LATE BLOOMERS - INFLUENCER ACADEMY: How to start creating content online

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

In this episode of LATE BLOOMERS, Rich and Rox open up about what it really takes to become a content creator when you’re starting from nothing. No shortcuts. No overnight success. Just the uncomfortable, unglamorous truth they learned by doing it the hard way.They talk about posting into the void, embracing cringe, being seen by friends and family, consistency when no one is watching, and why most people quit long before anything works. Rich and Rox share how they built momentum by showing up repeatedly, learning in public, and focusing on connection rather than perfection.This episode breaks down what actually matters when starting online, why your first content will probably be bad (and why that’s normal), how to think long-term instead of chasing quick wins, and how to keep going when growth feels painfully slow.If you want to become a content creator but feel stuck, embarrassed, or overwhelmed by where to begin, this episode gives you a realistic starting point and the confidence to press post anyway.

These two idiots right here have got five million followers on social media and it's absolutely changed our lives from talking about ADHD and neurodivergence, starting podcasts, writing songs, going on, writing books, starting apps. It's been the most incredible thing and we want to tell you how to do it, whether you run a small business or you've got a passion that you want to talk about. This episode is for you. Welcome to Lake Blooms where we are getting our lives together. Eventually. Right, so we're just going to talk about how we did it, are we?

This is the influencer. Wait, that's flu. No, that's, yeah, influencer. Not influenza. The influenza academy, that's something different. This is the influencer academy. I think that there are so many people with amazing stories to tell. small businesses that need more eyes on them, advocates that need to be the voice of a group of people.

I think as well there'll be loads of people, even with just little hobbies stroke obsessions, creative little things where they would probably love to do it for a business maybe. 100%. So this is the episode where we hope we're going to help people if they've got a small business or they're thinking about starting. starting one or they want to be any kind of content creator. We're basically going to tell them everything that we've learned on the way and that we wish we had known. We started making videos in 2021. Is it really? Yes, end of 2021.

That's crazy as now. Five years ago. Oh, end of 2021, four years ago. Yeah. Four and a bit. Okay, we're not good at maths, but we are good. at. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. But look, if you've got a dream inside you, and that might be writing a book, it might be music, it might be education, it might be for Dungeons and Dragons,

it might be for golf, it might be a restaurant, it doesn't matter what it is. If you want to start your own business and have your own brand, there is no better time to do it than 2026. It's difficult, but hopefully we can tell you some stuff to... Hopefully we can help get some eyes on it because I think that's one thing that is fairly obvious that social media is such a powerful tool to promote your brand or yourself. These two idiots are now running a podcast

in an app and writing books. That's what it can do for us, think what it can do for you. So we've basically got 10 tips. We're going to run through. We're going to chat to you. And we really hope that it can help. So number one is embrace the cringe. So I would imagine this is probably the biggest one is like just do it, right?

Because there'll be so many things about ice embarrassing. I don't know. Like I don't want my friend's family to see it. Like just do it. You are going to feel cringe. Yeah. You're going to feel like you don't deserve to do it. You're going to feel like people are laughing at you.

There's no way around that. You just have to embrace the cringe. cringe and go for it full throttle. I remember when starting, it's actually starting one of my music accounts back in 2021 as well. Good year for us that. I just felt so embarrassed. No one's going to want to hear these songs.

I'm such a joke. Did it anyway. And it's got me to a really amazing place all these years later. So you have to, whatever those walls are about feeling cringe, not feeling good enough, you've got to kick them out. I feel like our ADHD channels are maybe a better advert for being cringed than your music, though. Like your music's quite cool, it's quite like, do you know what I mean? But if you look at the start where we started our first few videos, even I look at them now and I'm like, that is a bit cringe.

Are we a cringtastic? And I love it. Yeah. Because here's the thing. if someone said to you, some random person is going to think you're cringe, but you'll be able to work on a business that you love, you don't have to go to the office anymore,

you would take that deal in a New York minute. Yeah. What's a New York minute? I was just thinking that in my head. Do I know what that means? I believe a New York minute is a minute that goes a bit quicker because people in New York move faster. Right.

People in the comments, I'm sure, are going to correct me. Okay. Number two, after we've embraced StarCringe is figuring out what your thing is. Now, if you run a small business, if you've got a coffee shop or a restaurant, you write fantasy books, you craft, you already know what that thing is, your thing is your business, the name is the name of your business, your author name, your art name. So it's already there. And the content that you create should stay there. Right. Like there's so many people will try and do different videos to try and get views and likes and followers, but it's got nothing to do with what their... Oh yeah. One thing. Find your one thing and do that. So let's first talk about someone that knows what their thing is and then we'll get to someone that doesn't. So let's say you run a crafting business on Etsy. You've had a few sales, but you really want to expand. It would be 10.

taking your Etsy store name, registering that across all socials, and we would strongly advise that that would be TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Facebook's a big one. Facebook's a really big one. Now, the reason you want to be across all four channels is you don't know where your audience are going to find you. Social media is notoriously up and down that algorithms are always changing. be everywhere.

Yeah. So that's your username. That's registering your business. And from that point, you're going to be making short form vertical videos. And we will talk about that a bit more. We didn't do this one very well, the username thing. Because it was obviously that obviously it was done with no planning like 11 o'clock at night. Many of you would have heard the story about the tampon video that just went.

We had no prep. It was like, oh, what should our, what should the name be? And it'd be like, well, ADHD love. Yeah, sure, that'll do. Open it. And we've got different usernames. So our TikTok and Instagram don't match, do they? Which we wouldn't recommend.

No, you should have the same handle everywhere. It got us in trouble when we released the book. Yeah. And we were like linking to the wrong account. So, yeah, learn from our mistakes. Same username everywhere. And obviously check that it's available everywhere before you start registering. It sounds simple.

I think one rather glorious thing about us just picking the name with no thought at all is that it kind of highlights it doesn't matter that much. We want to like our brand. We want to like the name cool. But it doesn't matter. It's okay. So maybe there is something within that. If you don't have a small business, if you don't know what your thing is yet and your true. trying to figure it out.

It's looking into your passions, your daily life. Which you'll have many, I would have thought. Your areas of expertise. For example, I could see you, we haven't got any time because I've filled you up doing other projects. But I could see you running like a Marvel fan, so short account. Yeah. You know, like the Marvel monster, Marvel Law. and you're discussing intricately from different films,

your rating films. Did you just say the Marvel Monster? I did, yeah. Well, you are not coming up for a name for my socials, if that ever comes. What, if you were going to start a Marvel account? Oh my God, don't put me on the spot. What would I call it?

Because I've got Marvel Monster and you've mocked me, so I'd quite like to know. I don't know. The Marvelous Marvel movie man. Yeah, sure. Marvelous man. Look out for that, yeah. The Marvelous man.

Maybe. It's not happening. Sorry, well, I'm fully planning this in my head. Be careful to not get sidetracked. So your thing is an exploration. Are you a huge Marvel fan? Are you looking to start a business? Are you an amazing piano player or guitar player?

Have you got really interesting political takes? And you feel you could be a bit of a kind of... news channel, there's so many different things that you can do. If I look back before we made the ADHD account, I never would have thought it would be ADHD. No. That was just, I saw someone else's ADHD videos, realized I had it, got a diagnosis, got obsessed by it,

and that's the reason that was our TikTok. Yeah. So it's also about going with your life, maybe the first time you try and do something it doesn't work. Doesn't mean it's over. No. Well, you've had plenty that you started and not finished, right? What, social media accounts?

Yeah. Oh, I've had loads. I've had so... When I go to log in to Insta, there's like 10 other accounts. Yeah, I'm sure there is. But that's okay as well. I think maybe take the pressure off. ADHD love was kind of your first social account,

and it went immediately viral. Well, I don't know whether I agree with that fully. I mean, obviously, that's fact. But when you say take the... pressure off, I still, I wouldn't recommend, because one of these will be consistency, right? So like one of them will be, you won't get many views at the start, like keep going. Don't let that be the point that you sack it off and start a new one. Like you want to, you want to give it a go, I suppose, be committed to it at the start, I would say.

Yes, you have to give it a good go. Yeah, that's perfect. Okay, so number three is realistic expectations in a very unrealistic world. Yeah. Social media is known for kind of going viral. It's people going viral. And of course, you want to go viral with your product. We've all seen amazing crafting, political views, and coffee shops go viral.

but you can't expect it to happen. And in fact, you can build an amazing business without going viral just by building consistent people that are interested in your business or your story or what you're saying. Oh, 100%. Like if you have a video that gets a million people view it, you might keep hold of a thousand of them. Whereas if you have videos that, I don't know, do 500, 600, 600, 7. 700 views, but you get people that love it so much that they're watching all of your content. Like that is so powerful.

So don't, big numbers obviously can really help. But a lot of that, you'll show up on their algorithm and then you'll never be seen again. That's the reality of it, isn't it? Yeah. So it's not expecting. I think so many people maybe start their first few videos expecting a big viral moment and then give up on it. But what you should just be expecting is, is gradual incremental growth, some comments, some views, and you can start learning along the way. What's working? What do they want? More of that.

You'll get better at everything. It's like any other skill that you learn. But I almost feel like if some people bridge that cringe gap post a video, they're like, hasn't gone viral. That's the universe telling me I shouldn't be doing it and it's it's not true you've got to fight for your business fight for your dreams fight for your passions some of the platforms like YouTube and Facebook spring to mind um you'll get single digit views or like one or two the first few videos and it and it can feel demoralizing kind it's like oh my god what is the point of all this effort but just stick with it yeah stick with it I think that's important to say we started first in TikTok, 2021, TikTok was viral crazy town back then.

It's a little different now. And we weren't on other platforms. It took us a year to register there. And I remember you telling me YouTube and Facebook, there was just no views for six months. And suddenly it started working. It's different algorithms. You never know where your story is going to catch fire.

So be across them all and just keep going. Well, we joked about it, didn't we? Because I was posting all of our videos to Facebook and YouTube for six months with sort of no views. And I was like, I'm just going to, I'm going to carry on. But I don't know how many people would after six months of nothing. Well, I guess TikTok was connecting. So we knew, kind of knew if one platform's working, you know your content's working. Then it's about just showing up.

Okay, number four, I think this gets in so many people. ways is equipment. Yeah. So if you think, I would post a video, but haven't got the right camera or the right equipment. I can't do it. I don't know what I'm doing. And what would you say to that?

You don't. You need a phone and a voice. That's literally it. We film on a camera now, but for the first three years, we only started that last year. For the first three years is just, it was just using our phone. lighting is a bit different, but you can buy a light for a tenor if you wanted to. If you're going to be speaking to camera, if you're doing political stuff or reviewing metal music

or you talking to camera, get a ring light. That's really all you need to start, isn't it? If you are in a small business and you're showing cooking or crafting, probably a ringlight as well, you can also get small clip-on lights. Yeah. From Amazon, we've got a Niwa. And it's just things like where you're positioned. If you've got a light behind, like behind you in shot, it's going to be bad quality.

Like you can learn all this really easily, though. It's not difficult. Yeah, you're looking for a nice, crisp video. And most phones are absolutely capable of doing that. So you don't need the fanciest equipment. If your videos start connecting and you start. growing and get a few brand deals coming in after your first year, you might then have some money to invest.

But you haven't got to have it at the start. No. It's all about you and the seeds of that beautiful dream. Turning up, isn't it? It's all about turning up and showing up and posting it because most people don't. That's it. Just got to give it a go. Get over that cringe factor.

Get a ring light and start filming something. The Marvelous Man. number five, you've got to ignore completely friends and family. This is such a big hurdle for people, I think, when it comes to making content. And it messes you up in two ways, I think. The first way is you're so worried about being cringe or judged by friends and family. It stops you from posting videos. And the second thing is trying to make your...

friends and family's supporters or early adopters or like to make sales to them, they aren't your audience. They aren't your community. You're going to find your community. Like let's say you were doing The Marvelous Man and you were reviewing Marvel and talking about Marvel Law and you were saying to, oh guys, like my post, comment on my post, share this. It's just you don't need to do it.

It damages it if you think about it. So the majority of our audience is, have either got ADHD or they know or love someone with ADHD. If we had started by getting all of our friends to like and comment, the algorithm would have pushed our content to people like them rather than people that we want to see it. So have nobody like your stuff, but let the algorithm figure out, oh, this person is reviewing. metal music. Cool, I'm going to start putting it on some different for you pages or Marvel movies or this person has a coffee shop in London. You want to get in front of your community and the right people and that's not friends and family. I'd also advise, like not telling friends and family if you start a business account and I think it's always good to start

new accounts. If you've got a new idea, it's your business or it's your personal brand, start that new account. Post into the void, post to nothing, tell no one, let the algorithm work its magic. Because it can just hold you back. I agree, yeah. Okay. Number six, this is just to check yourself what you're putting out and making sure that you're either educating or entertaining somebody. And it's very simple. I believe I sort of heard it maybe from Gary Vee or somebody like that. Did we? I thought it was our idea.

No, it's not. Was it not? No, no, I've got that from somewhere else. I appreciate that you think it was ours, but no. I thought it was. And it's about making sure, yeah, that you're educating. Are you teaching someone a skill, talking about something that you know, giving tips? Like this podcast is a educational type podcast.

Yeah. People love to learn from people. and hear people talking about things they want to know. And then there's entertainment. Are you being funny? Are you making someone cry or feel an emotion or want to share what you've done? Are you being entertaining?

I think it's so easy to get stuck in our own heads over thinking, this is what I want to say, this is what I want to do, and end up neither educating nor entertaining. I agree with that. It's so easy to be wrapped up. I mean this with care, but it's so easy to get wrapped up in sort of your own self-importance when you're creating content, but you've got to remember this is for other people, not you. Like, so if you're not educating them or entertaining them, they're likely won't be interested.

That's it. And that's a skill you learn along the way, how to make a video instantly a bit hookier with something funny or, interesting at the start with a bit of movement. This is all practice. Yeah. And actually most of us have spent so many hours doom scrolling. We know the videos that we've loved and that have gone viral and topics we love. So it's really learning by osmosis. So all that doom scrolling hasn't gone to waste.

The reason it's also really good advice is that we fall into the trap of getting it sometimes. And we'll go for a period of time. It's like, our videos aren't really connecting as well as they were. And we always go back to this fundamental, educate, entertain, quick hooks movement. Like, is it, like, it's always the basics. It's never more than that, is it? No, I think that's so good. It's always the basics.

So if you launched Marvelous Man and you started an episode telling your audience how many films, a certain bit of law was connected in. It's the difference between you won't believe this Marvel secret. And I've gone back and I've counted in 12 films. One is an instant hook of a story and one is a bit boring. And so like, don't be boring.

Tell your story. Share your passion. Share your skills. Don't be boring. Internet moves very quickly. It does. Number seven is. is editing.

Yeah. Now, this one is quite important, but it's also quite easy to do. We still edit in Capcut. I think it's about five quid a month. You can film on your phone, edit in Cap Cut. You can add subtitles.

You can split and chop off breaths and mistakes and long gaps. It's really intuitive as well, isn't it? It's really easy to use. It's really easy. easy to use. Obviously the first time you're going to need to get used to it. But that's kind of all you need. Yeah. Like if you were setting up the Marvelous man, maybe you with a ringlight, maybe wearing some Marvel t-shirt. Yeah. With a hook, you won't believe the Marvel secret I found out. You'd talk about it. You put it in Cap-cutt. You edit out your ums and your R's,

your mistakes, your gaps. You put your captions on it, put a really hooky title. Done. And that's it, isn't it? Video one done. video one done. Obviously, small business, it depends what your business is or your passion is. It's going to look differently. It might be like tasting cheese or painting ceramics. I don't know. It could be if you're like an artist or something.

It could be a reveal. I've seen loads of cool videos around revealing my artwork, starting with it, like, facing away from the camera and then turning it round. Like, it's, yeah. Even that is so smart because. revealing my artwork, you can't see it. It's the human psychology to want to see. Whereas if you just watch someone painting. So it's not about showing off your skill from start to finish. It's about showcasing it in a really interesting way. But yeah, editing, take the time. Be quick, be

entertaining. Take out breaths. Captions are really important. A lot of people watch social media with sound off. Yeah. So if you've got captions, that can really help someone tell the story. It's also more accessible for people. That's it. So you need a ring light and cap cut. Yeah. Like you're basically ready to go. It's probably going to cost 30 or 40 quid. Yeah. Number eight, dealing with imposter syndrome of being an influencer, being on the internet, being a content creator. I mean, this one in my mind is so simple that I can, I promise you now, everyone listening, everybody on the internet is an imposter. No one belongs here. Like it's just we're all, we're all pretending, doing the things that we've said in the previous points and just showing up.

That's it. So basically, yes, you will be an imposter. Everyone's an imposter. And as time goes on, you'll get more used to it. But that's months and in years. Yeah. And even now still, sometimes we're like, what are we doing, making joke videos about ADHD?

Who are we to show our lives? It maybe never goes away. The trick is to do it anyway. But please don't bring your imposter syndrome to work. And what I mean by that is, I'm sorry to keep using Marvelous Man, but it's like stuck in my brain. I said that a few times now. But I'm just using it as the example in this episode then, yeah?

So Rich starts Marvelous Man. He's making his first video. What he absolutely shouldn't do is say, really don't know what I'm saying, guys. Bear with me. This is my first video. I am going to talk about imposter syndrome does not come to work, okay? You pick up the phone and you say you won't believe the Marvel.

or connecting these three MCU films, do not show that you're scared or you've got imposterous. Because nobody wants to hear that. That's for your partner to discuss with you or therapy. I completely agree. And the good thing is that you have got a camera and you're doing it at home.

You're not on stage. So if you mess up, you can just, you get to just delete that video and do it again. Like as in before you post it, you get to keep practicing until you looking at it and go, I look confident. I feel like it seems like I know what I'm talking about. It's good to go.

I feel like it seems like I know what I'm talking about that. That's what we're aiming for. Just on this imposter syndrome, one, is my favourite story. It's from the Seth Godin book. And it's for creatives and artists to get out of their own way with imposter syndrome and to stop letting it leak into their art. I want you to imagine going to the hippest new restaurant in your town. And you've seen these amazing reviews, you've seen pictures on social,

it's been reviewed on Time Out magazine, celebrities in and out, and you book in, you get a table, and you go. And you go and you sit down and the chef comes out and he's like, sorry, not having a very good day today. I'm just not feeling like I've got what it, I'll do my better. What would you like to have? you would be so disappointed, that's not what you've gone for. So please don't be like that, chef.

If somebody comes to your restaurant, which is then watching your page on social media, show up for them. Be professional, whether it's talking about marvel, crafting, clay, making earrings, politics, rage bait, not that we'd recommend that, but if you want to go for that, talk confidently, quickly, and don't look for validation or sympathy from the audience that you're kind of trying to entertain. Number nine is actually making and posting that first video. Right. And why the first video is probably the hardest one.

you'll ever make. Yeah. It's probably the least important, realistically, as well. Like when you look back, isn't it? It'll feel the hardest, but it won't get really seen by anyone. There's a human way of thinking, which is all pressure on my future business rides on this first video going viral. So I have to get it perfect, which leads to procrastinate. too much pressure and never actually post it.

Some people are waiting so long for the perfect video that they never post the video. It is the marvellous man trying to think of the perfect Marvel Law to launch his first video with. You've almost wasted it if it's your first video, I think. Yeah, because people will follow an account with one video. Just get it done. Yes, have the lighting goods. Yes, sound like you know what you're talking about. Yes, edit.

Yes, educate or entertain. Do all the right things. But if this is your social media account for your business or your personal brand, you're going to be talking about this hopefully for years to come. And also, whether you think it's perfect or not, it won't be. And you will always get better. The more you do it, the better you'll get it. If you are editing for a year, you'll be better filming for a year, you'll be better, lighting videos, you'll be better. Making art, you'll get better with that time. So it's kind of accepting the first video cannot and should not be perfect. Get over the hurdle and get it done. That's not an argument for a bad video. Do all the things we've spoken about. Yeah. But get it done. That marvelous man, just pick one bit of look.

first bit that comes to head, make that video. And all the other thoughts will also come over the next coming days. And then lastly, I do have to say there's so much more to like a long-term career with your first brand deals and managers. We may do a follow-up episode. This is really just about launching, getting that small business on socials, launching your passion project. Number 10 is consistency. Now, this is a really interesting one, and I have to be completely honest here, without Rich, I probably would have made ADHD videos for maybe three months. Then I would have got bored, fallen in love with something else and gone off there.

By the way, nothing wrong with that. You can absolutely change path. However, if you want this one thing to be your long-term business, rather than just to entertain yourself for a short period of time. I think that's important. When you say there's nothing wrong with that, you can change. I agree with that if it's a hobby. But if it's a business that's going well,

I don't know whether that's a good thing to do is changed. Like it's going well, so keep with it. You might not be getting dopamine, try to find it from somewhere else. Like, do you know what I'm or do something a bit different? But if it starts to work, like embrace that gift that you've been given with attention and eyes on your stuff. So think of ways. Or bring some support in, like you said around me being the consistent one. If you start to grow and you're feeling like, oh, I don't know if I like to do this anymore,

I can't be bothered to film. that get someone to help you. I think that what people don't understand is that social media can be a job, a full-time job that can pay you up to even more than what you may have earned in full-time work, depending on how it's going. Let's say, I'm sorry, but let's say,

Marvelous man has been posting for a year, his accounts have gone viral, he's got 100,000 followers, and then he decides to drop, I don't know, a review book or a website or his own merch that doesn't breach copyright, he could then start to earn money. In fact, he might get brand deals

from Marvel Studios itself to review and you could earn money that way. If you build up good followings across Facebook and TikTok and YouTube, they can pay you. You have to make certain types of videos, but you can get paid just for the content that you make. When that money starts to come in,

hire someone to help you, to come and film with you or to post for you, whatever that gap is in your particular business. Get that person. That's obviously a bit more of a long-term strategy. But yeah, this has been our sort of like introduction to the influencer Academy. It's so fun to talk about.

2026, maybe the year of dreams for people. The year of dreams coming true. Yeah, maybe. I absolutely love that. This has been the late bloomer's podcast. If you have a small business or a passion project, we hope it is the kick up the bum. You need to get that ringlight,

open your phone and get those videos out there. There is an audience desperate to see what you've got to give. If you've liked it. Then like, follow, subscribe, share, do all of those things. If not, just move on. And we'll see you next week. Take.