When you work in a creative field generating content either for your own platform or for other people, there are numerous unique challenges that come your way. Technology has helped to make content creation more accessible and easier in some ways, but there are other challenges that remain, and some new ones that emerge along with new technologies.
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Table of Contents
File Sharing
The issue of what to do when sending large graphics files when your email limit is 25mb in attachments can become very tricky indeed. Generally speaking, media files are much larger than they have been in the past, and that’s because the quality of those files is going up. Videos are now in high-definition (HD) and images too are highly intricate and packed with content that jacks up the file size.
Content creators need to find solutions to these problems, whatever they may be. They might decide to invest in a decent file-sharing service, especially if they’re working as part of a larger collaborative team. If they work alone, however, they may use a cloud storage service and simply make files available to clients and others by sharing links to those cloud storage folders. If creating content for their own platform, it allows them to access their files from any computer.
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Continuous and Consistent Creation
Another big challenge is being able to continuously and consistently churn out high-quality content. The first tricky thing is setting up a schedule that works for them. They might initially think that writing 3 detailed articles per week for their Medium page is easy, or creating brand-new videos for YouTube every Friday is no problem, but over time they start to run into difficulties.
They may experience writer’s block, or fall ill, or have family trouble, all of which can set them back and thus see their carefully planned schedule go down the drain. Maintaining a constant flow of content is also the way by which platforms grow and become more valuable, so it’s a big challenge that creators have to try and overcome.
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Satisfying Nebulous Client Demands
When working in the creative field as a freelancer, it can be very challenging indeed when you have clients who have difficulty accurately articulating what it is exactly that they want a content creator to make for them. When they use a lot of buzzwords or flowery, nebulous language to describe what they’re after — the next big thing; something dynamic and engaging; it needs to have the “wow” factor — then actually getting it right on the first or even second try can be very challenging.
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Staying Motivated
When the work keeps coming, it can be hard to stay motivated as a creator. There are times when content creators must wish they could just take a pause, but they have a schedule to keep if they want their own platform to grow, or if they want to keep their clients happy. With that kind of continuous workload, it can be hard to stay motivated. Over time, things start to feel repetitive and uninspiring.
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Support from Friends and Family
It’s hard to ignore the fact that getting into a creative sector is not something that most people see as a wise move. Friends and family may say they support you as a creative, but then always remind you of the dangers of an insecure or unstable income, while also pointing out that if you put a foot wrong anywhere your reputation could be ruined, and then what? It’s horror story after horror story. They may think they’re helping, but it’s an emotional challenge for content creators to stay the course and keep working to make their dreams come true.
