How I Became a Content Creator

Growing up, I never thought I would become a content creator. When I was young, video games were a form of escape for me. School was boring, and I never seemed to fit in with my classmates—so I would explore digital worlds.

As I grew older, I wanted to find a way to still connect with those fantastic worlds, but this time, I wanted to do it with other people. That’s what got me into content creation to begin with: I wanted more people to experience the cool things I had found.

That’s jumping ahead a bit, however. At the time, I wasn’t ever particularly good at the games I played, having only ever casually gotten into them. If I wanted to actually be an authority on the topic, I had to go get some experience.

That’s when I began playing eSports at the University of Utah making me a D1 athlete. In the same way Shane Gillis is a decorated veteran. 

Competitive games at that high of a level are demanding, but very rewarding. In order to play the game at the level necessary, it requires you to understand how the actual game works better than a novice player could even imagine. While Overwatch might not be the same game it used to be, the ability to dissect and understand games at that level has been a fundamental help in all the games I’ve played since.

This gives me keen insight into games that others would just miss, and adds a lot of value to my perspective as a voice online.

Now that I had the games figured out—which was the easy part—I had to figure out how to build a community of people who were entertained enough by me to sit around a few times a week and watch me play video games.

Streaming is all about persistence and connection. People really appreciate it when they can tell a person put effort into the things they produce. I’ve learned video editing on Premiere Pro and improved my social media presence, and people really have begun to notice. I’m getting traction in the communities I want to be a part of, and it’s really exciting.

I’m just getting started.

This next year, I hope to get partnered on Twitch, which will open up a lot of opportunities for advertising revenue and collaborations through Twitch events.

If anyone out there who’s reading this is on the fence about doing something creative: why not take a bet on yourself? Dice are random, but you can weigh the deck in your favor when it comes to being successful. Be brighter or bolder than your competition.

Big fish make large ripples.