Over the past few years there has been a dramatic rise in the amount of people, especially young people, choosing to pursue a career in an artistic backdrop, choosing to label themselves as ‘Creators’ (Or Freelancers). In Adobe’s study ‘Future of Creativity’ last year, they claimed that at least 165 million people globally have become ‘creators’ since 2020, so what are the reasons behind this surge?
Well, being a creator offers the artists more creative freedom in their job and allows them to get paid for pursuing what they love. Also, since Covid-19, people have found it easier to work from the comfort of their home, due to the accessibility and ease. These incentives are just a few of the reasons why young artists will be leaning towards becoming a professional creator, but there are some challenges that emerging creators will face. This article will tell you the challenges that could come from starting out as a creator and the tools to get around them.
Growing an audience
When you start out on your journey as a creator one of the most difficult things is to get yourself a consistent audience, especially from people who would be interested in what you want to sell. Whether you’re using your existing account, or you’ve created a new account, you will usually have friends and family following you, but what about strangers? Reaching out and finding new followers is a very difficult thing at the beginning of your journey, and it can take a while, so don’t expect your account to skyrocket overnight.
A good way to reach out and meet people who would be interested in your work is going to networking events, this helps you connect with other creators and gain more followers. Once you are following people who are interested in what you’d be posting, then try and spend time following suggested accounts because that will help more people who would be interested in your profile be able to view your account. You should also try and post at least a few times a week on your account, just so your audience can regularly see what you’re doing, whether it’s just telling them about yourself or posting new content.
Finding time
When you’re a student, but you’re also a part-time/full-time creator, managing your time can be incredibly struggling while you’re holding up a job, working on your studies, having social time and you’re trying to promote your brand. Sometimes you will forget about posts/videos as you are too busy working, or you’re burnt out after completing an assignment and that’s something that will just happen. You don’t always have to be on your social media or working on your website all the time, if you are, then it will lead to burn out and will just make being a creator less enjoyable. You need to take breaks for yourself so your mental health has a chance to recharge, and you can enjoy being a creator. Mental health can be a big struggle for creators, so you need to be careful not to push yourself too much and to take breaks regularly.
Inspiration and motivation
Another of the difficulties in starting out as a creator is the lack of motivation and inspiration. There will be times when you’re sat at your desk, and you just don’t know what to do. Your mind just goes blank. When you hit that wall, it’s best to give yourself a break from the work, because you just can’t force something that isn’t there. We all get inspiration from different things in life, but sadly you can’t specify where that is, whether it’s listening to music, travelling to new places or even images in dreams.
Lack of motivation is a difficult thing to get past as a creator, having to push yourself to do more as you’re in charge of your own brand. As a writer myself, I can personally vouch that I have stories, poems and scripts just lying in draws and sitting in idle word documents gathering dust, because I just don’t know what to do with them. I don’t know about many online publications and I’m not confident enough to message any publishing companies and a lot of other student creators have the same problem. When you feel the lack of motivation, try to break up each day and take them one at a time, setting yourself a to-do list for tomorrow with some easy and some not-so-easy goals. Then after a few weeks you will look back on yourself and see just how far you’ve come and how much you can do.
Imposter syndrome
Dealing with Imposter Syndrome is one of the hardest problems that you can face when you start out as a creator. The most basic definition available being “Doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud”. While Imposter Syndrome isn’t widely known, this definition will be relatable to so many people as it is a real issue that lots of people face on a daily basis. Most students/creators will have experienced Imposter Syndrome in one way or another, it could just be deleting a couple of lines from your coursework, but it can then also develop into convincing yourself you’re not good enough. This can be so detrimental to your mental health if you’re questioning yourself, thinking you’re not deserving of opportunities that you’ve rightfully earned.
One of the ways I’ve been able to overcome Imposter Syndrome myself is having like-minded creators around me, being able to ask them questions and talk to them about the doubts you’re having with yourself. You need to remember just how far you’ve come and how much effort you’ve put into your creator journey, because you ARE deserving of this. You shouldn’t be putting yourself down for following your passions.
Monetising
Figuring out how to monetise your products is such an awkward and difficult thing to do, but it’s an essential part of being a creator. Most of the time, creators will not give themselves enough credit and will undervalue themselves. You need to think about how much time you’ve put into your work, as well as the materials and services you’ve used. Your time is the most important aspect of your work and you need to be compensated for that.
Being a creator is being in a thriving economy where you’re able to follow your passions and use your creativity to finance yourself, but when you’re starting out it can be hard to believe in yourself. But you have to take it day by day and carry on trying because there will always be people out there who will love what you do.
