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A “Live In Real Life” Reminder
Justin Piercy

B ill Gates once said, “Content is king.” The rise origin from Pilot Coffee Roasters in Toronto that tasted
“Sometime around 2013-2014, I had a crazy single
of the creator economy today is proof of that.
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the
global influencer marketing industry is ex- exactly like strawberries. That was when I realized coffee
could be so much more than I thought.” He has a background
pected to grow to US$21.1B in 2023. in technical audio and video production and has worked as
Despite the optimistic market outlook, many creators a creative director at a church near him. While in this role
start producing content as a way to explore their passions. he discovered a passion for digital communications strategy,
Creating great content requires interaction with your fol- which really helped him embark on his journey into the
lowers, otherwise it’s hard to stick with it. But not every- world of content creation. As of July 31, he has 59,000 fol-
one is lucky enough to be noticed. When you have a large lowers on Instagram and 8,200 followers on YouTube.
online following, creators need to face the question of how This year, he decided to become a full-time content
to balance content creation and their everyday lives. In creator focused on coffee, because he realized it was prob-
ConvertKit’s 2022 State of the Creator Economy report, ably time to make the jump when he was putting some nights
almost 30% of full-time creators worked more than 40 hours and about a day of focused work it per week and the income
a week on content in 2021, but less than 25% planned to started to eclipse what he was making at his day job. But
do so in 2022. Furthermore, close to 25% spent 30 to 40 fatherhood always comes first. This summer, he didn’t
hours per week, while over 20% spent 20 to 30 hours per change too much content-wise because he wanted to be
week, and less than 10% devoted less than 20 hours a week available to enjoy the summer with his family.
to their social content. In this regard, Justin Piercy sets a
really good example for us. Born in 1986, he saw the rise
“I think people like me can effect a positive change and help and development of social media while he was in school.
steer people toward coffee and consumer habits that not only He started to create on Instagram in November 2020 due
give them better coffee, but are more equitable for to his hobby of coffee and photography. He first got into
the people growing coffee at origin as well.” coffee with work friends in about 2010. Like many others,
he fell in love with coffee when he had a great cup. 35

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