Why are successful creators quitting social media?

Hey Climbers, today —

• Why are massive creators quitting at the height of success?

• And the artist vs the algorithm

Millions of views, millions of dollars, then you quit.

Imagine this:

You’re at the height of your career as a creator. You’re getting millions of dollars every year. Everything you post gets millions of views.

Then one day you wake up and decide to quit.

It sounds crazy, but it’s something I’m seeing happen more and more from the highest earning creators in the game right now.

Vanessa Lau shocked her followers when she announced she was taking an indefinite hiatus after scaling her business to $8 million in revenue.

Finance Youtuber Graham Stephan told his 4.69 million subscribers that he’d be taking a step back from his channel.

But why is this happening?

Luckily, I’m a big nerd, so I’ve watched both Vanessa and Stephan’s very long videos explaining why they chose this.

I think we can learn a lot from their experiences, so here’s the TLDR:

Reason for quitting 1 - They optimised out the fun

When you start doing good, the natural reaction is to want to start doing even gooder.

So you call in the experts to help you optimise.

Optimise your time for productivity.

Optimise your content for views.

Optimise your audience for its earning potential.

But in the pursuit of optimisation… you optimise out the fun.

I’m always telling my clients how important it is to pay attention to what brings you joy in the content creation process.

Because if you lose that, you’re gonna burn out real quick.

Reason for quitting 2 - They became trapped inside people’s expectations

When you post a certain amount of content about a certain niche for a certain amount of time, people begin to rely on you.

And people’s expectations can begin to control you.

So instead of making content your inner creative voice wants, you start to make content you know your audience expects.

But the pressure to deliver is like a bucket of cold water on your kindling joy.

This is why I’m anti niching down, and instead help my clients become the niche.

Reason for quitting 3 - They scaled themselves into a job they hated

When you scale a business, there’s a real danger that you scale yourself out of a role you enjoy (creator) into a role you hate (manager).

One of my favourite quotes is: “growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell” - Edward Abbey.

I think there’s an art to knowing what enough is for you.

And bravery in choosing not to grow for the sake of it.

Because if you end up hating what you’re doing, then what’s the point?

CREATIVE INSPO OF THE WEEK
The Artist Vs The Algorithm

This talk by Karen Cheng on how to honour artistry in the face of the algorithm.

It’s incredible.

CRINGE MOUNTAIN ACADEMY
Make 2024 the year you find your thing

Cringe Mountain Academy is the 90 day program helping creators get clear on what’s holding them back so they can grow their community in alignment with what they actually love doing. In the past month:

• Natasha grew 3k followers in 4 weeks and found clarity in her book proposal.

• Katharine saw a 27% increase in her business’s IG account and is posting with joy and flow.

• Amanda posted an app idea on TikTok, and was contacted by multiple entrepreneurs who are interested in helping her make it.

• Holly doubled her audience on TikTok and broke out of 300 view gaol.

If you want to make 2024 the year your content clicks into alignment, hit the button below.

Ok that’s all for now,

Til next time,

Keep Climbin’

Erica x