#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 Yai, popularly known as the Process Tool Box online.

Let’s get to know her, shall we?

Can we meet Yai?

I am Yai, a content strategist, and a ghostwriter. But during the day I work in project management.

What was your career journey before getting into the creator economy?

I have a Masters degree in management and international business. After that, I went on to work as a general manager in a restaurant. However, I have always liked writing, it’s always been in me since I was young and is just one of the things that I can easily do. When I left my job as a general manager, I moved on to work in project management. 

What Influenced your decision to pursue content strategy and ghostwriting?

I have always done something on the side alongside my regular job. Because of that, I often get questions like “how are you so organized?” ‘how do you manage your time?” and so on. Then I share tips with them on effective time management which they implement. Sometimes, I also share business ideas with them which they’d try out and be successful at it.  

When I came to Instagram and saw other creators creating content, I said I was going to do the same. So I started creating content around planning, productivity, time management, and organization. This was in December 2020.

Later on, people started asking me how I create content to be entertaining regardless of the topic. At that point, I realized that people didn’t really care about my planning and productivity content and all that. They just wanted to know how I came up with it, which was hard because I felt like my creativity is in my head so I can come up with all of these things quickly. 

Eventually, I started pivoting and talking about how to come up with content ideas, how I write, and my content strategy. I called myself a Content Strategist then. Later, I saw that everyone was creating content and offering content strategy services. I wanted to stand out, so I decided to focus on creating launch content. 

This was mostly because I took note of the content I created while launching my product. I created different types of content formats with different posting schedules and I just decided to focus on helping people create content needed for product launches. 

Currently, I am more focused on launch content strategy and ghostwriting which come hand in hand because people would always say “you are helping me with my launch but I am also struggling with some of the content you asked me to create, can you create it for me?” and then I would do that.

How did you discover the role of content in digital products launch?

I remember I had a product, although I have discontinued the product now. I just went to create a flyer because that’s what I saw everyone doing. I made the flyer to create awareness for my product and for people to come and buy. But people didn’t buy the product. I was shocked because I thought if you just post a flyer about a product you have, then people would buy it. 

Because of this, I started researching and saw different ways people launched their products. Also, being someone that follows movies and music a lot, I noticed that during a movie release, there’d be trailers, interviews, premieres, etc.

When artists want to release an album, they always do something different. Probably a challenge, or a flex of the beat, or anything. So I delved deep into different types of launches and decided to test it on myself first to see if it was going to work before I start helping other people. 

In the process, I realized that you need a lot of content to launch one product. You need to let people know it’s coming, when it arrives, remind them that it’s here, why it benefits them, and so much more.

How did you discover you could turn your idea into a profitable business? 

I have always had an Instagram account but it was just my personal page with just friends and family. Then one day, I stumbled on a page where the creator used carousels to promote the product. I decided to give it a try.

I followed him, then Instagram suggested similar creator accounts for me to follow. I followed all of them since they were selling digital products and paid attention to the offers they were giving. 

I think I have always had a knowledge of digital products and how it works. I remember there was a time I tried blogging but I wasn’t consistent with it. This was before Instagram became a thing. I also knew that if you have something, you can promote it on your blog. So, I can say I have had the idea of digital products for a while.

How do you think paid employees can be creators while keeping their full-time jobs?

It takes a lot of time management, strategies, and putting systems in place so you are not overwhelmed. I always say content is everywhere. Sometimes I could be at my full-time job going through something totally different and I’d see a way to relate it back to my page. Generally,  I would say it’s a lot of effort, time management, and discipline.

What’s a content strategy that works all the time for digital products?

I’d say carry your audience along when you are creating a digital product. This means, don’t just create the product and dump it in their faces, let them know you are working on something. 

For example, I tell my clients to ask their audience to suggest a name for the digital product they are working on or ask them to be a part of the product. Maybe design the cover or anything else. 

This strategy always works because when people are a part of something, they pay more attention to it and feel obligated to patronize it and share it with other people. 

Another strategy would be to create lots of content from your product and make a lot of noise from it. Because not everyone would see it at first. Also, people need time to gather the money they’d pay you for the product you’re selling and sometimes they forget.

So you need to keep reminding them and putting your product in their faces. The longer the launch, the better it is.

What’s your creative process for coming up with content that sells a product?

It’s a natural thing for me. I just create content as I go along my day. But I have different types of launch strategies that I share on my page and can follow if I think I have run out of page juice and need something to go back on. 

Would you encourage more people to start an online business? and why? 

Absolutely. The first one is the passive income side of it. Of course, you have to sit down and create these digital products but as you put it out there, there is no better feeling than knowing that you created something a while ago and people are still buying it. 

Also, the progress of the creator economy shows that digital products will be huge in years to come. So I would definitely encourage people to create and launch a digital product. If one doesn’t succeed, retrace your steps, see why it didn’t work, and then do it again. Just get your piece of the pie, it’s right there.

What’s one content mistake digital creators should avoid?

I would say making the launch about them instead of their audience. We all have a story to tell, which I encourage people to share when launching their products. You can talk about the process and struggles you went through creating your product. But don’t make the whole launch about you. 

People want to know how your product either benefits them, makes them better, makes them money, or saves them time. Generally, they want to know what your product does for them. So make your launch content more about your audience than it is about you. 

Also, while it’s good to educate your audience, don’t make it all about education. It’s a launch so make it fun. The end goal is to make people aware of your product and eventually buy from you.

Tell us about the Lucrative Launch Roadmap. 

The Lucrative Launch Roadmap is an ebook that I created for product and service businesses, and creators who want to launch anything on Instagram. It contains six of the launch strategies that I personally share with my clients but I decided to put them in my ebook.

I also included some content templates people can use to create products for their businesses. So it’s got everything you need for your launch and if you buy it, you don’t need anything else after that. You can use it to launch all products that you like.

What’s your sales strategy that other digital creators can emulate? 

With the Lucrative Launch Roadmap, I have tried to make sure that it is evergreen. During the launch, I had a lot going on but I knew that this product is good, I’m just gonna keep selling it all the time.

Right now, if you go to my page you will notice that I talk about it every two weeks, that’s my launch strategy for it. Since it’s an evergreen product, I have to constantly talk about it on my page. 

Aside from being a launch content strategist, what else do you do? 

I have a product business. I resell on Amazon and eBay. It’s called retail arbitrage. I buy products in the shops and resell them on Amazon and eBay and add a little bit of money for profit. I’m not giving it my full attention yet because Instagram has taken most of my time. 

What advice would you give to creators who are inspired by you? 

I will tell them that instead of trying to be better than everybody else, try to be different. Being different always works. It makes you stand out. If you want people to learn on your page and have a feeling only your page can give them, be different. Find your unique way of talking about a topic, that’s how you stand out. 

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