Making your First $500 as a Content Creator in 2024 - 7 Step Guide

Making your first dollar is always the hardest! And especially if you don’t have any strategies and tools it can feel a little overwhelming. Where to get started? What to offer? How to price it? Am I even good enough? Will people pay for my work?

These are probably thoughts that run through your head if you think about making some extra money as a content creator. In this Blog Post I will give you my 7 step guide I recommend to every beginner in 2024!

Getting Started

The key thing to remember and the key takeaway for you, if you are thinking about starting to create content is GET STARTED. Don’t think about it, watch YouTube videos about it or discuss in your Discord community, be different than 99% and start. Now.

ACTION STEP: Commit to getting started - send me an email at [email protected]om and tell me that you committed to getting started and making your first $500 fast. 

How does that look like? It depends on your experience, do you feel like you currently have a skillset that is good enough that people would pay for it? Are you confident you can add value to other businesses through your content? If the answer is yes, amazing - put together a “quick and dirty” portfolio to show to potential clients and then start searching for those potential new clients!

If the answer to the questions above was no - then start improving your skills. You can go to our YouTube channel and watch countless free videos here, or you could also start with our free 4-day email course, that teaches you the basics of filming great looking videos with your smartphone. And if you want to get the results in the fastest way possible join our masterclass here.

The key thing is - this process doesn’t take very long - don’t try to perfect things that don’t need to be. Especially when it comes to social media content - imperfection and authenticity almost always wins over perfectionism. 

ACTION STEP: Give yourself 1 week - learn the basics (things like Framerate, Composition, Camera moves) and that’s it! You’re ready.

Finding the "right" Clients - Here's how:

Alright so by now, we have set the basics, your mindset is right and you got the skills needed to land clients and to add value to them - now we just need to find them “potential clients”.

Obviously, there are millions of different potential clients - what I would recommend you to do is to check local businesses in your area that currently have a social media presence that su**s.

Trust me when I am telling you - it won’t take long until you find some. 

ACTION STEP: Make a list of at least 10, better 30 businesses that are close to you. Write down the business name, find a contact address (ideally mail, phone, or socials) and start reaching out to them!

Growth Mindset:

With any entrepreneurial venture there will always be setbacks and most people expect things to be a lot easier than they really are. This is also caused by social media, it looks like everybody is crushing it.. believe me, they are not. A growth mindset means believing that you can improve and learn new things through effort and practice. It's about seeing challenges as opportunities to grow, rather than obstacles. So, instead of thinking "I can't do this," you think "I can't do this yet, but with effort, I'll get better."

ACTION STEP: Commit to being a learner and don't expect things to come "natural" to you.

Effective Outreach:

Something I would NOT do - is just writing them a message and promoting your business, telling them how good you are.. Nobody wants to read that. Instead provide value: For example: offer them to go over and shoot free content for an hour as you noticed their current social media presence could need some “help”. Ask them in return for a testimonial you can use to land OTHER new clients - this way the business owner doesn’t feel like you want to sell him/her something.

ACTION STEP: Reach out to those 10 businesses on your list and offer to create content for free in return of a testimonial.

Working for "free"

I know for many of you working for free sounds like a nightmare, “my time is valuable” - but if you are just starting out this is more or less your only way to get your foot in the door. The market is saturated with agencies and with gurus.. You need to find a way to stand out, and you need to have an offer so good, people would feel stupid saying no.

The cool thing is, if you deliver great work and you add value to the business and they currently struggle with social media (which they obviously do, that’s why you reached out to them) chances are high they will want to hire you! Bingo.

Putting in the reps

As we discussed in the growth mindset section, putting in the work and embracing effort is key to success in any entrepreneurial venture. To land new clients consistently you need to reach out to enough people. That means, put in the work. Any successful entrepreneur has times of extreme input to get the ship going. If you are starting out, take your time and put in 10X the effort that feels "normal" that's how you gain traction and not only make your first $500, but your first 6 figures!

7 Steps to Making your first $500 as a video:

We also did an extremely in depth 18 minute YouTube Video about that topic covering everything in even greater detail. Check it out here

You want to learn even more and make not only $500 but 6 figures?

Check out our recent live webinar we did - in the webinar we show how we are making multiple 6 figures with our own agency. This is a recording of the live webinar, and it is jam packed with value and you will also get the chance to join our community with a crazy offer!

Click here and watch the live webinar.