But you need a solid strategy to transform your side hustle into a profitable business. And that’s exactly what we’re breaking down for you today.
What is a professional creator and how much do they make?
Professional creators are people who can replace their full-time income from a 9 to 5 job with the income from their creative business. They typically support their livelihood from their craft and tend to make between $60,000 and $250,000 USD.
One common misconception is that professional creators are the same thing as content creators. But there’s a subtle distinction between the two: content creators are a type of creator. They usually earn their income by developing educational and entertaining content.
However, someone like a freelance writer or a marketer may not create content for an audience and strictly focus on things like client work. These professions aren’t considered content creators and are usually classified under the larger umbrella as “creators.”
Who are professional creators?
Some well-known professional creators include people like fabric designer Bonnie Christine and designer Chaitra Radhakrishna.
Our State of the Creator Economy report dives into pro creators (including how they make their money). But we’ll also take a look into six notable examples to show you how they made the jump to become a pro creator:
Pro creator example #1: Fabric designer Bonnie Christine
Bonnie Christine started her fabric design business after working at her mom’s quilt shop.
She wasn’t sure how she’d turn her designs into a full-fledged business, but a lightbulb went off when she was asked to teach a live Adobe Illustrator class in San Francisco. That’s when she began toying with the idea of creating her own courses to sell to her audience.
So, she spent time growing and nurturing her email list while developing her first course. When it came time to launch, Bonnie had 8,012 subscribers, and 4.3% of them bought her course (which led to a nice six-figure payday).
Now, Bonnie diversifies her revenue through courses, memberships, client work, products, and licensing fees.
Pro creator example #2: Business consultant Terry Rice
Terry Rice worked at Facebook and Adobe prior to becoming a professional creator/consultant. And as a consultant, Terry’s business only made money when he was actively working.
But with four kids, Terry quickly realized he needed a way to build his passive income so he could earn more without sacrificing family time.
He decided to lean on email marketing and began sending out weekly newsletters to build rapport with his audience. His plan? To send enough value to his subscribers so he could pitch products without sounding too salesy.
And Terry’s plan worked. As a result, he earns a comfortable six-figure income through selling courses, consulting, speaking, brand deals, and agency work.
The best part?
He doesn’t have to sacrifice family time for work.
Pro creator example #3: Online video coach XayLi Barclay
XayLi Barclay is an online video coach who funded her business by babysitting for celebrities in the evenings and working on her creator business in the mornings.
One thing that stood out to XayLi from her star-studded clientele was how they all diversified their income through different projects. And she realized she needed to do the same if she wanted to create a sustainable creative business.
After two years of hard work, XayLi was able to quit babysitting and become a pro creator with multiple streams of income selling online courses, working with agencies, and partnering with brands.
Pro creator example #4: Artist Teela Cunningham
Teela Cunningham knew she didn’t want to continue her job as a graphic designer but didn’t know how she’d make the leap from employed designer to professional creator.
At first, Teela spent her evenings after work creating her own art. Before long, she started a blog to share her work and created a few courses to sell on Skillshare.
At this time, Teela wasn’t making enough money to quit her job. But the fact that she was making even a little bit of money gave her the motivation to keep trying. And after about two years of nurturing her email list and growing her audience, Teela launched her third-self hosted course and earned six-figures from the launch.
While courses make up the bulk of Teela’s income, she also sells digital products (like fonts) and earns money through display ads on her blog.
Pro creator example #5: Baker Maurizio Leo
Maurizio Leo is a software developer turned baker who teaches other aspiring bakers how to bake the perfect sourdough.
He started his blog on a whim when he wasn’t able to find step-by-step instructions to help him bake bread. So, he took it upon himself to create an online resource for others.
Over the years, Maurizio tested different ideas to grow his income. Like display ads, affiliate links, and a private membership.
But the biggest surprise was when a publisher reached out to Maurizio and asked him to publish a book. While Maurizio didn’t have plans of becoming an author, he also knew he didn’t want to turn down the opportunity.
Maurizio has evolved his creative business and now earns the majority of his income through display ads, memberships, published books, and affiliate marketing.
Pro creator example #6: Blogger Jenell Stewart
Jenell Stewart stumbled upon becoming a creator when she decided to chop off her relaxed hair and let it go natural. “The Big Chop” (as she and other POC call it) was such an empowering process that she decided to document everything through blog posts and YouTube videos.
After two years of creating content (and working full-time on the side), hair brands started to take notice of Jenell and were eager to work with her.
But it wasn’t until Jenell tried to return to work after her maternity leave that she realized she no longer wanted her 9 to 5—and she was ready to quit her job to become a professional creator.
Jenell decided to make the leap and focus on her business full-time. She now earns over six figures selling courses, working with brands, offering coaching sessions, and through display ads on her blog.
Tips to become a professional creator
The examples above make one thing clear: anyone can become a professional creator with the right strategy.
And luckily, pro creators (like the ones above) have already paved the way with easy tips you can follow.
1. Share multiple types of content
Professional creators are always looking for ways to turn one piece of long-form content into more content for other social media channels to increase their reach, engagement, and following.
And out of all the possible types of content, we found that creators most commonly create:
Emails or newsletters (58%)
Articles, blog posts, or books (51%)
Educational courses (30%)
Short-form videos (23%)
By posting several types of content, creators can grow their audience larger than if they stuck to one type of content (for example, Instagram posts).
But don’t reinvent the wheel each time you need to create content. For example, next time you write an email newsletter, pick several standout quotes from it and turn those quotes into social media posts to promote or tease your newsletter.
This way, your email marketing can turn into a constant source of inspiration for your social media marketing so you can grow your list and increase engagement on your socials in one fell swoop.
2. Make lead generation a priority
Professional creators use email marketing to nurture relationships with their audience. The end goal? Turn that lead into a customer and referrer.
To nurture their followers, creators send newsletters and updates. They also build automated funnels that help their audience learn more about them and their products on autopilot.
Precious Oboidhe, a digital marketer and content creator, approaches lead generation strategically.
I use a simple approach I call the ST3E framework to attract more followers and clients.
S– Show results
T– Teach my audience how they should handle a challenge using a step-by-step breakdown
E– Educate my audience on a piece of new information that helps them
E– Empower my audience by creating content that agrees with their thoughts on an issue
E– Entertain my audience with memes or info they already know but will certainly crack their ribs.
Professional creators also lean on other creators, businesses, media, and their followers’ audiences to help with lead generation.
The lead generation strategies the pros use
Create an audience-building flywheel with UGC: A flywheel is a business model focused on retaining and delighting customers so they grow your list for you. For creators, flywheels can be a sustainable way to get more leads. Begin applying a flywheel model to your business by leaning on user-generated content (UGC). Like testimonials and videos of people using—and loving—your products.
Set up an email marketing funnel: Automated email marketing funnels encourage people to sign up to your list so you can nurture them to become paying customers—without requiring constant maintenance from you.
Join the Creator Network: The Creator Network is a place where you can cross-collaborate with other creators in similar niches to recommend one another’s lists. These referrals help you build your list faster since you don’t need a huge audience to begin with.
3. Simplify your business
Every hour counts as a creator. Which means you need to prioritize which tasks need your attention and which ones you can automate or outsource.
And there’s a reason why Kit is part of many professional creators’ tech stacks: because Kit lets you set up automations to nurture your audience and sell products in the background. So you can focus on bigger picture tasks like product development or content creation.
Use a welcome automation to welcome new leads to your list
Set up a nurture automation that nurture subscribers with your most valuable content
Create a sales automation that promotes your products
Make a upsell/downsell automation that triggers when someone buys (or doesn’t buy) your product
Next, outsource any tasks you can’t automate—and don’t love doing—to a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants specialize in a range of tasks from email marketing to tool set up to bookkeeping. This frees up your time and mental energy to focus on tasks you enjoy.
4. Build several income streams
A commonality among professional creators is that they don’t put all their eggs in one basket.
Instead, they develop multiple streams of income. (Pro creators tend to have at least six different sources of income.)
The most accessible revenue stream for creators is ad revenue, either from sponsors or affiliate marketing. This revenue stream doesn’t require building anything on your own—all you need is to create the content you’re already making.
While ad revenue and affiliate income are easy to start, they can be difficult to scale if you have a small audience. So, to diversify further, consider creating a sales funnel that includes multiple digital products.
Selling digital products is also easy with Kit Commerce. Just create your product and customize your product page. Then, you can embed your product page within your emails to promote—and sell—your offer.
Become a professional creator with Kit
Getting the foundations right is key before growing a business. And without a solid base, part-time creators will struggle to transition to turning professional.
Luckily, Kit has all the tools and resources you need to create the building blocks of a successful business.
Try Kit for free and watch as your side hustle turns into a full-time venture.
Turn your side-hustle into your full-time career
Sending your audience content they care about with Kit automations not only helps you build your authority, it also helps you makes hands-off sales.
Dana is a freelance writer who works closely with B2B SaaS brands to create content people enjoy reading. When she’s not working, you’ll find her sipping on a warm cup of tea and reading a good book (the scarier, the better). See what she’s up to at www.dananicoledesigns.com (Read more by Dana)
