“Start with why”, as Simon Sinek’s famous book on leadership advises. Granted, we're not talking about management motivation here, but knowing exactly why you do the things you choose to do is powerful, and worth some deep thought to attain. That’s especially true of any creative endeavour, because you can practically guarantee that you’ll face setbacks in all of them. And if you can’t feel the bedrock of motivation and discipline beneath you when the waves of adversity hit, you’re liable to paddle back to the shore and give up.

This is perfectly natural - feeling deflated when something doesn’t work out is part of life, the low you need to feel the high - and hey, maybe giving up is the right choice rather than sticking at something that isn’t for you. The point is: you won’t know whether pushing ahead is the right or wrong choice for you unless you think about it. And so, that’s what we asked our community of content creators to do. Why do you create content and what keeps you on track? Do you still have the burning passion that got you interested in it in the first place? We got some thoughtful, candid responses that’ll make enlightening reading for others, all of which we've set out below.

avrona

avrona is a tech and PC-focussed content creator, whose primary medium is YouTube. He explained that as a kid, he "was always the one to start clubs, make up playground games, or otherwise try to come up with stuff others could do". He suspects it's due to seeking external validation, or possibly as a "gateway to recognition of greater things to come".

Avrona was inspired to start his YouTube channel after discovering a fan-made blog about an online browser game he’d played when he was younger, set up in the absence of an official blog from the developers. By the end of that same day, he'd set up his own blog to compete, despite no experience in that realm whatsoever. That took off, and a YouTube channel followed shortly after.

"The blog was still supposed to be the main priority, but I could embed my videos into posts, while also driving traffic from YouTube. I loved every second of this. However, soon the community around the game died out, and so did my blog. With that, the only thing I was left with was the channel, and I still wanted to make content and make something out of it, and it would have felt weird to forget about the channel as well."

Avrona set himself the goal of turning the channel into "something special", and despite what he sees as mathematically slow progress of just over 10,000 subscribers since 2013 - hey, everyone’s moving at their own pace - he has founded a whole company and reckons "there's no reason to stop now."

Schadsquatch

Schadsquatch is one of the many EVE Online streamers on Just About, and his reason for doing what he does is that he's a self-diagnosed people pleaser. He says he "loves to be the centre of attention and loves making other people happy" - which is one of the reasons he became a teacher. That translates to his streams, where he says he's often teaching something about the game, or trying something new to learn more about it. Here’s how his streaming journey began:

"During the pandemic, I was forced to teach online classes. My students and friends said I was great at engaging people in an online space and I should try streaming on Twitch. My friend Courtney taught me some tricks and got me my first dozen or so followers. I have since then found much more success than I could have ever thought was possible for myself, reaching over a couple thousand followers, many subscribers, and a bit of a loyal fan base!"

Letitia Lemon

Letitia Lemon is a variety streamer on Twitch, with recent streams featuring the original Ratchet & Clank, Fallout 4, Sniper Elite 5, and Skyrim. She explained she was always keen to work in the media in some manner, having studied it at school with the intent to work on television or films, along with a university degree afterwards. However, some "industry professionals" recommended that she dabble in presenting as she has a voice that is easy to listen to, which then evolved into some acting and theatre jobs.

"Streaming came about because a lot of my friends were all giving it a go and said I would be fantastic at it with my charisma, how naturally funny and witty I am, and the fact that I’m somewhat decent at games. So I gave it a go and had a blast - I didn’t expect anyone to turn up at first, so when I had a somewhat sizable audience for my first stream, I felt motivated to keep going."

She went on to explain that the reason she carries on to this day is because she's realised that she - alongside other smaller creators - can inspire and help people. Receiving positive feedback that people "cosy up" while watching her content after an arduous day, or try playing a game outside their comfort zone because she has done so on stream or recommended it, is very moving for Letitia. "I wouldn't want to be doing anything else with my life now," she says.

Lanah Tyra

Lanah Tyra is Just About's resident Final Fantasy expert, especially when it comes to Final Fantasy XIV. She explained that she loves to tell stories, which is why she continues streaming, but her journey as a content creator began during the COVID-19 pandemic. She had been working as a tour guide, but with lockdown putting that on ice, she instead turned to spending most days running 48-player raids as part of a community in FFXIV. Things snowballed from there:

"Eventually I became a raid leader and started streaming our runs. Teaching people how to do the mechanics and telling tales about how the game has changed gave me the same feeling as my guided tours used to, and made me realise how important it is to do something you love, something you’re passionate about."

She went on to explain that her dream as a child was to become an actress, and that comes through when she's streaming as she will often assume the role of her character and comment on the game from their point of view. Lanah finished by explaining it will undoubtedly be a tough journey to make a living from this, but this has now become her dream job, and she hopes that when it is her job, she can wake up and smile when thinking about work.

Fun Inc

Finally, FUN INC, like Schadsquatch, is an EVE Online streamer. Before he started streaming, he would record all of his gameplay in order to analyse it and improve - one of the best and most-often repeated tips for getting better at any multiplayer game, incidentally - but realised, as long as he was doing this, he may as well stream to other people too. Not the strongest motivation, we think you’ll agree, but Fun Inc discovered a greater purpose: the reason he keeps going is thanks to "community connection".

"I feel more connected to the community via streaming, and in turn I enjoy playing EVE Online more. There is a slight bias here, as I did also use streaming as a recruitment tactic for my corporation and the NPSI fleets that I run, but it's not the sole focus or reason."

Another aspect that appeals to Fun Inc, he reckons, is being able to "share great experiences, understand failures, and celebrate the good times". Being able to find the old clips from the stream, no matter how long ago the thing happened, is part of why he keeps going, because there's nothing like sharing fond memories.

Why do you create content? If you want to contribute to this discussion in the future, let us know in the comments, and keep your story in mind for when this bounty happens again!