I’m nothing special. In fact, I’m faaarrrr below the bar on many things. At best, I’m a normal person working a normal day job, writing on the internet. And yet somehow I’ve managed to create a space for myself.

How?

By **leveraging** my day job to create.

I want to show you how you can do exactly the same with this simple framework.

A nutritionist goes **VIRAL**

Emily English got her degree in nutrition in 2019 from King’s College London. Like people up and down the country who got a degree in nutrition, she began working as a nutritionist.

But during the pandemic, she started posting short videos about healthy foods and recipes on socials. 5 years later, she’s got over 800k followers and 14M+ likes on TikTok alone.

She went on to publish her first book ‘So Good’, which went to #1 Bestseller in The Sunday Times and became Amazon’s non-fiction book of the year.

A quick look at her bio:

‘Food you WANT to eat
Designed by a nutritionist
BSc Nutrition’

The point?

She is leveraging her qualifications to give her credibility in a competitive space. Aka, she is shouting about what qualifications she has to give her authority in her niche.

Food is one of the most subscribed to ‘content-markets’ (because it’s highly visual and is a regular occurrence — we’ve all gotta eat) — consequently, the competition is fierce.

How do you stand out?

Well, who’s got more credibility:

a) a home cook
b) a nutritionist

Probably b. Not saying you can’t occupy the a) option, but if you’ve got credentials, you should be showing them.

It’s not just Emily English

And the learning? We all have qualifications and experience we can leverage to get more credibility on the internet.

Many people think you just decide tomorrow that you are going to be a content creator, and then everything changes. The reality is that’s not the case. For the vast majority of people, they create ALONGSIDE their day job for agesssss.

That’s the whole reason I created this newsletter: to inspire people like you to build part-time so you can flex your creativity and earn money part-time.

There are millions of people doing this, some create separately from their day job, and others create FROM their day job. Today we’re focused on the latter.

If you need some inspo, here’s a list of a load of people working 9-to-5 creating on the internet:

• KjBrown — 2M followers

• Organisededucator — 240K+ followers

• Rory Sutherland — 250k+ followers

• Kproductmanager — 77k+ followers

• Floriansbotanical — 44k+ followers

All of these people *use* their 9-to-5 to create content on the web.

They are super clear on what they do, what value they offer to the person at the other end, and, critically, they use the authority in their space to get noticed.

Here’s how you can do the same

We need a list. A list of things you like and the things that you do, so here’s a breakdown of how to get to a point where you can create a brand *about* the thing you do for a living.

Step 1: What’s your day job?

A teacher, a writer, a chef, a gardener.

Step 2: What does an average day look like for you?

Lesson planning, teaching, writing reports, marking homework etc.

Step 3: What *thing* do you like talking about the most?

• Document: the Organised educator does (documents his mornings, lunches and life as a teacher)

• Teach: Rory Sutherland (Vice Chair of Olgivy) teaches marketing lessons

*Documenting is wayyyyy easier in the beginning.

Step 4: Plan your first 10 videos

This part is about keeping things easy. In the beginning, aim for 1 *thing* (short-form content: video, post) a day. In the beginning is key to keep things easy and simple. The more complicated, the more likely you are to drop off.

If you’re just starting out, incorporate content into your life, not your life around content. Simple and easy will help you build a habit, and then the habit will carry you through.

Step 4: Your prompt

Here’s a prompt to help you work out how to use your day job to create your first 10 pieces of content: