Stop Hustling Harder: The Real Path to Content Monetization

0:00 Why do so many creators work 10 times harder than they really should and feel they're getting nowhere? We're going to cover that in today's podcast. And a lot of that has to do with shifting how your mind works, especially if you're not an entrepreneur and you haven't done a business before. You're going to have a lot of mental shifts. Don't worry. And I'm undergoing this process myself. So I understand what it feels like to have zero to no interaction and then changing some of your strategies to improve and then even changing those strategies and continuing to grow and continue to find a more organic approach.

1:03 have that money or B, you want to focus on growing and expanding your business and doing so is going to take a little bit of ingenuity and I'm here to help you. Most content creators that I've interviewed or been working with and trying to figure out their strategy, I've discovered that a lot of them are missing some key components. Not just key components. Many of them just hope and pray that one platform will do everything.

2:11 good automations in email marketing. So that way you can collect information, process the information, even working with some businesses to kind of curate what kind of information you can collect and offer you a better experience, that you can plug them in to an automation system that allows them to build a relationship with you, more hands-off. You design and develop the automation system. Maybe you use AI, maybe you don't, and you partner and you create something.

3:14 automations and things, they charge you an arm and a leg. And I really, really mean that these prices can skyrocket. And a lot of them have weird interfaces and don't really offer small businesses or entrepreneurs or businesses of any size, the ability to really create their image in a way that's consistent. Now, many people will just use and jump on these mail programs or these web design programs and web app programs and, you know, project management tools and accounting tools, because they're kind of stuck.

4:16 Apple computers and taking transactions on Apple computers. No, no, no. If I build something, I want to build it enough so that I can use it and I know it solves my problem. Because if it does, then I become a giant case study for its success. And not just me, the number one success story for my clients right now is they hated their website, they moved over to my platform and they love their website.

5:18 creator, it's one of the hardest things to do if you do not have a community. And even if you have a community, how do you build that community? I connected with a local Columbus, I don't call them a celebrity, but building a community, building a foundation, has lots of followers on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or not LinkedIn, but building all a bunch of connections, but he's not monetizing and they're not monetizing their position.

6:19 are using, I got all these followers and I got all these likes, yay! And they're just not converting to being able to financially support you supporting your community. The big point here is, and we're not talking about capitalism and trying to turn a content creator into a multi-cash campaign. What we're trying to do is we're trying to help content creators that have built a community be able to survive and thrive with that community.

7:21 monetizing a content creation is bad, is the very first thing you need to change. You need to understand the love of money is the root of all evil. We're not asking you to fall in love with money and find creative ways and schemes and scams to get multiple money from all these people. I'm saying money is a tool, and you can learn to use that tool wisely when you begin to monetize your content creation.

8:24 difference between content creation and content monetization, at least ethical content monetization, because we'll be honest, there are some people out there who are going to take your money, sell you the sob story, and you're going to believe in it, and then you're going to buy into it, and it's going to cost you lots of money. The first client that I got on the platform, they had bought a marketing university course that was, I think, $300 a month or $3,000 deposit plus $300 a month, and they were hosting their website.

9:27 need, I offered it to them, and their entire outlook has changed on their website. In fact, they got so excited, they started asking for more projects and more things. That's the beauty of having a service and offering it to someone and being able to monetize. You're not going to be able to sell it to everyone, I get it, and you maybe want to help people and all those kinds of things, I get it.

10:35 Studies have also shown about mental health that creators often suffer always on fatigue, because growth equals algorithm dependent. See Journal of Media Studies, Media Business Studies in 2022. Hmm. Please note, your growth should not be algorithm dependent. Just because you're getting more views, more likes, or less views, less likes should not change your monetization. But if you have no monetization platform, and all you have is those numbers, A, those numbers are meaningless.

11:40 I want you to be able to complete the mission and purpose God has in your plan, God has played in your heart. But you can't do that broke. And so learning how to monetize, learning how to create is a very big important. So let's talk about some case study examples. We all know MrBeast, right? Famously, people say that he's scaled because he just used the algorithm. The algorithm enhances his content. But he kept posting regularly, regularly, regularly, kept posting, posting, posting, posting, nonstop, nonstop, nonstop.

12:42 the social proof that says, yes, this person knows what they're talking about. Or at least I resonate with what they're talking about. Like I said, I'm not always perfect. I may not say the right things. That's okay. Do your research. I'm here to help you. You find something I said that is wrong? Great. Tell me. Help me out. I'll prove all the time. MrBeast scaled because he focused on reinvesting his profits back into his content.

13:46 the more dollars you make. In that instance, through monetization. If you're not doing ad-based monetization, if you're doing lead generation, then posts should equal leads. Posts should equal emails. Posts should equal X. Now, if you're building a content creation, you have no community. You have to start from scratch and you have to toil the ground a little bit to try to find what your audience is and try to connect with them.

14:49 it on social media because that's what you have at the moment and you're still building the grander content strategy of a software surface like this guy. Now, this particular podcast is part of the content strategy, but podcasts are slow burns and they take a very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time to grow and expand. Please don't think that a podcast is an easy button unless you already have a built community.

15:50 just king me at the end and call today. Content creation and content strategies are not checkers. It's chess. Well thought out, planned moves. And there are people who make lots of money by delivering courses and memberships all through YouTube, sustainable and requires multiple streams. Okay, great. So you got people who use multiple streams, multiple platforms, social media, etc., lead generation, emails, and etc. They kind of build their courses out, kind of build that connection and be able to establish a rapport with their customer and being able to grow and expand.

16:54 creation monetization strategy. You have to understand if you don't have a community, you have to build a community. This is assuming you've already built a community and working with you to monetize your community. So let's talk about the very, very, very, very, very first thing to do. And I tell everyone this. Everyone. And you'd be surprised how many brick and mortar stores don't do this. Okay. I tell everyone this. First, hey, stop chasing the algorithm.

17:55 pull them out of Squarespace, pull them out of Shopify, pull them into your own system, pull them into open source MailerLite or open source whatever, or MailChimp or something. And that way you have more control and you can control your costs. The moment you're platform dependent, whether it's Square, Toast, whatever, or even my platform. Now I want you to be platform dependent because I want you to be in my ecosystem. Because you're from my ecosystem, use my products and services, and you'll use all of my products and services.

18:57 Short North, some coffee shops, etc., who collect this information and do nothing with it. I think the only one I've ever received an email from or text message from was Brioso Coffee. That's it. And I'll be honest, I don't mind Brioso Coffee showing up. It's like once or twice a month, or I think maybe bi-weekly. It's cool. It's coffee. So great. I don't mind. Because I register for that, I value their coffee they made me, and I don't mind getting deals.

20:00 use the Starbucks app. Great. You're not making a lot of money. You get Chipotle. Chipotle app. I don't know. There are reward apps for everything. There's a local coffee shop down the street. I can get five coffees, and I get another one free or something along those lines. Depends on how much money and how many cheese danishes I eat. But the point is, they found a way to encourage you to come back.

21:05 However, doing that in any modern system, even WordPress, is the most complicated. And like I said here, like, Squarespace offers you a discount code if you use it. I know a client that uses Squarespace. Now you're building an email, and now you have to build an email list. Now that you have an email list, you get 100, 200 people. Okay, you start sending them emails. What does that mean? Once a week?

22:06 plan. Select your nutrition type. You're pescatarian, you're vegetarian, you're all the meat-a-tarian. Okay, great. You select. Pause. You select one of the three. Great. Boom. Enter email address, enter name, hit submit, confirm your email. Great. I have your email. Now I'm gonna send you every Tuesday or every Thursday, or every Tuesday and Thursday, I'm gonna send you a couple tips. Okay, great. Here's the number 10 ways to increase your push-up count.

23:11 That's number one, getting your emails. And number two, okay, let's say you're wanting your software as a service. And let's say you don't have a landing page. It's better to have a messy landing page and no landing page at all. Collect information, get people's interest, see who loves it, see who hates it, that kind of thing. Gather the information, get their email address, get their email address, get their email address, get them onboarded.

24:14 you put any form out anywhere, it seems like fraud says, hello, and you get all bunch of automated entries. In fact, I have a honey potted form that's been collecting data from IP addresses that are automatically entered into it. And I have a whole list of people who have failed the spam check, and I'm adding them to a blocked IP address list. So good luck, bots. It's just nice knowing you. Part of my website has been killing bots since 2021.

25:18 plan? Can you just, okay, great. Boom. Here's my subscription. It's $19.99 a month, less than a cup of coffee every day for a week at Starbucks or at any coffee shop for that matter. Okay, great. $19.99 or $9 a week. What would I do? $9 a week. There are 52 weeks in a year. There are 12 months in a year. You do the math. Most of the time, if you do month to month, you're actually losing three to four weeks of possible profit.

26:20 plugged into the software service when it comes out, A. And B, I'll be there to answer any of your questions. Hey, if it costs me less than 15 minutes, it's going to cost you nothing. You got a question, hey, how do I do this? What do you recommend for this? Great. Use me as a sounding board. I'm much better than the AI. I've got red hair. AI has none. I'm at least a human being who can be helpful to you.

27:23 bless. Let's pray for you before we go. I pray the Lord gives you peace. It gives you creative ability to pursue that purpose and that divine vision he has in your heart. I pray right now that whatever content strategy that he lays before your feet, whatever community that you need to build, it begins to give you wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. It begins to empower you with the tools and the people around you to be able to equip you.

28:26 virtually offered my services for free to fix this mistake. It made me so, so angry. So it's just, please, please, please, please, please. If you're making these mistakes, you have some serious problems. We'll fix them next podcast. I'll see you there on Create.