#CreatorStories showcases the honest personal experiences of digital creators who monetize their knowledge of a skill and sell it on Selar. We share these stories every week to inspire you to create and sell a product out of your wealth of knowledge and be a part of the digital creator economy.

This week, we turn the lights on Dimeji Fadesere, also known as Dimejistories online. Dimeji works as a Storyteller and Content Marketer.

Let’s get to know him, shall we?

Can you introduce yourself?

Hi I’m Dimeji, or Dimejistories online. I’m a storyteller. I find ways to communicate ideas regardless of what it is. Whether in content, digital marketing, videos, or classic stories. By classic stories I mean films. Anywhere communication of ideas is a thing really, that’s what I do and where I focus my energy. 

What was your career journey like before becoming a content marketer and creative storyteller?

My career journey is a bit unconventional. There were a lot of things I was interested in. From secondary school to university, I felt connected to Art. The only problem was, at that time, saying you want to build a career in Art wasn’t something most parents were excited to hear. So I looked for another profession connected to art, and the closest thing I found was Architecture. 

A few years into that and I found a love for music along the way. From songwriting to instruments to production. From there it became a love for graphic design and digital art. 

I enjoyed doing different things in my life, but none of them felt satisfying on their own. I felt, at the time, like I had to choose one, but none of those things were fully satisfying for me. 

The game changer happened a few years later. I realized that while there were different things I loved, the fact remained that I was still ONE person, not multiple people (if that even makes sense). So there was probably ONE philosophy tying all my interests together.

After a series of prayers, TED talks, and wanting to understand myself, I found that the one connecting factor to all these various parts of myself was “storytelling.” 

Now, THAT felt more fulfilling. I could define myself as a storyteller and it feels satisfying enough that I could do it forever. 

Whether it is making movies or making content or digital marketing or art. I could do it all and STILL be a storyteller.

That’s why I am what I am today. 

Do you have any digital products on sale? 

Yes. I have a couple on sale with Selar. 

What made you decide to create a digital product? 

When I got to the point where people were asking me enough questions, I knew there was a need, and I knew I was mentally equipped to answer those questions and meet that need. 

So I created levels of solutions to the problems I saw and each of those levels became a product. 

I’m a very liberal thinker. I don’t subscribe to the idea that there is only ONE way of doing things. 

I’ve always believed anything you wanted could be achieved in ways that work for YOU. Without going against your personality or values. And it’s something I had been able to prove with my own career and content. 

That’s exactly why one of the first products I launched around that idea was ‘Only What Works For You.” It’s an ebook that helps creators find their own way around getting to where they want to go. 

There’s also the aspect of me that has studied and gathered experience in storytelling and communications, so I created a video course titled “The Art of Storytelling.” The course was designed to teach people how to share stories online, especially on Instagram, in a way that resonated with their audience. 

And finally, at one point, I launched an 8-week mentorship program on Selar. 

What was your first digital product?

My first digital product idea was “The Art of Storytelling” while the first packaged digital product I sold was ‘Only What Works For You”

When did you earn your first money (commission) from creating and selling digital products?

I decided to start my life as a storyteller on January 1st, 2020. After I had gotten some clarity on what I wanted to do and how to turn my IG into a business-like (but still relatable) platform, one day I decided to just post every single day for three months and see what happens. 

That was one of the best decisions I made at the time. It helped me grow and get recognized faster.

In March/April 2020, somebody approached me inquiring about my services and asked if I had a course for sale. I didn’t at the time, so I had to build the first version of “The Art of Storytelling” for that person. This was four months after I had begun the process of being “Dimejistories” and posting about storytelling online. It was after a few MORE months of intentional efforts that I began consistently making money from it. 

What is your sales strategy that other digital creators can employ for their digital products?

I think you always have to be intentional if you want to sell anything and survive on it. What helped me was mostly consistency. To consistently show up and say something valuable or interesting. And it was organic. No ads. It was just from the community built by consistency, from people who connected with what I had to say. 

Another thing that helped me was just being myself. People assume they have to be formal and speak or act formally when they enter a digital space or want to monetize. The problem with that is it fills out your personality. And if you’re doing digital, personality is the thing that keeps people attentive enough to engage with you. Otherwise, you end up sounding like every other default brand or business online. 

Attention is the true currency of every business. Especially digital businesses. It was when I had that attention that I was able to put my Selar products in front of people. Not before. 

The attention I gained from relatable content now created social proof that made other businesses and business people believe that I knew what I was doing. 

And because I was consistent, more people were seeing it every day and became aware of my “expertise”. That’s how people began to see that I could handle content for their own brands. So I’d say it was a combination of efforts and consistency that kept growing and expanding, that helped me create income from digital products.

But if there was a mistake I made it would probably be that back then I had a very straight sense of what value was. I always thought value had to be informative or educational.

But now I’ve come to realize that value can simply be a connection. Making people feel less lonely. Making people feel seen, entertained, and connected. 

Would you say you leveraged the power of community to make sales as a digital creator?

Yeah, definitely. It was the power of connection and community that led to sales at the end of the day.

From your experience, how can brands leverage storytelling to increase brand awareness? 

To be honest, I think too many brands are afraid to fail.

I’ve worked in the corporate sector for a while now and I feel like most brands in this part of the world are very scared of saying what they think or feel. Due to this fear, they completely tune out the human side of themselves and sound very rigid. 

And I get the fear. When you have money on the line, it’s difficult to “freestyle” your language, values, and sense of innovation.  But I think brands should not be afraid to have a personality attached to what they do. 

You don’t have to be overly controversial. Just allow yourself to be a human being. Companies should remember people want to connect with people, not brick and mortar. 

So if you provide an honest emotional connection with your users, your competitors have lower chances of taking your customers away. People buy with emotion and THEN justify with logic. I think brands don’t fully understand this part. Be open to having a personality. Be open to having and using emotion. It’s a better decision to go from simply having customers to having fans. 

Also, find unconventional ways to say conventional things. Sometimes it’s not what you say or post, it’s HOW you say or post it. 

Aside from showing us what being a creative storyteller looks like, what else do you do?

I’m an anime lover. If you follow me you’ve probably already seen the obsession. Not just anime; movies and films, too. 

Basically anywhere people can express human emotion. Because I’m able to unlock different versions of myself based on other people’s stories, I can watch an anime and see a relatable problem and then use the solution of the protagonist to fix my own problem. I spend a lot of my time watching films. 

Beyond that, I’m somebody that likes to dissect life. Everything from philosophy to science. I’m also a lazy introvert, I don’t like leaving my house. But if I have enough mental preparation (and money), I can go anywhere.

What advice would you give to digital creators in Africa that can help them boost their sales?

If you want to create and enjoy the process while making money from it – Just start and keep going. 

It’s going to be bad for a while, and it’s okay because it’s part of the process. That’s how it is for everybody. You’d be bad for a while, get moderately good, then get really good. Then maybe even get bad again. 

It’s a constant cycle. 

You can have a high moment and immediately after that, it could crash. That’s why I’d say just do it and don’t stop. It gets to a point where everything starts to add up slowly with consistency. 

Next, don’t settle. Have the self-awareness to go towards what you like and pull away from what you don’t like or want to do. Not saying there won’t be days you compromise, but I believe there’s always a way to get the life and job you want, You just have to find it, and not permanently settle on the life you DON’T want. 

Also, you can only see the road as you walk it. 

You may almost never know the end from the beginning. It is while you walk down a path that it gradually opens up for you. 

I didn’t know I could make money from “Dimejistories”. 

It was while I kept walking that I kept seeing new roads, new opportunities, and new possibilities. 

Everything that people tell you you cannot do or monetize is a lie. 

You can, but the road to get there will only show WHILE you walk it.

So just start, and keep going.

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Build an audience, create a digital product, and begin your journey to the creator economy.

All you need to do is to START.