This is how smart people will make a comeback.

After over four years in business, I realised that I was making the same mistake I’d been making in my career.

If you work for someone else all your life you will spend roughly 85,775 hours creating someone else’s dream.

You will likely have NOTHING to show for your work.

When I first started out as an entrepreneur I followed the top influencers’ advice and poured my energy into short-form content like social media posts and a Facebook group.

Build a social media following they said

Post several times a day.

For a post that would last for seconds and within 48hrs was dead and buried.

It doesn’t matter if you go with TikTok or the next new thing.

I did this alongside working 121. Every client was different. But in some ways the same.

They all needed a funnel, an email marketing platform. They all lacked systems, strategy, self-belief, consistency or accountability.

After 4 years and over $3K on influencer courses I had precisely 14 mismatched YouTube videos to show for my work.

The problem with this approach is:

The problems with building a creator business like this

Problem 1: The confidence blow

The hamster wheel of short-form content creation for ego-centric vanity metrics, for most people ends in a massive blow to your confidence.

Not to mention the feast and famine of going from one client to another with little more than added experience under your belt.

Problem 2: People don’t buy on the first hook

In fact with the absence of any other educational material I know of only one exception. The social media gurus themselves selling courses/coaching so that you too can build the same following.

It’s a pretty self-fulfilling prophecy for platforms to promote accounts that encourage more use of said platform. And in fact, what does every creator on the platform want? To build an audience on the platform.

I’m not immune to the promised land – I invested in some of these to the tune of several thousand and had yet to find any replaceable system within other niches.

The fact is that you need an ecosystem with depth taking clients from light touch discovery through to the solution. Think of it as an amuse bouche to the main meal (your main offer).

Problem 3: You have nothing to show for it

Having left a corporate career feeling that despite missing Christmas, long work weeks, endless certifications and burnout, I had nothing to show for it all.

Imagine all the work you are doing right now being scrunched into a ball and thrown into a waste paper basket.

Spending a lifetime creating transient value. It must be the definition of madness.

In the stoic sense:

Creation is the purpose of life.

Make sure you create with enough depth so that it can truly transform someone or something. To add exponential value.

This brings me closer to the solution.. there are smart ways to leverage your time, effort and expertise right now. But first, we haven’t got to the extent of the problem. And it’s huge.

Problem 4: The death of the influencer age

The influencer age is dying.

Gen Z is reported to suffer influencer fatigue, blending with scepticism and mistrust from advertisement saturation.

• “61% of young people aged 13 to 39 lose trust in an influencer who posts too many ads.”
• Mikayla Nogueira wore false lashes to advertise mascara for l’oreal, the scandal became known as Mascara Gate.

Future Creator business is also for future freelancers, agencies, coaches, consultants, and trainers. They will all be a form of content creator. The content they create, the lifespan and the value it adds will determine their long term success.

Problem 5: Credibility comes from results

Results don’t happen without the people & the systems.

The people posting about the easy, quick-fix solutions are probably too good to be true. And you know it. This means pretty soon we’ll all get bored with the blur of motivational quotes. And clients will want to see results.

Results you can only give them, by going deeper.

Problem 6 is the BIG one: Lifespan, healthspan and money

This is about to get very real.

Millennials like me have a life expectancy of 87 years.

Generation Z are now expected to live around 100 years old.

If you figure the traditional retirement age is 68 that’s nearly 20-30 years of living. That’s another 30 years to fund living a good life.

Put simply you can stay in a job and rely on a workplace pension.

Private pension invest yourself.

Or invest and create future wealth through the creation of physical and digital assets.

According to the Huffington Post:

“Millennials will continue to work for financial security in longer life and because the stimulus of work can enhance both health and well-being.”

The latest think tanks cite a gap between health span and lifespan. Meaning you don’t know how long you’ll be healthy enough to work for. There is no better time to create your bank of assets than now.

This places a whole new perspective on your life’s work.

And a strategy to create valuable evergreen reuseable and resaleable assets in the present.

The future wealthy will be creating assets.

The good old days are ahead

The solution

Future Creator Business: Create your Assets

Smart people create assets of their life’s work

Deciding which assets to create….

Know your domain

Brainstorm or list the topics in your domain. Relevant to your path, experience, skills and what you want to create in life.

Know that these will always be advancing and evolving with you.

For example, you might be a freelancer or professional. Think back to the beginning of the journey and what did you need to know. What did you need to do? and overcome. Then as you progress you can advance to problems you will be solving in the future.

Which assets and for what purpose

A diverse library of evergreen topics

Quickly brainstorm a list of timeless assets you could create.

Examples of broad types of content

• Books, e-books, mini series
• Guides
• Checklists
• Whitepapers
• Softwares
• Workbooks
• Templates
• Reports/ white papers
• Blog articles
• Newsletters
• Videos
• Audio/ inc but not limited to Podcast files
• Course material
• Online real estate – what you put into your website, medium or other platforms to
• Owned channels
• Appearances on other people’s channels – collection of you tube, podcast links, guest articles
• IPs systems, apps/ other creations
• Events particularly recorded of your attendance

When you have done this, note the purpose of each asset in your content/product ecosystem (more on this in a future newsletter). For example, free content for credibility/ marketing or paid access.

When can I create these?

I’m too busy. Insert your time drain:

• I have a 9-5 job
• I have my 121 client work
• I have …….

Finding time and creating a consistent reliable routine has been my hardest battle. As a mum of three who started when I was working full-time with two kids under 6.

It has taken incredible prioritisation to sustain a consistent approach and the biggest surprise is the role of your mindset. Upper Limit Theory is the hidden barrier keeping you stuck (more on that in next week’s newsletter subscribe below).

As a generation flooded with easy dopamine, it can be hard to train for delayed gratification.

Think of a 20, 70, 10 rule.

With 70% of the time on today’s work, allocate 20% to assets for tomorrow. And 10% on reviewing, planning and strategy.

Often small goals like 1 blog post, 1 video, 1 template, or 1 guest podcast per week over sustained periods will matter. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Recycle content

I have wasted so many opportunities building out sales funnels, delivering presentations and email marketing, where each case study could have provided a comprehensive systemised business in a box.

This can be a recording of a tutorial, a walk-through, a workshop or documenting the process. I now blog case studies, record strategy design, record funnel set-up, email marketing and digital course set-up to share with other entrepreneurs. These can be great solutions to problems that sit behind a paywall.

I’ve also known creators to compile these into books or YouTube channels. It all pays dividends with a long-term view.

James Clear author of Atomic Habits is the perfect example. Through writing on his blog he honed the perfect explanation. How to break bad habits and create good habits. This process collectively led to the production of one of the biggest-selling timeless books of today.

The Intangible Asset

Everything you do stays in a vacuum unless you leverage this.

Connections.

Grow your network.

The audience that follows you. A network connection that leads to others. The people who support you, just because you are a friend.

I’ve known people become incredibly successful with nothing new to offer. Nothing new to say. I’ve attended panels and listened to speakers, spout the same motivation guru phrases ‘word for word’ as Tony Robins. They signed $10K of business that day simply because they became known.

Remember the old marketing dogma – Know, Like and Trust. It works for mass marketing but for solopreneurs, we can go deeper.

Know: Sure people need to know you, but most importantly they need to know you for something.

You can’t be Sue the builder’s wife. Or Dave, Joe’s friend.

I am Sue Parker and I am known for self-improvement & online business.

Like: Being liked is a false friend. The Blake Lively saga shows us the importance of likability. But often we misinterpret this. It’s not about being a complete B**, it’s about sharing your authentic viewpoint.

The key is that the people with the same values as you will like you. And the people who don’t won’t.

Attract and repel marketing.

Trust: In the future creator business results are not a luxury, they are a requirement. When people know your solutions work they will buy and recommend you. It’s why word-of-mouth referrals is overtaking influencer ads in Gen Z purchasing power.

Smart people are coming back: Build a Future Creator Business

Create Assets: Be Future Smart

Solve problems once, record, document and share. Let others experience the solution. Then grow, solve more complex problems and repeat the process. Over your life’s work, you will have a body of work and assets to be proud of.

Your purpose in life is to create. And you must build for the future.

I hope you’ll create some wonderful assets and spread your work.

Thanks for reading

Sue

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