So You Want to Be a Pickleball Content Creator?

Popular paddle reviewer Chris Olson has some tips: Check your ego at the door, find your niche, stop striving for perfection, and just start doing it already.

Chris Olson, pickleball mega-reviewer and host of the popular channel Pickleball Studio, held a Reddit AMA over the weekend. Hundreds of questions poured in, and he thoughtfully responded to each and every one of them.

It's a treasure trove of insightful pickleball knowledge from a guy who's lived and breathed the sport from the paddle side for years.

One such question caught our eye from user DurianDesigner2981: "If I want to create pickleball content on social media, where should I start and would you do it again if you started all over again."

Chris' response is effectively a beginner's guide for creating your own pickleball content and posting your way to becoming the next big influencer.

In a nutshell:

✅ Stop thinking and start doing. “The biggest thing is, you have to just start doing it and see if you even enjoy it.”
✅ Check your ego at the door. “Your first 100+ pieces of content are not going to be good. But, that is normal and expected.”
✅ Focus on what you love. “If you're doing it because you think it's easy money and not because you enjoy it, you aren't going to do it for very long.”
✅ Expand your horizons. “Watching content outside of pickleball to find ideas that could be brought over is a good way to find new ideas.”
✅ Find your own niche. “Don't just rip other people off. Otherwise they may as well watch the guy who did it first, and likely does it better than you currently.”

Here's Chris' response in full.

The biggest thing is, you have to just start doing it and see if you even enjoy it. I find a lot of times, people love the idea of doing social media content, but when they actually start doing it and realize all of the things that are involved, they often realize they were just interested in the outcome not the process. If you don't enjoy the process, you will not last long making content.So, you need to just start making videos. If you have no background in content, your first 100+ pieces of content are not going to be good. But, that is normal and expected. You need to get through those 100+ pieces quickly, and learn from each of them and keep improving each time you go to make something. Just start with your smartphone and edit on the phone. Very low barrier to entry with today's tools.You should also pick a topic you're VERY interested in. If you're doing it because you think it's easy money and not because you enjoy it, you aren't going to do it for very long.I would definitely do it all over again if I had to start over. The barrier to entry is much larger today than it used to be, but I think there are still a lot of ways for people to break through. I find in Pickleball that many content creators are just mimicking other people in Pickleball. That isn't inherently bad, but it also means a lot of people look and feel very similar. Watching content outside of Pickleball to find ideas that could be brought over is a good way to find new ideas.It's good to look at the landscape of content in PB and figure out what could be improved, but don't just rip other people off. Otherwise they may as well watch the guy who did it first, and likely does it better than you currently.

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