lightningRalf
commented
4 months ago This was such an awesome read. Thank you very much for being that open! Very glad to have found your content.
Closed swyxio closed 2 years ago
lightningRalf
commented
4 months ago This was such an awesome read. Thank you very much for being that open! Very glad to have found your content.
source: devto devToUrl: "https://dev.to/swyx/the-part-time-creator-manifesto-46i1" devToReactions: 132 devToReadingTime: 12 devToPublishedAt: "2021-03-14T21:56:04.965Z" devToViewsCount: 2584 title: The Part Time Creator Manifesto published: true description: Why we need more people creating Part Time and how you can do it too. category: essay tags: Creators, Reflections slug: part-time-creator-manifesto canonical_url: https://swyx.io/part-time-creator-manifesto cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hkvir806a2jsyqtsqsoh.png
Something unexpected happened when my side project crossed $100k in sales:
I didn't want to quit my job.
No urge to blog about leaving the "rat race". No tweet about how becoming a creator "changed my life (and yours can too! Buy my course!)". No Jerry Maguire letter.
I wondered if something was wrong with me. Being on social media exposed me to a lot of hustle porn constantly telling me to quit my job. That freedom is an all-or-nothing nirvana, and once you taste it, you don't go back. Isn't that how this movie script is supposed to go?
I want a new script for Part Time Creators. We need to define what it is, why it's worth doing, make it work, then make it cool.
More Than Just Money
Making $100k a year has always been my bar for successful "independent income". It's more than my parents ever made at their peak earning, and in most cities it's enough to support yourself and even raise a family on. Even better if totally passive — I harbored dreams of traveling the world and making money in my sleep.
But after 4 years of Learning in Public, I got there — and realized my desires had shifted. Part of this is surely due to the hedonistic treadmill — I had reached Senior level at a FAANG by then. But I realized it was mainly because I enjoy applying myself to hard problems and working with smart people, that I would never have encountered on my own.
Yet, while employment is great, I enjoy the growth that successful side projects afford. It isn't just about the money — side projects do NOT need to make money right away to be successful.
It's about having a job while not being your job.
PartTimeCreator
I like the term Part Time Creator for what I'm doing. The creator economy has many one-percenters — full-time Indie Hackers making well over $1m a year all by their lonesome. These are remarkable accomplishments and should be celebrated.
But the majority of us will never get there. 90% of creators on Gumroad make less than $20k a year. It's not a full-time income, but they should not feel like failures. They built something valuable on their own and that is awesome.
Because I don't derive all my self worth from my employer, I stand a little taller. Dream a little bigger. Negotiate a little harder.
I want to clearly acknowledge that this path requires privilege and is not for everyone. The cards are stacked against you from the beginning:
Part Time Creation must get easier for the less privileged, and its rewards must be more equitable, which is why all creator platforms should explore the ideas Li Jin published in her seminal article on the Creator Middle Class, and eventually legal and banking reforms made to democratize access.
Still, being a Part Time Creator is a viable path for many thousands of people, who can feel this possibility and desperately want to figure this out. I think there will be many more Part Time Creators in future, and courses and platforms will evolve accordingly. There's already signs of extreme demand: Ali Abdaal's Part-Time YouTuber Academy sells out in seconds, Ryan Hoover's Weekend Fund specifically invests in side projects, and Andrew Gazdecki's Microacquire makes it easy to sell them.
Making Part Time Work
There are a lot of objections to working outside of work, even if that work is for yourself. Many of them are valid. I only write for people like me, who have the energy and desire to make this work but have been lacking a guide.
The first thing that needs to happen is to get an employment situation that doesn't completely drain you of after hours productivity. I am no stranger to this kind of job — before 2017 I worked in finance, which completely consumed my life and intellectual output. I didn't know this was a red flag because I didn't know better.
If part time creation is something you want, just know that there are companies, like ConvertKit, where side projects are not only tolerated, but encouraged. Your current company may be actively hostile to side projects, but there are plenty of companies that will see it as a plus (though it should NOT be a hiring requirement). If you are open to not working full time, there are plenty of startups that are only looking for part time help.
For those extremely worried: You don't have to make money right away. There are plenty of ways to create valuable personal assets without monetizing right away, from writing a newsletter to building a YouTube channel. The point is to learn to create, and build your network. Have a chat with your manager if in doubt — you may be surprised how okay they are with this. Some may even offer you an intrapreneur opportunity, like Jenn Hyman before Rent the Runway or Ben Orenstein before Tuple. As the Part Time Creator movement grows, this will be increasingly accepted.
This post is already longer than I intended and borders on generic productivity advice you can find elsewhere, so I'll just drop six principles and resources on you:
Start Now: It's easy to desire something long term, but have barriers short term. I have news for you: There's never going to be a perfect time to start.
{% twitter 1148338745600598016 %}
Pretend you've already been a Part Time Creator for 5 years straight and run into whatever your situation is today. Would you stop? If no: then why put off starting? Figure out how to make it work even when things aren't ideal, because things are never ideal.
Making Part Time Cool
Part Timers will never get their due as long as they are perceived to be the minor league shadow of Full-Timers. Customers instinctively equate "part time" with "not committed". Of course, you can dispel that notion by doing your thing for 10 years. But that'd take 10 years.
To really make a strong case for Part-Time Creators, it's interesting to consider what Part-Timers can do better than Full-Timers. The best way I know how to phrase this: The work informs the side hustle, the side hustle informs the work.
Everyone draws the line on what is acceptable. You should definitely NOT compete with your employer or share trade secrets. But there are a zillion other ways to create without conflict of interest, in a way that also adds value to your employer:
For Part-Time Creators, the ultimate source of synergy with the day job is expertise. Expertise is specific and tacit knowledge. Everything that cannot be taught: all the judgment you hone by doing, all the untold stories and relevant data recalled at your fingertips. Your work history will also give you credibility, although you must not over-represent what you can speak to.
The other side of the feedback loop works too. Venture Capitalists often hire "Entrepreneurs in Residence" — former or future CEOs who simply sit in on meetings, give counsel, and look for ideas. I'd like to see a democratization of this to all sorts of employers and expertise fields. The power dynamic completely shifts if a Part Time Creator is hired as an "Expert in Residence" rather than being "given" a job.
Lastly, Part-Time Creators with "real" jobs are infinitely more relatable than Full-Timers. This lets them stay grounded and avoid the Meta Creator Ceiling. This is a trap that many premature Full-Timers run into, because they run out of interesting problems and unique expertise.
A Creator Middle Path for the Creator Middle Class
I think there's a LOT of folks that want a middle way between being a "My Company is My Life" salaryman and "Stick it to The Man" ronin. We indulge the social media escapism, but we kind of like our normie careers.
Yet, the days of spending 45 years with one company and retiring on a pension, like our parents' parents were promised, are long gone. We need to establish independent value because our employers simply do not have our long term interests at heart.
I'm hopeful for growing acceptance of Part Time Creators from employers, but ultimately, I think more people can already be Part Time Creators in their existing situations. This is not only viable today, but sorely needed. We are all fed up with over-SEO-ed content and generic lowest-common-denominator products. Part Time Creators can offer far more diversity, creativity, and unique expertise to fulfil every niche need of humanity. And they can make money, share valuable knowledge, and have more dignity doing so.
This is my utopian dream for a thriving Creator Middle Class. There's already dozens of us doing it. Join us!
Further reading: