The content creator world looks easy in the same way watching someone cook looks easy, right? It’s just chopping, stirring, and plating… it looks calm and simple, like a cute little routine. Easy peasy. Except for when you try doing the exact same thing—same look, same recipe, same format…same everything. And what do you know? It’s not that easy.
Well, that’s a nice way to compare the creator economy.
As you probably know, the creator economy has been around for a while. At least since the beginning of Youtube, and maybe around the last decade, there was this gold rush that continued to grow and really blew up once COVID hit and TikTok got bigger.
This basically turned into a nonstop stampede where everyone knew a creator, and everyone wanted to be a creator. Brands wanted “authentic” content yesterday, and a bunch of people decided managing creators would be a fun little side hustle.
For a lot of people, this was the first step into getting into their small business. But the thing you have to keep in mind here is that this isn’t some get-rich-quick scheme. You’re managing real people, real clients, and real expectations. And for whatever reason, people believe it’s a cake walk when it’s not. There are a few things to keep in mind before attempting to start a business like this.
Everybody Thinks it will be Easy
Unfortunately, it’s not. Everyone says they want a “quick collab” until it’s time to define what “quick” and “collab” even mean. Because that’s when the vibes of the idea turn into the details of the job, and people realize they weren’t picturing the same thing.
So, maybe a brand says “one TikTok,” and they mean one TikTok, two hooks, three versions of the caption, raw footage, usage rights, and also can it be posted by a specific upcoming date. The creator hears “one TikTok” and thinks, cool, one concept, one shoot, one edit, done. And who has their reputation damaged? You do, the manager.
The “Authentic” Requests are Challenging
Brands love saying they want authentic, casual, creator-style content. But they also want it to be perfectly on-message, perfectly compliant, perfectly polished, and perfectly aligned with a feeling they can’t describe, which is where the headaches start.
Of course, creators hate it too. And then the manager, you, are having to deal with lots and lots of “tiny edits” that aren’t all that tidy, but you (and all the other parties) are having to stay polite throughout this whole mess. It can wear you out.
Yes, You Need to be Organized
Perhaps spreadsheets are not your strong suit; unfortunately, using free software like Trello and Google Sheets will only get you so far.
Well, once it’s more than a couple creators, a couple campaigns, a couple deadlines, things start slipping. So maybe it’s time to scale, maybe it’s worth looking into creator management pricing early on for different software so things aren’t scattered anymore, risking missed deadlines, repeated work, etc.
Most everyone can agree that the idea of working with creators can be genuinely fun and profitable. It can be, but when you’re dealing with multiple parties, it’s absolutely not easy money. There’s a lot that goes into this: coordination, expectations, timelines, feedback, and a lot of moving parts that need somewhere consistent to live.
Photo by Gustavo Fring
