Is being an influencer hard? It most certainly is. But it can also be some of the most rewarding work – both financially and creatively – if taken seriously. However, like any career, to be a successful influencer, you need to have a specific set of characteristics or be willing to develop these characteristics so you’ll have both longevity and success as an influencer.

TL;DR: Develop the five characteristics every successful influencer has to become more successful yourself.

5 Characteristics You Need If You Want To Be A Successful Influencer

The character you build in the early stages of your career as an influencer will be critical to your time in the industry. Why do you think older influencers and creators have more success and demand higher paychecks? It’s because they’ve learned to develop these characteristics over time, and now apply them to their careers. If you do the same, and either develop these traits or sharpen the traits you already have, you’ll find that your potential is limitless.

That said, you need to be:

1// Thick-skinned

It’s natural for hate or commentary to affect you, but to be a flourishing influencer, you need to be undeterred and unresponsive to any unwarranted criticism. 

This includes being able to determine which criticism is invalid and which is critique, so you can utilize it to improve your content.

2// Focused

Most creative individuals can get distracted easily; it’s one of the flaws of having an active brain full of ideas. However, to be a successful influencer, you need to be able to go into a zone to complete a project. If you’re the kind to have a bunch of half-finished projects, you need to reign in that characteristic and start seeing your projects to completion. 

3// Driven

You can’t be prone to giving up if you plan to have any longevity as an influencer. Therefore, you need to be driven and ambitious to the point where you can separate what you need to do to succeed from other aspects of your life. Of course, it’s always a good idea to keep yourself in check, so you don’t become toxically ambitious and in the process become a lowlife “clout chaser” because, then, you’ll only be hurting your reputation and will alienate yourself from the influencer community. 

4// Self-Motivated and Disciplined

No schedule or outline exists of what a workday for an influencer should look like, leaving you to your own devices. This can either be liberating, if you’re a very self-motivated and driven person, or can have the opposite effect if you need external motivation to get started.  

5// Creative

This goes without saying, but in case you weren’t aware, influencers need to be inherently creative individuals. This doesn’t mean you need to be Picasso, but you need to be able to examine subjects and topics differently, you need to be an “out of the box thinker.” And most importantly, you need to be able to adapt basic concepts and ideas to make them relevant to your niche. 

If you have these five characteristics and are passionate about your work as an influencer, you’ll be all but guaranteed to succeed. That said, these characteristics work best in combination with avoiding the five most detrimental traits influencers have.