Sometimes, our skills are more creative than professional. Sure, monetising your professional skills or expertise might feel like the obvious route. But guess what? You can do the exact thing with your creativity.
On our last X (FKA Twitter) Space, 鈥楳onetising Your Experience Expertise as a Creative Entrepreneur鈥, our speakers shared tips on how they鈥檝e monetised their skills. , Operations and Strategy Associate at Big Cabal Media, moderated the session. She was joined by speakers, founder of, and, Founder of.
In this article, we share four important things to unlearn before monetising your creative expertise or skill. If you want to get in the game, it’s important to us that you do it with the right mindset.
1. Don鈥檛 Undermine Your Creativity
The decision to monetise your creativity might be hard. Sometimes the issue is over-familiarity with ourselves, other times, we worry that we might not sell ourselves or product well enough. Our speakers repeatedly emphasised the need to stop doing things that come easily to us, for free. If there鈥檚 something you observe people repeatedly approach you for, put a price tag on it and sell. It will be in demand with one as long as it’s in high demand without a price tag. Sometimes, these things happen when we least expect them.
鈥樷橶hen I started Ejrepublik, I was just putting designs together. I wasn鈥檛 actually trying to start a business. But when I did the launch, more people than expected purchased, and I鈥檝e just been there ever since.鈥欌- Ejura Agbenyo.
2. You Don鈥檛 Need to Be the Face of Your Product
The with being a creative is that there鈥檚 often the desire to attach your identity to your product. Sometimes, it seems like this is the only way to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. Our speakers think otherwise. While personal branding might be great for pushing our products and building trust with customers and clients, it鈥檚 not everyone鈥檚 cup of tea. If you can’t be yourself in front of a camera, focus on other things to build the strength of your business.
鈥樷橠epending on what you鈥檙e building, personal branding does go a long way. It is a huge driver in the creative world, especially because it helps with storytelling. But if it’s not your thing, you can hire content creators and storytellers.鈥欌- Ejura Agbenyo.
Also Read: 聽4 Things To Know Before Monetising Your Skill or Expertise
3. AI Is Not Your Competition
Everyone thinks ChatGPT and Gemini are taking over the world. Our speakers approach these tools through a different lens and from different perspectives. Familiarising ourselves with their functions and optimising them can help creativity. It鈥檚 to find the usefulness of these tools and how they can help us work smarter. Knowing how to prompt AI for bespoke responses is important. Garbage in, garbage out. Let鈥檚 be intentional with our use.
鈥樷橧 see AI as my assistant. Sometimes I use it to develop a content calendar. Knowing how to take full advantage of it is the most important thing.鈥欌- Ene Ajogwu.
4. Don鈥檛 Undersell Yourself
Being new to the market, we might worry that our prices might be too high for potential customers, especially when we haven鈥檛 built solid brands. Our speakers beg to differ. There鈥檚 a reason your creativity was in high demand before you put a price tag on it, and there鈥檚 a reason why it sells for other people. The most important thing is how we package and deliver our product or service. Underselling isn鈥檛 going to help you build the customer base or community you desire. Sometimes, it does the opposite. Believe in your work, get testimonials, and deliver your product in a form that makes you proud.
鈥樷橸ou don鈥檛 want to price too low so people don鈥檛 think you don鈥檛 know what you鈥檙e doing. When I started, I did a market survey and tried to see what my peers were doing. I try to find a sweet spot between the low and high prices.鈥欌- Ene Ajogwu.
Click to listen to the space recording and hear more of what our speakers advise, before monetising your creativity!
Read Next: Why More Creatives Like Dwin, The Stoic Are Leaving 9鈥5s to Chase Passion
