Consistency is Your Secret to Success as a Content Creator

Whether you’re just starting your journey or you’ve been on the creative train for a while, one thing holds true: Consistency is your golden ticket to success in the world of online content creation. In today’s podcast, I’m chatting about what consistency in the influencer world looks like, how long it might take to be successful, and how we can overcome the valleys we’ll experience as we strive to reach our goals. Here’s how to be consistent and how to become a successful influencer.

Listen to today’s podcast:

Podcast Transcript

Welcome

Christina: Welcome back to this Six Figure Creator Podcast. Thank you so much for being here with me today. This is episode number eight, so I’m really happy and proud of all the episodes that I put together over the past few months. Thank you for following along for listening. Thank you for being flexible as I have moved to biweekly podcasts just so I can focus on all of the other things that I have going on.

I am going to be chatting with you today about consistency and how I believe it is the number one thing that you can do to be successful in the content creator business.

Now, normally I sit down for a few hours and write out some notes and then formulate an entire blog post before I record these podcasts, because I do feel like I can put my ideas down in a better way on paper before I can speak them.

However, today I just want to speak from my heart. I have a few notes scribbled down that I’m going to refer to, but this is a topic that I’m really passionate about and I want to make sure that I’m just chatting with you. Like I would chat with a friend because I know that you are a smaller group, but you are a group that is really interested in growing your business as a content creator and a lot of you are specifically in DIY and decor like I am.

So I think we can just chat about this.

About Consistency

Consistency is one of those things that is very difficult to do and I feel like being consistent with the things that you’re creating day in and day out is especially hard when you’re not instantly seeing the benefits of being consistent, right? When you get an immediate reward for the work that you do, it’s a lot easier to continue doing that work, to continue getting those obvious rewards.

But a lot of the time, if not 99.9, 9% of the time, you’re going to be doing a lot of work before you see any big rewards. And I’m talking about the traditional rewards that we are looking for in a career like money, like growing your numbers on social media and all of that kind of thing.

A lot of us put together lofty goals and the New year in January, so I feel like February is a great time to sit down and and have a look at those goals and what kind of habits we are trying to develop to reach those goals.

Atomic Habits

I am reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. I know everybody is reading this book. I’m actually reading it because I am doing the Gina Livy program, which is a health and weight loss program, and I’ve done it a few times before and I love it. I love it so much.

It really helps me eat so many healthy things, fruits and vegetables and whole grains. And it helps me actually eat because as a busy mom with multiple things going on with business, I sometimes don’t eat like I should. So I love this program.

The Plateau of Latent Potential

Anyhow, I’m doing it again. She recommends this book and so I’m like, Fine, I’m going to read this book, Atomic Habits. I’m in the middle of it. And that’s kind of one of the things that prompted this podcast today. He talks about how to build these small habits right day in and day out, and he has some great strategies in the book on how you can do things that he calls habit stacking and naming the habit all the stuff. I highly recommend the book. I’ll link it in the show notes of today’s episode at the six figure creator dot com.

In this book he has this really great visual and he talks about how an ice cube will warmed up, Warmed up, warmed up, warmed up. But it does not change its state until it hits. I’ll use Celsius cause I’m in Canada until it had zero degrees and then suddenly it melts he uses this to illustrate what he calls the plateau of latent potential. Where you’re developing these good habits, you do them every single day, but you’re not seeing any change. You’re not seeing any sort of reward. Right. And then we kind of get disappointed. We hit this valley of disappointment and then that’s where a lot of us give up. I can relate this to to weight loss are becoming healthy.

I am right now in this kind of plateau of latent potential or this valley of disappointment where, you know, for the last four weeks I’ve been making really great choices when it comes to my eating habits and my exercise habit and like, nothing’s happening, like, I’m not like I lost £2 and, you know, I feel great, but nothing’s happening and it just gets frustrating.

When Rewards Aren’t Instant

And so I want to relate that to being a content creator and and starting really any sort of career, right? We we have this dream, we have this goal. We want to become a full time content creator and make money through YouTube ads and affiliate links and blog ads and sponsored posts and all that sort of thing. So we know we have to write a blog post every week. We have to throw a couple of social media posts. We have to put together a YouTube video every week or two. And by the way, I do have suggestions on how many things that you should do as a creator. I think I put it in the last a couple of podcasts ago where I talked about creating a content calendar, so check that out.

But anyway, we know we have to do these things. We do them for six months and we don’t see any huge growth. We’re not seeing our Instagram subscribers go up, we’re not seeing our YouTube subscribers go up, we’re not seeing any sort of income. So it’s disappointing and we give up. And I see this time and time and time again of why so many creators will be so excited at the beginning. Maybe they’ll have a viral video or something sharing all their DIY decorating ideas, you know, learning to create better videos and photos. And they are consistent, you know, they start being consistent, they start their weekly video, their weekly blog post, and crickets, They feel like nothing’s happening and usually nothing does. Like it’s it’s very, very rare that I’ve seen people become overnight successes as content creators.

With tik-tok you know, you do see it sometimes where a video will get viral with 5 million views and then this person’s kind of launched into their business immediately. But even then, there’s so much learning that has to be done and so much so many things that take a while to build that foundation for the business.

Small, Consistent Steps Make a Difference

So what we need to stop and realize is that these small steps, these small habits, these consist event actions that we take every single week or every single day to become a full time content creator.

And I’m sure that circle for a lot of you will make a difference. And they are important, but we just can’t give up too soon.

The Magic of 3-5 Years of Consistency

We just can’t. And I think most of us do now. I have no clue where I got this fact or figure, no idea. But in the 41 years that I’ve been alive and the multiple businesses that my husband and I have started and maintained and, you know, friends of mine that I’ve seen them along their entrepreneurial journey, it seems like 3 to 5 years is kind of the golden timeframe to establish any business, whether it is opening a store, whether it is becoming a content creator.

So I really think and I know this sounds like a long time, I really think it’s important to stick through and tell that 3 to 5 year mark, at least three year mark and see where you are. So that’s a lot of work. But I am a firm believer that nothing good, especially in business, comes without lots of work. I think we we do have to be consistently putting our best efforts into our work to create that that dream job situation.

When I Started Making an Income as an Influencer

Now, I’ve been in this industry for 15 years. This year, June 1st marks my 15th anniversary of my blog, The Day Mommy. So that’s a lot of years. I definitely didn’t start making money until about year four, and I think I could have probably made money a little bit sooner if I didn’t have babies at home.

But that was that was when I started. And then it didn’t become full time until about, what, 2017, 2016? So it took me a while and I did it work a lot. There is a lot of late nights, especially when my kids were little. I was mommy all day and then working all night. So now I try to have a better work life balance and I’m really grateful that I could have that luxury.

Finding Joy in the Little Steps

I think what we have to realize is that we need to do all of these small, consistent steps day in and day out, to reach those big steps. And this was a line that I heard recently on a podcast episode that I listened to the podcast is called The Quote of the Day Show by Sean Croxton. Highly recommend. It’s a really great little 15 minute podcast that you can listen to. So speaking of habits, I’m trying to make exercise a habit daily, whether it’s doing a little bit of elliptical or weights and my treat to help me, which is called habit stacking, by the way. If you want to read atomic habits, is to listen to a podcast while I’m doing that and I listen to a business podcast or a motivational because that’s what I enjoy.

So anyway, in this podcast, his guest was talking about just all of the small steps that we have to do until we reach those big steps. So the big step might be becoming that full time content creator, but we do have to do all those little steps in between and we have to be consistent with those. But it doesn’t have to be frustrating.

You don’t have to feel like you’re just grinding away at it. If this is something that you truly love and you truly enjoy, which I know for most of you it is for all of you, it is. We love to make things, we love to share them with people, and we love to teach people to try to enjoy those little steps.

Enjoy what you have right now.

Being Grateful for What You Have Now

Enjoy those ten people you have following you on Instagram. Enjoy those 5000 people you have following you on Instagram. I know a lot of us want to achieve that 100,000 follower status, but what about those 50 people that you have right now? Imagine those 50 followers in a room with you in person listening to what you have to say and encouraging you as you’re making your DIY.

I think that’s an amazing thing to think about and I need to think about that more because I really don’t want to take all of my community members for granted. It’s amazing that they are taking a time out of their busy day to listen to me and see what I’m making. So as you create these things, think about, you know, even if it’s just five people that fear YouTube video, that’s five people. That’s pretty amazing. And don’t forget to how much you’re learning as you are putting out this content. Every video you create is going to be better than the last, especially if you take the time to go through some tutorials, learn your equipment, get some inspiration from other creators on how you can make each piece of content better. Your learning, your camera, learning your phone, you’re learning how to create good headlines.

All of that is so, so important.

Doing What We Love is the Actual Reward

A lot of us wait for that big reward at the end. The money, you know, the fame, whatever. But isn’t the reward being able to do what we love? I feel like that is such a great reward day in and day out. So try to just enjoy that process, even if you’re not seeing those traditional rewards right away.

When Should You Quit?

K I want to talk about a hard question, and I remember getting this from one of my friends a couple of years ago, and she was working away at something for years and she asked, Okay, so when, when do I know when to quit? Like, when do I know that this isn’t working and it’s time to quit? And I think that’s a that’s a hard question.

And I think it’s a good question and definitely one we should consider.

So in my opinion, I feel like the time to give up is number one when it’s impacting your health, your mental health, your physical health, your financial health. And number two, when it’s affecting the health in those categories of the people around you, of your family.

My Story of Pivoting / Quitting

In 2009, after my first daughter was born, I told you about how I started my blog. But at the same time I started a baby apparel business and it was really exciting. I sewed some dresses and bibs and things all on my own and I got really good at it.

I sold them at craft fairs, etc. and then I started selling enough that I wanted to outsource the manufacturing. So I found a fair trade manufacturer in Nicaragua and they started sewing my things. It was a very cool process, all the samples and sewing and I loved it. It was so fun. And then I was able to sell them at a larger scale.

Now, after about two years, three years, I was doing that, so I had to reach that 3 to 5 year point.

I looked at my books as I had been looking at them over the past few years and realized, You know what? I’m not making any money at this. In fact, I’m losing money. This is affecting my family financially. This is affecting me. I think it’s time to pivot. And that’s when I put a lot more time into the blog.

The Magic of 3-5 Years of Consistency

So that’s definitely one thing to think about is your health, your family’s health. But the number three, if you’ve reached that 3 to 5 year point and you’re not seeing any, you’re not seeing anything, you’ve been consistent, you’ve been honest with yourself and consistent over that time frame and you’re not seeing the the financial reward, the personal reward, that it might be time to pivot.

And I don’t think quitting is the word I would use. I think pivoting is the word I would use because I’ve done that so many times. So is my husband. We are master pivots. We’ve tried a lot of things. We’ve tried a lot of stuff. I love trying things. I always think about the worst case scenario. And if the worst case scenario isn’t that bad, I usually go for it.

My Next Big Leap

And I’m actually doing that right now. I’m going to be opening up an online shop in the spring. It’s called Cozy Prairie Linens, and I’m actually going to be once again manufacturing my own products. But they’re completely different than my baby apparel from years ago. I I’ve done my research. I’m excited and it’s a lot of money to invest, but I’m going to try it, you know?

And the worst thing that can happen is don’t make a profit hoping to make my money back. And then I pivot, right? So if you get to that 3 to 5 year point or your project is really affecting your family and yourself, maybe you can pivot and do something different. Maybe rather than being a DIY decor content creator, you can maybe reach out to a brand and see if they’re hiring for social media.

Maybe you can use the talents and abilities you have to start a business at painting interiors. There’s so many different things that you can do.

Pros and Cons of Begin a Content Creator

I think content creation is amazing. I love it so much and it is hard sometimes to do that. Life work balance when you’re working at home. Have the content creator you know everything that you do.

You think, How can I monetize this? You know? And sometimes that can be unhealthy and sometimes it’s just not for everybody. But I do think once again, you need to be consistent. You need to stick with it. You need to get to that 3 to 5 year point and see for yourself and I promise you, I promise you, if you take these small, consistent steps, it is going to be 100% worth it.

I love what I do. I feel so blessed and lucky and honored that I am able to do something that I truly love day in and day out. Like any job it has. It’s things that I hate. But most of it is amazing and I love it.

So I hope that motivates you as you continue on in this new year.

Be consistent. Do those small steps that you can get to those big steps. Please don’t give up. Especially if you are experiencing that plateau of latent potential. You might be just on the brink of that zero degree melting point where things are going to start to fall in place.

Thanks so much for listening to today’s podcast. I hope you enjoyed it.

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