On January 27th, 2022, we were instructed to complete an assignment that consisted of interviewing an individual of which had a role in something we were passionate about.
I chose to interview a streamer who is known by the name Norina, who is a content creator. She has the responsibility of keeping their community safe, keeping up her schedule and many other things that will be mentioned later in this blog. I chose to interview her because I also create content on multiple platforms and it’s something that I really enjoy. I chose to do content creation because I want to attract a good community and share my work. I also really enjoy it and want to make other feel better because of something that I did. Basically, I would like to be a comfort person for others. I contacted her through Discord and I asked her 6 questions. Here are her replies.
1. Can you explain your roles and responsibilities with your current position?
“My current position includes being a small business owner with an online shop, being a content creator on multiple platforms and being an artist.
Some of the responsibilities include:
- Marketing myself and my business (streams, YouTube videos, online shop, art, etc.)
- Sticking to a set schedule so people know when they can expect to see my content
- Plan content ahead of time
- Create the content and engage with my audience”
2. What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today?
“Growing at a very slow rate is one of many obstacles I’ve faced. Now that streaming has become so popular a lot of my community has asked for advice on streaming and how to grow as a creator. As wonderful as it is to help others try something new it does come at a cost because most of those people end up leaving the community to start their own journey as a creator. Another obstacle I’ve ran into is that I’m running out of time to complete everything that needs to be done each day. One person can only do so much work. Sometime in the near future I’ll either need to hire someone to do specific tasks for me or I may need to remove something from my business until I’m able to hire someone.”
3. What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?
“My advice for someone wanting to be a creator of any kind is to invest time into gaining skills that will help you with whatever type of creative work you want to make. You’ll need to be very disciplined and work hard to make your creative business a success. There are a lot of free resources that can help you along the way even if your interests change. Audience size isn’t important in the beginning, if you’re looking to be a creator because of money then you’re getting into it for the wrong reasons. If you enjoy being creative and want to share that with other people that’s when you know you’re doing it for the right reason. Do things because you enjoy them not for money or fame.”
4. Why are you passionate about your job or role?
“I’m passionate about my job because I get to connect with people from all over the world, create a safe space where people can come to relax after a long day, and make life long friends. This isn’t just a job for me, it’s something I truly love doing because of the people I’m able to surround myself with.”
5. What strategies have you used to avoid burnout in the streaming industry?
“I think this will differ for each person. Over the last 5 years I’ve only really felt true burnout once. Some signs of burnout for me include finding streaming or making videos less enjoyable, feeling an unreasonable amount of stress, focusing on the wrong things like numbers etc. When I start to notice any of these things happen I take a step back and give myself a little time to rest and take my mind off of anything work related. This could be in the form of taking a few days off to rest or taking that time to refocus and remind myself what is truly important to me. Quick note on taking time off, I determine my work hours because I’m self employed, not everyone gets to do that. Most traditional jobs give their employees days off and those days are typically what help people relax and recover until the next week starts. I don’t actually take days off for the most part, I usually work some amount every single day because that’s what works for me. I do take breaks throughout my days and some days I only do a few hours worth of work. Being a content creator or self employed small business owned is a very different then having a more traditional job.”
6. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
“That is always a difficult question to answer. I can only guess at this point based on my what I’ve roughly planned out. I’m pretty sure I’ll still be streaming since the industry is still growing and it’s something I love doing. I will likely be taking art and or animation commissions to increase my overall income for my business. Many things are unknown but I do know that I will be continuing to grow my business in various ways because I love the work I do. Making a sustainable living doing this type of work is really difficult and takes a lot of work and a good amount of trial and error to see what works for you.”
WHAT DID I LEARN?
What I took away from this interview:
From this interview, I learned many things. I personally have self-doubts a lot, but this interview showed me that fame and numbers don’t matter and that growing at a slow rate isn’t just happening to me. Yes, many other creators are growing very quickly, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a chance. I now understand better that content creation takes a lot of time and patience as well as resilience. It can be considered a dream job for people, but the real industry can be very rough and stressful. I have learned a new strategy to work through my burnout that I will be able to try out if I ever feel burnt-out in this industry. I have also seen how time management is a big part of content creation.
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO WHAT I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT AND WHAT OPPORTUNITIES DOES IT OPEN?
Well, I really love what I do, but now I can understand better how much work I need to put into this to continue doing what I love. Without this interview, I don’t think I will be able to have the opportunity to continue this in the next years because it has taught me a lot of things. The opportunity of continuing my content creation has been opened up further. I have learned skills that I will need to know and understand in this industry as well as really facing the challenges and how to overcome them.
Sources:
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