9
10 Comments

Can you really make a living in the creator economy?

"Having a quality product, being consistent, being an early adopter and getting some luck seems to be what helps most in earning enough to climb to the top."

submitted this link to Icon for group Creator Economy
Creator Economy
on June 2, 2022
  1. 5

    It seems like a lot of the initial hype behind the creator economy has died off. That might be good news for people that want to actually make a living as a creator.

    As this author notes, it takes a TON of work to make it in the creator economy as well as juggling multiple revenue streams. That of course is worth it to some people that are pursuing a passion or mission that is important to them.

    As with most any business, consistently producing quality products is the most important thing any creator can do.

    1. 3

      I have a few friends that are hustlers in the creator economy. They've mentioned the same thing about the need to have multiple income streams. 1 of them still has a full-time job and another has a part-time job to offer more stability. They say the inconsistency of. revenue is the hardest thing to navigate. This article backs that up.

      "Patreon released a 2022 “Creator Census” with responses from 13,000 of its creators. Respondents said on average they earned 41% of their income on Patreon. The remaining 59% was sliced and diced between teaching/coaching, touring, brand partnerships, book sales, merchandise, ad revenue, subscriptions from other platforms, digital downloads, commissions and “a job related to my creative pursuits.” My personal pie chart of income streams would include most of those slices."

      1. 2

        Multiple streams of income is essential for any creator. When I was running my paid private communities I had the following streams of income.

        1. Paid subscriptions
        2. Sponsorships
        3. Affiliates
        4. Consultations
        1. 1

          Just curious, did you enjoy that work? I've thought about it myself as it seems intriguing.

  2. 3

    You can 100% make a living in the creator economy. I used to run a few paid private communities part time (15-20 hours) per week and was earning around $3k/mo. If I had actually gone full-time I could have gotten the revenue to $6k/mo, which is enough to make a decent living.

    1. 1

      May I ask if you have a link/landingpage or something to those communities?
      And what those communities were about?
      And how you attracted people to your communities?

  3. 1

    It depends on which platform you're. I have pages with 1.6 million followers on Facebook and it's not worth if you're not a production company. You will not get promotion request.

  4. 1

    Most people underestimate the power of consistency. Sure, you can make it if you stick to it for months. That's how I made it with several projects, it took close to a year to get traction.

    So one thing you should deff ask yourself before starting is: Can I imagine doing this for at least 2-3 years? If not, then pick something you like more.

    1. 1

      Totally agree! Good points.

Trending on Indie Hackers
The most underrated distribution channel in SaaS is hiding in your browser toolbar User Avatar 162 comments I launched on Product Hunt today with 0 followers, 0 network, and 0 users. Here's what I learned in 12 hours. User Avatar 153 comments I gave 7 AI agents $100 each to build a startup. Here's what happened on Day 1. User Avatar 97 comments Show IH: RetryFix - Automatically recover failed Stripe payments and earn 10% on everything we win back User Avatar 34 comments How we got our first US sale in 2 hours by finding "Trust Leaks" (Free Audits) 🌶️ User Avatar 26 comments How to see your entire business on one page User Avatar 24 comments