Photo by Maxim Tolchinskiy on Unsplash

It was time for me to understand the creator economic dynamics, having understood the evolution of a writer to a creator.

I thought much of it was hype when I earned less than a dollar on Medium after posting articles consistently for a couple of months. Consistently!

I (now) think that I was posting like a writer and not a creator.

I later learned that it’s not that the creator economy is fake, but the popular narrative is exaggerated and misunderstood.

The hype, perhaps, entails beliefs that clients will fall into your lap if you just post consistently. The fact is, consistency alone can’t do the magic. Consistency also doesn’t enhance your personal branding.

Another myth that was broken before me was that with more followers, I’ll have more authority. Going viral is equal to credibility. That’s not how it works, it appears.

Hence, a few lessons that I learned.

Visibility doesn’t always translate into trust. There used to be a punchline in communication in the olden days in Hindi, ‘jo dikhta, wo bikta’, loosely translated as ‘what is seen, sells’. It’s no longer true. Trust is now more important than visibility.      

‘Reach doesn’t guarantee buyers’ is another broken myth. A large audience doesn’t necessarily guarantee credibility, impact, and hence, revenue. High-earning professionals may have a small audience, but with very high trust and clear positioning. To reiterate, trust remains the primary driver.    

Consistent posting also doesn’t guarantee an enhanced personal branding. It largely depends on how people react to your post, or whether they react at all. Your posting is your reflection of the expression that you are remembered for.

Another lesson I have learned is to ‘leave the charisma to others’; it only attracts attention. Impress with your competence, and it will sustain you.

Learn till the last breath, and it will keep you alive.

To sum up, the creator economy means: trust before traffic, credibility before content, and substance before scale.

I’m learning the hard way😊