We've all been too familiar with the creator economy.

The economy where software makes it possible for us to monetize our hobbies and interests, from playing games like Pewdiepie to deep video essayists like Alice Cappelle.

The market value of the economy capped at an impressive $104.2 billion dollars, almost comprising the entire GDP of a small wealthy nation.

With ever more ways to offer value to consumers and even more ways to earn money from it, certainly things would only go up for the creators, right ?

But before you begin on your journey of content creation, I've compiled my insights regarding the business, after spending an entire year trying different kinds of ways to make content. From blogging, podcasting and yes, I'm now writing a book.

The pros

The rewards are exponential with time

Content creation comes in different shapes and sizes, and knowing which one's more profitable than the other is really a tricky business.

But if you got your insights right, then it shouldn't be hard to see how rewards can get exponential with time.

And YouTube algorithm is the best example of that. Even though it changes like weather.

I've seen dozens of channels taking off over a year or two, some of them got famous in a little over a week. Thanks to the uptick in donations and business conversions, I see them moving into their new homes, showing off their latest filming gear, traveling to more exotic places, and heck, they even dress differently.

Making content is easier than ever

Judging from the videomaker's standpoint, it's easy to hear they complain the sometimes tedious process of taking an idea from your brain to the platform.

I personally think serious content creators like Kurzgesagt or Wendover Productions are qualified to say that. Because it takes hundreds of hours of team effort to produce each videos with their calibre.

Much like how Canva disrupted the graphic design industry, several video editing software in the cloud were also making strides.

Editing a simple video shouldn't be more difficult than making a lead image for articles and posts, owing to its ever more intuitive UI designs. Examples for such products are Clideo, Veed and Clipchamp.

I personally use them to produce introduction videos for my tutoring business and so far I never had to spend a dime on something that would have set me back for 10 bucks or more.

Being able to access opportunities that you normally can't

I'm tired of people saying that you should use social media to promote your business.

While it does take one's part time job to manage social media accounts, I have to admit that if everything fits squarely at the right time, then it's not really hard to see why online branding creates loyal customers.

Once you acquire a certain amount of following, you'll get sponsorship opportunities out of nowhere, like affiliate marketing, trying out products for free or even more dramatic - partnerships.

That's why it's an exciting prospect formany aspiring content creators out there, considering all the pros up there and there's no reason not to try.

More and mmore, i am convinced that being part of the creator economy meant prosperity in the long term, emotionally and financially. I could only say it with certainty that the people I saw taking off are living their best lives.

Unless you don't consider....

The cons

The demand for your content can be volatile

It wouldn't come as a surprise if I were to tell you that you can never beat the market.

When content creators are competing for your attention, you'll be in the constant labor to fill a niche that others haven't. Simply put, you'll have to make content before others do, so that you won't be left behind in the race with other attention seekers.

Much like handling a business, the content you are promoting has to be a bit unique from the rest, and on top of that you'll also have to contend with the platform algorithms.

As an avid YouTube watcher myself, I'm not super familiar with how other social media platforms work, but I'm pretty certain that the algorithm changes constantly which can make those who are already successful, suffer.

The algorithm can direct massive amounts of attention to other niches or groups of creators, which leaves Anthony Padilla, the OG YouTuber, depressed over the disappointing analytics for the amount of effort and thought he put out for his videos (100+ hours per vid to be precise ).

Knowing what your niche is easy enough on your own, but for the next step, you need more than just personal experience or talent.

Some niches are more financially rewarding than others

It's sad to say that, in order to get the cream of the crop of content creation, you have to be lucky enough, or be diligent enough, to figure out where your unique talents, interests and market demand intersect.

I used to build a weather app which is not only functional, but offer more content than the existing products. Even though I made it as user friendly and educative as possible, all I got is a couple hundred of views and some stars on GitHub repository.

Another time is when I blogged about virtual traveling with Wordpress. The reception from other bloggers on my Facebook group was warm, but no one seemed to care what I had to write next.

It's a constant trial of error until you hit the jackpot. But to save you years of wishful thinking and wasted effort, I'll be recommending a tried-and-true strategy to know which niche is worth it.

It's called Blue Ocean strategy. Basically it tries to align the nature of the market with what you're into.

And after hearing what others say about this strategy, I'm tempted to try it someday.

You have to be passionate about what you're doing

Content creation is a skill that I haven't been able to master. But what differentiates this skill from the rest is the required mentality for it.

You need to be passionate enough to constantly think creatively as you make more content, and to stick with it despite setbacks and instability.

And in many cases, your work may not be noticed for a considerable period of time. And there's no telling if your idea is still worthy then.

No matter how determined and gritty you are, you still have to make preparations for failures and exit plans if it doesn't work out.

It's not your fault that the market doesn't cherish your content and ideas, but I'd be remiss not telling you that success matters more than passion, because success statistically creates passion more than anything could.