30 Lessons About Building An Online Creator Business I Learned At 30 Years Old
What I wish I knew years ago about building an online business.
Last Sunday, I turned 30.
But I’ve been running online creator businesses since I was 21.
Over those 9 years, I’ve built multiple online businesses, served thousands of paying customers, and grown my audience to over 100,000 people across email, Substack, Medium, and a few other platforms.
Below are 30 of the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way.
Let’s get into it.👇
1. Build Scalable Digital Assets
Freedom and flexibility were the reasons I started an online business in the first place.
To achieve those things, you have to build scalable assets that generate income without your active involvement.
For example:
Online courses
E-books
Templates & toolkits
Challenges
Software or tools
Building digital products is one of the best things you can do. You only have to create it once, but it can sell forever (practically on autopilot, around the clock).
It’s the closest thing to passive income there is.
2. Stop Overthinking
If you’re new to building an online business, just take action.
Even if your plan isn’t perfect.
Even if you don’t know your niche yet.
Even if you’re unsure of your first offer.
Action creates clarity. Overthinking creates paralysis.
Some of my most profitable products started as impulsive experiments that I didn’t overthink or map out completely.
3. Keep It Simple
You don’t need:
6 social platforms
5 different offers
A complex funnel
All you really need is:
One irresistible offer
That solves one painful problem
For one clear audience
Marketed through one channel (for me, Substack)
Simplicity sells. Simplicity scales. And simplicity keeps you sane.
4. Raise Your Prices
Raising your prices is one of the best things you can do for your creator business.
It attracts more fun and ambitious customers, and forces you to upgrade the quality of your entire business.
Besides, raising your prices is one of the fastest ways to increase your revenue.
When I switched from selling $27–$79 products to $397+ programs and $1,500–$3,000 coaching packages, my income skyrocketed.
5. Don’t Turn Your Passion Into a Prison
Just because something is your passion doesn’t mean it should be your business.
Yes, you should enjoy what you do.
But your business doesn’t have to be your #1 passion.
I treat my business as a vehicle that gives me the freedom to spend time on hobbies and passions I simply want to enjoy, rather than turn them into work.
6. Surround Yourself With The Right People
Even if you’re a solopreneur, you shouldn’t go at it alone.
Surrounding yourself with entrepreneurs or creators who are on a similar journey, or who already have achieved what you want to achieve, massively speeds up your growth.
(And it makes everything more fun.)
7. Growing an Audience ≠ Building a Business
You can have 100k followers and still be broke.
You can have 1,000 subscribers and be extremely profitable.
Likes don’t pay the bills. Offers do.
Don’t just ask, “How can I grow my audience?”
Ask, 'How can I turn my knowledge into an offer that people actually want to buy—and how do I get people to see this offer?'
8. Buyers Buy Again
Selling to existing customers is much easier than selling to new customers.
They already know and trust you.
Instead of constantly chasing new buyers, focus on serving your existing customers.
Deliver so much value that they’ll keep coming back to your products and services.
9. Even If You Fail, You Still Win
Three online businesses of mine flopped.
Several course launches flopped.
Dozens of articles flopped.
But each “failure” taught me incredibly valuable lessons, and it helped me get to where I am today.
Remember, failure only becomes permanent if you stop trying.
10. Master Your Time
How you spend your time is how you spend your life.
That’s why, every week, I identify my top priorities and schedule exactly when I’ll be working on them.
This one habit made a big difference in my productivity.
11. If It Works, Keep Doing It
If something works, keep doing it. Don’t fall for shiny object syndrome.
One of the productivity courses I launched made $11,000 in one month… and instead of doubling down on it, I made a new (unproven) one that flopped.
Lesson learned: double down on what’s working.
Instead of going for new, focus on what works.
Double down on it. Improve it. Scale it.
12. Stop Consuming. Start Doing.
Yes, investing in your skillset is great. Essential, even.
But there’s a point where more podcasts, books, newsletters, and courses stop helping, and start distracting.
That’s when you’ll learn far more by doing, not just consuming.
13. Serve a Clear Target Customer
In my old business (Peak Productivity), my audience was a mix of students, CEOs, entrepreneurs, content creators, and even retirees.
Although I still generated multiple six figures with this business, here’s what I would do differently if I had to start all over again…
I’d pick one clear target customer instead of writing to such a broad audience.
Having a specific target customer makes it much easier to create offers that resonate deeply (making them more likely to buy), rather than staying superficial because you're trying to appeal to everyone.
The riches are in the niches.
14. Build Your Email List
Your email list is the core of your online business.
You can have thousands of social media followers, but that’s an audience you rent.
(While an email list is an audience you own.)
Platforms go in and out of popularity all the time. Algorithms can change overnight, limiting your reach. And selling through social media content hardly works.
That’s why you need to build an email list asap.
Fortunately, Substack makes this easy.
15. Be a Guide, Not a Guru
Being a guru means telling people what they should do. Being a guide means showing people what you’ve actually done.
Share what’s worked for you. Be honest about what hasn’t.
That builds more trust (and attracts more customers) than anything else.
16. Do What Others Avoid
Lots of people want a six-figure a year online business, but they’re not willing to do what it takes to actually make it happen.
They don’t want to:
Niche down
Learn sales & marketing
Reach out to potential customers (or collaborators)
Follow up with potential clients
Be willing to do these things, and you’ll already outperform 90% of other online creators.
17. You Will Attract Haters
The bigger your audience, the more random negativity you’ll get.
Ignore it.
Don’t argue with strangers on the internet.
It’s a complete waste of time.
18. Get Out of Your Own Way
It’s not a lack of knowledge that holds most entrepreneurs back—it’s fear, self-doubt, and stories like:
“I’m not ready yet.”
“Who am I to charge that much?”
“I’m not an expert.”
Silence those voices by taking action.
19. Use The Three-Tier Offer System
Different buyers have different budgets and needs. That’s why I always have three different offers built around the same topic:
Do-It-Yourself: Online Course ($100–$700)
Done-With-You: 1-1 Coaching ($1,000–$3,000)
Done-For-You: Hands-on service ($3,000+)
Same knowledge and expertise, but packaged in a different way, with a different level of service and price point.
20. You Don’t Need More Credentials
There are people far less qualified than you doing exactly what you dream of, simply because they chose to believe in themselves.
No, you don’t need more credentials.
No, you don’t need to be more of an expert.
You know far more about your topic than you give yourself credit for.
Just get going.
21. Don’t Be Afraid to Repeat Yourself
You don’t have to come up with different content ideas all the time.
New people join your audience every day, so don’t be afraid to repeat your core messages over and over again.
Besides, most people in your existing audience likely need to hear the same message multiple times before it truly resonates.
22. Don't Chase Trends, Focus on the Fundamentals
Chasing trends means constantly jumping onto the latest hot social media platform or trendy business model.
Don’t do this. It’s distracting, exhausting, and rarely pays off.
Instead, focus on mastering the fundamentals:
Learn marketing basics
Understand human psychology
Master creating irresistible offers that people genuinely want
The fundamentals make you money. Chasing trends just keeps you distracted.
23. Repurpose Your Content
Creating content takes serious time and energy, so it’s smart to leverage what you’ve already made:
Turn your long-form post into a dozen Notes
Turn your Substack Live into short clips or a podcast episode
Turn your YouTube videos into long-form posts by extracting the transcription (you can use AI for this), and repurpose clips into short-form content
One solid piece of content can easily turn into a dozen smaller ones, saving you hours in the process.
24. Treat It Like a Business, Not a Hobby
Whether you're a Substack writer, online creator, solopreneur, or digital product creator—treat what you're doing as a business.
It's easy to slip into the mindset of treating it as a hobby (or treating your Substack like a personal diary). But that won’t get you results.
Treating it like a business means:
Taking consistent action, even when motivation fades
Creating clear, profitable offers that serve your audience
Planning strategically, tracking your numbers, and setting goals
When you treat it like a business, it shows.
When you treat it like a hobby, it also shows.
So if you want to make money with this, treat it like a business.
25. Use The Morning For Making, The Afternoon For Managing
The morning is my most productive window of the day.
It’s quiet, cognitive abilities are sharper, mental focus is stronger, and energy levels are naturally higher.
That makes the morning perfect for making stuff:
Creating content
Building digital products
Writing sales copy
Any work that requires your highest level of focus and creativity
By the afternoon, things usually get a bit messier.
This is the ideal time to switch gears into managing mode:
Meetings or calls
Administrative tasks
Replying to messages and emails
Smaller tasks that require less mental horsepower
Protect your mornings for deep, creative work. Save afternoons for managing.
26. Pick One Marketing Channel
You don’t need to be “everywhere” to build a profitable online business.
Pick one platform (like Substack), master it, and go all in.
Depth > width.
27. Systems Beat Hustle
Yes, hard work is important. But what really scales is systems.
If something can be automated (or streamlined), do it.
Free up your time and energy as much as possible.
That’s what builds a business. Not just working harder.
28. Great Copy Makes Everything Easier
Learn how to write persuasive copy.
It will help you:
Sell more
Convert more
Build trust faster
One skill, endless ROI.
29. Your Energy Is Everything
If you’re exhausted, distracted, or burned out, it’s hard to run a profitable business.
Protect your energy. Sleep well. Exercise often. Eat clean.
30. Keep Going
This one matters most.
So many creators quit when things aren’t moving as quickly as they want.
Don’t let that be you. Stick with it.
It took me 18 months of trial and error to make my first dollar online.
But I’m glad I stuck with it during those hard months, because now (years later) I have a digital business that fuels my lifestyle.
Keep going.
If even one of these lessons sparked something for you, let me know in the comments.
And if you’re building your own creator business, I hope this gave you the clarity, confidence, or reminder you needed to keep going.
Thank you Jari. Just starting out so this is very helpful. Much appreciated.
Nice list here, your points on systems and simplicity are the underrated aspects of the biz that I think a lot of people tend to neglect (but I've found become more and more important the longer I do this).