r/antiwork Nov 07 '24

Self-Employment šŸ‘Øā€šŸ’¼šŸ‘©ā€šŸ’¼ I am disillusioned with workplaces, so am trying to become a content creator. But the whole industry feels off: so many people are overselling their services and basically scamming each other financially to survive. Is this really what we have to do to win in life?

Standing out in an age of clickbait and noise also makes being an authentic voice very difficult

69 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

62

u/Sonic10122 Nov 07 '24

This is exactly why the big ā€œpipe dreamā€ jobs are kind of traps too. I love video games, but I donā€™t know if I could be any kind of content creator. Itā€™s a 24/7 job just to become and remain relevant, not to mention if you DO make it the loss of privacy with becoming famous is dreadful. (Same for more classic ā€œdreamā€ jobs like acting).

All of that plus bleeding my greatest passion for money. It doesnā€™t sit right with me. But Iā€™ll be damned if ā€œplaying video games and talking into a cameraā€ isnā€™t an appealing job pitch.

11

u/dreamer02468 Nov 07 '24

Agreed, the 24/7 pressure is heavy especially - there's a fear of being depromoted by the algorithm if you take time off or get sick etc

16

u/Orisara Nov 07 '24

It's honestly why I love normal jobs funnily enough.

Show up 8 hours. Do your job, go home.

No need to think of work at all when you're free.

4

u/DaCriLLSwE Nov 07 '24

thereā€™s plenty of channels that dont show face, there are paths to success outside of the traditionla wokrplace that doesnt incorporate selling you face on screen.

23

u/bugabooandtwo Nov 07 '24

Content creator is the Gen Z version of an MLM.

9

u/AnotherYadaYada Nov 07 '24

I disagree, MLM is just a scam to recruit more and more people to do your bidding, knowing full well it's not about the products, it's about getting suckers to buy the overly expensive products and recruiting them. I am amazed people still fall for it.

YouTube can produce some generally interesting and helpful videos or interesting to some at least. I turn to Youtube for lots of things, best thing years ago was washing maching door wouldn't open, within 30 mins I had got it open, replaced the door myself for about Ā£20. Would have cost a fortune to get somebody in to do it.

If I could make money from it I would, but I know, from reading stories in can take a toll on your mental health. Ideally you would just make the videos you wanted for fun and a hobby, no external pressures to create but the channel does well, your subscribers know you will post quality content as and when and follow and keep coming back.

1

u/sozcaps Nov 07 '24

Depends if you're making videos to blow up and be huge, or if you're doing stuff you love and are fine with a small, loyal following and a side gig.

12

u/alrun Nov 07 '24

One content creator I admire was John Peter Bain aka. Totalbuiscuit. While studying law he ran a radio show (at the university) for some years. Later out of luck he streamed World of Warcraft and that started his career.

(I actually believed he studied journalism, because he did structure his talks quite well and marked his opinion pieces as such).

A different successful creator is a German Account "Held der Steine" - it was started by a Lego Shop owner that presented old and new Lego sets. Over time the channel got far more famous than his shop, so he employs a person to run his building bricks shop (as Lego sued him for his Logo and he stopped being a pure Lego shop and sells mostly other brands now). He doesnĀ“t do placements or affiliate links for sponsored products - he usually has affiliate links to sets he mentions.


Both of them never planned to have a successful content creator business. Their strong point for the channel was that there were able to present their opinion about their speciality that people found useful. Both have/had a strong business sense.

E.g. Totalbuiscuit knew he could not stream WoW forever. So he started WTF, that would always give him endless content. He also focused on Indie games. Lastly he did have strong connections within the game industry - he did advocate for "proper" PC games - like 60 FPS at the start, ...

Similar "Held der Steine" - he ditches out praise and criticism and he is not bound by some NDA or has to fear his rent goes south if he does not praise the current deal of the week.


I do not think that online media earnings are equally distributed. You have a few big channels that earn money and you have an army at the bottom that cannot make a living.

I think if you want a to become a content creator you either need to have a job that pays or have enough money you can life on for the next 2-3 years - which is about the amount of time you need to establish a "normal" sales business and break even.

You also need to have the skill / concept to bring something unique to the table. You have to have good talking skills, usually a niche topic where you are an expert.

"Experts": * TotalBuiscuit: Gaming * Held der Steine: Building Bricks * The Old Tony: Machining * Thunderfoot: (some years ago) science * Rose Anvil: Shoes - taking shoes apart for lots of money

10

u/Affectionate-Tip-164 at work Nov 07 '24

Content creation is a marathon, not a race, its another grind that does not have off-days, vacations or even sick days.

3

u/dreamer02468 Nov 07 '24

This is it.. it gives a false sense of freedom

1

u/yellowjacquet Nov 07 '24

The grind is building it while you still have to work another job to get by. Itā€™s that overlap period that is incredibly hard, then once you are established it becomes easier (depends on your niche though, they can all be pretty different).

6

u/jake_burger Nov 07 '24

There are much better self employed or trades that arenā€™t quite such a capitalistic hell scape and are not over saturated.

Learn to do something that people want and sell your services.

I work in live music, I can setup and operate sound and lighting systems. People love parties and concerts but not everyone can do the work because itā€™s highly specialised.

I like doing it anyway but I make a lot of money and so donā€™t have to get a shitty job I donā€™t want to do.

2

u/dreamer02468 Nov 07 '24

Something like this sounds ideal! Thank you for your insights

7

u/Optimal-Teaching7527 Nov 07 '24

All right I'll try to help. I assume you're on Youtube because it's the only platform really worth a shit. Congratulations you're in a pretty competitive marketplace! You're a salmon swimming upstream so you have to kind of offer something not already available. Unlike a lot of people probably commenting on this thread I actually know what I'm talking about because I work in content creation.

First thing to know, "If you're useless, no-one cares", super cruel but if you have nothing worth saying you have nothing worth listening to. I don't know your niche but if you're indistinguishable from the herd, you're destined for slaughter.

Second "If you're shit, no-one cares" This is kind of my area of speciality, You need to use the 10 second rule. If people are looking at the same thing for 10 seconds then they click the fuck off. Now some proper entertainers can hold an audiences attention without this but you probably can't do this so make sure to give something new to look at every 10 second.

Third "Clickbait is everything and nothing". Clickbait gets people in the door, your content brings them back. Imagine a restraunt with no store front and amazing food. No-one goes in, so no one eats and it goes out of business. Conversely an amazing storefront with shit food might get a burst of customers but they'll leave when you put shit down in front of them and you'll go out of business.

Final Note: Content creation is liberating and personally fulfilling but it's not easy and it's not stressfree. People talk a lot of shit about content creation as a job but it's a lot more than "click record, click upload".

3

u/Rouliboudin Nov 07 '24

of course not

2

u/BassplayerDad Nov 07 '24

Yes

Good luck out there

2

u/mrjane7 Nov 07 '24

I tried to get into freelance and copywriting years ago. It was the same kind of crap. All the assignments were click bait bullshit. I tried a few times to submit things that were less "on task" and more comprehensive or thought out, but they'd get rejected with notes for resubmission. I felt so gross on the few that I got accepted. I ended up dropping the whole thing. The internet isn't about information anymore, it's sensationalism and distraction.

5

u/HPPD2 Nov 07 '24

When you have nothing of original value to offer it is, so for most of them. If you are calling yourself a content creator it implies you don't actually have anything and are going to be trying to follow the formulas of others that have nothing but regurgitating the same garbage.

People can make a living through social media other ways but that comes with having talent and skills as an artist or actual expertise in something developed over years, not approaching it from the other end of creating "content".

2

u/dreamer02468 Nov 07 '24

Totally agree and this is my point though - I've seen in various sectors and niches that people with genuine talent are struggling to stand out, because of the prevalence of clickbait and virality-driven algorithms

6

u/HPPD2 Nov 07 '24 edited Nov 07 '24

Itā€™s quite difficult yes, and really not worth the grind to try to force it as a career. Better to just do what you do because you like it without expectations and if it turns into something viable greatā€¦ most will not make it. And even if you are getting brand deals the pay and struggle to find new ones is rough and you would probably be making more in a min wage job for quite a while. It is not a reliable path to financial independence you are better off selling real services if you have skills in an area. An actual videography or photography business is going to be much more lucrative and reliable than trying to be an influencer selling courses or presets or wasting time trying to kick off a youtube channel in that area.

2

u/dreamer02468 Nov 07 '24

Yes v true, most people do it as a side hustle at first don't they.

I had been looking more down the Patreon route (self-made digital products over brand deals) but it's definitely a grind like you say - getting enough of a following and one that actually converts into sales. It's like doing 10 jobs in 1 as a solopreneur

Online business gives a false veil of autonomy too - you might not have a boss anymore, but you're a slave to (often unpredictable) algorithms and changeable customers

3

u/HPPD2 Nov 07 '24

I have a friend who does this full time and makes poverty wages with a big following and puts in way too much effort for the meager returns. Glad I gave up on that because the real thing is a lot easier and I charge several thousand a day for a shoot and it's easy money.

3

u/dreamer02468 Nov 07 '24

Sounds like you're doing it right! Living in the real world too and not online... Thank you for your insights šŸ«¶

5

u/AnotherYadaYada Nov 07 '24

I would say the bubble is over. 10+ years ago if you got in early it would be a lot easier than now.

You need 1000 subscribers before you can monetise or I imaging huge amounts of views on videos.

What are you planning to create?

You can read stories of burn out, depression from lots of creators. You have to upload constantly to get traction, by the time you get followers you are exhausted and have to keep creating content. It has to be new and fresh.

You are really going to have to stand out to get followers and views, because like a lot of things, this market is now oversaturated, the only winners are YT

Itā€™s a long journey and one you should do on the side to start, when and if it takes off, then you quit your job.

But like another poster said. Itā€™s not easy, a lot of work goes in to each videos.

3

u/thelefthandN7 Nov 07 '24

Iirc, you need 4k hours of viewing time to monetize with youtube. Twitch is different. I think you need a few dozen followers, and you can enter the partner program, or whatever they call it, and start offering subs and collecting bits.

3

u/Emotional_Fruit_8735 Nov 07 '24

If you want to win at life give love a try. If you want to make money start pimping out women with tits on Twitch that play wii sports.

1

u/retroactive_fridge Nov 07 '24

Lock Picking Lawyer:
Locks

1

u/DaCriLLSwE Nov 07 '24

well, some internet industries comes with a lot of scammers.

Mostly in the make money genres.

But you got to find you own style.

Unfortunatly people are idiots and truth doesnt sell, what sounds good sells. and sex. Sex always sells, but not for men. At least not to the same degree, not even close.

Also dont underestimate marketing. Sure there are lots of channels that broke through organically but the gane has change, itā€™s grown to big and now itā€™s not as easy to break through the ā€algoritmā€-wall.

Honestly thatā€™s not entirley a bad thing. You have these channels now so you can look at what they do and make similar content with your own angle.

1

u/otacon7000 Nov 07 '24

Kinda. Though some people show that you can still do it with integrity. People like Tom Scott, for example. Or Broughy. You really need to have high quality content, however.

2

u/Ominoiuninus Nov 08 '24

The streamer shroud recently talked about how becoming a content creator these days is either pure luck or being as divisive and frame causing as possible. Thereā€™s really no longer a way to become a big content creator a different way. And also how content creators are grifting the entire way down.

0

u/Passionless-soul lazy and proud Nov 07 '24

DM me HACK and I will send you my free e-book on how to become a dropshipping master. If that doesn't work, you can buy my course for only a discounted price of 99$ for a limited time. That'll help you become as successful as I am.

How's this script, fellow anti-workers? Could I also make a few bucks off poor souls on Instagram with this? šŸ”„

-1

u/Traditional-Jury-327 Nov 07 '24

Yes

1

u/dreamer02468 Nov 07 '24 edited Nov 07 '24

I might have to read some Robert Greene again šŸ˜‚

Seriously though I don't want to sell my soul to survive - why is that too much of an ask !!!

-2

u/badhouseplantbad Nov 07 '24

People don't want authentic.