Reflecting on My 4 Years as a Creator
Revealing my identity
I can't think of a better way to start this phase of my creator journey than by sharing the lessons I've learned over the past four years. During this time, I've rebranded once and explored numerous content topics. Now, four years later, over 40,000 of you support me across multiple platforms.
I started with a zero-follower Instagram account during the early days of the pandemic, and it's been quite a ride. Thank you so much for your support.
Both content value and production value matter
Big creators will tell you to prioritize content value. They're right to an extent, but in reality, both content and delivery are important to succeed on social media.
As a creator, you can pick one of two big angles, which I call the 2 "Es": educate or entertain. I started with entertainment but eventually pivoted to education. Today, I do both. Being an entertainer is more fun, but as a founder, education is where the money is at.
It's unlikely what you want to say hasn't already been said on the internet. One way to differentiate yourself is through your delivery, whether it's how you organize the information or your ability to visually present it.
The good news is that you are more unique than you might think. I'm bilingual and have studied Spanish and Japanese for four years. I've lived in Asia, New York, and the San Francisco Bay Area. I keep up with American and East Asian pop culture. I've worked in many industries and analyzed and invested in companies across various sectors as a generalist. No one can exactly replicate my life perspective and professional experience. That's my creator moat. While the corporate world may frown upon someone with a nonlinear narrative like mine, I have thrived as a creator for that very same reason, allowing me to reach a growing audience.
So, there is a place for you as a creator if you execute. Lean into your strengths and learn new skills to expand your capabilities. I learned graphic design for Instagram, where I got my start, and I still receive constructive feedback on my choice of colors and layouts from an early supporter who is now a good friend. I learned video editing for YouTube and HTML and JavaScript to build paid products. If you want to grow and earn more, you have to upskill.
Social media is a start-up
In a start-up, the holy grail is product-market fit. As a creator, the idea is the same: you're seeking content-audience fit, which established creators call “finding your niche.”
In the beginning, you need to experiment a lot and see what sticks. So first, start and don't overthink. Second, use your brain to grow and adapt. For me, the first problem was the risk of saturating my niche, since equity research is such a small industry. I struggled to find an evergreen content pipeline and figure out what to do after gaining the attention of all equity research professionals globally.
Initially, I had one content pillar: humor about a day in the life of equity research. Over time, I developed more ideas to fill an entire week of content (for Instagram). You have to constantly think about big topic buckets where you can create content to entertain and educate.
You are responsible for having a vision of what your brand can become and what new pillars you can add. Many will give up at the first sign of slowing or stopping growth. It's not trivial. Not everyone will navigate the obstacles successfully.
Creator business is just P x Q
Two years ago, I decided to go full-time building a business on top of my social media. It was terrifying, but I was at a low point in my career, which ironically made me fearless. When the risk-reward is so asymmetric to the upside, it is the best time to take the risk. Imagine someone making $500,000 a year at a company; it's ten times harder for them to give that up and start from zero with no guarantee of success. I didn't quite succeed, but I have zero regrets about trying.
There's a common perception that you need a big audience to make a living as a creator. That's not true at all. I have 40,000 followers across platforms and make five figures from just 1% of my followers. Having an investing background helped me realize this early: followership and revenue don't have to correlate. You can be a 300-follower creator with a six-figure business if you create a high-ticket product, or you can be a million-follower creator relying solely on ad revenue and see your business disappear because your revenue streams are hit-driven.
The key is to think about what problem you can solve for your audience that they're willing to pay for. To generate more revenue, you need to solve more problems for them. First-level thinkers often ask how to make money on the internet. That's the wrong question. The right question is how to grow an audience first. Building an audience is hard, but making money on the internet is even harder. Think about how you can be of value to others first. The money will come if enough people have a problem that you are trusted to solve.
For established creators thinking about monetization, we have the opposite problem compared to a regular business. In Silicon Valley at least, most businesses are started by product people who need to find prospects to sell to. For us creators, we have prospects as followers, but we might not know what to sell to them.
Everyone's product and business model will be different. You can learn from other creators—many YouTubers make videos on how they make money, or you can read business books on side hustles. There are endless options: ads, affiliate marketing, courses, Discord communities, recruiting, in-person events, job boards, and paywalled newsletters.
The formula is simple: create value and capture value. If you create value, you will gain an audience. If you can build the right product, you will capture financial value. It's simple but not easy. I'll stop here because I haven't yet earned the right to advise on capturing financial value.
Gen Z’s creator aspiration is concerning
I saw a statistic online: 57% of Gen Zers said they would like to become an influencer if given the chance. That’s pretty sad.
If you're young, it’s hard for you to grow an audience from an educational angle. You just can't add as much value as a creator because you don’t have the professional expertise or life and career perspectives that I have. It’s not your fault; your professional life hasn't begun yet.
For Gen Z, the route to becoming a creator tends to come from the entertainment angle. The market will decide if you earn a spot there, and the barrier to entry for entertainment is much lower. Yet everyone wants to become MrBeast. MrBeast is obsessive about the game. Are you? He spends millions of dollars on production for a single video because those game shows are expensive to produce. He also invests heavily in optimizing thumbnails for click-through rates. It’s all hard work and capital-intensive.
Many younger creators resort to posting low-value content just to get attention, hoping one of their videos goes viral. Or worse, they post controversial content. Because negativity tends to trigger engagement, controversial content often goes viral and gets more attention, creating serious social problems. In the end, I won’t suffer because I have the judgment to know it’s low-quality content, but the younger generation could develop a skewed view of many things because of social media.
So please don't aspire to be a creator. Many industries follow the power law, where a big portion of the value is created and captured by a very small number of people. Top athletes get a significant percentage of the total salary paid to players. For example, in the NBA, the top 50 compensated players—9% of the total players—make 37% of the salaries.
Top influencers capture most of the financial value in this growing industry. It's a tailwinded industry, but it's hyper-competitive, and most are just eating crumbs because social media is about fighting for attention. Everyone only has 24 hours in a day, and you have to earn their attention. Most of you won't ever make MrBeast money.
Instead, you should learn to solve a problem and be of value, whether it’s at work to your boss or by building a real product and business. Many problems in the world need solving. They won't be easy to solve, but someone needs to solve them. That someone could be you, and you could capture more financial value than you could ever create as an influencer if you succeed.
This "I wanna be a YouTuber" trend isn't new. Before the 2008 financial crisis, quantitative finance had a lot of hype. Do you know how many PhDs I worked with in the middle office? Many of them could have achieved breakthroughs in academia or business, but they were lured by big pay to design what an MIT professor described as “financial weapons of mass destruction.” When those weapons blew up the global economy, taxpayers ended up paying the price.
I see a parallel with this influencer dream because the media loves to portray instant successes and the winners of the power laws. But the world doesn't need that many creators. What it does need are people who can create products and services to make life easier, help people live longer, and reduce suffering.
Social media is still an early concept
Not that I need everyone to believe social media is real, but people better take notice because more and more established creators are building real businesses on top of their followings.
Corporations also understand that successfully building their social media presence means zero customer acquisition costs. Gary Vaynerchuk often talks about how corporations lack effective social media marketing strategies compared to creators. So yes, social media has been spotlighted for its negative aspects, but its power as a brand-building and distribution mechanism is undeniable at this point.
I live in the US, where people love to ask what you do professionally as the first question. When I tell them I'm a full-time creator, I'm often met with skeptical looks as if it's not a real job. Of course, I don't care to prove my business revenue to them, but sometimes it would be nice for people besides my audience—which is you—to show a little more appreciation for the impact creators can have. That's all.
Authenticity is the ultimate brand
My creator journey collided with the release of ChatGPT, which has been entirely positive for me. AI can create text, videos, and avatars, but what will continue to differentiate is just being you. That's one of the main reasons I decided to reveal my identity. Being anonymous has hindered my growth as a creator and, more importantly, as a business operator.
As a mass media person, I understand that I cannot please everyone. I've blocked and ignored people for many reasons. There will always be people who judge your credibility solely based on your work experience and credentials in the niche you are addressing.
Don’t worry about the haters; focus on showcasing your intrinsic knowledge. The market is the ultimate arbiter of whether what you say is valuable. The haters neither decide that alone nor pay your bills.
A few of you told me I'm too harsh and too truthful, but many of you praise me for the same quality. Why am I so harsh? Because the investment research industry is skill-driven. If you don't know what you're doing, you won't get a job. I'm not in the business of making you feel better. I'm in the business of painting a realistic picture of what it takes, helping you overprepare so you first get a job and second thrive in the profession. If you suck and I tell you that you'll be fine, you will fail.
That's my brand. I give you that reality check and tell you what it takes because reality will hit you like a freight train in a performance-driven industry.
Influence at scale is a privilege
I have always loved giving my ex-colleagues life lessons, sometimes even forcing it on them. Thanks to the internet, now I can share my life lessons with tens of thousands of you. That’s a privilege.
Unless you have a radical angle as a creator, you can make a positive impact on a large scale because a lot of you could use my help, free or paid. Creating value feels good because any creator and business founder has a genuine desire to solve a problem before thinking about making money.
Because of my niche in investment management, I have the extra privilege of attracting and making friends with some of the smartest supporters. I've made friends with many wonderful people who have become my advisors and mentors. I reciprocate by giving them free value, but the irony is they tend to be the very ones who pay me just to show their support. Meanwhile, on a daily basis, I deal with those who ask for free things without adding value to me.
You are not alone in your creator journey
I'm bothered by people who claim to love investing but expect information to come to them. The same goes for starting and growing your social media presence—you don’t have to do it alone. Big creators have created content to help you. You just have to find it, listen, and then execute.
When I started on Instagram, I learned by doing. But to become a multi-platform creator and institutionalize processes, I turned to resources like Ali Abdaal, Vanessa Lau, and the folks at Think Media. As a business founder, I've gained invaluable insights from Justin Welsh.
The creator journey can feel lonely at times, but you're not alone; there's plenty of help available from other creators, even if you don't know them personally.
Just like in investing, you can find so much information to grow if you are resourceful. If you aren’t, no amount of paid resources will save your lazy rear end.
Email is the only lasting connection
There is one lasting contact method between you and me: email.
Social media platforms are businesses, and they won't hesitate to change the rules of the game, even if it hurts you as a creator. Don’t take it personally; it’s just business, like how professional athletes get traded all the time. I've told you the story of how I didn’t grow my Instagram following for an entire year until I figured it out. Adapt or die, because the platforms won’t come and save you.
Unless you have your audience's email addresses, you're renting their attention. If tomorrow all social media platforms were forced to shut down, you wouldn't hear from me again unless you're on my newsletter list.
That's why I diversified early on by going multi-platform to future-proof against a situation where I cannot control my destiny. Look at what's happening with TikTok right now. You need to upskill to go multi-platform, but you can leverage your time by repurposing content. For example, I learned to create long-form content and repackage it into shorts for short-form platforms. It broadens my reach without multiplying the time spent as I build a presence on one more platform. Do you know where I learned this trick? From Vanessa Lau. As I mentioned before, it's not a lonely journey when you have experts like her guiding aspiring creators like myself.
Do create
You should consider becoming a creator not just to learn valuable business skills, but also to build meaningful connections with like-minded individuals who can become friends and mentors.
Being a creator teaches you accountability and consistency. If you're on Instagram, for example, you owe your audience new content regularly. If you don’t, you lose creative momentum and risk losing followers once you stop creating. Yes, it's like being on a content treadmill, but that’s what you signed up for.
I remember discussing this with Tradesandraids, the account that gave me my first significant growth on Instagram. He emphasized the importance of consistency. Frankly, you can win just by being consistent.
Out of the 5-6 accounts that started with me at the same time in the finance niche, I'm the only active one. The rest gave up. My secret? Hard work and using your brain. It's simple, but not easy, a recurring theme here.
As a creator, you are a brand, and brand building is a highly transferable skill in the business world. Building trust with your audience is crucial for business success, and being a creator trains you well in this skill.
You never know how your prior experiences will come in handy. Starting from scratch, whether as a creator or an entrepreneur, draws on a broad range of interdisciplinary skills. I never wanted to work in sell-side equity research, but ironically, I became the unofficial ambassador of the profession and I learned the most from my sell-side equity research MD on how to operationalize and execute as a creator.
You should create content on the internet because someone might benefit from what you have to say. However, don't focus too much on fame and money because success will come naturally if you're genuinely good at what you do. Prioritizing these motives upfront can lead to big disappointment.
For those of us without technical skills (like programming), the creator economy offers a capital-light, low-risk way to learn how to build something from nothing and acquire skills that are transferable to a successful corporate career or entrepreneurship.
Thank you for reading. I will talk to you next time.
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Congrats on all your achievments. You well deserve it
Appreciate your public resources on an overlooked (and underappreciated) career path, Mr. Toad. Your content helped me to secure a full-time job in finance, so I can attest to the value-add. Best of luck with the big reveal, hope that it brings more positive attention to your platform. Keep the content flowing, please. Thanks!