When Megan “MeganPlays” Letter set up her laptop to record gaming videos in her college dorm room in 2012, she had no intention of building a content creation business. After amassing millions of followers across platforms and co-founding a successful gaming studio, she’s demonstrated how passion-driven content creation can transform into a successful business.

“I started just as a hobby, and I didn’t think you could make money from it,” Megan recalls her debut. “I just wanted to make gaming videos and vlogs for fun.” Her initial presence began on Instagram, where she posted gaming photos and what she describes as “shallow content” – “selfies and stuff like that.”

The shift to video content emerged naturally after watching other creators. “I had been watching a few creators I liked and thought, ‘This looks fun. Why not share that gameplay with people?’” Megan remembers. She began with The Sims 4 and Minecraft content, recording between her roommate’s classes in their shared dorm room, establishing the foundation for her full-time career.

A pivotal moment arrived in October 2018 when Megan’s Roblox roleplay video transformed her career trajectory. “I went from getting 800 views a video max to maybe 30,000 in a couple of days,” she shares. “I thought, ‘Wow, if people enjoy the storytelling, I could do more of this.’ And it all snowballed from there.”

Before this success, Megan faced uncertainty about her future. “I was maybe making $900 a month off of my channel, which is not enough to live,” she reveals, adding that she even applied for floral internships because she was planning her wedding and fell in love with florals. The success of her Roblox content arrived just in time. “Just before I ran out of savings, I got my first YouTube check,” she recalls with relief.

Strategy and Storytelling

Megan’s success stems from her deep understanding of her audience’s aspirations and deliberate content strategy. 

“I would try to understand my demographic and where they were in life,” she explains. “They’re maybe looking forward to high school, having a crush, and going to the prom. Having best friend shifts. So I would think of keywords like crush, boyfriend, school, dance, bff, etc.”

Her approach combines creativity with systematic planning. “I would sit down, create all my titles for the week, and then bullet point storylines all those titles for the week,” Megan describes. 

This methodical approach extends to content timing and structure. “For YouTube, you have to get into whatever you’re talking about within 30 seconds,” she explains. “You don’t want to do too long of an intro and immediately want to jump into the content because if they’re not getting what they clicked in for in the first 30 seconds. They’ll probably move on, as attention spans have shortened with the infinite amount of content online.”

Platform-specific strategies guide Megan’s content creation. “On TikTok, you have maybe 0.5 of a second to get people interested in what you’re about to say. Whereas YouTube, you have around 30 seconds,” she notes. “Instantly, if you’re posting a TikTok, you want something that grabs attention. So I would try to put a key moment at the beginning of the TikTok.”

As her content expanded beyond storytelling, her strategic approach remained consistent. “I don’t do storytelling content anymore, but I still develop titles that may differ with trending keywords. If we’re doing Dress to Impress, people want to know about Dress to Impress hacks. Taking words like hacks, ideas, and codes and morphing them into a title helps give a guideline to the content I create. 

Industry Challenges

Early in her career, Megan encountered gender-based obstacles in gaming. “Being a woman in gaming, I’ve had a handful of negative experiences about that,” she reveals. 

During a business negotiation for a company she owned with her now-husband, she faced direct discrimination: “This guy was trying to buy a stake [in the company], but he was slimy… he said, ‘I’m not talking to you, honey.’ My jaw hit the floor, and I said, ‘We’re in a group conversation!'”

Content creation presents ongoing challenges regardless of experience. “You could make the best and most exciting video, your life’s work, and no one will see it,” Megan explains. She emphasizes understanding YouTube’s algorithmic preferences: “If somebody clicks into your video and then they think, ‘I don’t want to watch this video,’ they exit early and leave YouTube. YouTube then decides not to push that video on feeds.”

Managing Work-Life Integration

As a new mother to a five-month-old daughter, Megan has developed efficient time management strategies. 

“Before I had my child, I was just bopping around,” she says. “Now that I have her, I must be strategic about my time. My husband and I will take turns working throughout the day. I wake up, do my makeup, record videos, then go back to spend time with her.”

In 2021, intensive content creation led to significant burnout. “I was running five channels at once. I consistently uploaded all of them to my main channel every day. I was making the thumbnails for all of them, too,” Megan recalls. “I don’t think I quite realized how much I was doing. There were days when I didn’t have ideas or motivation. And then I stopped [consistently] uploading for a year.”

The unique challenges of content creation as a career have become more apparent with parenthood: “As a content creator, there was no maternity leave, no work benefits or support. If I stop, it stops, and I can’t allow that to happen because now I have a massive responsibility of caring for somebody besides myself.”

Expanding Business Ventures

Megan’s influence extends beyond YouTube through her co-founded Roblox gaming studio, Wonder Works Studio.

“Although I’m mostly a content creator, I co-founded a Roblox gaming studio – Wonder Works Studio, with my husband,” Megan explains. “The idea for the studio came about when we were making Roblox content together. We thought it would be a great idea to make our own game. That way, we could add anything we wanted into the game to help create content.” 

Megan reveals that they have many projects in the works, including a “huge IP collaboration” that will launch by the end of the year.

Plans include personal projects: “Hopefully, after things settle down, we can have a MeganPlays-focused Roblox Experience. But that’s on the back burner because I don’t want to commission the studio’s time if there’s more important things to be done.”

Her approach to brand partnerships shows her commitment to originality and personality. “If I like something, I’ll talk about it. Whenever your content is about who you are and what you like, it becomes easy to identify what will resonate with your audience.” 

She maintains strict standards: “I had a vape company hit me up, and they wanted to advertise vaping. And I was like, ‘Did you do any research? I don’t smoke, I don’t vape, and my audience is under 18, so that’d be morally flawed if I took this deal.'”

Community Impact and Growth

Megan’s connection with her audience has strengthened throughout her career. “I love my viewers because they are life-changing. Before I did Roblox, the audience was critical and not super nice. But ever since I started doing Roblox, everybody’s super nice and sweet. I truly feel like a part of this community thanks to them.”

She actively engages with her community through new features: “I just joined a new Instagram chat feature launched a while ago, where you can send a message to all your followers. It’s been fun because I’ve been able to talk to my viewers in a safe space.”

Her success enables meaningful community contributions: “It’s exciting. Since we are coming up on Christmas, we do the Angel Tree every year. We will pick out a few kids, and we’ll have some extra income to shop for them and hopefully bring Christmas cheer to people who may not get the extracurriculars of the holiday season.”

Insights for Future Creators

Megan believes creators can’t make it far if they don’t like what they do or are not interested in it. “Don’t try to make a career; start as a hobby because it will chew and spit you out if you go into it for the wrong reasons,” she advises.

The industry veteran addresses common misconceptions about content creation: “Most people think you’re just sitting around playing games, and I am sometimes. But it’s a lot deeper than that. Given that I have had a chunk of the space for 12 years, it’s taken a lot of adaptability and trend spotting… it’s adapt or die with the algorithm.”

For emerging creators, Megan recommends consistency over inspiration: “Sometimes it can be rough. You can’t get into the algorithm, you’re losing hope, you’re not feeling good, you have to try to push through. And I’d say it’s more about discipline than inspiration because inspiration is not always there. You must be dedicated, wake up, and make the video. You are your own boss; no one will hold you to it. It’s all on you.”