17 Lessons About Making Money Online ALL Content Creators Need to Hear

This is Important

Sep 11, 2023

Announcements:

This Week’s Creators Getting Paid Meet and Greet: Tomorrow, Tuesday September 12, 2023 at 5:00 pm MTN/7:00 pm EST (Zoom Details below)
Re-read the Creators Getting Paid rebrand announcement that I made last week.

Upcoming In-person Workshop:

How to Get Brand Partnerships that Pay: Date: TBA

I offered the following in-person workshop in June and am excited to bring it back. If you’re thinking about working brands and are wondering:

How to strategize and how to design a compelling pitch to a brand
How to position your personal brand’s content so that it’s attractive to future brand partners
What to consider when pitching your compensation
What deliverables you should offer
What to expect from a brand partnership and more

First 5 Lessons Learned

(Before Getting Paid…You Have to Get Clear on a Few Things)

I started creating content online in 2012. It is now 2023, almost 2024 and I’ve learned some lessons (several the hard way) about making money online. Some of these lessons I wished people would have shared with me, other lessons I wasn’t ready to hear. Before I begin bringing in more guests to the newsletter there are a few things that are important to bring up. Some of these lessons had me in my feelings too LOL!

Your mindset around money impacts everything as you focus on monetizing your brand.

Do you feel weird about wanting to make money online as a content creator?
Is your business model out of alignment with who you are as a person?
- I have several friends who are struggling because they’re earning a significant amount of money in a way that is misaligned with who they are as people.
Do you believe it's even possible to make money as a content creator outside of offering services?

Share Creators Getting Paid

Lesson #1-Creators can make money in different spaces (than the ones they are known in)

I’m not sure how it became “a thing” but I’ve found that some creators struggle with monetization efforts because they believe they must make money specific to the niche that they’re in. I would like to counter this narrative and say that it’s 100% ok to use your skills in different spaces that have nothing to do with your primary niche. I’ll share some examples below:

You’re a pretty solid writer with decent writing skills! You can get paid:

Freelance writing-I’ve written for numerous companies and those skills that I was paid have helped me design and grow this newsletter and my websites (I have more than one) Remember-your editor is paid to refine these skills.
Optimizing SEO for your brand, for someone else’s brand or for a company that hires you. That freelancing that I’ve done also refined my understanding of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) I’ve used that on my websites and am in the process of growing affiliate income and focusing on high paying ad revenue on one of my websites=passive income.
Copywriting-No one needs to know who you are to do this other than your clients. Copywriting can be positioned as your brand or a revenue stream separate from your brand.
Ghostwriting-Same thing. No one needs to know who you are other than the clients who’re hiring you.
Email marketing-You can use these skills and be hired to help other people with their email marketing and you can use these email marketing for your own brand.
Newsletter copy-You’re currently reading this newsletter that I’ve used my writing skills to produce.
Course or workshop creation-I’ve made thousands designing and running courses and workshops (make sure to pre-sell before you create your next course or workshop)
Writing books-I love writing books! I’ve written both fiction and non-fiction books. In fact, my fiction books are romances! They are so much fun to write and have nothing to do with my front facing brand. I write them using a pen name.

Lesson #2-Focus on What’s Working

If you’re in one space but notice that you’re making consistent money in another space other than what you’re known for…it’s time to pay attention to that. It DOES NOT mean quit the space you’re in. This means evaluating the systems that you have so that you can double-down on what’s making you money more effortlessly.

Example:

I am positioned in different niches. I am known in the personal finance niche. I’ve won awards for the work that I’ve done in that space. I’ve worked with brands, etc. But, I love “passive income” and there are projects that I work on that have NOTHING to do with personal finance but are making me money more effortlessly. These projects only rely on me and don’t rely on other people.

Guess what I decided to do? Removed active monetization efforts from my personal finance brand and doubled my efforts with those other projects (quietly) I will be asking folks to “Buy Me a Coffee” for my personal finance projects, that’s the extent of my monetization efforts with that brand. It is a huge weight off my shoulders and I’m loving focusing that brain energy where I’m getting consistent, growing passive income results.

Lesson #3 Sometimes You Need a Part-Time Job

I do not understand why it’s ok to work a full-time job and add a part-time job, but that people are resistant to getting a part-time job in order to bring in consistent income as you grow and build out income streams in an online business. You will make better choices when you’re not stressed the f#ck out. The key to this is the type of part-time job that you pick. It should not create a heavy mental load because you’re using your focus on building your online brand. This is not forever, just for a season of your business.

Brand Ambassador-Literally attend fun events and hand products out while sharing talking points. Great sales training for YOUR personal products.
Convention Center Support-Conventions centers need a lot of staffing as events come into town. Typically you can find the following (if you have convention center in a large enough town)
- Registration work
- Directional support (tell people where to go)
- Room monitors
- Security
Festival or Event Support-Attend your favorite events for free.
- Ticket taker
- Security
- Room staffing
Barista-Love coffee and coffee culture? Great low-key job for bean enthusiasts.

Lesson #4 Almost Everyone Falls into Some From of Freelancing

I have some thoughts about freelancing. It’s neither good or bad. But, it’s important to evaluate if freelancing:

Is going to be your business
Compliments your business
Distracts from your business

Here’s the thing. Freelancing is a great (and necessary) phase in most people’s online creative businesses. But, is it your business? I’ve learned the hard way to make sure that I’m evaluating what works and what doesn’t work on a quarterly and yearly basis because of projects and services that I’ve found myself doing…and not enjoying.

3 Upsides to Freelance Work

You learn skills that can be leveraged to grow your own brand.
Freelancing can better position you as an authority in the niche(s) that you create content in.
It can make you money (never a bad thing)

3 Downsides to Freelance Work

It can become incredibly stressful if it’s your sole revenue stream. Especially if you don’t enjoy the prospecting, pitching and other components connected to freelancing.
Financial risk related to confusion about freelancing diversification. Having multiple freelance projects isn’t diversified revenue-especially if these different projects are in the same content space.
Constant recalibration and balance because you have to eat and make money. But at the same time freelancing takes away from the time needed to build your own products tools and services. Painful. This is why I mentioned having an easy lift fun part-time gig.

Lesson #5 Most Online Content Creators Feel Uncomfortable Admitting that They Want to Make Money

It seems counterintuitive especially if you’re a mission driven person who is focused on social good. Many online content creators find themselves in this space because of a variety of reasons:

Burnout and accidentally falling into working online.
Passion-you have a passion for a specific mission and are focused on elevating and uplifting awareness or conversations around that topic.
You purposely went into it because you desired professional and personal autonomy.

You CAN Make Money and NEED to Make Money

You don’t have to sell your soul or integrity. It will take time, experimentation, feedback and taking risks.

And Strategy. This is what Creators Getting Paid is all about. Connecting creators with case studies and examples of making money online that resonates with how they want to show up in the world.

I’m sharing these lessons for a few reasons.

As a reminder to remember to evaluate what you’re doing-does it make sense?
Are you at a crossroads with your business and haven’t paid attention to the signs? Or, resisted what you’ve been feeling?
Acknowledging that pivoting can be scary.
Do you have an exit plan for what isn’t working or serving you well within your business? How will you make money as you change things around (pivot?) so that you’re doing what is a better fit for you and your brand?
To validate your feelings about whatever it is you’re feeling, intuiting or thinking about your businesses.

Sharing the Next 5 Lessons Learned

Later this week. Stay tuned!

Michelle

Meet and Greet Zoom Details

Michelle Jackson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Creators Getting Paid Meet and Greet

Time: Sep 12, 2023 05:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)/7:00 pm EST

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84012546094?pwd=U0hYUW9iR2M4c0ZPamJTVkpGRDB5dz09

Meeting ID: 840 1254 6094

Passcode: 802081

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