To all the Independent Artists and Small Creators.
What I've learned in 10 years
This is something I’ve wanted to share for a long, long time. This is a message to all the independent artists and small creators, that worry about life. Simultaneously, this is a message to my future self.
The world is changing.
Having “your own thing” as an individual, is the way to go. Not an occupation that is given to you, not in a set entity, no knocking on impossible and tedious corporate doors. Use your time wisely, life is too short to be drowned in paperwork, and forget all the politics seemingly needed to just do your job.
Do your thing, in your own strange way. And let the world present itself to you.
This is why.
Every company, even the largest ones, is looking to always “scale the next big thing”. A lot of the time, these are, simply put, impossible products or services that have a 90%+ chance to flop. But they still invest in it, even if they have absolutely no footing or reasoning to do this “next thing”. They still try to find the funds to invest in this, hire the people to do it, even if, by means of math, it will most likely flop.
You on the other hand, have something. You already have something to sell. You have a small following, you have physical or digital products, you have sold your services to people or companies. And most likely, you have a means of communicating directly towards your audience.
These aforementioned companies most likely don’t. Have you seen a corporate Youtube account? Well, you probably haven’t because nobody cares about them. The companies wished people cared- but nobody actually does. Nobody is emotionally invested in Microsoft’s new service launch, BP’s new oil rig, or Apple’s new… wait ok, maybe Apple is a little different. I digress, just google some of the largest companies in the world and go to their Youtube page. Views are usually inflated by ads and bots, so look at how many people are commenting. Simply put- there is no engagement at all. Nobody cares about these companies, even though the companies want people to care.
Companies used to laugh at engagement, but now they try to sell it to you. In my professional career I’ve worked with multinational companies, and now they try to sell me partnership contracts by telling me “we can post this on our Linkedin page with 100,000 followers”. I look at their page, and they average out 50 likes a post, a few hundred at max.
Going back… You can now see that what you already have: The engagement of even a few people, are what companies will kill for.
Stay confident. Be a sellout when you feel the time has come.
Your products are no small feat too. Speaking from experience, the hoops B to B services generally need to go through to sell even a few thousand dollar engagement to large companies are strenuous. This is the reality of selling products and services that aren’t too hot in terms of the market.
In fact, even investing firms would love to buy you out. Have you ever look at earnings reports or annual reports of most startups? Look at the capital they’ve raised, but then, look at the revenue the startup actually creates. You’d be shocked.
I know startups with 200-300 people with less than 5 million USD in revenue that have 100 million+ USD invested in them by venture capital firms.
So now, hold the mirror up, and remember this.
You are doing everything solo, but high chance that you are nimble with very little overhead, hence already operating on a net surplus
You are skilled, knowledgeable AND passionate about your line of work
Firms would kill to have what you have (engagement, DtoC, products and services that fill a niche)
Stay confident. Any level of engagement you have with an audience, or any level of sales you have at an independent level, is an accomplishment. The corporate world wishes they were you, and have what you have. They wish they had the odds you had. Most people working at the office wishes they had something passionate like you. Most people can’t imagine earning even $100 through a product or service they created on their own.
So here’s the message. Stay persistent, and believe in what you have to offer to the ecosystem around you. Stay your unique self and always remember your belief system, regardless of where you put yourself.
Again, this is a message, to both you the readers, but also to myself in the future.
Love,
This a great post.
There is an argument, or rather a movement, against monetizing something you love doing. You touch on a point which I think most people miss when they argue against making money from your chosen craft - scaling.
Few people will highlight the creator making 50K a year. Less people will highlight the creator making 20K a year while working a day job. We focus on the OF millionaires sharing their content. We focus on the copywriter gurus who scale and scale the hell out of everything to earn six figures and work only 2 hours a day. We become indoctrinated with these examples and equate them to success.
Making money from your chosen craft is a natural progression. A photographer who loves what they do will want to keep doing it for as long as possible. Making money outside of the structure of a day job is a way to achieve this. Making additional money while working a day job is a way to achieve this. If you can make money from photography why not? If you can monetize your Substack why not?
Success is different for each of us. Each path to success is different. Show up and do the work. Someone will love your work and support you. Someone will say you are a sell out. That's the way life works. You can't please everybody. And you shouldn't try to either.
Great read! I would love it if we could move past the follower counts on socials into an engagement metric. That's what everyone is really after, and followers are often time a red herring.