🔥How To Become A Creator And Productize Yourself.

I must admit, making money as a creator is challenging.

For months, you have had a few hundred subscribers, if you are lucky.

Have a few hundred views per video or post.

And the income you earn in the first 3-6 months?

It's probably going to be zero.

I made $25 in the first 6 months.

But worked full-time and even had a start-up before making 300k a year.

I wasn't new to this "business world".

I even had a photography business before, at the age of 19, and was already charging $100 per hour with it.

However, content creation presents an additional level of difficulty.

There are people investing millions of dollars per month to capture your attention.

And you?

You may have a maximum of a few hundred per month, or even none at all.

When I started content creation, I had zero money to invest.

The only thing I had was free time, because I didn't want to have another agency business and clients who felt like bosses.

I had close to zero money in my bank account, and my Dad just passed away during this time.

I was entirely fucked to explain my situation. (I try not to use the word fuck or swear words, but this just suits here well.)

I moved back from Bali to Germany, into the basement of my mum's (or family home), and I just suffered for months.

The 4 hours of being highly caffeinated made it possible to do 4 hours of work before my emotions haunted me again. (because caffeine blocks emotion.)

After that, I tried to distract myself by training, playing video games, or chatting with friends on Discord while playing Elden Ring. (it helped)

Nine months into creating content, I've completed a few photography projects to sustain my bills, and my YouTube gaming channel has generated a few hundred dollars per month.

But it wasn't very purposeful or sustainable.

In September 2024, I started this productivity YouTube channel, which I was passionate about.

I gave myself 90 days to earn $ 5,000.

In the first two weeks, my Notion video took off and garnered over 20,000 views. I was highly optimistic after that and felt confident about achieving the goal.

I completely failed it and got zero.

6 months later, still zero money.

Then I bought the first digital product ever from another creator, which cost me around $300 (as an early bird). It was a 4-week cohort.

A month later, I hit one million views on threads, and my newsletter sign-ups exploded.

Over the past 8 months, I have gained 200 email subscribers, and in just 3 months, I have added 900 more.

Just from doing one thing:

Writing (on threads.)

What Is Your Unfair Advantage?

Mine is ADHD (in terms of content).

I never really wanted to build everything around ADHD as a content creator; I always wanted to be "the niche".

However, pointing out people with ADHD on threads has been effective, as evidenced by the followers and views I have gained. And on the other hand, people with ADHD understand the problems I have or had in life, so it works pretty well.

So I stick to this "niche" for the beginning.

As you probably realized, I write about everything, because life is not a singular domain. These people who act as if life were a singular domain, the "geniuses" in some way, are going to be immensely unhappy.

These "geniuses" or public figures nowadays are put on a throne and honoured, but are alcoholics, drug addicts, or abuse their wives…. (just look at Hollywood)

I can't see this person as a "genius" because he clearly lacks emotional intelligence.

For example, I am relatively sure that most bosses or CEOs do not treat their employees fairly.

My old business partner would sometimes scream at me because he thought I had made a mistake, which turned out not to be the case; it was even right. This happened multiple times during our start-up.

And one individual screaming at another individual is never ok. It is just a lack of self-control and emotional intelligence.

What was his cost? Two founders were leaving him.

Back to your unfair advantage.

As you can see, currently on the market and with the growth of AI, there is a polarity.

People want raw authenticity and genuine connections, especially after COVID, when the virality of short-format content became increasingly popular.

So what is your unfair advantage?

• You might have a good idea, a design eye or photography talent, so your content quality could be higher. (which is not a measure of success)
• You may be a mother or father with a unique lifestyle and surroundings. (A friend's wife does pilates after pregnancy and makes a lot of money with it.)
• You might be a huge fan of gardening and a deep thinker, so why not combine the two and live-stream it?
• You might like video games/movies and writing, so why not write essays about the current creativity crisis with video games or movies?
• You might have a massive passion for DIY, which is excellent for filming videos.
• You might have a slower life in the countryside, which can be well-documented, as many people desire to return to a simpler way of life.
• The majority of the readers have ADHD here, so what is a viewing angle that's different from the familiar ADHD people?

If you need to brainstorm together, the (next) 30-day challenge might be a good spot. (Writing, productivity and ADHD is free)

What is a big problem you solved or want to solve?

You must have an emotional connection to your brand, product or work in general.

Most people are unproductive because they genuinely DON'T CARE.

If you don't care about your work, you will not give 100%, you will not flip the coin 3 times, and you will not be mindful enough about the decisions.

If you have an emotional connection, you are also far more likely to remember it.

This is what I call:

Active Curiosity

It is one of the most important things when it comes to flow, learning and ADHD.

The problem I encounter many, many times is that people try to remember things without having a specific problem or project to focus on. If you can't implement your learning when your mind is primed, most of the information goes to waste.

You need to have a natural magnet that pulls you towards it. You should pursue a business or job that sparks your curiosity (ideally) every single day.

It's like an endless stream of ideas; one sparks another, leading to a continuous flow of ideas.

(This is also the beauty of content creation; ideas are the new oil, as Dan Koe often says.)

You will learn anything 10 times faster when you are actively curious and have a problem that needs to be solved.

This is the entire reason why I read and write daily.

I first read to spark ideas in my mind and prime my brain for "boredom," keeping it on a slow brain wave after waking up.

Mostly, while reading, I come up with ideas and capture them immediately in Kortex, connecting them to the suitable mastery documents in the hierarchical order of the four domains of clarity.

I read on Readwise Reader, a reading app on crack.

Seriously.

In Readwise Reader, I highlight and align tags suitable for the mastery domains.

​(You can join the waitlist for the next 30-Day Challenge if you want to learn it.)​

This highlighted text will also be stored in Kortex, and you will have access to search it; it's truly remarkable.

I choose a topic for the weekly newsletter, where I want to dive deeper into a topic or problem I want to learn about or solve.

I create a mastery note for every topic or idea I have.

The more mastery notes I create in my Kortex workspace, the more I will remember concepts and ideas, making them, over time, more straightforward and effective for the reader.

Similar to the concept of Active Curiosity, the 4-Domains of Clarity, or the Chaos to Clarity Method.

These concepts don't start stable; the systems might change, or I might find a better solution to it.

However, the longer I use the system, the more I refine the concept or idea, the more stable it becomes, and the better you, as a reader, will understand it.

No product is perfect in the beginning.

The same applies to my/your ideas and concepts.

We constantly need to optimize and refine it.

The more problems you solve for yourself and the better you solve them, the easier it is to monetize.

This is why some people "seem to have figured it out" by 30, while others may not even grasp it until they are 60. (depending on various factors)

But there are people with 40 who are still emotionally immature, even after having kids or making the same mistakes with 40 as with 25.

How To Create A Product To Monetize.

Your first product will never be good.

My first challenge was the 90-day challenge, which initially started as a private goal to achieve and later became public.

I think it wasn't that bad; people received an email every Sunday for 90 days with their weekly plan on how to start a creator business.

However, what was problematic was likely the marketing, the lead funnel, and the lack of monetization.

Then I had 2-3 other "products" at the beginning of this year. Mostly cohorts. And again, not enough monetization.

And now I am here with the 30-Day Challenge. (Probably changing the name to 30-Day Community Challenge)

I am happy with it.

Now, half a year later, my challenges have become far more:

• Community driven
• Interactive (Gamified)
• Social accountable
• Systematized

To start building a product, we first need to have a clear idea, vision, and mental imagery of our product.

You need to have a clear image of how the product should feel, interact and look.

Then, an essential step that many people overlook is to gather market feedback.

You don't build the product before you have potential buyers.

Read that again, please.

For that, you need to create a waitlist and see how many people are interested in it.

I know from months of experience and sign-ups that challenges work.

I have built many landing pages and challenges, and had the highest conversion rates among testing.

The YouTube landing page has a conversion rate of around 40-50%. (not into the sale). Threads around 35%.

Whatever you want to create, whether it's a software, a physical product, or a challenge, you need market feedback first by creating a waitlist.

Product Ideation And Planning.

1) We need to map out the idea. (no affiliation)

I recommend this in a whiteboard app.

• I love Milanote. It's the simplest and most effective. (but it costs $10)
• Then there is FigJam (best free option)
• ​Affine, which combines Notion and Canvas, is perhaps too complex for beginners.
• Miro (don't use it, it isn't very good)
• Freeform (Apple)
• Kortex will also release a canvas, but I'm not sure when it will be available.

2) When mapping out the idea, we need to ask ourselves many questions.

• What is the painful and emotional problem we are going to solve?
• What will be the value for the buyer?
• How would this product benefit the life of the buyer?
• What is the irresistible offer, and why would they be unable to say no?
• Do we already have an established audience or a specific target group?
• What would be the cost, and how can we use as few resources as possible?
• Are there competitors on the market? (Make a competitor analysis.)
• Is there a similar product on the market that I can emulate some of its aspects?
• Do I have a personal and emotional connection to the problem, along with a compelling story?

3) Create a concept and storyline first, and then get people into the waitlist.

• This can be an MVP (Minimal Viable Product), a graphical concept or just a written landing page.
• Create a cohesive storyline and world around your product. (what most people overlook). Perfect examples include Apple, Nvidia, Nike, Pokémon, Marvel, and Mario.
• It's not about the product; it's more about how and where people want to belong. You want to use Apple to feel like a designer, innovator and be part of "high tech society", you want to be a superhero (Marvel), you want to be a Pokémon Trainer, and you want to be a winner (Nike).
• Think exactly about who you want to target and also how the price reflects this target group. People still purchase Apple products for $ 5,000, or would sell everything for the newest iPhone.

4) How to find potentially interested people?

• Kickstarter (or crowdfunding in general)
• Organic content (YouTube, Threads, Instagram, TikTok, SEO)
• Paid advertising (Google and Facebook)
• Take a look at what people search for online on AnswerThePublic.
• Or, what many companies do, is "copy" or emulate ideas and find a different audience or target group. (Get data from SimilarWeb)

This is how I would do it, from a start-up founder to a creatorpreneur.

Thanks for reading.

If you struggle with ADHD, productivity or business, consider booking a paid consultation (1:1).

Other than that, see you tomorrow. :)

Jeff

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