You know, it is somehow that there are people, especially Nigerians, who do not see content creation as actual work, but then again, I do not really blame them. The thing is our society is one that has glorified suffering; hence, they are more about hard work than smart work.
The average Nigerian, especially the older generation, does not believe a reward is earned if the work process does not almost unalive the worker. They see you on your phone and other gadgets and automatically assume that you are lazy. They breathe down on your neck to go off your phone, go out in the sun, and till the land for money. Basically the aim for reward is to be a hard worker.
But then over the years we've seen the upcoming generations say no to such mentality. They want soft work; they want to earn while doing what they love, and of course, they trust the Westerners to take advantage of these trends to create an avenue for all that to become a reality.
I remember one time a popular Nigerian Facebooker shared an experience on Facebook that he had with his younger brother. Notably, this Facebooker is an entrepreneur and a businessman earning from tech and crypto, but then there is his brother, who is seen as jobless and always on his phone yet somehow manages to pay his bills.
So one day this Facebooker sat his younger brother down and started advising him on the need to be employed, as he's no longer a child and would soon start making moves to be a family man like himself.
Well, according to this Facebooker, it was his intention to offer his brother a job at his fintech company, but after registering his intentions, the brother declined, stating that he already has his hands full with creating content for his TikTok page. A response that the Facebooker mocked as he immediately started trash-talking the brother's hustle by stating emphatically that content creation is not a job one can live by.
While he made these bold statements, the brother immediately whipped up his account and showed him his earnings. Upon sighting the younger brother's wallet, he started eating back his words. According to him, in that post, he never knew content creators were actually being paid such huge sums. He basically thought their pay was pettiness, and most money earned by them was from other means or sources.
After reading that post, it started to make sense why some days back the Facebooker shared his TikTok handle, calling for followers. I mean, it is common for human beings to always want to try out what is beneficial for the next individual.
Regardless of how effortless content creation might be, it is serious business, which requires a lot of work and investment. The thing is anybody can create content, but not everyone can create value. To create value, one has to be extra and craft a unique style that can not just stir excitement but also trigger nerve-relaxing feelings.
Understandably, we all cannot fit into the same line of work, and why there are people who do the heavy lifting, there should be a balancing effect of other categories of people who create a relaxing environment for these heavy lifters. Harmoniously, everyone is creating a safe space for the next person.
Quite unfortunately, there are a lot of people in the internet space constituting a nuisance all in the name of content creation, and while they might do all sorts to drive traffic and earn from this traffic, their effort will never stand the test of time because when it comes to value creation, there are no shortcuts to sustainability.