I sat down with Chris Phillips from the Spurs Up Show to talk about the power of content creation

There’s no other way to say it: Chris Phillips is a monster.

He’s the owner, operator, and CEO of the Spurs Up Show, a South Carolina Gamecocks media entity.

And folks — He does it all.

He’s constantly creating content because, in his own words, he’s “addicted to the grind.”

I sat down with him recently to get his thoughts on the power of content creation.

Q: Chris, give the people what they want. Who are you? What do you do?

A: I’m the brains behind the Spurs Up show. We do things that range from podcasts, videos, live streams, live events, merch, social media. I’m always finding strategic ways to make content.

Q: So start from the beginning. What prompted your career change and got you into the self-starter, entrepreneurial side of things?

A: I was a college baseball player. Anyone who’s been a college athlete can tell you — you kind of get addicted to the grind. I was going to the field five days a week living and breathing baseball.

Once that ended, I was looking for that next thing. I had a background in sales and digital marketing. I actually worked as a recruiter for a short time.

Simply put, I’ve always loved sports. Ever since I can remember, I was writing about college football. I knew I wanted to build something for myself, and I’d rather work 100 hours a week for myself than 40 hours in a cubicle. I’m really passionate about building something, so all it took was making the decision to start.

Q: How did you get your start?

A: Like most entrepreneurs, I started from zero. Most CEOs and entrepreneurs will say the same things. They love the day-to-day and the process more than the end result. I think that’s extremely key. You have to love the grind more than the trophy.

We started from zero, but I looked at it like I had the opportunity to write something about my favorite team, and if one person read it and found value in it, then it’s a success.

Then more people read and listened, and here we are today.

I’ve never put a dollar into marketing. I just believe in mass media production.

Q: One thing I want to dive into is how to start. Which platform did you start on? I want to get a little in the weeds here because people don’t talk about this enough.

A: People get a little selfish with content creation sometimes and they want to make what they want to make instead of what the consumer wants to consume. I try to think of it from the consumer side of things because your perspective shifts when you try to look at it as a consumer. When you lead with value, you’re going to see a lot more success.

So for me, as a consumer, I was already on Twitter as a Gamecock fan. Twitter’s already a great water cooler for sports fans, so I took that and ran with it.

At the end of the day, I think it’s important to sit back and ask, “where is my customer base”?

Q: So what’s your biggest piece of advice for someone who is trying to get into content creation?

A: Just start.

You’re going to suck at the beginning. There’s no way of getting around it. You’re going to suck, and that’s okay. That’s the beauty of it!

The beauty is the improvement.

It’s so fun looking back a year ago, and even this moment a year ago looking back and just seeing improvement year after year. Every year it's getting better.

If you haven’t started creating content because you’re waiting to be perfect at it, you’ll never stop waiting.

Q: What would you say to someone who isn’t comfortable putting themselves out there?

A: In content creation, no matter what industry you’re in, people are going to respect a version of you that’s vulnerable and that’s open and honest about your journey.

I’ve never pretended to be perfect with my audience. That’s what’s built the relationship and the rapport between me and my audience as I’ve grown and as the business has grown.

Get comfortable being yourself in public and your audience will thank you for it.

Q: Talk to me about some of the harder things to do as a content creator. What are the things you’ve got to do, but dread?

A: The greatest challenge as a content creator isn’t creating the content. It’s the business side. As an entrepreneur, you wear all of the hats. It’s all you.

I guess you could also say as a content creator, especially at the beginning, one of the hardest things is that you’re creating all of this content at scale, but you’re not seeing the likes and engagement that you want.

Now it’s a lot of fun, especially during football season, everything we produce pops because people are so hungry for it. But in the beginning, it can be a little discouraging.

But honestly, there’s nothing I do that I dread. Every day I wake up feeling blessed and fulfilled. Even if something isn’t the most fun thing, it’s important to keep perspective. The problems I have are champaigne problems. I wake up every morning and say, “I get to talk about sports every day for a living.”

How cool is that?

Chris Phillips IS the Spurs Up Show. Check out everything he’s doing at thespursupshow.com.

Follow The Spurs Up Show on Twitter.

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