My Content Creation Plan for 2024 (and beyond)

I recently saw a couple of TikToks where both creators returned to a full-time job after going into content creation full-time.

Their reasons for quitting resonated with me.

I felt my brain cells dying.

The income was inconsistent.

Seeing those videos made me aware of my constant fear that content creation is an unreliable source of income and doesn’t provide the intellectual stimulation I’m looking for. 
This is probably because I’m focused on pleasing the algorithm instead of pursuing my curiosity.

Learning about those creator’s experiences solidified my decision not to leave corporate. 

But I also don’t want to quit content creation. So I have an important question to answer:

How can I ensure that no matter what happens, content creation is a success?

How can I use content creation to improve my life in general?

Pondering these questions has led me to consider the following three ideas.

Scratch Your Own Itch

Scratch your own itch is a concept Tim Ferriss embodies on his podcast every week. He chooses guests based on what he’s interested in or what problems he’s dealing with. If he’s trying to get fit, he has fitness experts on. If he’s dealing with relationship issues, he has a relationship expert on. If he’s diving back into understanding his depression, he interviews a psychiatrist, therapist, or mindfulness.

How I’m doing it: First, I need to identify my own itch. 

I’ll do this by periodically asking myself questions about my problems, what’s holding me back, and what interests me.

Based on my answers, I can choose the type of content I want to create.

Here are some questions related to careers that I have for 2024 (and probably 2025): 

1. How can I be on the right side of the AI revolution?
2. What jobs/careers are out there that I may not know about?
3. How can I break into a new career as efficiently as possible? 
4. How can I be a great addition to a company, from my first day to my last?
5. Who can I talk to or cold email that would help me make it to the next level or solve a given problem?
6. How can I grow on social media without overly focusing on the algorithm?

Stay Away from Social Media as Much as Possible

Unfortunately, the very medium where I built my audience (TikTok) is killing my brain cells.

And even more unfortunate, it’s hard to post content and not directly use apps like Instagram and TikTok. Posting from third-party apps like Later or Metricool is difficult because they lack some functionality (e.g., TikTok’s captioning and tagging other accounts). 

I can hire someone to post, but aside from giving a freelancer access to my account, I hesitate to have someone on payroll, which makes the content creation too much like a business. 

So what can I do? 

I think the current approach, which is a good idea regardless, is to batch record and edit my content. This way, when I need to post, I can just download TikTok, upload my post for that day, and then delete the app. 

This is easier said than done. I’ve tried recording everything on the weekend before, and several hours in I’ve only got two videos. 

I think the solution is to do lots of writing and scripting during the week, which hopefully makes it easier to record in one day. 

Also, with this cadence, I don’t have to post five times a week. I can post two to three times, and that is sufficient.

Long-form > Short-form

The top content creators we all know have built a foundation on long-form content: writing, podcasts, and YouTube videos.

If you create long-form content, you’ll not only be creating content for more stable platforms, but you’ll also be diving deeper into your topic of interest and becoming more of an expert and thought leader, rather than just a content creator. You’ll also be building a deeper relationship with your audience.

My go-to long format is writing blog posts.

How I’m doing it: Write blog articles on topics that are directly related to a problem I’m dealing with, then create short-form videos on that subject.

I’ll be posting those articles on my blog, and then sending them as an email newsletter (once I 

start sending my newsletter again).

Ultimately I want my short-form videos to be rooted in long-form thinking.

Focus

Focus is hard. I want to create a lot of thing, but I need to focus on whichever problem I choose to solve and say no to other perfectly valid problems.

It helps to remember that I’m saying no for now. I can pursue that new idea for an article next week, take an AI course next quarter, or build a new product next year.

How I’m doing it: My weekly and quarterly goals are set, and I’ll review them weekly. I won’t force myself to set “yearly” goals because I’ve found that too much changes in a year for me to follow through on annual goals. 

Three-month goals are perfect for putting one’s head down, working on something, and then, after the three months, reassessing and maybe even taking a short vacation. 

Also, I will not try to grow on X (Twitter), Threads, or YouTube (aside from crossposting on YouTube Shorts).

Now, all I have to do is stick to the plan and stay disciplined.