Redefining Success in the Creator Economy

Why follower counts, income milestones, and job titles aren't the full picture anymore

I still remember the conversation I had with my dad when I first started freelancing. He kept asking about my "career path" and when I was going to get a "real job" with benefits and a 401k. To him, success looked like climbing a ladder, getting promoted every few years, and eventually retiring with a pension.

And honestly? I get it. That model worked for his generation. There was something comforting about knowing exactly what success looked like: get the degree, land the job, work your way up, hit certain salary milestones, retire at 65. Clean, predictable, measurable.

But that's not the world we're living in anymore. Now people are building six-figure businesses from their kitchen tables. Teenagers are out-earning their parents by posting TikToks. Someone can have 100,000 followers and be broke, while someone else makes a great living with 1,000 loyal customers who nobody's ever heard of.

The old scorecard doesn't work anymore, but we're still using it to judge ourselves. And it's making us miserable.