Lockdown – The Online Creatives’ Dark Horse

Lockdown has given us all a PhD in reality.

Much lyrical has been waxed about the global economic downturn and job losses. The word ‘uncertainty’ should itself be made redundant due to it being ironically overworked.

Let’s eke out the silver lining

One place of work that certainly isn’t redundant is -The Internet. Enter the Online Creative, à la Voiceover Artists, Podcasters, Writers, Editors, Proofreaders, Content Creators, Youtubers, Social Media Managers and the like. An overwhelming proportion of Online Creatives in various disciplines are actually experiencing an exhilarating renaissance at this juncture in lockdown. Rather than lockdown economically killing them – they are making a killing. 

Are you a Producer or Consumer?

Online Creatives are essentially Producers.

I believe that their upswing during these perilous times is largely down to a basic, yet fundamental truth: Most people are consumers rather than producers. This has long been the case, but during this unprecedented time, this reality is eerily staring us in the face and adamantly refusing to blink. Many people have seeded their ability and desire to produce in this state of confusion, for the sake of consumption, comfort and convenience. This is no secret, ask Netflix. It is on this premise that they have acquired their booty.

A multitude of people are presently in the trance of consumer mode. They are consuming creativity rather than producing it. Not that it is necessarily a geographical lockdown that has put people into this trance, but rather it is a mental and creative lockdown that many are experiencing, that has inadvertently, ‘created’ a burgeoning opening for the online creative to mount into the saddle of it’s dark horse and take flight.

 A rebate for the 10,000 hour premise

It’s useful to take stock of the fact that major creative online outlets such as Netflix and Amazon, were once a start up. They’ve expended thousands upon thousands of hours of hard work, successes, flops etc. to get to the point where they can now bask in their current position today. Even if you have to set your fees at a modest rate to begin with, or indeed start for scale, there has never been a time whereby consumers are more tuned in online, undistracted by a normal work routine or their social life.

For those of us who are proponents of the 10,000 hour theory, we understand that it often requires approximately 10,000 hours (some say at least 5 – 10 years) of practice and experience in one’s craft to arrive at the point of expertise in your creative expression. This is under normal circumstances. COVID-19 lockdown couldn’t be further removed from normalcy. As brilliant as the 10,000 hour blueprint is, it did not foresee this huge chasm of lockdown in which we now find ourselves.

The script has been flipped, making it possible for monumental headway to be made during this unusual time.

As an example, assuming the lockdown period is to encompass the months of March 2020 through to June 2020, that would be nearly 3,000 hours. How much of that time can one really spend on sleep, food, family matters, zoom, walking the dog, ‘Netflix and Chill’ etc.? When we do the Math, we will likely find that lockdown has given us a down payment of time – our most valuable asset, to expedite arriving at the stage of mastery in our artistic and creative specialities.

So, what are your passion projects, side hustles? Whatever it is, why not see if you can produce an iteration of it online, monetize it and join the scores of online creatives who are using lockdown as a phenomenal time to level up!