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Comment by ernestipark | Hacker News Reader

I half agree with this article. There does seem to be a typical power law in terms of who is able to make a bunch of $ and make this a viable career.

That being said, 'winning' doesn't necessarily mean having this be your entire job or revenue source. I think we're progressively going to see more 'portfolio careers' or people holding multiple small jobs. I've seen many folks have small ish followings (say few thousand subs on YouTube), but that's enough for them to generate good leadflow for a consulting business that sustains their family. Put another way, being a creator can just be the marketing or top of funnel for other activities.

If we view it solely as a full-time job, then it probably will be a privileged few <1% that 'win'. But if it's part of a larger portfolio of work, then the creator economy opens up a lot of new possibilities for people.

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Put another way, being a creator can just be the marketing or top of funnel for other activities.

Then, I would argue, you are not a creator, you are just running your own ads for your actually business on YouTube. This is not to say that it is a bad choice, you might really enjoy it, it might be more cost efficient than other ways of advertising or whatever.

> you are not a creator

You are creating content to drive traffic to a service or product. Are influencers not creators? Is making an ad not creation?

Interested in your definition of creator. Thanks!

As I said elsewhere, I actually hat to look up what the creator economy is supposed to be exactly. I understand it as producing online content for a living and therefore I would argue that this content should be the primary source of your income in order to make you a proper creator. Does someone in the Microsoft PR department become a creator because they are filming stuff on the campus and put it onto their YouTube channel? There is however probably a grey zone somewhere, where the content that you are producing and other stuff or services you are selling become so intermixed that it is hard to separate them.

> Does someone in the Microsoft PR department become a creator because they are filming stuff on the campus and put it onto their YouTube channel

Yes. Microsoft also has specific "evangelists" that create content. Briefings, presentations, talks, videos, blog posts, etc.

You are welcome to use the word creator in any way you see fit, I however would not dilute the meaning in this context until it becomes a useless word. If I am forging a knife, I am creating something, if I am operating the camera in a Marvel movie I am creating something, if I am filming the wedding of friend, if I am crowing tomatoes in my garden or in a massive green house farm. For my understanding of the word it matters what you create and in which way this is linked to making a living. You are not a maker just because you make stuff and get paid for it because that applies to almost everything under the sun and makes creator synonymous with having a job. Maybe not blowing up old buildings...well, even then I am making room for new things.

>That being said, 'winning' doesn't necessarily mean having this be your entire job or revenue source

It is my entire job, brings 25% of what I used to earn 8 years ago (never mind what I might be earning now) and I still call it a win ;)

Yeah that's fantastic! I'm a huge proponent of diversified streams of income, and the low barrier to entry means people can try it out with little investment and a little elbow grease. If that can bring in xx% of your full-time income I think a lot of people would call that a win.

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