TL;DR: I am beginning to hate the idea of making content created to go viral and make money and I'd rather make content from real self-expression even if I don't go viral nor make a single penny.

Don't get me wrong, I do want my work to be seen and valued by a close-knit community, but I don't understand why we have a "hustler mentality" on today's internet. It's convenient for some people to get paid for their passion and some people genuinely enjoy the hustle. But my biggest bone to pick about this hustle culture is that it insists that everything you do online MUST get viral or make money or else it's a failure; this is a very unhealthy way to approach one's creative endeavors as monetizing one's creative pursuits requires one to "lock in" on things like consistency, aggressive marketing, and limiting oneself to a certain brand.

While this is part of entrepreneurship, the idea here is that the internet, particularly social media for regular human users (not corporations) is meant for community and self-expression, not a sales pitch deck. We are here to share our ideas and knowledge to each other and help with feedback along the way. That's the whole point of being viral, it's to cultivate a community and connect with one another, not surface level engagement that ultimately leads to more money.

I want to talk about my own work. I make art inspired from the retro computing era of Windows 98 and XP alongside the Klasky Csupo art style that dominated 90s Nick cartoons (think Rugrats). I do that because I am hyper fixated with that stuff like I've been since I was like 3 years old not because it's trendy with Gen Z; I enjoy what I do since it resonates with what I am interested in....... and I know many Millennials and older Gen Z would dig my art because they actually experienced that stuff first hand not because they are following a trend, so there is an opportunity for a human connection.

I must be brutally honest; I fell for the "hustler mentality" for a brief moment. I did look forward to making money from little icons but trying to attract people into this seemed like something that required things like "posting every day" and "catering to a demographic", something that deep down I wasn't up for since it requires a huge amount of mental energy and making content that feels forced, and I was balancing college and hobbies that are offline or don't require technology.

My dad even shamed me for not making money off my animations and art and when he'd talk about these creators, he'd compare them to me, people have even told me about "my brand" and I was like huh?

Like seriously, I was all burnt out before even starting!! But realizing that making art and animation as if it came from 2004 Newgrounds goes against this hustler nonsense. I feel more free posting when I have that inkling of creativity and recreating that 2003 Newgrounds vibe feels like something that attracts a community naturally instead making a forced connection. And if someone wants to offer me money, that would genuinely be great, but I'll see it as "tip jar" money and not real income.