How to Go Pro as a Creator

Hi there! Dan here. I think a lot of people on this list either are, or want to be creators on the internet. And there's a lot to learn about the process of becoming a professional—everything from how to get started, to how to grow something that's already working. I invited John Gannon of GoingVC to write a guest post about how he built his 20,000 subscriber list, and made over $1mm in revenue as a creator. This post breaks down what he's learned into a 4-step process—I learned a lot from it, and I think you will too.

Back in 2008, I started a blog about how to break into VC. I knew how hard it was to break into the industry and I wanted to give back. I had no idea that that blog would turn into an email list ~20,000 subscribers strong. That list led me to launch a cohort-based education program (we’re on our eighth cohort!) and community, GoingVC, as well as a related VC investment arm.

All in all, the programs, products, services, and companies I’ve created or co-founded have grossed over $1MM lifetime revenue. Yet when I started my journey as a creator, the thought of how I would monetize my work never even crossed my mind. Plugging away week after week after week, newsletter after newsletter, project after project, I was unwittingly playing the long game, well before I even knew what the long game was. Maybe not knowing exactly what it would all come to is how I ended up a 10+ year “overnight” success—a creator who’s built a platform that’s begun to look more like a business than a blog, and throws off enough income so that I can spend more time... creating.

But like any entrepreneurial creator, I’m always looking for a new challenge. Which got me thinking… Could I take another subject area I’m passionate about, become a creator in that space (like I did with VC), and get to $1MM in revenue again? What would I need to do? How would I do it more efficiently, and more quickly, than the first time around? And what would I do the exact same way? 

More importantly, I wanted to share what I would recommend you do to get to $1MM+ revenue as a creator, based on the same playbook—and by learning from some of the mistakes that I’ve made.

So I boiled it all down to a 4-step process: 

• Beginner mode: Steps 1 and 2 are for getting started in a way that’ll make turning your side project into a creator career a whole lot easier. (Even if you’ve already started or if you’re starting something new, it’s never a bad idea to go back to basics!)
• Pro mode: In Step 3, I’ll share what I learned and what I wish I’d done sooner to prioritize what I was building and treat it like the career it would become.
• Advanced mode: Step 4 covers something that creators rarely do, but that can generate massive benefits.

Each piece on its own will help you on your journey, whether you’re just getting started or you’re a few years in, so feel free to bite off whatever you think you can chew. Or use them all for maximum results. Let’s get started going pro!