Success Does Not Require Being a Content Creator

By Liam Gillin

It’s 1 AM on a humid August night. I walk the quiet and dark streets of my hometown as the trains go by. I talk aloud to myself as I reflect on whatever enters my conscious. Rambling on about my career, my friends, my family. The past, present, and future… what do I really want out of life? I tip toe into my house, making sure I do not wake up my family. As I climb up the stairs and into bed, I look up at the ceiling. In that moment, all I can say to myself is “I do not want to do this anymore.”

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a content creator. My childhood was spent on the early days of YouTube. I admired people who got on their webcams to do a silly sketch, sing a song on their ukulele, or rant about the ups and downs of school. It was all I wanted. The second I was old enough to post videos online I took the chance.

I did all the videos that were typical of a teenager at the time. Stop motion music videos to Marina and the Diamonds, comedy sketches about school, whatever was on my mind I worked hard to make it happen. I was known as the “YouTube kid” in my high school. “You want to be a content creator? Good luck with that” my high school ethics teacher said during a “What is everyone doing after high school” discussion.

Back in the early 2010s, posting videos online was not seen as cool unless you were super famous like Fred or Ryan Higa. People were not jumping at the chance to be a content creator in the way they are now. It was seen as a hobby but not an actual career. I was bullied quite a bit for it for it back then. Talking to a camera gave me comfort because the camera did not judge me in the way people did so I kept going. I made YouTube videos until my freshman year of college.

My priorities began to shift. At the time, I wanted to step away from the internet to figure out who I truly was. I wanted to enjoy my time in college. I did create videos but only for school projects. Senior year came around, I was ready to apply to every single job in the film industry. My heart was set on Buzzfeed, Disney, NBC, ABC, CNN, Viacom (Now Paramount), etc. A job at any of these companies would have made me the happiest guy in the world but the universe had other plans.

Locked down in my hometown after graduation due to a pandemic was not exactly on my bingo card but I had to make the most of it. 2 years of putting myself through toxic jobs and disorganized chaos in the film industry nearly made me quit creating altogether but a concert at Radio City Music Hall made me realize I was meant to be somewhere else.

How on earth was I going to make it in the music industry? I did not have a degree in music. I did not have any experience in the music industry besides losing my voice at an Ariana Grande concert. What was I going to do? I may have not had the credentials but one thing I did have was my phone and the ability to talk to a camera.

TikTok was now the app everyone craved. I made an account and began to document the process of becoming a concert photographer. Eventually those videos became advice videos and tutorials. I “faked it until I made it.” Was I photographing arena shows at that point? No but I made sure to act like I was. I grew over the course of four years slowly but surely.

As a teenager all I cared about was numbers. The older I got the more it did not matter to me. The intention was to never become this massive influencer, but to showcase my journey and my knowledge. I began to recieve opportunities from it. I started to get taken more seriously in the music industry. I met some of my closest friends though it. It kicked off my career in a way I will always be grateful for.

Over time, social media platforms began to change and I started to get turned off. The pressure was on to adapt in this fast changing market. Going viral was getting more accessible to the point where it became oversaturated and lost it’s value. Every swipe was just another ad. Content in my eyes was becoming stagnant. I did not want be this “salesy” content creator, I wanted to be me. I stuck to my truth even on the days when it got hard. I stuck to my originality even when the world was telling me otherwise.

“Post 3 times a day,” “Use these hashtags,” “Post at this time,” what happened to just creating something that you’re proud of and posting it? Did we forget that we are human beings not robots? I noticed how I began to fall into the trap. I was making the same content over and over again. Trying to tell the narrative in a different way but it left me stuck. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.

That August night, I realized I did not want to just be known as the “Concert Photography Tutorial Guy.” I wanted to be known as more than that. I am an artist who explores multiple mediums, I just happen to enjoy music the most. I have stories to tell about my life and aspirations. I have so much more to give than “Here’s how to get a photo pass.”

I reflected, trying to figure out the answers to solve this frustration. I thought about the musicians I grew up admiring and their journeys to success. They became successful because of passion and hard work over anything else. A lot of people would say “Well it was different, they did not have social media.”

I understood where people were coming from so it encouraged me to find the people who have been successful in their careers without social media in the modern day. To be honest with you, it did not take much digging to find it. I realized that a lot of people that I have worked with in the business hardly post on their social media. I have friends who have been on major tours and festivals, been speakers at conferences around the world, etc. They do not spend their days filming themselves and posting to TikTok. The most you get out of them is their art and a random “What I’ve been up to” post every six months. Their form of consistency is not what is expected in the digital age but they still made it work. It inspired me heavily.

Now this entry is not to bring down social media because it did change my life in positive ways but was social media meant to be the focal point of my life and my career? Absolutely not. I realized that I can be successful as an artist without having to post some TikTok every single day. I can still be consistent without burning myself out. When I realized my career did not have to solely rely on social media, I became free.

As of now, I stopped making daily videos. I only post my art and a few behind the scenes images from projects I am working on. I started to post things unrelated to my career too such as the books I am reading, and things that fuel my health and wellness over destroying it. I feel at peace. I am making the work that I am proud of, I am grateful. For me, it’s no longer about the short term gratification but the long term impact. I want to have a legacy and leave art bigger than myself. I know it’s possible and I am going to achieve it.

All of it will pay off in a massive way someday. It may not be the “ideal” practice in 2026 but it will work for me just like it did for many of my friends and influences. I am a human being with a lot to offer and I do not need to conform to the standards of social media and the algorithm to prove it.