Day Job Vs Part-Time Content Creator
Spend enough time in the murky world of “Make money online” content and you are going to be repeatedly told how to “Quit your day job”.
Understandable when you consider some of the frustrations like:
- We spend 3,515 days of our life at work
- Many people have unfulfilling jobs
- The pay doesn’t cover living expenses
- Colleagues that make your skin crawl
Therefore, in the tired late hours of the day, eyes semi-closed and our minds already dreading the groundhog day repetition of tomorrow, we take out our phone and search for MMO opportunities that can help us quit the day job….
Or do we?
There’s Another View
Often there’s a misconception that everyone hates their day job. The career that they have worked for years to build.
Sure it would be nice to get greater rewards and less time commitment in some cases, but there are actually many valid reasons why a day job is good for you (especially if it’s alongside your side gig as a content creator).
Let’s look at some of the reasons why you should stop focusing on quitting your 9to5 and embrace it instead, as it could be pivotal to your online success.
Income Stability
Don’t underestimate the peace of mind that a consistent monthly paycheck brings, especially when you are older and have accumulated an array of financial responsibilities; mortgage, car, childcare, utilities etc.
Content creation has the possibility of generating far larger rewards, but there’s a more sporadic reality for most creators especially in those first 2–3 years.
Building your content business alongside a regular income will give you the stability to focus on learning and building, investing in new equipment and training, knowing that there is no reliance to pay your bills that month from your online earnings.
Perks & Benefits
Health insurance, pensions, paid time off, sickness pay, childcare vouchers. Just a few of the benefits derived from a day job. Many of these provide peace of mind over the present and future. An employee’s salary is just one part of the cost to a company, it’s said that on average the “Salary x 1.7” is the true cost (taking into account the above).
When you are looking for a magic number that would allow you to go full time with your content business, make sure you are accounting for these too.
Professional Growth
My YouTube channel is based on software tutorials for content creators. I talk people through the process of using apps to create something. A skill I learnt many years ago through my IT support role.
As a technical support analyst I would have to diagnose issues, find resolutions and then talk the end user through what I had done, or what they needed to do. Often with no visuals on the issue myself. I developed an ability to think logically and communicate clearly.
The skills and experiences developed in your own personal battlefield could be the key to becoming a better and well rounded creator.
People
As an introvert I am a huge fan of working from home, hiding in my office. However, even I have to admit that there’s a line to be drawn, where isolation can become detrimental to your health and social ability.
I am old enough to remember the days where home working wasn’t a thing, instead you did 5 days a week in the office. Would I want a return to this? No. Is there a happy medium? Probably.
Being physically present in a conversation, both professionally and socially, builds essential life skills around communication and collaboration. A career gives you this.
Learning Opportunities
This one is perfect if your side gig as a content creator has any kind of overlap with your day job.
Some people start a YouTube channel to learn and teach topics that are completely unrelated to their career. Often about their hobby or passion projects.
Others see YouTube (and other content platforms) as the ideal bridge to take their skills and knowledge and start building a personal brand of their own. Possibly to enhance their future employment opportunities and income, or just because it’s a topic they love and excel at and creating content is a way of reinforcing that learning process.
It’s a careful tightrope to walk this one as you need to be careful and understand your company policies around representation before you go making bold claims in an employer related industry. However if you can get that equilibrium between day job learning and content ideas, then the day job naturally feeds the side business.
Structured Path
Careers are very linear, the whole climbing of the ladder, where you start at the bottom on an entry level role and over time you have opportunities to develop and grasp new job titles that bring different responsibilities.
Whilst the younger generations are used to instant gratification in all things in life, this slow growth approach is still a reality in many industries and workforces.
Whilst this may have some of your stomachs turning at the longevity of a career. It also provides clear direction, milestones and long term goals. You can replicate this approach with your content creation gig, but that’s likely to be a little less predictable as you are effectively a lone wolf taking the route of potential exponential growth.
Should I Still Create Content?
The point of this article wasn’t to put you off creating content (I encourage everyone to find a format/platform that they can express themselves on).
No, the point was to help you understand that, despite what the guru’s say, a job and career isn’t all bad. In many ways it’s great!
Sure, we only live once and you want your life to be as fulfilling as possible, but maybe the way to achieve this is through a day job and your own content business. At least initially anyway.
I would love to hear your thoughts too. Let me know how your day job has (or hasn’t) helped your business as a content creator.
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