All on record: How creators handle personal and professional life

When success is home-grown and hard-earned, and all is going well, it can seem like everything, including the accompanying stress, is worth it. No one wants to take their foot off the pedal – not when one milestone is a gateway to the next. “It pushes you to work harder because you know exactly what you can achieve when you give so much into it,” says Gaurav Taneja, a commercial pilot who has three YouTube channels, FitMuscleTV for fitness and workout tips, Flying Beast for lifestyle and travel vlogs and Rasbhari Ke Papa for live gaming.

So what happens to family and personal relationships when all you’re doing is filming, editing and seeking out new material? “Eventually, your family understands that this is work and this is how the industry works, especially on festivals when you’re torn between work and life,” Taneja says.

Those who’ve been around for seven years or so, say they’ve learnt lessons along the way. Having a public life needn’t come at the cost of family, especially for those who feature family as part of their content.“Algorithms push you to create and share more as often as possible instead of being just about sharing when you can,” says content creator and illustrator Alicia Souza. When her son was born a little more than a year ago, she had to scale back on her public persona. “It’s taken a lot of mental change and understanding to realise that sometimes I have to give up creating art to create memories instead.”

For game streamer Naman Mathur, Sundays are strictly off. Others, such as lifestyle YouTuber and singer Sejal Kumar have focused on managing their time as much as managing their material. “Knowing when to detach is as important as making connections,” says fashion influencer and lifestyle blogger Santoshi Shetty. “Your audiences can tell when you’re feeling low and when you’re not at your best”. Home chef and content creator Kabita Singh will now willingly postpone a shoot if her child’s exam is coming up or if the family is going on vacation. “Or I will stay up late to do my work,” she says. “I don’t want my child to see me always with a laptop.”

The formula for comedic sketch creator Vishnu Kaushal is even simpler: Try to put your time into things that give you a sense of enjoyment in the moment, so you won’t have to always worry about reach and engagement. You learn and grow along the way. “You create a certain type of content, you branch out, and you gain a better understanding of what you like,” he says.

Take a closer look at what creator life is like when the halo lights are switched off.

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Alicia Souza: “Set boundaries so you don’t go overboard”

Souza, 34, says she took to social media to display her work out of need, not a desire to be an influencer. “I work with my hands, not screens, and was really introverted and shy starting out back in 2010-11,” she recalls. “I was thrown into freelancing and had to have a way to showcase my work that was quick and more casual.” She started posting her illustrations on Facebook 2011 and then eventually on Instagram, where she has more than 403k followers.

She’s worked from home for a decade, so separating work from personal time was essential right from the start. “I tend to be diligent about sectioning off personal time. I notice a shift in imbalance quickly because of it,” she says. But just over a year ago, when Souza’s son was born, she knew things had to change. “All the extra time I used to have to do creative things and showcase them slid quickly into spending time with my little guy,” she says. “I’m very structured with my schedule, so online, my evenings are rather quiet. That’s the time I’m doing mom things, not all of which I share.”

Those lines are consciously drawn too, particularly since family life is an integral theme in her work, one that leads to paying assignments. “I definitely don’t share very certain personal elements but I don’t feel the need to hold back on usual daily moments that bring joy,” Souza says. “There are some people who are not comfortable showing even a photo [of their family members] and that’s fine too!”

But like most creators, she publishes more than she consumes. “So I never feel the need to remove myself from the platform or take a break,” she says. “I have a stronger need to create than to see.” It means also, that her greatest joys come less from online comments and more from the people around her. “My online community is a bunch of the most amazing people. But I also know that each of them have their own in-person world that will bring them joy,” Souza says. “I try to add to that with the little drawings I do when they pop in online.”

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Sejal Kumar: “Don’t heed all the criticism”

In early months, she faced very little criticism. The videos didn’t have too many views and most of the feedback came from friends and family. But in college, there was bullying from people who thought her videos about fashion and styling tips were lame. As her followers grew, so did the criticism. “I’d take it to heart when someone said something negative,” she recalls. “There was a phase when I was scared to meet new people because I worried that they’d seen me online and might think I’m not good enough.”

Building her own voice and being comfortable with the fame took time. And she’s drawn strength from real-world people who mattered to her and still do. “My friendships are real, and I have few people who are really close to me,” Kumar says. “My best friend has been my friend since Class 1. She’s also a part of many of my videos.” Another friend helps her write some of her scripts, and is a confidante. And a third had taken on the manager’s mantle.

“I’m in a phase where I’m rediscovering my content and trying new things without fear of criticism. Importantly, I’m trying not to internalise what people say casually,” Kumar says.

She’s also realising that you can’t sustainably do everything – edit, shoot, set up lighting, finances. “Initially, I’d be pressed for time,” she recalls. “I’d get done with work late, I would travel for work and I was hardly ever at home. Now I’ve learnt to delegate work to my team, and just focus on the creative bit. I’m also working on my own music.” Kumar has put out three songs and recently starred in the show Engineering Girls.

She’s learning to take breaks too. Sundays are for hanging out with friends, unless an important shoot is lined up. “I live with my family, so I see them every day. I’m grateful that my parents tolerate me,” she says.

It’s a two-way journey – her parents have adjusted to life with a creator too. Her mum was initially apprehensive about her daughter taking up an entertainment job. Now Dr Anjali Kumar, a gynaecologist, has a YouTube channel of her own, and knows what it takes to be in the public eye. “But like every parent, they tell me that I need to spend more time with them,” says Kumar.

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Gaurav Taneja: “Tell viewers you need a break too”

Taneja has been making videos for six years. They typically cover life on the job, fitness, travel, lifestyle, health, fatherhood and gaming. And the pressure is always on.

When he was starting out, he’d often have to explain what he was doing to family and friends. Festivals were particularly stressful. “Those are peak workload times too,” he says. “Your family wants to spend time with you, but brands want to push their content on social media on the very same day.”

But when you publish videos often enough, some things straighten themselves out. The people in your life understand why you’ve shown up late to a wedding. You accept that some people will not understand your life at all. “Keep doing what you’re doing, irrespective of what people think,” he says. “It’s up to you to find a balance between work and family.”

Setting goals and boundaries helps – particularly when the internet lures you into believing there are no limits to success, and all gratification is of the instant kind. “I let my audience know that I am taking a break and people are very supportive,” he says. “Sometimes just knowing that you have that freedom and support is enough. So even if I plan to take a break for a week, I’ll be back at it in two days.”

But other times, it helps to involve the family too. Taneja’s second channel @flyingbeast also features his wife Ritu Rathee, who’s also a pilot and a YouTuber and their three-year-old daughter, Kaira. There are candid clips of them shopping, travelling and hanging out. “They are quite happy that I spend a lot of time with them. We travel and film together. We can be ourselves. There’s no makeup, no false persona, no costume design, no script, which makes it perfect for us.”

But his guard is up at other times. He doesn’t meet friends as often. And he is now conscious about people eavesdropping or waiting along the periphery to take a picture with him.

His biggest lesson, however, is realising that time is more valuable than money. “Now I don’t work on a project basis, I charge for my time,” Taneja says. And he looks at profit and productivity differently. “It doesn’t have to be that my video has achieved a certain number of views, but about breaking creative barriers, getting into a new genre, learning a new skill. Sometimes being productive to me is simply spending time with my daughter and teaching her something new.”

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Kabita Singh: “Building a community makes it worthwhile”

In 2014, the Pune housewife started as a home chef with no fancy equipment or big budget to produce her videos. She would post 5-6 videos a week, which she’s considerably whittled down since. They cover different types of Indian cuisines, everything from street style pav bhaji to restaurant style malai kofta to home style dal tadka, recipes which can be easily prepared with ingredients readily available at home. Her channel Kabita’s Kitchen now has over a million subscribers on YouTube. On Instagram, she has more than 875k followers.

“It takes time and it is difficult to consistently create content over a long period of time,” Singh admits. “But if you are passionate about something you will find the time for it.” She decided early on that the extra time would not come at the cost of her family. So Singh works late at night when the kids are asleep, she’s cut down on meeting friends, she’s held back from participating in activities organised in her housing society in Pune.

“In the earlier years, my extended family and friends would complain about me not being able to find time for them,” she says. “I also have fewer friends today, but I ensure that with the ones I do, I get to spend uninterrupted quality time whenever we meet or interact.”

Her husband, Manish Singh, a software engineer has been supportive too. “I usually shoot 3-4 videos over the weekend while my husband takes care of kids,” says Singh.

Still, it can be stressful trying to keep up with algorithms that reward a continuous stream of content. Last year, Singh finally hired a team to assist with the re-editing and re-formatting of her videos for other platforms. And she no longer loses sleep if she’s missed a video here and there. And if engagement is low because she was ill or had to attend a family event, so be it.

Her greatest reward is the community she has built online. “It has made me more confident and assured about myself, it feels great to find out that my work is useful to so many people,” she says.

“I read and reply to almost every comment. Some of them are really heartwarming like when they say, ‘I didn’t know anything about cooking but I can cook almost everything now’, or ‘I made a cake for my wife on her birthday’ or ‘Your recipes made me start cooking at home’. It motivates me to do more.”

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More videos followed, and Mathur moved from game streamer to e-sports player. His channel has more than 7 million subscribers, and his Instagram (@ig_mortal) has 4.4 million followers. It took a while to adjust to fame. Like most new influencers, he tried to do it all at once, and managing his time was difficult. “I’ve learned my lessons,” Mathur says. “I’ve realised that if I find a method, I’ll never feel the pressure.”

That method was to pick what mattered more. In 2020, Mathur left e-sports to focus solely on game streaming and content creation. “When it comes to e-sports, you have to be there for the team,” he explains. But live streamers had other events and projects – it wasn’t fair to bail on other players. Streaming also takes only 3-4 hours of his day, leaving him with more time to spend with family or come up with more ideas for his videos. In addition to Mortal and his other channel Mortal Shorts, dedicated to highlights and fun snippets, he’s planning a third channel. It will feature him riding his motorcycle to new places and meeting new people.

It all works for him, he says, because he treats it like a regular job. “When I meet my close friends, their workday is similar to mine,” he says. His mother Kavita Mathur, watches most of his streams. “As soon as it’s over, she will give me a call and chat about how it went and how my day was.” Sundays are for meeting friends and family. “I’m not always worried about my user engagement and how I perform. I feel like I have to enjoy myself every day, it should never feel overbearing.”

The pressure, then, is not to produce, but to make the right choices when “so many people are watching you”.

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Santoshi Shetty: “Keep your friends close”

“I didn’t know that blogging could be business,” she recalls. She set up a YouTube channel and expanded the brand to Instagram. “At that time most brands were new on social media and because I had already gained some followers on my page, the brands were interested in collaborating,” she recalls. “Initially, I said yes to everything that came my way; as I grew, I chose more mindfully.” Her feed is a mini virtual runway, featuring looks inspired by her personal style, a mix of simple silhouettes to create new looks. She also shows off her ashtanga yoga practice sessions to her followers.

And all through, she cherished the people who were her early champions. Riya Raut, her best friend from college is her manager. “Who knew we would come this far and would be doing this?,” Shetty asks. “My friends in college would show up if I was doing an event somewhere, they would click pictures, shoot a video or just be around to show their support. It’s like we were and are each other’s cheerleaders.”

Her family has been on board for all her projects – in turn she takes them along on work trips. Creators end up missing social and family events. They’re editing late into the night or all of the weekend. “As a person who’s always on the go, travelling & doing creative stuff, I’m all about going with the flow of life and I would never say sorry to my friends and family for not always physically being present. I’d rather say thank you for understanding. And indeed, I’m surrounded with people who understand this. For me it’s about being 100% wherever I am. Be it with work, with friends, with nature, Just being present with whatever I have been presented with is my mantra.”

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Vishnu Kaushal: “Ultimately, authentic content wins”

He’s found that when life is both the muse and the medium, one’s personal, social and work life are especially blurred. If the 24-year-old is on a trip to the hills with friends, all of them might post photos on social media. “But that’s also part of what I do as a content creator,” Kaushal says. He’s often wondering if he’s working or actually taking a break from work.

“The social media ecosystem is new, there are no rules and distinctions,” he says. So he draws the lines himself. This means asking himself if he set out to the hills wanting to make a video in the first place. “You have to sometimes ask yourself how much of that takes away from your human experience.”

Some experiences just happen to make for good material. “I genuinely enjoy creating content with my brother, those are the videos that go viral,” Kaushal says “We can be seen cracking up and just laughing unfiltered in those videos. I don’t edit it out and I suppose that’s why people enjoy my content.” Others are about consciously doing small, meaningful things with people he cares about, rather than forced big-ticket collaborations. Last year, Kaushal launched his merchandise brand Peach By Vishnu, with his best friend from Class 6.

Either way, Kaushal views content-creation, that seemingly endless cycle of planning, filing, editing and uploading material, as a tool of self-expression and self-exploration. “Any creator understands how much thought and critique of your own thought goes into creative work,” he says. “There’s no better way to understand yourself.”

Creating is art. Of course there are moments of self-doubt. There’s no playbook, no approved list of what should be done and how to do it. “If you’re a teen and your video goes viral you don’t know how to navigate that, it affects you psychologically,” he admits. “You won’t know what to do with the hate or if someone says they are in love with you. You have to figure it out for yourself.”

Taking breaks helps. “Not because you want to be famous or more productive, but because you want to be sane, to make art and express what you believe in,” he says. “Often, you end up making similar things as others because that’s what the trend is. On social media, it brings positive reinforcement. But in the long run only authentic and honest content wins.”