"How do I go from clients to full-time creator?"

· 2 min read
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"What does it look like for a person trading time for money (working for clients) but wanting to take that next step(s) of becoming a full-time creator as a career?"
– Allison Ditmer (​@allisonditmer​)

Allison went on to say that she's splitting her time between doing work for clients to pay the bills, but also spending a lot of time creating free content (newsletter, blog posts, social posts) to build an audience she can help.

People often ask how to bridge the gap from client services to full-time creator. But there are some embedded assumptions here that I don't think are accurate (or helpful).

Namely, what's the difference between a "creator" and someone who delivers client services (while creating content)?

This area is very gray.

There seems to be an implicit assumption that a creator is someone earning passive income. People tend to think of the identify centered on the output rather than the input.

But I know a ton of people I'd consider full-time creators who primarily earn revenue through live-learning programs like cohort-based courses.

Those programs are very time-intensive. They're basically scalable productized services. So, are those people creators, or are they service providers?

I use "creator" as shorthand for "content creator." It's an identity based on the action of creating content.

To take that a step further, a full-time creator supports themselves from that action. The revenue model could be client services (you acquire leads through your content), or it could be through more passive means (affiliates, digital products, sponsorship, etc).

Either way, if your content drives the revenue you need to support yourself, you're a full-time creator. A creator selling client services directly to their audience likely has a more resilient business than a creator selling advertising!

So the real question is, "How do I move from very time-intensive revenue streams to more passive revenue streams?"

The best place to start is to identify what that ideal, more passive revenue model would be. It's not going to identify and build itself – you need to design it! I recommend:

What does that look like in your business?

What problem does your product solve?

Does it align with the overall premise of your creator platform?

Once you identify the ​premise​, develop your signature offer that addresses that premise more passively.

Continue creating content.

Build your audience one post at a time.

Experiment with how to promote that signature offer.

Avoid the ​platinum handcuffs​ of client services.

You can boil all of this down to a numbers game if you want to. If you have an average audience of 100 readers and generate one sale per month, that's a 1% conversion rate. To double revenue, double your conversion rate, or double your audience.

It's that experimentality played out day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year that will get you to where you want to be.

Be disciplined and be patient – assume it will take years.

Most creators fail because they give up. And most of those creators give up because they have unrealistic expectations.

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Read Next: Platinum Handcuffs →

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