4 Ways Creatives Can Stand Out When Monetising Their Passions

Guest Post By Stevie Nicks

The rise of the side hustle has seen many creatives emboldened to monetise their passions, skills and hobbies at a rate never before seen.

It’s not all craft stores and private tutoring sessions though. Monetising your most deeply
held passions has been deemed achievable by the advent of the internet, allowing people to experiment with becoming affiliates of major eCommerce brands or world-famous YouTube stars.

Okay, maybe that’s not a realistic aim for everyone with a specialist skill, but the market is at a place where you can dream big. If you’re struggling for ways to turn your passion into cold hard cash (and help inspire others along the way), here are four monetisation methods to try.

Produce online learning material

High-quality educational material is highly sought after, with everyone from students to small business owners eager to find insight that gives them a competitive edge.
The world of online learning has grown significantly in recent years. Aspiring professionals and business leaders alike see the value of upskilling in their personal time and providing their employees with topical training. In an age of remote learning, the rough edges of online education have been refined, resulting in insightful courses from independent experts and robust in-house training programmes.

This is also the era of YouTube guides, with people often preferring to learn from amateurs in their bedroom than follow traditional methods. The possibilities for monetising your expertise online are endless, you just need to find the right format.

While this DIY attitude can be a great way to get started, online courses are an emerging
industry where just a few hours of work with a professional platform can turn into a
consistent revenue stream. Some would-be teachers prefer traditional editing platforms such as Premier Pro. However, purpose-built platforms such as Teachable offer an accessible combination of cut-and-paste course design and more complex, multimedia functions. A simpler way to make your course engaging than sitting in front of a powerpoint for an hour.

For more information, we recommend checking out some Teachable reviews. Learning
Revolution is one source for information worth diving into, while the YouTube creator
academy has a ton of great insight on creating an educational channel if you’d rather go
down that route.

Develop a thought leadership brand

Thought leadership is part training, part marketing.

Ideally, a thought leader possesses unique insight only they can offer, or at least a
charismatic way to say it. While they might not be the most successful in their industry or
world-famous stars, their name carries a weight that can lift a brand or drive a business to achieve its goals.

All well and good, but how do you get paid for your knowledge? Well, thought leaders can
make money by:

•  Lending their voice to a crowd as a keynote speaker at conferences and meetings
• Running travelling training events
•  Visiting fledgling businesses as a mastermind consultant
• Pursuing affiliate marketing to profit from product and service recommendations

Although thought leadership sounds like a time-consuming and ambitious way to turn your passion into a career, once you get the ball rolling, word of mouth quickly becomes your best friend and greatest sales staff.

Not sure what thought leadership looks like in practice? Check out these examples of
brilliant content Bluleadz put together.

Diversify your video and audio output

The rise in video and audio content has seen many brands try (and fail) to get in on the
action with sometimes creative, sometimes misguided campaigns.

As a creative yourself, it makes sense that you should use creative mediums such as these to monetise your passions and grow your business, rather than dull press releases aimed at no one in particular. 

Whatever you do, you need content to survive in today’s modern marketplace. However,
rather than writing another blog no one will read or sticking with the same old social
schedule, why not record a podcast where you discuss emerging trends with an industry
colleague? This type of content isn’t just more interesting, but it’s also proven to attract more engagement on social media.
Discover Pods have a great list of tips for first-time podcasters with little to no knowledge of the medium. Or, if you’re looking at this from a news perspective, the BBC academy guide is well respected and thorough.
When it comes to video, see what your contemporaries are doing on YouTube and their own sites, they may introduce you to a (not immediately obvious) way of translating your passion to video.

Integrate into niche communities

A shorter point, but absolutely one worth considering.

Niche communities are both a great potential audience to reach out to and an unexpected source of inspiration.

After all, if you want to start making money from your passion, doesn’t it make sense to get to know other people involved in it?

Most artistic passions have some semblance of an online community behind them, often
willing to accept new members and lift up businesses and individuals that catch their eye.
Forums are a good place to start when making your name in these communities, although private Facebook groups provide a place for communities to meet and exchange ideas or projects.

Great passions to monetise

So, what are some examples of creative passions just ripe for monetisation?

• Writing: We’ve already touched on affiliate marketing, but becoming a freelance
  copywriter, social media executive or expert blogger are equally excellent ways of
  making money from your ability to craft a sentence.

• Videographer: Always filming yourself or your friends? Consider yourself a bit of an
  artist? Then maybe you could be a videographer. Much like writing, there might not
  be a ton of artistic opportunities out there, but plenty of companies need a high-
  quality filmmaker as they ‘pivot to video’ and look to stand out with great branded
  video content.

• Graphic Design: Visuals still matter, and while the world might not appreciate your
  art, they want your skills with a pen (or a stylus). Graphic design can be a highly
  lucrative creative skill, with every company in the world needing a logo, website and
  branding flourish that makes them stand out. Get an Instagram set up for your work and start pitching.

Don’t be mistaken, monetising your passions is not easy. Professionals have spent
years working towards becoming thought leaders, driven by their passion to be the
best in their field. You will have to outlast some passionate creators with much more
experience in business and marketing to get noticed, but eventually, that effort might
pay off.