I have a single gripe with the monetization gospel permeating the arts and content creation space: it completely skips over the growth period of becoming a master creator in favor of quick returns. It's the opposite extreme of "waiting for the perfect conditions." We have to take courage and start, but there is a period where I believe the goal must be a concentration on refinement before revenue.
To expand on what refinement entails, here are a few ideas I picked up and a number that I added myself from Cal Newport's insightful Deep Dive on Tips for Doing Hard Things:
1. Build a routine and refine it with unique rituals that stimulate you to start and sustain productivity and a work ethic, helping you break resistance daily.
2. Explore more influences and possibilities to custom curate the elements, substance, and intent of your content.
3. Learn to compete against your last creation in order to raise the quality and standard of your work on your own terms.
4. Carve your content around a personal philosophy that defines what people should expect from you. That way, your identity can evolve intuitively, free from the sway of trends that don't align with you.
5. Adjust to receiving and selectively applying feedback or constructive criticism as you continue to release consistent work.
6. Identify your strengths and limitations so you know what needs to be upskilled or possibly outsourced.
7. Build a consistent and improving portfolio of material that catalogs your growth for future reference and rubber stamps you as one of the best at what you do.
8. Relish the service and value you give. It will give you a bigger picture of what it means to succeed.
This process naturally builds up a dedicated audience while providing a pretty extensive pool in which to test and tweak your offering without much pressure. It’s when the quality of work can be relied upon, that it makes sense to think of ways to scale and make a buck. Before this, I think it's important to find a groove and to build up a love and purpose for what you do. It will sustain you on both the good and the bad days to come. After all, although we can expect some gains from a well-oiled creative system, it won't always be fun and rainbows, especially once we introduce external stakes by assigning monetary value to the output.
The gist: refine the product and master your craft. The rest will fall into place.
Would you add anything to the above list?