

  1. First, you can take courses or independent research. There is so much rich information out there in books and videos, for free or paid, that can help you do what you need to learn. For instance, I noticed I could improve my SEO skills this way, so I began independent study in SEO.
  2. Product investment is the second possibility. You’ll have a circle of close fans at this point who enjoy giving you pointers on what they love and what they might like to see improved. For example, my videos were OK to start with, but many commenters let me know the audio and video quality could be improved. So I invested in better equipment.
  3. Outsourcing is a third avenue for improvement. There will be things you may not want to buy or learn, and in that case, other people have the skills you lack. By now, you should have some income that helps you hire the people with the skills to help improve your craft — for instance, I hired someone to design my website and logo, and I hire someone to edit and polish my videos.

Step 10: Discover Diverse Income Streams

The great thing about becoming a content creator in 2022 (or today if you’re there already!) is that there are so many platforms that can help you start creating content, and they take care of hosting, distribution, and payment.

But at this stage in your career, you should be looking for more than that. Platforms are good for beginners but they should only be 1/3 of your income streams. As they are responsible for the distribution and payment, often you have to play by an algorithm’s rules, and give up a hefty chunk of your payment to the platform.

I like to think of my content creation income streams in 3:

  • Platforms (like YouTube, ad revenue)
  • Clients (people who pay me to create stuff)
  • Myself (my books, my courses, consulting)

Clients will find you now that you’re creating content, and they will want to pay you for you to do your very good work — for them. This is such an exciting stage in your content creation career, and it’s worth trying to build relationships with those clients.

However, clients are also wavery. They come and go, and you can’t control how much work they give you — only the price you set for them. That’s why it’s also important to develop the third stream: your content.

By selling additional content on your own website or other areas you control, you can control the distribution, the marketing, the stream. It’s harder to do this at the beginning because you just don’t have the audience. But at this point, you have the audience, you have the fans, you have the reach. You just need the sales.

Step 11: Level-Up Your Mailing List

Do not ignore this step! Your mailing list is your single pure line of communication with your audience that is free of algorithmic interference. There, it’s just you and your fans.

Now that you’re more developed as a content creator, you’ll want to do a few things to take it to the next level.

Before, you could get away with just saying, “Sign up here if you like me!” By now, you’ll know a) what kind of audience you’re trying to build and b) what you could offer them.

A lead magnet is a piece of free, valuable content that you give away in exchange for someone to sign up to your mailing list. As a content creator, I can’t overstate how much this matters. Your mailing list will be how you stay in touch with your audience, get their feedback, share your content, and let them know the services and products you provide.

Your lead magnet sets the tone for the sort of email list you’ll keep. For example, I mostly send blogging tips and content, so my lead magnet is a starter kit for the platform I blog on. It is also the very first time someone will hear from you personally, so make sure it’s as high-quality as possible.

Think to yourself: what is an audience member most likely to want from you? What do you get asked about the most?

The more you give away, the more your audience will trust you.

While you can continue simply sending links, I recommend starting to transition into a more conversational style here. You can really expand your thoughts and give your audience the chance to hear from the real you.

Feel free to recommend other pieces of content but with additional commentary. Solicit comments, feedback, and emails from your audience. Start a dialogue.

Bonus: A Few Things That Are Helpful to Consider Now, Rather Than Later

These eleven steps will take you to where I am today. It may take you a month or a year, but in the end, you will have the opportunity to become a content creator and design your own lifestyle.

There are a few additional things to consider before you become wildly successful, though.

I write and create under a pen name and it makes sectioning off my life very easy. It also helps me get more vulnerable, especially at the start. Vulnerability is paramount in content creation, and it can be nice to have a degree of separation between sharing your entire life online, and your actual life.

Decide now if you want to have a pen name.

My dad (my dadsistant, as I call him) does mine, but if you’re serious about this lifestyle, consider investigating sooner rather than later, or consider speaking with an accountant.

Maybe people start this as a passion project while working another job. If you’re at all successful, the time will come when you have to choose. Remember: it’s a risk to leave your job, but it’s also a risk to stay.

I am writing a fiction book for fun that I know won’t earn money. When you’re a content creator, you need to find an outlet you do for fun that has no price tag attached, because everything you do otherwise is for profit.

Final Thoughts on How to Become a Content Creator in 2022

We live in incredible times. It has never been so easy for literally anyone with a single creative bone in their body to become a content creator in 2022 or beyond. The platforms exist, the audience and appetite for content are huge, and there’s a tremendous amount of free guidance out there.

These eleven steps and extra considerations should remove the final barrier: the belief that you can’t really do it. I’m here and so happy to tell you that you can absolutely become a content creator today.

 

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