Get started earning money as a creator

- Creator monetization. It's just a fancy way of talking about all the tools and platforms you as a creator can use to make money. When you monetize something, you're just taking something you do and making money from it. So if you make videos and you want to earn money, you're monetizing your video creation. So creator monetization talks about all of these different ways you can make money as a creator. Not all creators can monetize, although all creators should be thinking about monetization but it really depends on your goals. In order to make money, you really need to have an audience built up. If you try to sell something and you don't have an audience, there's going to be nobody there to buy it. So you should start to think about growing your audience first. This is really important. The bigger the audience you have, the more money you're able to make as a creator. That doesn't mean you need millions of followers or even thousands of followers, to be honest. All you need is a small group of engaged fans to be able to start monetizing those fans. Different platforms do require you have a certain number of followers or video views on a monthly basis in order to be accepted into their programs, and these programs give you access to their creator monetization tools. For example, the YouTube Partner program, or TikTok Creator Next. These platforms do have eligibility requirements, which are based off how many followers you have, how many views you have, and once you get accepted into these programs, then you can start making money from their tools. There are tools you can get started with a smaller audience, but for the bigger platforms, they do require that you show them that you can start creating great content. As a creator, the most important thing for you should be finding an audience, building content, creating content that your audience likes, and honing that craft is the most important thing because the amount of money you can make as a creator is going to be dependent on how big your audience is. So as you're growing your audience and thinking about it, I like to think about it like this. It's like oxygen, right? You don't wake up in the morning thinking about, "How am I going to get oxygen today?" But oxygen, you need it to survive. It's like money, as a creator. You shouldn't wake up in the morning thinking, "How am I going to get money today? You should be waking up thinking, "How can I create great content?" And that money is going to help you survive as a creator. The more money you can make, the more you'll be able to create, the more you'll be able to grow and grow your business, and eventually expand your business and grow your brand as big as you want.