What is a creator?
A creator is somebody who makes things or has an audience. You could make art, videos, music, websites, apps, or anything else people can enjoy. It's become more accessible than ever for anyone to become a creator across hundreds of topics and areas.
Being a creator is a great way to share your talents with the world and make a living doing what you love. For many people, being a creator can be a side hustle and become a full-time career for others.
You'll have to monetize your craft or following to make a living off of being a creator. But even before that, you'll have to figure out how to turn an idea into something you want to create or build a following around and build it into an actual project. Your passion project can become more severe with time and effort.
However, where do you begin? Let's say you want to be a content creator and create a channel about caring for your puppy because you love dogs and studied veterinary studies in college. You register on TikTok and YouTube - then what? How do you create a site? What are tax write-offs? What the heck is an invoice, and why do payment terms hurt your brain?
If you're new to being a creator, it can be tough to know where to start. However, where you see art, look for science, and where you see science, look for art. We know the art of being a creator is to infuse your creativity and passion into your work. Let's talk about the science of being a creator. Specifically, let's talk about the best tools, apps, and sites for creators.
The Challenges of Getting Started as a Content Creator
Before we jump into the tools creators should utilize from day 1, let's put the cards on the table and discuss the challenges of being a creator.
As a creator, you will likely face many challenges when first starting. These can range from not knowing where to begin to feel overwhelmed by the required work. However, there are ways to overcome these challenges and begin creating content you love.
For instance, one of the creators' most significant challenges is not knowing where to start. There are so many different platforms and outlets for content creation that it can be challenging to decide which one is right for you. The best way to overcome this challenge is to research and determine which platform or outlet best suits your needs. Once you have a plan, it will be easier to start creating content.
Another common challenge that creators face is feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work that is required. Creating content (or something else) can be time-consuming and requires much effort. However, it is essential to remember that you can start small and gradually build up your content over time. You don't have to create a masterpiece from the start, but you can gradually improve your content and grow your audience over time.
Most importantly, if you face challenges as a creator, remember that you are not alone. Many resources and people can help you overcome these challenges and start creating content you love. With a little effort, you can start creating content.
Also, while it's easy to look at the top creators and feel overwhelmed at their success, it's important to remember that they also started with just one follower. It's not fair to yourself to compare your starting point with their pinnacle. However, it's only logical to look at the best tools and tips they've already figured out that you can leapfrog in your journey. If all the top creators use Canva, why bother with Adobe? There is usually wisdom in what the masses use.
Finally, even though it might not feel like it, the creator revolution is just starting. There will be anywhere from 50 million to 200 million creators over the next few years. Again, the word creator is much broader than a content creator or influencer but includes:
- The sole fitness instructor.
- The person who writes a newsletter for a living.
- The teacher runs a separate course business for new teachers.
Introducing The Content Creator Kit
We asked ourselves: what are the top categories that creators should adopt a tool early on to simplify their workflows? All creators will need to be organized, and all creators will inevitably need to make some sort of creatives like blog posts, images, or even flyers. Most creators will also likely have social profiles and thus need a link in bio solution to link all of them in one place, and most creators will probably also need a website so people can find them via search.
So what are the core categories that the Creator Start Kit cover: organization, design, financing, personal finance, email, website building, link in bio, and business management? We're throwing an extra as well: creator personal development.
That's a lot of topics, but we hope this is a massive value to any creators just getting started. Let's get started.
Getting Organized as a Creator
Organizing as a creator will help you with time management, content creation, and overall productivity.
There are a lot of moving parts to the Creator Lifestyle. You have to keep track of your ideas, manage your time, create content, interact with your audience, and promote your work while trying to stay sane. It's a lot to juggle, and it can be easy to let things slip through the cracks if you're not organized.
That's why it's so important to be organized as a creator. When you're organized, you can manage your time more efficiently, find your creative inspiration more quickly, and stay on top of your audience engagement. Being organized can also help you be more productive and less stressed, leading to better work.
What are the top 2 tools for creators looking to stay ahead of their pending items and deadlines? You need two core tools: task management and process management or directory.
Task Management Pick: Asana
You have one client asking for a rough draft of an Instagram post, another client asking for three ideas for a potential brand deal, and one of the biggest creators in your niche replied to your Instagram DMs, saying she's open to collapsing. Oh, and you have a full-time job that you want to quit but haven't, and it's almost Christmas time, and it's crazy hectic.
How can you stay on top of all this? Asana.
Asana is a task management tool that helps you manage and keep track of all your tasks in one place. It's great for solo creators but also has features like teams, projects, and collaboration, making it perfect if and when you want to scale your team eventually. Hopefully, you can hire others like a manager or virtual assistant when you reach the threshold of being a self-sufficient and financially independent creator.
Asana has a variety of features that make it stand out from other task management tools, such as the ability to create recurring tasks, set dependencies between tasks and track your progress on tasks over time. Asana also integrates with various other tools, such as Google Drive and Slack, making it even more powerful.
If you're looking for a task management tool to help you stay organized as a creator, Asana is the industry standard. It was also started by one of the founders of Facebook, Dustin Moskovitz, so you can assume he knows a thing or two about building products used by millions of users.
Process Management Pick: Notion
As a creator, you have various processes that you need to keep track of. For example, you might have a process for creating blog posts, another method for designing social media images, and yet another strategy for pitching brands for sponsorships.
You might email ten brands every week suggesting a brand collaboration. Maybe you use the same template. Where do you save this template so you can easily copy and paste it? Having the template and additional instructions would be vital if you ever wanted to outsource it to a virtual assistant.
Sounds advanced? It's not. If anything, starting with the proper framework for organizing and managing your processes will pave your ability to manage your operations successfully.
Thankfully, a super neat and easy-to-use tool offers what you need in this way: Notion.
Notion is the perfect tool for keeping track of all your processes. Notion allows you to create pages about whatever you want and link one page to the next. You can also create "databases," basically like digital spreadsheets. You can use these databases to track anything related to your processes and the pages.
For example, you could create a database to track all of your blog post ideas, and include columns for the title, proposed publish date, target word count, and more. Or, you could create a database to track your social media image designs and include columns for the platform, image dimensions, color scheme, and more.
Notion is a potent tool that allows you to customize your databases to track whatever you want. It's also very user-friendly, so you can quickly get started even if you're not tech-savvy.
If you're looking for a tool to help you keep track of all your processes, Notion is the perfect pick. It's also worth $10 billion, so this isn't a new product that you can't trust. It's an enterprise-grade solution that thousands of small and large companies and millions of individuals use.
In fact, over the last two years, Notion has blown up on TikTok and become a phenomenon. There are probably tens of thousands of creators who are already using Notion because it blows up on TikTok. Get with the times.
Making Design as Easy As Possible
You can't get away with bad design in 2022. Creating authentic, meme-like content doesn't mean terrible-looking content. Even seemingly low-quality meme content is usually well-thought and intentionally made with that look and feel because of the message it might be trying to convey.
So, if you want to be taken seriously, it's more important than ever to ensure your content and profiles look fantastic. Thankfully, it's also more accessible than ever to meet the ever-increasing bar.
Our Design Pick: Canva, the Ultimate Editing Tool
Canva is a fascinating company that everyone should learn about, especially creators. Why should creators care about Canva's story? Because the founders went through many of the same challenges, you're probably experiencing now.
When Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht, the cofounders of Canva, had their initial idea for Canva, they struggled to raise money. They had experience building a yearbook editing product and knew that making design accessible was a noble mission and a much-needed one. They were so strongly committed to their mission that even after getting 100s of rejections from investors, they kept having more meetings. Today, in 2022, Canva is worth over $40 billion.
Throughout their journey, they've never lost the focus of their original vision: making designing as easy and user-friendly as possible. Canva's mission speaks to why you need it. It's a tool that makes design easy and user-friendly, so you can focus on creating great content.
Canva is the perfect pick for creators who want to up their design game without spending much time or money on it. With Canva, you can easily create beautiful designs for your social media posts, images, and more. Plus, they have a ton of templates that you can use to make the design process even more accessible. Here's our review of the product.
If you're not happy with the results you're getting from your current design tools, or if you're just looking for an easy way to up your design game, Canva is the perfect pick.
Runner Up: PicsArt
Canva is the ultimate design tool used by over 100 million people across the globe. But, if you're not interested in Canva or want to try something else, PicsArt is also a highly rated design product.
PicsArt is an app that provides many features and tools to help you edit photos and create beautiful designs. Plus, they have a massive library of templates, stickers, and other resources that you can use to make your posts look even better.
One of the main reasons you might pick PicsArt when you're just starting is that it's cheaper than Canva. Canva costs $12.95 per month, whereas PicsArt is $4.67 per month. Both are highly affordable, but PicsArt is a little cheaper, which might be worth something when you're just starting.
If you're looking for an alternative to Canva, PicsArt is a great pick. However, in our honest opinion, given how important design is for a creator in 2022, we still recommend Canva as the best overall design tool for creators.
For Creators: Invoices, Cash Advances, and Credit Cards
You didn't just become a creator to have fun and build a following; you want to make money. Maybe you even want this to become your full-time career. So, let's talk about the critical finance apps and sites you should be aware of that will make your life as a creator easier.
Before we do that, though, let's talk at a high level about what the payment process might look like when you have a client. You sign a contract with a client for a $1,000 collaboration. The agreement, often called an Insertion Order, lists "Net 60" under the Payment Terms section. You do a little research and realize that it means they will pay you 60 days after you've delivered the ask. Yes, it sucks, but this is how the corporate world works.
So let's talk about some of creators' best invoicing and cash advance tools.
Invoicing and Cash Advances: Willa and Lumanu
A brand agrees to work with you for collaboration, and you're excited. You even use Canva to edit your post and send it to them. They love it, and now they're asking for an invoice. You've never had to make one before. You could Google around and find a template online, but instead of doing that, you should sign up for Willa or Lumanu.
Both products allow you to create an invoice through the platform and send it directly to your client. They'll get an email with the invoice and a link to go ahead and make the payment along with whatever the legal payment terms are.
Why is Willa or Lumanu any better than Word templates online? These products not only allow for invoicing, but they also allow early cash withdrawal. For instance, Lumanu has a feature called EarlyPay that lets you withdraw the funds the brand owes you earlier than the Net 60 days payment terms. Instead of waiting 60 days, you can get paid in 2 days.
There'll be a small fee for this service, but getting paid sooner is almost always worth it, especially when starting off. In this case, in the small event that the brand does not pay Lumanu, they take on the risks of payment default, not you. You've already got your money with that small fee.
We think all creators should explore Willa or Lumanu. You can read our review comparing these two competing products here.
Karat: Credit Cards for Creators
Karat is an incredible concept: a credit card specifically for creators. Creators are not specific businesses that are easy for banks to evaluate their risks and potential. Banks cannot legally incorporate your subscriber growth as a metric in how they underwrite you. Karat does, though.
Karat won't work for everyone as you have to apply. It's probably not a great inclusion in our Creator Starter Kit, but we haven't used it yet, so we're not sure how early you need to be to get approved. Hopefully, creators can get supported relatively early, though.
If you can get approved by Karat, you have a credit card that knows you're a creator, and as a result, as your following grows, your credit limit will likely increase. They also have neat features like Creative Services and Creator Events.
It's worth checking out and applying early, and then, if you don't get approved, use it again in the future once you've built up your following further.
Creator Personal Finance Freebies
The following few apps aren't limited to creators, but they are just such great apps that we want to include them as additional personal finance freebies.
Managing Subscriptions Pick: Truebill
You may have heard of Truebill, and you might have seen their television commercials even. Rocket Mortgage now owns the company. However, let's talk about why you should revisit Truebill as a creator just starting.
Truebill is a personal finance app for tracking and managing your subscriptions. You know you're supposed only to have a few, but you've probably got a lot more as a creator. You might have Canva, Grammarly, Webflow, Linktree, etc. All these will add up, and you might even try a product and forget to cancel your subscription. Truebill can help make sure you're not paying for unwanted subscriptions.
It's worth potentially signing up for the lowest pricing tier, which is $3 per month. If you don't feel like you're getting at least the $3 back every month through one saving or another, feel free to cancel it. Some people are much better at managing subscriptions and unwanted expenses than others.
Automated Savings: Acorns
You've also probably seen television commercials and ads for Acorns, the personal finance savings app. Acorns is not a new company as it's been around for over a decade and is relatively well known to millions of users. However, as a creator, it can serve a particular purpose if you're clever in how you use it.
While Acorns allows you to round up your purchases and put that into a savings account, you can also set up recurring savings. As a creator, you don't have a safety net. Not only that, but you'll also have to pay taxes on your earnings each year.
You can use Acorns as a savings account specifically to save money you'll owe in taxes towards the end of the year. Or, you can use it to build a side safety savings portfolio. You can do this on autopilot, and your future self will thank you.
One Non-Personal Finance Freebie: Grammarly
It would be wrong not to include Grammarly in this list. Grammarly is one of the most incredible tools on the internet today. If you're writing emails to prospective brands, business partners, and one day even investors, you'll want to ensure your grammar is perfect.
Once you have a site and if you're creating a lot of writing content, it might even make sense to get Grammarly premium. But, as a starting point, getting started with the accessible version of Grammarly is a no-brainer for all creators.
Setting Up an Email List
This next category might not seem intuitive, but we believe it's important for creators to think long-term even when they're starting. Namely, you'll always be at their mercy if you build a following on any social platform like TikTok or YouTube. They can shut you down at any time or change their rules in a way that significantly hurts your account.
The solution is always to have an email list of your followers you own and control. It doesn't matter what size it is in the beginning, but if you're serious about being a creator, start building that list from Day 1. It'll be worth it in the long run.
Top Email Provider for Creators: ConvertKit
Assuming you're starting from scratch, you just need an email marketing tool where you can host your email list and create forms to collect new subscribers. We recommend using ConvertKit as your email service provider since they're built specifically with creators in mind. They make it easy to create forms and embed them on your website or social media platforms.
There are a few other creator-specific features that make ConvertKit worth mentioning:
You can segment your subscribers based on interests and where they signed up. You can send them more targeted content, which will help keep them engaged. Likewise, you can automate your email marketing so that new subscribers get a series of emails that introduce them to your content over time. This email nurture sequence is a great way to keep people engaged. Finally, you can run simple contests and giveaways using ConvertKit's Email Sequences feature. This can help you grow your list quickly if done right.
ConvertKit does have a free plan, but it's limited. If you're serious about email marketing, you might want to try out their $29 per month membership.
We're not going to include others like Mailchimp, Aweber, or GetResponse since ConvertKit is built explicitly with creators in mind, and it's best to go with it when you're just starting.
Extra: Consider Beehiiv.
Building Your Website on The Internet
Are you even a creator if you don't have a site? Your followers and future customers will Google you, and they should be able to come across your site, and it should be a central hub for everything you're doing.
You don't need to be an expert web developer or anything like that. These days, many site builders and hosting providers make it very easy for anyone to build a website without having to touch a single line of code. As a creator just starting off, we don't think that you should use WordPress and get your own hosting plan through something like Bluehost or HostGator.
Instead, we would guide you towards the simplest and easiest way to build your own site. Use a WYSWYG platform. WYSWYG stands for "what you see is what you get," which means you can edit the forum live on the site and see how it looks as you edit it. However, we recommend picking a template and customizing the element even with these platforms.
So, let's get into the top options for creating your site.
Top Pick for Creating Your Site: Webflow
Webflow might be an unconventional top pick. Some people might see it as a bit more advanced than other options, but we believe that creators are capable and should learn to become masters of tools that can make or break their creator careers.
Not only is Webflow highly customizable, easy to use, and potent. If you ever wanted to launch an e-commerce store, you could do it on Webflow. If you want to create a simple one-page site, you could do that too. It is the Swiss Army Knife of website builders, and it's what we recommend for creators.
Webflow isn't free. It starts at $16 per month, which might begin to add up, but it's one of the tools we recommend whenever you're ready to make a site. The platform has the perfect mix of design and ease with customizability.
Also, Webflow has a Webflow University program where you can learn the ins and outs of Webflow quickly. So, even though the platform is powerful, it's also relatively easy to understand.
Runner Up for Creating Your Site: Wix and Squarespace
If you don't want to invest the time to become 80% proficient with Webflow, that's perfectly understandable. For those who want a more accessible option to get a site up, we recommend Wix and Squarespace. They're well-known website builders using the WYSIWYG platform we discussed earlier.
Both platforms have pros and cons, but overall they'll allow you to create a website without touching a single line of code. However, the trade-off is that you won't be able to as easily customize your site as you would with something like Webflow. Wix starts at $11 per month, while Squarespace starts at $12 per month.
There isn't a clear winner here, and it'll come down to personal preference. Wix might have a bit more of an edge in terms of features, and Squarespace might have more of an advantage in design. But both will allow you to create a website without too much trouble.
Setting Up a Link In Bio
As a creator, even early on, you'll want to set up a link in bio app that centralizes all the places your followers can find you online. It's effortless to do, making it much simpler for your followers to connect with you on other platforms.
If you're already a creator, you might even already have a link In bio tool that you are already using. Over 25 million creators are using Linktree, for instance. However, even with some clear, prominent players in the space, it's an exciting space to evolve from many angles, and some of the pending points could impact what platform you might want to use.
Generally speaking, creator economy investors believe that most of these link in bio tools are not very differentiated, and the companies may struggle to build an enduring business. Likely, there may be some consolidation of the lower end of the market. As a result, we would recommend going with a top player in the space. Otherwise, you might wake up one morning to an email that your link In bio tool is shutting down!
With that being said, our two top solutions are Linktree and Beacons. It was a close one, so if you went with Beacons over Linktree, we wouldn't blame you.
Link In Bio Top Pick: Linktree
Linktree is worth over a billion dollars and has over 25 million creators using its tool, and they aren't going anywhere. The question with Linktree, as with Beacons, is who will evolve faster and better understand creators' needs.
Linktree has the first mover advantage and brand awareness. It's hard to compete with that. Linktree allows creators to put unlimited links on their page, including links for videos and music. Creators can also see analytics of what their followers are clicking, and finally, they can create a QR code, which can be helpful when you're meeting new followers in real life.
They also recently released their marketplace feature, which allows other apps and sites to connect with Linktree in more native integration. For instance, they are partners with SoundCloud, YouTube, and Cameo. The Marketplace feature is early, so it'll be interesting to see how it evolves.
Link in Bio Runner Up: Beacons
Beacons are currently the number two link in bio company right now. They are backed by heavyweight venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz, who have backed companies like Facebook and Airbnb. The interface is straightforward to use.
While it's not public how many users Beacons has aside from 'millions,' if Linktree wasn't the apparent choice purely based on how many creators use it, we would have picked Beacons as our top choice.
Why?
Beacons seem to have a much more ambitious vision for what they are trying to build for creators. For instance, they allow creators to add a Facebook Pixel (on the paid plan). They enable creators to accept tips and donations and seem to have a more considerable emphasis on providing creators with analytics.
Additionally, Beacons has some features that are very creator focused. For instance, they have a social locker feature where you can require your followers to follow you on Instagram or subscribe to your newsletter before they can access certain content. This is a great way to grow your following and get more email subscribers.
From a distance, it seems. Beacons is a more innovative team and might be the winner in the long term. But, for now, they have a long way to catch up to the market leader, Linktree.
Business Management for Creators
The entire creator landscape is very convoluted, and this shows when you realize that many different tools meet different needs but are all beginning to converge. For instance, while Asana and Notion are the industry leaders in task management and project management, and Willa and Lumanu are the top cash advance tools, there are now tools that do all of this in one platform.
Is it better to use a single unified platform? It's a tricky question to answer. Using a unified platform might drive some efficiencies since you don't have to switch platforms, but often, by building everything into one platform, the platform is fundamentally opinionated. If you want to do things your way, it might be better to use a mix of tools in your way. However, if you value the convenience of systems that easily communicate and centralize everything into one, there are two platforms to consider for business management for creators.
Creator Business Management Top Pick: Bonsai
Bonsai is a relative newcomer to the business management for creators category. They raised a seed round from notable investors like Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit) and Troy Carter (Lady Gaga's former manager). Bonsai is trying to build an all-in-one solution for creators.
The platform includes contract management, invoicing, payments, and tax filing. The unique thing about Bonsai is that they are building their product in close consultation with creators, and they have creator councils where they bring in creators of different sizes and genres to help them design the product.
This emphasis on co-creation is evident in the product. The interface is straightforward, which can be rare for business software. Additionally, the product is constantly updated with new features creators have requested. Bonsai is laser-focused on solving the business management needs of creators.
Creator Business Management Runner Up Honeybook
Honeybook is one of the older players in the business management for creators category. They've been around since 2013 and have over 50,000 paying customers.
Honeybook's interface is a bit more dated than Bonsai's. However, they offer many features, including proposal creation, client management, project management, payments, and even e-signatures. Additionally, they have an app store where you can add integrations like Quickbooks and Google Calendar.
While Honeybook is missing some of the bells and whistles that Bonsai has (like tax filing), they are a solid all-around solution for business management for creators.
Honeybook is used by a much larger category of creators than your typical content creators. Both Bonsai and Honeybook are truly highly versatile platforms for all sorts of freelancers.
Last but not least: Creator Personal Development
Congrats on making it down through the last 500 words. Reading this shows your dedication and seriousness to becoming a financially independent creator. Thankfully, we saved some of the best things for later.
So, you're starting your journey as a creator. You've set up your social handles and even downloaded or signed up for all our Creator Starter Kit tools. Now what?
You'll have to continue your journey and keep creating content, building your following, and learning how to monetize, but how do you keep yourself motivated in the journey? What if we told you there were people like you who made the journey before you that are now successful and want to help?
It turns out that there's an entire community of creators who want to help you on your journey. They offer their advice, stories, tips, and more on YouTube channels and podcasts. Here are the ones we think you should learn about or keep up with.
Creator Personal Development Top Pick: Samir and Collin
Samir and Collin are YouTubers that run a channel for creators.
They're enjoyable to listen to for creators because they're relatable. They started their journey long ago and have amassed a large following. In other words, they know what it's like to be in your shoes. They're very candid about their successes and failures, which can help you avoid making the same mistakes.
Likewise, they have in-depth interviews with top creators like MrBeast. If you're serious about becoming a creator, learning from people like Samir and Collin and becoming a part of this community will be valuable and motivating, especially when times are tough.
Creator Personal Development Runner Up Nas Daily
Nas Daily is the brainchild of Nuseir Yassin, a former software engineer at Facebook who left his cushy job to travel the world and make one video daily for a year.
While Nas's channel isn't focused on teaching you how to become a creator, it is highly motivating. He creates content meant to inspire and challenge you to look at the world differently. After all, if he can leave his six-figure job at Facebook to travel and make videos daily, what's stopping you from achieving your dreams as a creator?
Nas's style of content is also very unique and engaging. He uses creative editing techniques to tell a story that keeps you hooked until the end. If you're ever feeling down about your progress as a creator, watching one of Nas's videos will surely pick you up.
He's also working on a project that is building communities for people in the same boat. One of these communities will be for creators based on the number of followers they have. This could be cool, so stay tuned for what Nas Daily and the team will build.
The Ultimate Creator Personal Development Tool: The Creator Investor
No one on the internet is as dedicated and serious about helping all types of creators level up across their tools, knowledge, and finances as we are. We had to include ourselves in the Creator Starter Kit.
We are like a creator. We're just getting started, and we're sharing everything we learn. You should join our email list if you've appreciated all our unique content, including this article.
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