Creators Are New Startups!
Creators Are New Startups!
Hey everybody. This newsletter is growing fast! It feels great and I appreciate having you here. As I promised myself, I’m going to keep every post very concise and also practical.
The main focus in this post is one of the biggest challenges for creators and creatives who want to start a digital biz.
The concept: In order to make money online, you have to build your audience first.
The problem: It’s a very long game. What if you don’t have any runway? What about your day job, juggling between projects, family or even college?
Who is it for: Although this is for creators and creatives, any indie startup or brand that seeks an ongoing need for content creation can benefit.
Let’s get into it!
A full time creator is a startup. Period! What you need is enough runway which is the time to build your audience.
The game of Creator Economy, or as some call it, Passion Economy, is straightforward:
Put out free, valuable stories and content .
Build credibility and fans in a niche market.
Do this, and you’ll be able to monetize your audience.
But damn, this game is long.
For many, this process can take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to put something behind a paywall. This is the average time frame for the first round of startups too.
Most of your runway will be spent on daily content creation, aka your fuel to building an audience.
Producing quality content takes A LOT OF TIME. If it’s multimedia, then it will gobble up a huge chunk of your day. If it’s multimedia that depends on heavy research, then you can kiss your day goodbye!
Hey, what if I don’t have a runway? Or lump sums of money in my backyard to boost myself.
Here’s NXT ANIMAL solution
DON’T PRODUCE ORIGINAL CONTENT.
Yes, you heard correctly!
Instead, repackage great content from other creators. The internet is full of very cool podcasts, videos, tweets, etc that have only 200-300 views.
Your task is: Finding brilliant original content and adding your flair.
By recycling content, you will:
Save time and make your runway way shorter.
Shine a light on great content that deserves more exposure. It’s a win-win game.
So how do you repackage content?
Here’s the formula: Your skill + Your niche/curiosity + a great piece of on-brand content.
With this method, you’ll be able to keep your day job and take care of the family or school tasks. Just spend 2-3 hours a day to RE-PRODUCE beautiful content and start building your online presence!
I call this Smart Contenting.
Haters comment
But don't so many people already do this? They post short talks from Steve Jobs and those similar. Is that what you recommend?
NO! That’s curation.
Although, I believe curation is creation and I have respect for curators, what I’m unmasking here is on a more creative level and requires your specific skills.
Let me open it:
Let’s say exotic cars are your passion and you want to build a community for car enthusiasts. You’re also very good at video and audio editing.
Instead of filming car lovers, find original interviews and podcasts that are already on the web. Then, RE-PURPOSE the parts that are aligned with your brand and message (aka on-brand).
You can snip an interview and deliver it in a fun and engaging one minute story (your specific skill). Use the formula and be as creative as you want.
Here is a one minute film that I cut from an interview between Joe Pompliano and Anthony Pompliano. It was a very casual and fun conversation between two brothers, I used my magic to add dramatics!
That’s all for now folks!
I have so much more to share about this method. Matter of fact, I’m actually evolving a course around it, so if you have any questions or confusion, just hit reply and I will be glad to brainstorm. Also you can always email me at reza@nxtanimal.com.
Please help me to spread the word and share this post with another amazing creator!
Stay sane! Stay yourself!
In case this is your first time here:
I’m Reza, a filmmaker and entrepreneur. I’ve been helping founders and startups for 20 years now. I always had to get creative with limited resources and that built a mindset for me. That is, you don’t need too much to make a great story. Now, I want to help upcoming creators with this vision.