I know this won’t be what you want to hear

I had someone ask me yesterday what my advice is for young creators trying to make it commercially.

And honestly, it's probably not what they wanted to hear.

First thing - you shouldn't be looking for management or teams or any of that until you've actually built something worth managing.

I see loads of creators trying to skip the hard bit.

They make a few TikToks, get some views, then immediately start thinking about managers and brand deals and launching products.

Mate, slow down.

You need to prove you can actually do this on your own first.

Build your voice.

Build your connection with people.

Focus on that connection because without it, there's nothing to monetise.

Viewers don't automatically become customers.

You can have millions of views and still be broke because those people don't actually care about you.

They just happened to watch your video while scrolling.

Fans are different.

They'll buy stuff from you because they trust you and want to support you.

But you can't fake that connection.

You can't buy it.

You have to build it really, really slowly.

Look at someone like ChrisMD.

He spent absolutely ages doing everything himself on TikTok, then pivoted to YouTube, started fresh.

Had to find his formula.

Had to grind it out video after video until something clicked.

No management.

No team.

Just him figuring it out.

And once he nailed it?

Once he had that connection and was making serious money?

Then he could invest in people to help him scale.

But he did the hard work first.

Now I won’t lie to you, it's tougher than it used to be.

You're going to have to wear more hats.

But that's exactly why most people fail.

They want the shortcuts without doing the groundwork.

Now once you're making some money - real money, not just a few hundred quid from AdSense - then you can start thinking about getting help.

Get a good accountant.

Maybe get someone to help with editing.

Build a small team gradually.

But only when you can actually afford it and only when you've proven the formula works over a long period of time.

Don't try to jump straight to having a whole team when you're not even making rent from your content yet.

I know it's not what people want to hear, but you have to grind this out independently first.

Get to a scale where you're making money, prove that connection with your audience is real, then use that money to invest in help.

Step by step.

Not trying to skip ahead.

Because if you try to launch products or chase brand deals without having that genuine connection first, it's just going to fall down.

Sorry if that's depressing, but that's the reality of it.

The good news?

If you can do it, if you can build that connection and make it work on your own, then everything else becomes wayyy easier.

Remember, the creator mindset is all you need to grow 🌱

P.S. If you want me to look at your content, audience and situation and tell you straight what I think you need to focus on next, I've got some Intro slots open. Usually helps people save months of going in the wrong direction.

Book in anything from 15 mins to an hour here →

Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here to get the next one straight to your inbox.

If this email landed in your spam or promotions folder, move it to your primary inbox so you never miss an update from me.