During the past decade content creation and online publishing has become super simple.

It started with web publishing. Then came blogging, and microblogging. When you look at blogging, you will find only a few bloggers from the pre-2010 wave still standing and blogging. Some of them stopped blogging altogether. Others moved to video and some to audio. A large number quit because they ran out of things to say. This also happens with those creating videos and audio.

While people were deserting their blogs professional creators were starting new blogs and turning them into brand building and money-making machines. These creators got book deals, built self-sustained and profit-generating niche publications. There are also those who reinvented to remain relevant even after doing it for more than 20 years.

These creators did not start blogging because it was cool. They did it because they saw it as a medium to share their ideas and then continued because it worked for them.

This is how successful creators emerge. They don’t move from one shiny trend to another. They persist, adapt and adopt. Instead of leaving their blogs, they continue to create and build new business models around them in tune with the changing times.

This does not mean they close themselves to what is new and in trend. They leverage their existing audience to accelerate growth on new channels. They create videos and podcasts with excitement because now they see them as additional (and not alternate) channels to share their ideas. They write books and host events. They have a plan for regular creation for new platforms because they don’t see them as a space to visit and leave after initial excitement gets over.

Smart ones know that readers, listeners, and viewers come and go. So while they create and offer value – they also invest time to distribute their ideas and hustle to take their work to a stage where word of mouth kicks in.

Even during the initial stages when their audience consists of their family and friends, they create because for them not creating means intellectual death. 

What is it that you cannot ‘not’ do?