How to get a foothold in the creator economy

As we come to the end of 2023, I’m more bullish on scriptwriting than ever.

One of my pre-launch students, Aaron, shared some incredible stats with the YTSP community this week.

He started scripting in 2023, and generated 5x as many views as in 2022… with 1/5 as many videos.

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Safe to say, I’m excited to learn more about the scriptwriting “niche” with you in 2024.

But it got me thinking about the “journey” I’ve been on to get here.

Because creators like you and I are constantly asking ourselves questions like:

• Am I in the right niche?
• Do I actually enjoy making this type of content?
• What does this whole thing look like in 5 years’ time?

So, to close out the year, let’s take a whistlestop tour of how I went from fresh-faced writer to whatever the heck I am now, so we can try and figure out which direction to go in 2024.

May this edition give you permission to revel in uncertainty, and to be excited for your unwritten future!

Phase 1 – Arrival

October 2021-July 2022

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• Hired to work full-time for Ali Abdaal.
• Felt frequently out of my depth and broadly had no idea how to write a good script.
• The videos I wrote got 1m+ views each, but not every video I wrote got made.
• Beyond scriptwriting, I also ended up writing newsletters, helping with the Part-Time YouTuber Academy and learning a bit about cameras, filming, etc.

Lesson: Working with a pre-established creator team is imposter syndrome central, but getting your hands dirty across the whole business is invaluable for learning about YouTube.

Phase 2 – Exploring

July 2022 – May 2023

• Branched out and worked with several other creators, including Creator Wizard, Creator Booth and Noah Kagan.
• Continued offering to write newsletters, tweet threads… basically anything. I wanted to make myself as “hirable” as possible…

My old “offer” 👆
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• I also started a newsletter with no particular aim – I guess I was gonna be “the freelance scriptwriter/newsletter guy”?

Catchy, right?
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• …but 4 months later, my newsletter found a new direction: publicly reviewing people’s retention graphs. So I guess was gonna be “the retention guy” instead.
• Spent months reviewing people’s content for free while continuing a variety of client work.

Lesson: Working across different niches and forcing yourself to study data from numerous creators provides a much more holistic, nuanced understanding of YouTube.

Phase 3 – Narrowing

May 2023 – October 2023

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• Restructured my business (and, yes, I was calling it a “business” now)… no more tweet threads, no more nothin’ unless it was about scriptwriting.
• Built out my offers around scriptwriting, including offering 1-1s, script reviews, and even productizing my retention graph reviews.
• After weeks of worrying my subscribers would hate me, I told them I wanted to refocus my newsletter on scriptwriting itself. It went well…

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• I guess I was trying to be “the scriptwriting guy” now.
• With this new focus, I opened a hypothetical pre-orders page for a scriptwriting course I wanted to make. It went well…

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Lesson: Exploring is both good and necessary… but once you truly find your thing, put 100% of yourself into it.

Phase 4 – Expanding

October 2023 – NOW

In the last 2 months, I lit about a bazillion fuses.

• My course (still unreleased) grew into a community.
• I did my first masterclass to 100+ people.
• I ramped up my consulting offer.
• I launched a new podcast.
• I launched a new agency.

Biggest of all – after 6 months of work, I finished the course itself:

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In a nutshell… everything is kicking off!

I’m probably more stressed than before, but I’m also having more fun.

I have no idea what’s going to happen to the business in the next six months, but I think it’s going to be good.

Lesson: Well… I’m still figuring this part out. Ask me for a more compelling “lesson” in around February/March when things have calmed down a bit.

But, regardless of what stage of your “journey” you’re at – whether you’re a YouTuber, writer, or anything else – throw yourself into 2024.

• Follow what sounds interesting and explore it as fully as possible.
• Take a break if you need to, and don’t be afraid to pivot.
• Find the thing that excites you, then refuse to focus on anything else.

Let’s compare notes in a year’s time – I’m excited to see how much your channel/business/life has grown 🚀

That’s all for this year! Wishing you a magnificent holiday season (if that’s your thing) – sending love from Spain 🇪🇸

Speak soon,
George 👋

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