I’ve made over a million dollars as a content creator. These are the lessons I learned along the way that helped me get here.

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I became a millionaire before turning 30. But here’s the thing…

I don’t have a degree.

I had to drop out of college due to an injury that put me on crutches for nine months. I haven’t invested in real estate and I only started investing in stocks a year ago… 

And even before that… I made over 1 Million Dollars as a content creator.

How is that even possible? 

To become a millionaire as a content creator, I’ve had to learn a lot of lessons and today I want to share those lessons with you!

If you’d like to watch instead of read, click the video below. 

Lessons That Helped Me Become a Millionaire Before 30 as a Content Creator

I’m going to break this down into the lessons I learned during each milestone of my content creator journey to become a millionaire. 

From my first $1,000 to my first $10,000 to my first $1,000,000. I hope these lessons both inspire you and give you actionable steps for your own journey and success. If you’re ready to become a millionaire as a content creator, keep reading.

This post is inspired by one of the biggest milestones in my business journey; being invited to be a keynote speaker at Social Media Marketing World. I’ve now spoken at this conference 3 years in a row and it’s been a pivotal moment in my business. 

Now, let’s dive into the lessons that helped me become a millionaire before turning 30.

Lessons That Helped Me Reach My First $1,000 as a Content Creator

I probably learned the most lessons on this entire journey before I made my first $1,000 as a creator or for myself. From deciding I wanted to work for myself to landing my first brand deal, these are the lessons that helped me reach my first $1,000. 

Lesson #1: There’s a lot of money out there

Friends. There is a lot of money out there. 

The world is full of people who are making a lot of money. There are people out there who seem to have an endless amount of money. So, if money is all around us, why can’t I make some of it?

If I have something to offer, why can’t I make money doing that?

(And in turn, why can’t you?!)

Lesson #2: If I want to make money now, I can get paid for the knowledge that I already have

Before I started my business, I was a project manager in the corporate world. I started to look at how I could use that skill and that knowledge to work for myself. 

If you’re at this phase in your business where you’re ready to start making an additional income on the side, take a look at the skills that you have thanks to the job you have now. What tasks do you do? What can you offer to clients?

Lesson #3: Knowledge is great, but wisdom is better

When I was working corporate, I had a two-hour commute to work and during that commute, I was consuming every influencer, content creator, and business podcast out there. I was filling my brain with all of this knowledge about *how* to be an influencer and *how* to create content but I wasn’t actually doing those things. 

Learning everything you can is so important – but you also have to learn by doing. You have to try, you have to make mistakes and figure out what works for you. 

That’s where your true wisdom will come from. 

If you want to become a millionaire as a content creator, you need this wisdom.

Lesson #4: You don’t have to be an expert on anything to start

You don’t have to be an expert in anything to start creating content. You just have to be willing to become an expert. 

When I started my business I was not an expert in social media, YouTube, or Instagram growth. But I was willing to become an expert in those things if it meant I could run my own business and become a millionaire. 

Lessons That Helped Me Reach My First $10,000 as a Content Creator

These are the lessons that helped me scale my business from that first $1,000, to make my first $10,000 as a content creator. 

Lesson #1: Be generous with your knowledge

This is often seen as counterintuitive – especially in the education space. Creators often teach some things for free while other things will be behind a paywall. 

By teaching my audience everything I know, I’m bringing them up to my level – and then when they start asking questions, it forces me to grow so that I can answer those questions. It means that I’m constantly growing and improving with my audience. 

Being generous with my knowledge is the first I did that really skyrocketed my business. 

Lesson #2: Understand the importance of multiple streams of income

When I started my business I was offering social media management and consulting but I quickly realized that I could only work so much – which meant I could only make so much money. 

By having multiple streams of income, you’re not reliant on one industry or client and you’re also able to stop trading your time for money. 

The first income streams that I added to my business were brand collaborations and coaching other social media managers and content creators. 

Trust me, having multiple streams of income will help you on the road to become a millionaire as a creator.

Lesson #3: Don’t give up. Do it for future you.

This phase of your business can feel really hard and really long. 

It can feel like you’re just going in circles, but it’s important to remember that you are progressing. Even though you haven’t hit that first $10,000 yet, you are making progress and growing. Keep preserving and remind yourself that you’re doing this for the future you. 

Lessons That Helped Me Reach My First $100,000 as a Content Creator

Lesson #1: Invest in yourself, your business and your education

Scaling my business wouldn’t have been possible without what I invested into it. There are so many ways that you can invest in yourself, your business, and your education, from free resources to books, courses, and mentors. 

One of the books that changed my business was Profit First. This book helped me learn where to allocate the money that I was earning. It’s an incredible book that I highly recommend for anyone interested in running their own business. 

It will help you learn how to do things like; paying yourself, saving for taxes, and investing back into your business.

Lesson #2: Accept the fact that you are running a business

When I wanted to start scaling my content creator business, I had to step into the role of business owner. 

This is a powerful shift from ‘I am a content creator’ to ‘I am a business owner’ that helps you start to see the bigger picture. It helps you look at your business as a business and start seeing the value in yourself and what you’re creating. 

Lesson #3: Your goals will start to shift

One of the things that I learned when I started to scale my content creator business from $10,000 to $100,000 was that my goals started to shift. 

When I started my business, my goals were things like:

• Get 1,000 followers
• Get 5,000 followers
• Have a video perform well and get 100 likes

However, when my business started to take off, I noticed that my goals got bigger and more long-term. For example, I often spend over a year developing my online courses – so working on my mindset around this has been so important. I’ve also had to be okay with working on something for an entire year before it’s ready to be seen by anyone or make me any money.

Focusing on what’s going to bring me success in 3-6 months as opposed to what I can do tomorrow for smaller, more short-term goals.

Lessons That Helped Me Reach My First Million Dollars as a Content Creator

There are three main lessons that I learned that helped me transition from $100,000 to my first million dollars as a content creator. 

Lesson #1: It’s OK to ask for help

When I hit $100,000 I was in the mindset of being a business owner and running a business. But when I hit $1 Million, I had another mindset shift, this time I was a CEO. 

At this time, I had someone helping me with my funnels and she asked me, “Millie, what would a CEO do?” This question and mindset shift helped me step away from tasks that I didn’t need to be doing and instead focus on the tasks that I did need to be doing (like creating for my courses and showing up for my audience.)

It was time to start expanding my team and relying on them to help me continue to scale my business.

Lesson #2: Build up multiple streams of passive income

Passive income takes a lot of time and serious hustle to set up – but once you put the work in, it’s a valuable way to scale your business. I know that without my team, I wouldn’t be able to run the passive income streams that I have – so these two things go hand in hand. 

Some of my passive income streams include: 

1. Affiliate Marketing
2. YouTube Adsense
3. Evergreen Online Courses (that I sell through webinars and email funnels)
4. Workbooks and digital products
5. Brand Collaborations (whitelisting and usage rights)

In the past, I’ve shared these ten passive income streams that can help you scale your business and income. 

Each of these things takes time to set up, but once I have it all connected on my website the income becomes fairly passive. Remember that you also need to update products, make sure affiliate links are still working, and land the initial brand deals to make money passively from usage rights. 

Lesson #3: I will teach you everything that you want to know with my YouTube videos

A mistake I often see creators make is that they teach you everything they think you need to know as opposed to teaching you what you want to know.

What do I mean by this? 

On my YouTube Channel, I will teach you everything that you want to know. I look at what YOU are searching for, and I create the exact content to answer those questions. This helps widen my audience, it helps my reach and it helps build trust with my audience. 

Then, when you sign up for my course – I teach you everything you need to know. Because once people pay for something, they start paying attention. So I know it’s important for every content creator to have an email list, but content creators aren’t searching for or focusing on that. 

Instead, I’m teaching you how to be a content creator for free and then inside my courses, I’m teaching you all the subtopics that you need to know to scale and really grow that business.

One Lesson I Learned the Hard Way on my jourey to become a millionaire before turning 30

Not having an email list. Everyone was telling me that I needed an email list, but because I was ‘just a content creator’ I didn’t think an email list was important for me. 

Flash forward to having an email list… and it’s the best thing I’ve done for my business. 

When I left Instagram, my team and I did a soft launch of one of my courses to my email list. We promoted it with one YouTube video and an email campaign and we ended up having a six-figure launch. 

Don’t be like me, don’t make this mistake. Start your email list now. I promise you won’t regret it. 

Which one of these lessons that helped me become a millionaire before turning 30 was the most interesting for you? Did you have any lightbulb moments from this post? 

If you’re ready to start scaling your business with passive income, make sure to check my guide out. 

Don’t forget to follow your joy. I’ll see you in the next one!