You may have noticed the top content
creators across these platforms
tend to have something in common.
They tend to be super young,
super single.
They typically are under 30
single, no kids.
And it feels like people over 30
are not represented at the top
of content creation.
And that can have you feeling like it's
too late to start.
If you're a content creator who's over 30
or you're in your forties or fifties.
And the thing is, it's just not true.
A lot of people will take the top 1%
of the market
or the top point 1% of the market,
and then use that as an excuse
for not getting started or not
trying
just because they don't see
as much of themselves
represented at the tippy
tippy top as they would like.
But the reality is that's such
an exclusive market
and group of people,
whereas in the middle,
in the content creator
middle class,
there's actually a thriving community
of people over 30.
And actually,
if it comes down to something
like getting 100,000 subscribers
in YouTube,
100,000 followers
on social media account,
or more importantly, having a $100,000
a year or more income,
you're more likely to achieve that.
If you're somebody
who's in their thirties and forties
in a profitable niche,
than being an entertainer
that gets over a million
and is actually making less money
because that's something that
most people do not understand.
The youngest content creators
actually don't prioritize
and don't care about money
and profitability, partly
because a lot of them
are young and single
and do not care about those things
nearly as much.
And yes,
I am speaking in generalizations,
but if you listen to
what a lot of the biggest
content creators under 30 say,
what do they tell you? Mr.
Beast tells you he puts all of his money
back into his YouTube business.
You don't see him
living a certain lifestyle.
And part of that is
he doesn't have to live a lifestyle
that also includes providing
for a family at this stage
in his life, in his career,
and a lot of other YouTubers,
whether you're looking at, you know,
some of the popular streamers
or tiktokers, you have to remember
that they're still in the early stages
of their adult life
and that they got to do this
without necessarily being burdened
with a lot of responsibility upfront.
On top of the challenges
of building a career in public,
someone in their thirties and forties
who has lived
experience, has had a career before,
actually has a really unique opportunity
when it comes to the creator economy
and being a full time content creator
if they want make $100,000 a year,
if you're someone in that position
and you have either some specialty
that you have in your career
or you have lived experience
that can translate
to the people ten years younger than you,
20 years younger than you.
Then you can productize yourself
and make over $100,000 a year
in a much more reasonable way
than somebody in their teens
or twenties can focus on popularity,
pour every single dollar
into their content creation,
and live off of ramen
younger content creators
have the advantages of passion,
time, freedom,
a lack of responsibility,
and also their cultural understanding
of the largest market of consumers,
people their own age.
That being said,
here are some of the advantages of being
an older content creator.
I'm 38.
I've been doing this for about a decade.
I started this
like taking it seriously
at about 27-28 years old.
So when I talk about this, I'm
speaking from experience myself.
The advantage
is that somebody over 30
has when it comes to being
a content creator, is that hopefully
you're not still trying to find yourself.
So you have some level of self-awareness
and you know who you are.
This is going to give you clarity in life
and you will be able to focus a lot more
and narrow down to basically
either the most interesting aspects
of what you do
or the most profitable aspects
of what you do
and what you're genuinely good at
as somebody who's older,
you also are used to doing things
because they need to get done
instead of when you feel like it.
So there's a chance
that you might just might
have a higher level of discipline
as a content creator.
And this could provide you
some ways to overcome
inconsistency based on emotion.
Now, where you might have inconsistency
is in other things in your life going on
and that lack of time freedom
we talked about due to responsibility.
But it also could be the very thing
that motivates and drives you as you want
time, freedom,
you've experience
working for somebody else.
So the thing is,
you may not have the drive
and passion and energy of youth,
but you have an absolute motive nation
based on
just wanting a different lifestyle.
The other thing
that lived experience provides you
is it provides you in many cases
expertise specialization,
and you already know what you are
and what you are not.
You know what you are good at
and you know what you're not good at.
And you know what?
You can self-improvement
and you often know
what you don't even want
to try to work on because it's a weakness
that just doesn't make sense to mitigate
more than focusing on your strengths.
And this is why in evergreen content
niches, they're more information based
and don't have to be over the top.
It's going to be more practical.
The other thing is,
if you're an older content creator
in your thirties and forties,
I hate to break it to you,
but the thing is, it's
going to be much harder
for you to succeed in the entertainment
categories of content creation.
That is, the education
portions of content creation.
Because let's face it,
when you're your youngest
and you're your most energetic
and your most attractive,
if you're going to be an entertainer,
that's the time to do it.
That's why starting young, taking risk.
That's what people do.
And that's why
the young people on YouTube succeed.
Young people on TikTok to see
and they grow the most.
Now that's not to say
that there isn't some room
for older people
who want to get into entertainment.
I just need to be honest
and realistic with you.
Is that competing
with a younger version of yourself
in entertainment
is typically a losing proposition
because what you have is wisdom,
you have experience,
and honestly,
you now can make up
for a massive deficit because
when it comes to entertainment,
it is much less profitable
than education
when it comes to the marketplace.
And that's also because it allows you
to monetize and diversify
in a lot more ways
and a lot different ways
and usually at a higher value,
because you're appealing to an older
and typically more affluent audience.
In fact, it's the reason why
this YouTube channel can make more money
than somebody getting literally ten times
or up to 30 times as many views as me.
In some cases,
a lot of that has to do with the fact
that, well, younger people,
they're going to be into things
like TikTok and YouTube shorts.
The modernization on that is about 1/100
of what is on regular YouTube video.
Long form content disproportionately
out or earns short
form content, and it's not even close.
The number of sponsors that you can get
within the realm of education
that pay more and will go into long term
brand deals consistently, it's
just a better paying gig.
At the end of the day,
nine times out of ten,
there are obvious exceptions,
but also being one of those exceptions
means being typically in the 1%
or 0.1% of the market.
And when it comes to education
and older
content creators,
you don't have to be in the 1% or point
1% of the market to succeed
and to make six figures.
That is one of the key differences
that a lot of people take for granted
when they're trying to choose
what they want to do
because they look
and they make the assumption
that being popular pays better
when actually that's not always the case.
You know, famous rapper Timberland said,
I'd rather be paid than popular.
And I tend to think the older
you get, the truer that is.
So, no, it's not too late
for content creators
who are over 30 over 40.
The main thing you need to do
is capitalize and consolidate
on your strengths.
And you know, again,
you have to have some humility
and some self-awareness
and consider that
there are arenas where competing
with your younger self,
a younger you
is a losing proposition.
And from my experience and perspective,
that's for a lot of you
who are entertainers.
I think if you're 30,
maybe you don't necessarily
become successful
starting a gaming channel.
I know
you might have been passionate about it
your whole life growing up.
I know you might have been dreaming
of doing something in the gaming space
for the last ten or 15 years.
The problem is...
There are going to be
a lot more things in the next five years
that can put you in a much better
life situation,
help you get rid of some debt, help
you provide for your family,
take some of the stress off
in terms of your bills.
You have a better option
in terms of a five year plan.
Probably not doing that
because of the level of difficulty
to compete
with a younger version of yourself
and also the life
span of that career.
As you get older
and as you are not as relatable
or relevant
to the majority of those consumers
who are going to be 20 years
younger than you,
I know that sounds harsh
and you can feel free
to be the exception to the rule.
Improve me wrong and be the .01
percent of people
whom are able to pull that off.
There are areas of entertainment
where age is
less of a factor or a barrier to entry.
I would say the television
and movie review niche could be that.
I also believe that you can lean into
reaction content
as a professional.
You see doctors and lawyers
and many other career professionals
that actually can lean into entertainment
because they combine
their experience and expertise
and then deliver it in
an entertaining way
in a format that matters
when it comes to that expertise a.k.a
things like the reaction format.
I've seen everything from surgeons
reacting to literal anime,
you know, feats
and injuries in series like, you know,
BAKI on Netflix and things
like that and do very, very well.
We obviously have people like Dr.
Mike who's been able to get to like
10 million subscribers
doing some combination
of education and entertainment.
From the perspective of being a doctor,
I would say that leans much more toward
the entertainment value than people
trying to actually learn about health
and wellness in medicine.
But they do gain
some education out of it.
But the priority is being
accessible, entertaining,
and making people
who want to see something
very interesting.
You're doing something
specifically for the purposes
of getting attention while leveraging
your profession in that situation.
Same thing
with great channels like Legal Eagle,
and this is where you have
exceptions to the rule of people
who as they get older,
their ability to compete
in this marketplace
doesn't necessarily diminish.
But that's because of
very specific things
that pertain
to their lived experience, to expertise
and to some extent their attractiveness.
So if you're a content creator over 30,
my advice is to not compete
with the 20 year
old version of yourself
and to capitalize
on what is going to work,
not only at the current age that you are,
but what's going to work in your forties
and fifties as well to make this a career
that last or the next 15 years plan.
This idea because you are older
with 15 years
in mind, 10 to 15 years in mind
because that is
what a career will look like.
Treat this with the respect of a career
plan for the long game
and play to your strengths in the market
and also focus on niches
that have more profitability
for you that realistically, realistically
leads to the lifestyle outcomes
that you need
and that your family probably needs.
If you enjoy this video,
I have an entire playlist
that every content creator
needs to watch.
I'm going to link to that
in the description below.
Also,
you probably want to watch this video
on the most profitable niches in YouTube.
As always,
thank you so much for watching.
And don't forget, go out there
and create something awesome today.
Take care.