A content business is often a real bootstrap affair. You start it out by yourself, and you take care of all the writing, filming, editing, scheduling, business communication, marketing, and all the background financial management. The list seriously goes on!
Luckily, you don’t have to do everything yourself! There are plenty of services you can use to make all these tasks easier to manage. There are also some hires you might want to make to make your business more efficient.
Content Creation and Editing Services
One of the first hires a content creator might consider making is an editor. Quality content is the heart of your business, so having the right people to help create and refine your work is essential.
A video editor and photo editor can offload a lot of the busy work as a creator. We’ve seen creators triple their output (and their earnings) by hiring extra help. Best of all, contractors can be written off on your taxes, so you can lower your bill at the end of the year.
Social Media Management Tools
You might also consider a social media scheduling tool, such as Buffer, Hootsuite, or Sprout, to help you keep your content on a regular schedule. You can also hire people to handle the editing and scheduling to help minimize your workload. If you prefer focusing on creating the content, a social media manager can focus on posting it.
Once again, all of these tools and hires are directly associated with your business, so they count as business expenses! Remember to track your subscriptions and contact payments so your tax return isn’t too stressful.
A Virtual Assistant
A virtual assistant (VA) helps manage appointments, deadlines, and communication with potential sponsors and partners. There is a range of pay rates for VAs, and you can find many online through hiring platforms or agencies.
Although it can seem costly to hire help, think about the time you’ll save. If you make $100 an hour creating content, then paying a VA $25 an hour to handle the things that take you away from creating content can give you a net win of $75 an hour.
Project Management and Productivity Tools
Project management tools help streamline your workflow and keep everything organized. And, if you’ve hired a VA, these tools help you both stay in communication without a ton of emails back and forth, making you both more efficient.
Some of those tools include Trello, Asana, and Notion. These allow multiple users to access them asynchronously, and they offer both text and visual interfaces so you can see what needs to be done in the format that works best for you.
Marketing and Branding Services
Growing your audience and making a lasting impression requires strong branding and marketing efforts. You’ve probably already used Canva to make graphics for your social media and website, but you can enhance your marketing with tools that allow automation.
Email marketing and newsletters are a cool way to connect with your audience and share your content. Email marketing software (such as Mailchimp, Flodesk, or Kit) tracks how people interact with your content so you can see what works and what brings in the most money.
As you grow, you might also want to hire people to manage your marketing — this frees you up from the grind of email and social media management so you can spend your time on the part you are best at.
E-Commerce Solutions
If you want to sell merch or products, you’ll need a solid e-commerce solution to help with collecting funds, providing security to buyers, and fulfillment. A service like Shopify can simplify that part of your business, so you can sell your merch with confidence.
Shopify and other e-commerce products integrate with most website providers and social media sites, so you can provide the same sales experience no matter where you are selling.
Accounting and Tax Services
You knew this one was coming, right? Handling money can be one of the most overwhelming parts of running a content business. As a self-employed small businessperson, you know you need to keep track of income and expenses and plan for and file taxes.
An easy way to start is with our handy income expense tracker! This spreadsheet helps you build those healthy financial habits of tracking your money. As you grow, accounting software can be a necessity for your business. But learning how to use QuickBooks can be really hard, especially for creators who want to focus on creating, not accounting.
We can help with the bookkeeping, accounting, and tax prep. Because we work only with content creators and influencers, we get your business in a way a lot of other tax pros don’t. We take the headaches off your plate so you can focus on your content.
Conclusion
Running a content business requires more than just creativity. It takes organization, financial management, and strategic marketing skills. But you don’t have to be the one to do it all. Service providers and online tools can help you get these tasks done well so you can spend your time in your own zone of genius: creating great content.