Passion Got Me Started as a Creator — But Something Else Keeps Me Going

This is a looong-term game. Here's how to avoid burnout and quitting.

I have this theory that when you become a content creator—and an entrepreneur—you need results to keep going.

I am in love with the craft: the writing, the filming, the explaining. But it’s not enough.

If you really want to build an audience, you need years of intense work and emotional investment. "Just" loving the craft isn't enough to keep going.

Let me explain why, and how to put yourself in a position to constantly get motivating results.

Masterchef losers

I watched a few seasons of Masterchef Italy. The first contestants to be kicked out just couldn’t stand the pressure.

They were very good home cooks. But cooking was for them just a hobby.

They probably spent an hour on a single dish, sipping wine, chatting with friends. Have you ever seen how a professional kitchen runs? It’s another planet. They weren’t pros.

When you decide to become a creator, to build a career on your content, you must enjoy it. But you must also become a pro.

You have to take off that “oh so funny” kitty apron you wear at home and put on a real chef’s uniform.

You need to show up over the long haul. You need to learn constantly. You need to run endless experiments. You need to squeeze every drop of brain juice. You need to sacrifice other activities you love to find the time.

Most of all: you need to endure failure, many failures.

Falling in love with the craft is the first step. But consistent intensity doesn’t just happen.

When you see a creator who keeps putting out content, coming up with good ideas, and growing nonstop, they’re not superhuman. They’re probably seeing consistent results. Their work is paying off.

Discipline fails too

I have the discipline of a German soldier. It kept me going for years with very little to show for it. But most people don’t have this. And it’s not fun.

But I’ve also had multiple periods with flashy results. Like now, for example. My YouTube channel is growing like never before. Clients are flocking in without an ounce of outreach on my side.

The difference in motivation is palpable. I feel like I’m on fire. I don’t want to do anything else It becomes easier to make the right moves, and that just feeds more results.

Look, I’m not saying “Do anything to increase your numbers” or “Leave for the external validation”. And this isn’t a question of ethics. It’s psychology.

Let’s not be purists. Humans need material evidence that they’re on the right track. The ideal is to bring the two together: create something of value for your audience AND gain something in the process.

Don’t force yourself to draw from an empty tank of willpower every single day.

Lining up for the right wave

“To get more motivation, get better results” is obvious advice. Of course, if we knew how to consistently get better results, we wouldn’t need motivation in the first place.

But there’s no blueprint, despite what the gurus say.

There are, however, moves you can make to stop working against the wind—and maybe even catch a good current.

I don’t surf, but I know that if you want to ride a wave, you have to wait for the right one. And when you spot it, you have to reach the right position to catch it. Then, you have to maintain it for as long as possible. (Sorry for the non-technical language, surfers!)

I ran tons of experiments over the years. I think I spotted some patterns. Some guidelines to identify and prepare for the right wave.

What does a good result look like for you?

Depending on the characteristics of your project and its status, some results are simply out of reach. Other are meaningless. Where can you look for motivation?

The most obvious answer is views. Especially early on. It’s not about getting millions, but at least not shouting into the void for months.

Once you cross a certain threshold, depending on the platform, then comes “engagement”: comments, direct messages, emails. The best ones are the more thoughtful ones: questions, objections, compliments and thanks for specific parts of the content.

Everyone consumes passively. No one has time for anything. When someone takes the time to elaborate a deep comment, also proving he consumed actively, you have to be proud.

And the ultimate motivation comes from customers and clients. Especially when the come organically, without hard sells. My YouTube channel is attracting multiple client requests every week. And 90% of the prospects talk to me like friends. They are grateful for what they learned from me and resonate with me.

The three best ways to catch that wave

As I said above, throughout the last 14+ years, I’ve had some periods of exciting growth. They all share one or more of the following traits.

The platform

My first photography blog reached 300k monthly pageviews only from SEO. Back then SEO blogs were thriving. Today, I don’t think the same result could be achieved.

Then I joined another guy launching podcast about Italian digital businesses. We were pioneers, so we intercepted the early adopters. But we were too early, the market cap was limited.

We pivoted multiple times. Now, we get all of our views, subscribers, and money from YouTube. YouTube may be the more consistently solid platform in existence. But it became exciting for us only after we changed one thing I’ll touch on later.

Nowadays, Substack is a platform with easy growth: it’s still relatively young, and the main goal of the company is sheer growth, not profit.

What does this mean for you? Pick either a young platform with a lot of potential or an established one that still helps new creators.

YouTube is an example of the latter. I constantly stumble into unknown creators that grow quickly without previous audiences or publishing teams.

How do you spot a similar platform? First, use it as a consumer: look for creators talking about your interests and see if beginner creators still find space.

But in the end, you just have to test. You will probably bring a unique mix of ingredients.

The platform alone won’t help, though. You have to carefully choose:

The topic

Some topics just perform better. Broaden your point of view, look at your platform from 10000 feet.

You’ll find evergreen, wide topics, like personal growth, that are safe bets. You’ll find trending topics that feel like Mida’s touch for audience growth. Like everything around AI right now.

Need proof?

Here are my YouTube channel’s lifetime views:

The initial “mountain” was built on a handful of generic videos about how to make money online. A broad topic that was very hot at the time.

Then, mid-2020, I started focusing on content for business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. A 4-year-long valley of desperation. What happened in 2024?

First, I started talking about Notion when even Italian started noticing it. Then, I touched on other productivity tools for businesses. But everything exploded when I mixed automations for businesses with AI.

Some topics work on any platform. Sometimes, instead platforms have their inclinations. On X, for example, there are strong communities of startuppers and developers years. On Substack, politics are huge.

How do you know what topics work on which platform? If you follow a topic for a few months, and look for it on every platform, you know.

But again, after you get a hunch, you have to try and publish. Your tone of voice must align with the platform of your choice. And your angle must align with the needs and desires of the audience on that platform.

For example, we expected to have it pretty easy when we focused on online businesses with our podcast and then our YouTube channel. After banging our heads on a granite wall for years, we realized what was wrong: our language and angle where too realistic.

We didn’t promise to “make 100k in 6 months with no experience and 2 hours of work per week”. But our competitors were “bending the truth” (cough lying cough) veeery convincingly. There was no game.

The people

The right people can show you what works, amplify your content, collaborate with you.

I’m really, deeply bad at this. I’m a hermit at heart.

But when I join Substack, I saw it rewarded collaboration. So I pushed outside of my comfort zone, by publishing guest posts, joining communities, asking for recommendation swaps, doing interviews. Every collaborative action increased my monthly subscriber count.

There are a few proven ways to improve your results through connections:

• Join serious communities, with people really interested in putting in the work, help their audiences, and help each other. They will probably be expensive communities.

• Find interesting creators in your niche, read and comment on their content, become friends. This will lead to serendipitous forms of collaboration and reciprocal promotion.

• Find a good coach. Not someone that became successful and has very convincing copy. Someone who helped many other people in different niches and showed she can teach through content.

Don’t forget the basics

These are the three big levers.

But remember they won’t take you anywhere if you don’t the care of the foundations: create the best, most valuable content you can.

I believe that only good results will keep you motivated in the long run. But they can’t be your main goal. Avoid hacks and tricks, they are short-lived.

Keep your highest purpose and your audience in mind all along the way.

Results are relative

Don’t get discouraged if your first 100 videos, articles, or posts don’t go viral.

Maybe the first gets 10 views. Then you publish five more. One of them gets 50, maybe 100.

Then one gets comments. Then another gets a spike of email subscribers.

Don’t expect an Oscar for your school recital. You have to celebrate each of these milestones. Appreciate the slow climb.

And if you’re not getting results, or they aren’t improving, tweak the levers: content quality, platform, topic, relationships.