the part no one tells you about being a creator
FC Issue #43: from undercharging and oversharing to learning how the game really works
I spent the last two years building a personal brand that now reaches over 700,000 people.
From the outside, it looks like momentum. More followers. More opportunities. More income.
And to be honest, a lot of it has been exactly that.
But behind the scenes, it’s been far less polished than people think.
No one really talks about the awkward middle. The mistakes you make when you don’t know the rules yet. The moments where you realise you’ve been undercharging, oversharing, or saying yes to things that quietly pull you away from the brand you’re trying to build.
In this piece, I’m breaking down a few of the lessons that changed how I operate completely. The ones I wish I had understood earlier, before they cost me time, money, and a lot of second-hand embarrassment.
In this issue:
Why announcing too early can cost you more than money
The hidden cost of “free” PR and why it rarely benefits you
How undercharging quietly transfers thousands out of your pocket
Why “being grateful” can actually hold your business back
The parts of the creator economy no one explains until you’ve already made the mistake
Intellectual property
The first thing is trademarking. When I was leaving my 9–5 to go full-time with content creation, my mind was whirring with ideas about how I would turn this into a fully fledged company, not just content. My worst fear was being seen as an “influencer” (even though that’s what I was), perhaps because of the negative connotations it evokes. This drive to be taken seriously, paired with the traction that Frugal Chic was gaining at the time, with people copying or citing me, made me realise I had to take immediate action.
