4 steps to level up after you've set the groundwork to become a 6-figure content creator
- Zulie Rane makes six figures as a content creator.
- She says she works as little as possible and loves her life way more than workng her 9 to 5.
The first five steps to becoming a six figure content creator are very beginner friendly. You should set up your platforms, your profiles, and your mailing list. You should have some ideas for content. You should become very familiar with how you spend your time.
Those five things are all you need to start your content creator journey.
However, at some point — maybe in a month, maybe in six months, maybe in a year and a half like me — you'll get to the point where you feel you can give more. You want more. You're ready to scale up. And now, you have the bandwidth and expertise to do that.
This next section details that stage. Jump in when you're ready.
1. Come up with a brand
Your brand is who you are as a creator.
Your brand is the sum of everything you are and post online. Your brand is your content, your profiles, your attitude, and the value you give to your audience and fans.
A brand does the very important work of conveying two things: who you are professionally, and the fact that you are professional.
You don't need a brand at the start, so it's easy to miss in the beginning. But when you're burgeoning into a full-time content creator, you absolutely will require a personal brand.
The components of your brand.
There are three components of your brand. You'll need a color scheme, a logo, and a bio.
Color scheme: Choose your color scheme based on the mood you like to evoke. My color scheme is floral and bright, for instance, because I like colors that pop and my audience thinks of me as a bright, energetic creator. This will go on your website, your mailing list, your merch, your channel artwork, everywhere.
Your logo: Your logo is an extension of your color scheme. I hired a designer to help me with a logo.
Bio: Your bio should be 50–75 words that describe who you are as a creator — Whimsical? Fun? Educational? — and what your audience can expect from you, such as topics, frequency, and platforms.
Don't brand as a beginner. I made that mistake. I branded myself as a cat mom. Now, I have migrated my niche a little bit and I know I rarely write about my cats anymore. I had to re-do a lot of my branding work to make more sense of the value I offer.
2. Give fans a way to give you more money
This is such an exciting stage in any creator's journey! Your audience will be giving you some money through ad revenue, or royalties. Your audience watches your YouTube videos, reads your articles, and likes your Instagram posts.
But your fans will love what you do and want to give you more money. You should begin giving some thought to how you can do this.
What can you give them?
This differs from creator to creator. Some fans will want exclusive, backstage content. Others will want 1:1 time with you, or access to you, like through a private Slack channel. Still others will want courses or ebooks.
For me, it made the most sense to go the educational route. I offer coaching, consultations, and courses. I used to offer a Patreon, but shut that down when my time tracking showed me it was an ineffective way for me to communicate with my fans and earn money.
This is not a way to scam your fans. A lot of creators feel dodgy asking fans for money without realizing that it's a two-way street.
Your fans want more from you. Providing exclusive content for them allows you to give it.
How to choose the extra content you sell.
Pick the type of content that makes sense with your brand and the content you post, as well as what your audience is asking of you. For me, many people wanted to learn what I know, so it made sense to do a course. For you, you may find that your Instagram fans want printouts of your artwork. They may want the chance to buy exclusive artwork before anyone else, or unique prints.
Whatever it is, create multiple tiers to cater to the various levels of fans. You may have casual fans who want to give you $15-$20, but you will also have those who want to give you $1000s.
This requires a lot of self-belief. It may feel unrealistic at this stage, but you need to know that your fans are there. You are serving your fans by giving top-tier knowledge or value, and by giving them the opportunity to give back.
Believe it because you are worth it.
3. Secure a proper home office
OK, when I started my content creation journey, I did all my content creation sitting on the floor of my living room, with my laptop on my coffee table. It worked! It worked for over a year. No complaints. I wrote and I filmed and I posted from that spot. My most popular YouTube video to date is filmed there on that humble carpeting.
But about a year later, I needed more (and my knees were yelling at me). You will too. You'll need a place to be creative uninterrupted by cats, partners, or construction workers. Especially if you're filming or creating other visual content, it's critical.
The bare minimum for a home office.
All you really need for a home office as a content creator is a desk, a phone, and a closed-off area. When we moved to Boston, I picked out our flat spatially based on the bright, sunlit office I knew would be my studio.
You don't need anything else. You don't need a ring light, a picture-perfect backdrop, fancy headphones, or a fancy keyboard. You might want little accouterments that help you get into the creative zone — for me, this is a pencil, a notebook, and a small potted plant — but you don't need them.
The upshot is no matter what kind of content creation you're doing, it's going to be a lot easier to get it done if you have a quiet area dedicated to helping you create, set up the way you like.
Identify your level-up needs.
Your needs will depend on the kind of content, and how you can level up. For example, when I was getting better at YouTube, I needed a better camera, a tripod, and a microphone. I was ready to take my YouTube content to the next level. These were worth investing in.
If you're not sure how much to budget for your level-up needs, look at how much that channel is earning for you at this point. I used my YouTube earnings and put them towards YouTube-geared content.
Look for other successful creatives in your niche and platform. What helps them succeed? What would give you an edge? Successful Twitch streamers often have brightly lit backgrounds. Professional authors often get fancy headshots done for their bio.
4. Identify ways to improve
When you're a beginner content creator, you suck. No offense, it's just true. I also sucked when I was a beginner.
None of us really take classes in how to create content — we just start creating content because we like it. So in the beginning, there's no use looking for specific areas to improve. You need to improve at pretty much all of it.
At this stage, though, you'll have a much better idea of what you need to go to the next level beyond things. Your craft is good, but you'll notice areas that could use polishing. Your job is then to find ways to polish
How to improve your craft.
There are three ways to do so: research, competitor analysis, and outsourcing.
Research. First, you can take courses or do independent research. There is so much rich information out there in books and videos, for free or paid, that can help you do what you need to learn. For instance, I noticed I could improve my SEO skills this way, so I began independent study in SEO.
Competitor analysis is the second possibility. At this point, you should be aware of the other people in your circles. What are they doing better than you? What could you learn from their success? For example, I noticed my competitor/colleague Nick Wolny does an awesome job launching products to his mailing list. I learned from him, and applied the lessons to my own content creation.
Outsourcing is a third avenue for improvement. There will be things you may not want to buy or learn, and in that case, other people have the skills you lack. By now, you should have some income that helps you hire the people with the skills to help improve your craft — for instance, I hired someone to design my website and logo. This also helps you scale up.
Zulie Rane is a full timc content creator.