Building a business from the ground up as a creator is no easy feat. Your success depends on a number of different things including your leadership, your team, and your strategy. Often, creators start without a blueprint and fail before they soar. Consultant and Creator of the online course, Notion Mastery, Marie Poulin, always considered her work style to be chaotic. But whatever she thought she lacked, she looked for those capabilities in her team. Marie was recently diagnosed with ADHD, which gave her a newfound appreciation for her small team’s ability to take initiative and stay organized. Like many creators, Marie has a stream of ideas and is always tempted to reinvent herself. It took a few awkward hires before building a stellar team and she freestyled her marketing efforts before committing to a strategy. She eventually found her flow and more importantly a funnel that helped her stay consistent in her outreach, grow her business, and diversify her content to unlock new possibilities. In this episode, Charli and Miguel talk with Marie about cultivating a supportive team as a creator with ADHD and optimizing her business strategy with ConvertKit. Key Takeaways [00:44] - Have you heard? [00:55] - Instagram scaling back its underperforming shop feature. [02:24] - Notion added a new feature called team spaces. [02:44] - Circle announced they are adding a course platform. [03:53] - Today’s main topic: Cultivating a creative environment with Marie Poulin. [04:01] - Marie speaks about her course Notion Mastery. [04:37] - Roles that Marie decided to hire for in her business. [06:37] - How Marie cultivated her team that represents her vision. [13:39] - How the funnel worked for Marie. [18:14] - Marie’s strategy to get people interested in her templates. [23:33] - How the audience responded when Marie diversified her content. [27:05] - Why leaning too hard on one service can be dangerous for business. [30:54] - Improvements Marie has in mind for her funnel. Quotes [09:50] - “Part of it is just recognizing talent in other people and noticing those gaps, and asking myself, can we work together? What are the things that matter to be similar and what are the things where I need to hire for the gap?” ~ @mariepoulin [12:45] - “I want people to feel like they can’t believe that they get paid to do this work.” ~ @mariepoulin [23:22] - “I do encourage creators, don’t be afraid to experiment with your wording, the phrasing, how you talk about what you do and see what forms actually convert better.” ~ @mariepoulin Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Marie Poulin Marie Poulin Twitter Marie Poulin Instagram Marie Poulin YouTube Notion Mastery Instagram Meta Notion Snapchat WeTalk Circle YouTube Salesforce Twitter Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free. With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

The greatest form of flattery you can get as a content creator is when your audience consistently engages with your content. The 2022 ConvertKit study showed that the average email open rate is only 33%, so how do you break through the noise to get people begging for more? Blogger, content creator, and educator Khe Hy, blows that statistic out of the water with a 50% open rate on his newsletter. Khe quit a cushy desk job on Wall Street to dive into the uncertainty of being a creator and entrepreneur. As many creators know, keeping people engaged is not easy when inspiration and passion wane. But Khe uses a formula that he thinks is foolproof. He spends time creating a solid subject line and consistently puts out great content by harnessing the power of social proofing on Twitter and newsjacking trending pop culture topics instead of reinventing the wheel. In this episode, Charli, Miguel, and Haley talk to Khe about quitting his Wall Street desk job to become a creator and his strategies for writing a great email subject line. Key Takeaways [02:03] - Have you heard? [02:12] - School is back in! [02:53] - Haley and the team will be in Orlando for FinCon. [03:49] - Snapchat is laying off 20% of its workforce. [05:44] - Twitter piloted Twitter Circles. [06:46] - Jay Clouse sells complete tear-downs of brands and websites. [09:02] - Today’s Main Topic: How to create engaging headlines and subject lines. [09:15] - An intro to Khe and Rad Reads. [11:25] - Market rate for newsletter open rates. [14:15] - Factors that contribute to Khe’s high open rate. [16:27] - How Khe proofs his headlines. [18:32] - How to use Twitter to test the idea for a headline. [31:46] - How Khe tailors his content. [36:43] - Increase the open rate for creators. [43:15] - Khe shouts out the book, “Getting Things Done”. Quotes [09:25] - “I basically had a midlife crisis at 35 years old and I'm like, I'm not going to do this desk job forever. It all started and still continues with email. Our mission is to help professionals lead a more productive, examined, and joyful life. And we do that through writing, through storytelling, and our main business is online courses.” ~ @khemaridh [15:00] - “You just become a part of people’s behavior. And habit. And that’s by consistency and delivering value.” ~ @khemaridh [34:45] - “Stop trying to put [thought leadership and SEO] all into one. You’ll be a jack of all trades, master of none. You’re going to not be great at SEO. Your readers are going to find it boring. And you’re not going to have fun writing it.” ~ @khemaridh Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Khe Hy LinkedIn Khe Hy Twitter Rad Reads FinCon Apple Snapchat Meta Facebook Twitter Jay Clouse Gmail Cardi B Leonardo DiCaprio Getting Things Done Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone, or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free. With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

Creators strive to be authentic, but it’s not easy navigating the nuances of your second language while being yourself. Content creator, mentor, and Meta product designer Sara Brunettini realized that if she wanted to grow her audience she had to shake off the fear of looking “silly”. Sara is from Italy and she put off learning English until she moved to the UK. She quickly learned that if she wanted to tap into the opportunities in the English-speaking creator economy she needed to take the leap and make content in English. It felt uncomfortable at first but she learned to embrace her accent as a strength and differentiator rather than a weakness. In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Miguel talk with Sara about the impacts of being a multilingual or bilingual creator who makes content for an English-speaking audience. Key Takeaways [00:55] - Have you heard? [01:10] - Snapchat has hit 1,000,000 paid subscribers. [04:30] - Instagram is now a video tool and apps like LinkedIn are following suit. [07:13] - Jay Clouse hit his annual goal of members for his creator community, The Lab. [07:51] - Today’s main topic: How speaking English as a second language impacts creators. [07:58] - An intro to Sara’s content creation and her main streams of income. [11:31] - How Sara decided to create content in English instead of Italian with help from her boyfriend. [16:18] - The impact of creating content in a second language. [23:24] - Choosing a dominant language for the content you create. [25:33] - The creator economy in Italy. [27:24] - Accents overshadowing the content created. [29:53] - Building an audience in the U.S. vs. Europe. [32:55] - The benefit of being based outside the U.S. as a content creator. [36:41] - Changing the mindset of supporting creators from different countries that speak different languages. [41:56] - The importance of sabbaticals. [45:56] - A sneak peek at the next episode. Quotes [04:48] - “LinkedIn has done a pretty good job of catering to the creator community because the creator economy is where the future is.” - @HaleyJanicek [19:03] - “I think it also gave me strength because just moving to a new country where you don't speak the language and everything is really difficult. You want to even be on YouTube, that's like a lot harder for you. And I don’t know Charlie if it’s the same for you, but living in a country where it's not your first language is very challenging.” - @sara_brunettini [34:10] - “People always admire when I talk about my story and the fact that I changed countries looking for new opportunities. I’m sort of like a hero for my other Italian fellas. You can show them that you don't need to live in a cool big city in the U.S. to succeed.” - @sara_brunettini Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube @sara_brunettini Sara Brunettini Youtube Sara Brunettini Snapchat Instagram LinkedIn Jay Clouse Youtube The Culture Map Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

As creators, an entrepreneurial spirit often lends itself to fantastic work. Unfortunately, that entrepreneurial energy also makes it difficult for us to justify taking time off. And regardless of your job title, profession, or proclivity for side hustles, it’s no secret that the hustle culture instilled in us by today’s world means taking time off can feel like a step backward rather than a productive step forward. Both back from month-long sabbaticals, Charli and Haley can speak to the “productivity” they experienced by shutting their eyes, shutting their screens, and silencing their slack notifications for an extended period of time. Not just a luxurious perk of working for ConvertKit, Charli and Haley’s break became a necessary escape from the day-to-day pressures of work and an essential reset before embarking on new ventures. In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Miguel discuss the challenges of finally taking a moment to unwind, how to ensure time off is actually time off, why vacations don’t have to be luxurious to be restful, and why taking breaks is the best thing you can do for yourself, your business, and an audience hungry for more. Key Takeaways [01:33] - Have you heard? [01:37] - TikTok is launching a new e-commerce hub. [02:57] - YouTube just launched an updated editing UI to help creators quickly pivot to Shorts. [04:38] - Despite seeming like a one-man operation, MrBeast has a massive team, something we don’t often realize of our favorite creators. [06:20] - Today’s main topic: The importance of taking a break as a creator. [07:33] - Sometimes it takes a while to unwind when you finally close your laptop and decide to relax. [09:19] - Breaks and sabbaticals are great ways to prepare yourself for a career transition. [10:23] - Staycations can be just as restful as fantasy, luxury vacations. [12:24] - Use tech tools to your advantage. For instance, program Slack to send automated reminders to colleagues while you’re away so you can fully check out without worrying about someone else’s to-do list. [13:30] - In other words, checking out of work fully takes proper planning. [16:50] - Breaks allow you to create new habits that you maybe didn’t realize were missing from your typical routine. [20:26] - Breaks also remind you how important your time is. Find ways to increase efficiencies when you’re back up and running. [22:13] - Taking a break can help you spot inefficiencies or anything that isn’t serving you because it forces you out of the routine you’ve built. [22:31] - Rest is just as productive as busyness. [24:45] - The time and freedom of sabbatical gives many the freedom to launch a new venture. Having space to prioritize what’s important is essential to taking the next step in your life and your career. [26:32] - You may even discover new hobbies on a break. [29:29] - As a creator, don’t feel guilty for taking proper breaks. Pushing through burnout is not the best way to recover from burnout. [30:21] - Figure out what periods in your business are slower and use that time to take a full, extended break. [31:33] - Give your audience a heads up that you’ll be on a complete break. Expectation setting gives you the freedom to enjoy time off without anyone nagging you for updates. [33:51] - We all try and accomplish a lot before taking time off. Be OK with not crossing everything off your to-do list. Prioritize the work that will impact your business if it’s left undone and don’t stress about the rest. [35:07] - Remember to submit a listener shoutout! ConvertKit Sponsor Network is an amazing new feature that even Charli’s taken advantage of. Quotes [09:00] - “I think another thing I learned was that I needed more rest than I realized and that it wasn’t until I did slow down that I noticed how tired I was and how burnt out I was. And that the break was not just a fun option for me but that it actually felt necessary.” ~ @charliprangley [15:04] - “Even though creating is something that I feel inspired to do and that gives me energy, it still takes a lot of energy to put into creating. And just because something’s fun, doesn’t mean it’s not draining you and that you don’t need a break from it.” ~ @charliprangley [21:10] - “I feel like in a weird way, sabbatical helped me prioritize my time again. It helped me recognize the importance of my time.” ~ @haleyjani [22:32] - “There’s this fallacy that we feel like the only way that we can be productive is if we’re actually actively doing something. And we forget that not doing something can be just as helpful to a process.” ~ @miguelp.img Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube TikTok ByteDance YouTube MrBeast MrBeast Careers Page Slack Charli Marie CharliMarieTV Kindle Paperwhite Cole Haan Leather Case for Kindles Nike Adobe Basecamp FinCon 2022 Submit a listener shoutout ConvertKit Sponsor Network Armando Roggio Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience ...

When you’re launching a business, it’s easy to leave SEO on the backburner. But if you ever want your audience to actually find the content you’re working so hard to create, mastering SEO (or at least understanding the basics) is a must. If you’re confused about SEO, think about the first page of a Google search results page as Main Street: the block shoppers frequently find themselves on every time they’re looking for a new product, service, or solution. The lower your website ranks, the more likely you are to end up in a back alley, or the results that emerge only after page one. Now think about how often shoppers trek to hidden alleyways on the hunt for a new pair of boots. The moral of the story is the last place you want your site to end up is the back alley. Or page two of a Google search results page. If your SEO tanks and your content is impossible to find online, the hard work you’ve put in to create stellar content goes straight out the window. In this episode, Charli, Miguel, and ConvertKit’s SEO Manager Collin Tate discuss why SEO is essential, how to translate the inner workings of the world wide web, simple ways to drastically improve your SEO, and why a stellar web presence doesn’t always break your budget. Key Takeaways [0:55] - Have you heard? [01:06] - Squarespace launched a new drag-and-drop website editor which makes website building and customization easier. [03:09] - Instagram has defended its decision to prioritize video content. [07:10] - TikTok search is now driving Google search as Gen Z prioritizes social platforms over traditional search engines. [09:42] - Today’s main topic: Using SEO to boost your business. [09:47] - SEO or search engine optimization helps people find the content you create online. [15:31] - When a site gets “indexed, " the web has found it and added the new content to its index. Once a site is added to the index, users can discover that site on a search results page. [16:46] - For the internet to index your site in the first place, make sure Google has permission to crawl your website and focus on optimizing your site’s content. [18:21] - There’s a big difference between ranking somewhere on a search results page and ranking highly. To rank highly, research the terms people use to search for your niche and incorporate those into your site’s content. [20:58] - Understanding web trends helps you understand your audience, your market, and what terms to embrace versus avoid depending on what’s popular and what’s declining in relevance. [22:38] - If you’re in a saturated market, use modifiers to increase the likelihood that you’ll rank highly. For example, “web design” is a broad term that can be modified to something more specific like “web design Bristol, UK.” [25:17] - Remember that people searching for your content aren’t robots, they’re people. Don’t just stuff keywords into your blog posts. The writing should still be enticing and relevant. [26:23] - Beyond the main keywords or questions consumers ask, think about secondary questions relevant to your product or service. [28:00] - Titles and subject lines should be enticing but avoid clickbait. Create believable titles without being sensational. [35:05] - Creating consistent content isn’t just helpful when you’re trying to grow your business, consistency improves your SEO. Google factors the “freshness” of content into its algorithm. [35:59] - Collaborating with other creators is a great way to boost your search rank. [36:46] - Understanding the analytics of your website helps you track and optimize your site’s ranking. [38:52] - Google Search Console is a great tool to help gauge how your site's actually ranking across search terms. Quotes [12:54] - “That’s what SEO is, making sure that when people search for terms or they’re looking for products, you show up and you’re the top. Those are the basics of SEO and it’s important to get them right. You don’t have to do them perfectly, but you want to do them as well as you can.” ~ @CollinTate [26:23] - “If you would like to [rank highly on a search results page], you have to dive into the mind of your prospective visitor. What are they looking for? In the piece of content you’re getting ready to create, does it answer the questions, or will it answer the questions that they may have?” ~ @CollinTate [31:40] - “Write for humans, and when you write for humans, you’re actually writing for the robots. Because if humans love your content, Google will love your content.” ~ @CollinTate [32:10] - “Everybody is writing content these days. Everybody’s creating content. And if you’re not doing that consistently, somebody’s going to take your spot.” ~ @CollinTate Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Collin Tate Squarespace Squarespace Fluid Engine Webflow Instagram Meta TikTok YouTube Google Tuesday Morning Bang Search Yahoo! WordPress Google Trends Ahrefs BuzzFeed Jarvis AI AlsoAsked Google Analytics Plausible Fathom Google Search Console Tools SparkToro Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right her...

For those of us without a natural artistic gene, designing our brand from scratch can feel incredibly daunting. Even professional designers work tirelessly to perfect a brand’s launch or relaunch. Luckily, designers say it’s not worth overthinking the details, especially at the start. Taking small steps forward while continuing to focus on what’s most important, creating content, will get you to your destination in one well-designed piece. Take it from David Preston, a Senior Marketing Designer at ConvertKit responsible for ConvertKit’s stellar brand design, and Morgan Kitzmiller, an account manager at ConvertKit and aspiring designer who’s designing a brand of her own on the side. In this episode, David, Morgan, and Miguel discuss how to start designing when the task feels overwhelming, when it’s acceptable to settle for an imperfect look, practical tips and promising tools for developing your aesthetic, the right time to change your style, and the wrong time to hit refresh on a rebrand. Key Takeaways [00:53] - An intro to David and Morgan. [03:39] - Have you heard? [03:44] - Meta is adding exclusive content options for paying subscribers to help creators build their audience. [06:32] - A newsletter from Justin Welsh reminds us that doing what we’re passionate about makes goal-setting and discipline far easier. [08:47] - Shopify has launched a Sell On YouTube feature and is moving toward live shopping experiences. [10:37] - Today’s main topic: Establishing your brand identity through design. [11:14] - Design begins with an idea. Ask yourself, what is the thing you’re designing about? What is the goal of it? [12:35] - Sometimes design is approached through a problem-solving lens, other times it’s purely creative. Regardless, each project lends itself to creative constraints that designers have to consider before diving in. [14:08] - Creating a brand and brand identity is daunting because there’s no single output, you’re creating several assets that complement a larger theme. Start by brainstorming a few words that you feel describe your brand and go from there. [15:07] - Don’t let design perfectionism stop you from releasing a brand and creating content. [19:55] - In a practical sense, you don’t have to pick an entire color rainbow all at once. Focus on just one primary color and one accent color to start. [21:41] - Unless you’re a design content creator, you can get away with having imperfect branding on day one. [23:25] - In the early days of design, be on the lookout for things you like that you see out in the world. A folder of design inspiration goes a long way. [25:22] - If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to rebrand. Just be mindful of timing. Rebranding during your busiest sales month isn’t great. [26:52] - On the flip side, a fresh rebrand can win back former and new followers, subscribers, and clientele. [28:55] - If you are making big brand changes, have a clear path forward in mind and communicate that brand change to your audience ahead of time. [29:16] - Avoid multiple back-to-back rebrands. [29:27] - Repeating brand ideas, whether that be visual or otherwise, is a great way to help users remember you. [32:30] - Today’s listener shoutout: Morgan’s side hustle, root and rise, helps women stop binging and restricting and start building strength and confidence through health and fitness. [37:41] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [12:14] - “Really getting clear on what is the goal of the thing you’re creating first can help inform some of the other decisions that you make like the design itself, what is on that page or image, what does the writing look like, what do the colors look like.” ~ @morgankitzmiller [17:14] - “When you get so focused on the big picture of a website, a logo, colors, images, everything and you're so focused on perfecting it, it can be a really good excuse to not actually do the work itself which is where you’ll actually learn the most about yourself, your brand, and what you want that brand to be to people that are finding it and consuming it, and interacting with you.” ~ @morgankitzmiller [35:29] - “I am a designer for a living and even I will advocate for, choose the thing that is as simple as possible that can get the job done.” ~ David Preston Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube David Preston Morgan Kitzmiller Craft + Commerce Nathan’s Craft + Commerce 2022 Keynote Meta Instagram Patreon The Future Belongs to Creators 163: How To Make a Living From Sponsorships with Armando Roggio and Jay Clouse Justin Welsh’s The Saturday Solopreneur Newsletter Daniel Vasallo Justin Welsh’s Twitter thread Shopify YouTube QVC Pinterest Coolors Dribbble Coca-Cola The #AskGaryVee Show root and rise root and rise on Instagram root and rise Strong Girl Summer Squarespace Collin Tate Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episo...

Income from Adsense and digital products may pay a bill or two. But most creators take their dreams full-time with the help of paid sponsorships. Thankfully, brands are finally seeing the value in creator services and they’re paying accordingly. As a creator, ignoring sponsored opportunities now means ignoring major revenue. But spending hours searching for brand partners, negotiating rates, and cutting deals aren’t the things you dreamed of doing as a full-time creator. Eager to help creators earn what they’re worth without sacrificing time spent doing what they love, ConvertKit’s Armando Roggio developed the Sponsorship Network. ConvertKit’s Sponsorship Network acts as an agent for large and emerging creators, connecting brands with the best creator fit and negotiating on a creator’s behalf. In this episode, Creator Jay Clouse, Armando, and Miguel discuss why today’s content creators are uniquely valuable to brands, how the Sponsorship Network adds value to brands and creators, and why sponsorships are the key to unlocking a life you love. Key Takeaways [00:47] - Today’s listener shoutout: Jay Clouse’s podcast, Creative Elements, just launched a video show. [01:49] - Have you heard? [02:02] - Elon Musk is backing out of his deal to buy Twitter and Twitter is not pleased, especially as Musk defames the company on his way out. [03:54] - An old video from Paul Saffo has resurfaced in which he claims the creator economy’s primary value is high engagement. [09:06] - Today’s main topic: Making a living with sponsorships. [10:36] - ConvertKit’s new Sponsorship Network initiative is a way for ConvertKit to act as an agent for creators and sell sponsorships to brands on their behalf. [12:34] - ConvertKit’s Sponsorship Network not only adds value to creators but also speeds up the process for brands who typically have to go through an extensive search process to find the right creative partner. [15:34] - Creators should spend time doing what they do best. Having someone handle the backend of sponsorship administration and negotiation allows creators to focus on providing value to brands. [19:23] - To qualify for the ConvertKit Sponsorship Network, you have to have 10,000 or more subscribers, send an editorial newsletter at least weekly, and have an audience that’s solidly engaged. [22:16] - Once you’ve generated a large following, it makes economic sense to offload sales and sponsorship negotiations. [22:47] - Emerging creators are still valuable to brands because mid-size creators still have highly engaged audiences. [25:18] - Especially given the new iOS update, open rates are less compelling than ever. Focus on the quality of your list over the quantity by removing unengaged subscribers. [30:11] - The influencer market in the United States is worth about $16 billion. [33:15] - Even if it’s not through ConvertKit, and even if you don't have 10,000 subscribers yet, pursue sponsorships however you can. [36:52] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [13:05] - “If you think about these companies, they could choose to buy ads on the Meta platform or on Google, and frankly they do. But they know that the creators have a special relationship with their audiences that is not replicated on Facebook or anywhere. And by advertising with the creator, the brands believe, and I think this is true, that a little bit of trust is passed from the creator to the audience regarding that brand.” ~ @armandoroggio [17:36] - “A lot of us got here because our ‘customer’ is our audience and we want to serve them and do right by them. The more time you spend focusing on sponsor negotiation and administration, you start to get confused as to who you’re serving. And it can get the flywheel in the wrong direction. So it’s helpful to work with somebody to make all that streamlined to make sure everybody’s winning and allow us to have as much time as possible to foster the audience and continue to develop that relationship.” ~ @jayclouse [34:05] - “As a creator, don’t leave sponsorship money on the table. There’s an opportunity here. The content that you create has value. And working with sponsors that have products you love who are also willing to help you make a living and continue to create is something you should pursue.” ~ @armandoroggio Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Armando Roggio Jay Clouse Creative Elements Podcast Creative Elements Video Episodes (Justin Moore Ep.) Justin Moore Elon Musk Twitter The Creator Economy | Paul Saffo Long Now Foundation ConvertKit Sponsorship Network Craft + Commerce Notion Zapier SparkLoop Tim Ferriss ConvertKit’s tip jar feature Sunsama SoundCloud Virgin Records Athletic Greens Casper Meta Google Peloton Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add...

Every action changes the biochemistry of your brain. Not many of us think about that when running errands, slogging through a 9-5, or scrolling mindlessly on social media. But as creators, the way we work and manage our mental health can mean the difference between a thriving side hustle and another creative project left by the wayside. ConvertKit team members Ben Schoeffler and Caitlin Zarrella are both passionate about mental health and pursuing creative endeavors. As they can attest, without a boss to hold you accountable, give you praise, or help out when your workload gets tough, finding ways to stay motivated, passionate, and happy about your creative pursuits is tough. In this episode, Miguel, Ben, and Caitlin discuss the ways in which creators can pursue goals without succumbing to burnout and discouragement, the simple art of successful goal-setting, and how creators can transform stress into fuel and dread into dopamine. Key Takeaways [00:52] - Have you heard? [01:00] - Creators can now buy insurance for their Instagram accounts. [02:45] - Creators.Google is a community blog with advice for creators. [04:14] - Balancing mental health and goal achievement. [04:47] - Learn to manage stress before your side hustle becomes a full-time gig that’s twice as stressful. [10:28] - The pressure to always be creating or iterating on your craft can cause resistance to the hobby you originally loved. [11:28] - When it comes to battling depression, continuing to move and stay active with hobbies can improve your mental health significantly. [15:47] - The pandemic led many creators to burn out because the endless time had no structure and therefore no boundaries. [18:01] - Struggling to push through a learning curve prevents many of us from acquiring new skills. [20:03] - Reframe the learning curve as teaching yourself how not to do something versus telling yourself you’re unskilled. [21:01] - To prevent immediate discouragement, pick a date or milestone and don’t evaluate your progress until you’ve hit that milestone. [22:18] - Train yourself to fall in love with practicing because that’s how most of your time will be spent until you’re an absolute expert. [26:03] - Your perspective on the activity that’s difficult impacts the amount of dopamine your body releases while striving to accomplish it. [30:00] - Spiking your dopamine to the max will ultimately leave you feeling depleted. Focus on activities that push your dopamine without raising it through the roof. [31:08] - What you consume online impacts your brain chemistry just like the food you consume impacts your mood and biochemistry. [36:43] - Break big goals into smaller pieces so you can celebrate small wins and keep moving forward without frequent discouragement. [38:37] - Angel at ConvertKit does great live workshops. The next workshop is Thursday, July 14th. Quotes [05:27] - “Not everyone has a side hustle, maybe they're just in the incubation phase. Being able to manage your mental health with your hobby right now is kind of like the training grounds, so that when you do make that leap, if you decide to, and start maybe charging for services or products, that steps things up a little bit and makes it so you’ve got more skin in the game so there’s more stress involved. If you can really manage that stress in the beginning, it makes things a lot easier.” ~ @BenSchoeffler [34:33] - “I still have my Instagram account, it’s active, but I don’t have it on my phone because it consumes too much all the time. And if I do want to pursue these goals of learning the piano or lifting or whatever, there’s just not a lot of room for social media in my mental space.” ~ Caitlin Zarrella [38:21] - “We think there’s always an end goal like, ‘we have achieved happiness now we can just remain here for 30 years.’ Happiness is not a destination, it's just a process that we can find ways to fall in love with.” ~ @miguelp.img Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Ben Schoeffler Caitlin Zarrella Instagram notch Creators.Google YouTube Peloton The War of Art by Steven Pressfield Netflix Apex Legends Fortnite Shut Up, Brain Podcast Slack Goodwill Target Episode 39: Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction | Huberman Lab Facebook Angel’s Workshops Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

For many people, budgeting is simple. You take your income, subtract your expenses, and figure out what to do with the rest. Do you save? Invest? Splurge? As a creator, your life is your business. And that makes budgeting, investing, and managing your money more complicated. The questions you ask yourself aren’t simply, “can I pay my bills and save for retirement this month?” But also, “how much will I owe in taxes?”, “how do I scale my operation?” and “is this a smart business investment?” While everyone’s business, financial situation, and money mindset are different, there are guiding principles to help answer the tough money questions as a creator, and even help determine if you should be putting a penny down in the first place. In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Miguel discuss how to get comfortable investing as an entrepreneur, which side hustles to consider if you’re worried about an upfront cost, and the three important questions every creator should ask themselves before spending a dollar. Key Takeaways [00:42] - Have you heard? [01:56] - Instagram will be prioritizing NFTs as an additional place for creators to share their work. [04:13] - In the U.K., it is now illegal for clients to have payment terms longer than 30 days. [07:50] - Meta will continue not to take a financial cut from creators. [09:10] - Today’s main topic: Budgeting your time and money as a creator. [10:53] - As a creator, you have to determine what will happen if you don’t see a return on your investment. [12:54] - It can take time to get comfortable spending money on your business. Some wait to invest in their business until they know they’ll see a return or until they’re financially stable. [15:44] - Losing money is a part of entrepreneurship. You have to be comfortable with a little risk or your business will never grow. [18:56] - Just like your retirement investments, you’re in entrepreneurship for the long game. Don’t stop just because you had a down month. [20:03] - On the flip side, you shouldn’t invest in your business irresponsibly. There has to be a business justification behind every investment decision. [24:56] - A business that relies on physical products is financially riskier. [28:24] - Psychologically, people tend to justify escalating their commitment to something based on how much they’ve already invested. To avoid that trap, don’t spend money on your business that you’re not willing to lose. [31:12] - Remind yourself of milestones that your investments have helped you reach. Those milestones help you rationalize future investments. [33:20] - Don’t let perfectionism stop you from launching a business or side hustle. Your business is something you can grow into. [36:02] - Ask yourself what type of business model works for you financially and emotionally. Not all businesses require massive upfront investments. [40:18] - A creator’s money strategy depends on the creator. [41:29] - Today’s listener shoutout: ConvertKit writer Isa Adney recently published a wonderful story. [42:49] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [19:28] - “That’s something that entrepreneurs have to get comfortable with, they just have to get comfortable with being able to zoom out and say, ‘ok I might have a down month this month but it doesn’t mean I should panic and throw in the towel.’ If you can’t do that, then you should not be an entrepreneur.” ~ @haleyjani [32:58] - “That’s exactly what a psychologist would tell you to do is say, ok, you’re going to spend this amount of money and you’re going to try at it for a year. And if in a year you haven’t passed this threshold, then you need to reassess and not keep escalating your commitment to it. Because at some point it’s just a money pit.” ~ @miguelp.img [36:37] - “That’s the beauty of being a digital content creator or doing any sort of thing digital online is you really can do it all yourself to get started with. There’s not anything that you have to spend money on in order to get started.” ~ @charliprangley [40:18] - “Don’t let anyone tell you there’s one right way to budget or one right amount you should be spending on your business as a creator.” ~ @charliprangley Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Instagram Twitter Creator Sessions The Future Belongs to Creators Episode 147: How to Be Successful With Brand Sponsorships as a Creator with Justin Moore Meta Happy Happy Houseplant EveryDollar App Charli’s 2021 income report iPad mini Nathan Barry Submit a listener shoutout! Isa Adney Isa’s most recent creator story Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

It’s not where you are or who you’re with, but what you create. If you’ve ever felt like success as a creator is limited to the humdrum town you’re in, miles from a traditionally “creative” city, meet Fashion Designer Whitney Manney. Kansas City, Missouri may not be the fashion capital of the world, but it’s a place where Whitney has taken root. And if you ask Whitney, the humble surroundings of her hometown have led to more opportunities than obstacles. She’s built a community in Kansas City, has grown her business alongside lifelong peers, and affords a space that’s unattainable in cities like New York or Los Angeles. Finding creative communities may be harder, but it’s far from impossible. And the pressures of surviving in a cut-throat creative hub disappear. However, while creating without pressure is helpful for some, for others, distance from a dream takes a toll. In this episode, Charli, Miguel, and Whitney discuss how to thrive creatively regardless of where you create, how Whitney learned to embrace her hometown, how she lands incredible design gigs despite the distance, and how Whitney stays true to a style much different than the aesthetic around her. Key Takeaways [01:14] - Have you heard? [01:22] - Due to a recent court ruling in the U.K, Meta’s acquisition of Giphy is now in limbo. [03:59] - Japan expects PewDiePie’s move to increase tourism. [06:25] - Today’s main topic: Succeeding as a creator when you don’t live in a main creative hub. [06:44] - Before the internet, living in a place like Missouri was significantly harder and Whitney’s instinct was to get out, especially with fashion aspirations. Now, that desire to leave has decreased dramatically. [08:28] - Whitney has embraced creativity in Kansas City rather than tolerated it. Because she’s always lived there, she has a built-in community and has grown professionally alongside peers. [11:54] - Whitney was able to develop and sustain her own unique style without feeling limited by her city’s aesthetic. [14:55] - Part of embracing where you live is embracing what makes you different from that place. [17:27] - The beauty of staying in one place is the ability to build your business from the ground up and watch it flourish locally. [18:05] - Especially in your early career, there are advantages to being uniquely creative in a small city. You can experiment with your work and content without the daily stress of survival. [19:54] - Living outside of a “creative” city also takes the pressure off having to constantly create and keep up with those around you. You have the freedom to move at a pace that’s sustainable for you. [21:01] - Whitney landed a major fashion gig despite living outside of a typical fashion city. [27:24] - When you have the opportunity to, it’s important to pull in other creators from the “non-creative” city you’re from. [29:21] - You can find a creative community anywhere, it just takes a little extra digging in some places. Don’t discount local creatives near you. [32:48] - Today’s listener shoutout: Whitney herself recently started a partnership with Velcro brand, has hired staff, and relaunched her website. [35:07] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [08:02] - “I really feel like I’m supposed to be here. And what I’m doing here is important and hopefully, the people after me that decide to be creatives here, hopefully I have helped make it a little easier.” ~ @whitneymanney [17:26] - “The thing that I love about being based in KC is that I have genuinely built this thing from the ground up. I can have complete ownership of what this business, what my studio practice, has looked like.” ~ @whitneymanney [19:14] - “If I move to LA or New York, I’m going to be so worried about just surviving, that I feel like I wouldn’t be able to dedicate the time and brain power that I need to be a creative.” ~ @whitneymanney [32:16] - “You really do have to think about, what opportunities exist in my community that I can take advantage of, but [also] what is that one opportunity that I can create for myself this year? And I can do it so well that people are like, ‘ok, we’re paying attention to this person.’” ~ @whitneymanney Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Whitney’s website Whitney Manney on Instagram Whitney on Twitter Whitney on TikTok Whitney on Facebook Giphy Meta Instagram PewDiePie Kansas City Art Institute Sequins and sales funnels: how to build a business in fashion Seventeen Magazine Teen People Magazine Bel-Air Velcro Brand Kansas City Royals Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

Do you consider yourself a creator? If the answer is yes, you’re not alone. According to a recent Vox article, more people than ever are referring to themselves as “content creators.” From social media influencers to fashion designers, that term encompasses a wide breadth of professions. Regardless of their specialty, the most successful content creators of our generation can teach job-seekers and corporations a thing or two about digital marketing. But what does it actually mean to be a content creator? Who’s using that term and is it a fair description for the work creators produce and the grind behind turning your life into a cycle of self-promotion? In this episode, Charli and Haley discuss the merits of the term “content creator”, why so many people are referring to themselves as one, the expectations versus the reality of becoming an online personality, and the invaluable skills we can all learn from content creators, regardless of what we call them and who they are. Key Takeaways [00:55] - Have you heard? [01:03] - Instagram is now releasing Amber Alerts. [03:23] - Apple announced updates to their new operating system. One new feature is the ability to copy and paste items out of Apple photos. [07:03] - Today’s main topic: When did everybody become a content creator? [08:39] - Content creator is such a vague term it’s unclear what work aspiring content creators are actually producing. [09:17] - Because content creator is a catch-all term, is it the creators referring to themselves as such or are there certain types of creators that more commonly call themselves content creators? [12:18] - It seems like everyone has become a content creator these days, whether they signed up for it or not. And regardless if you chose to become one, every person with an audience on social media is responsible for the content they share. [13:47] - The boundaries of who and who isn’t a creator have become increasingly irrelevant. [14:11] - While working as a content creator is an exciting and stimulating option, many don’t realize the 24-7 workload that comes along with it. Boundaries as a creator aren’t just important, they’re essential. [17:56] - Because the term content creator is so vague, many startups label themselves as a “creator-first” platform. However, not every “creator-first” company serves creators properly. [20:29] - Creators, particularly social media influencers, are in the unique position of relying on their personality for financial success. [21:59] - Content creator skills are in-demand across all industries and all platforms. [30:58] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [16:22] - “There’s a lot of FOMO around content creation because it seems so easy to do – and it is so easy, really, to be a creator. We have the tools on us right now, you probably have it in your pocket. But, it’s also really difficult to make money from.” ~ @charliprangley [20:10] - “That is where I think the creator economy right now is. There are so many people that are jumping in to take advantage of it and not truly understanding the problems that creators have.” ~ @haleyjani [28:53] - “Those are the skills that content creators are really, really, really exceptional at. They’re really exceptional at showing their business and the marketing component and being themselves.” ~ @haleyjani Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Whitney Manney I’m A Creator. You’re A Creator. We’re All Creators! When Did Everybody Start Calling Themselves Content Creators? Instagram Meta WWDC22 Apple Adobe MagSafe Charger Nike TikTok Joshua Holmes Nathan Barry LinkedIn Twitter Creator Sessions Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone, or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

Life moves quickly. Sometimes it’s necessary to take a breath and reflect. After more than two years of unprecedented times and a creator economy that feels stronger than ever, ConvertKit has decided it’s time for a temperature check on the creator economy. The State of the Creator Economy Report for 2022 has officially been released and what better time than now to break down the most interesting, discouraging, and surprising takeaways from this year’s report. In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Miguel dive into their favorite aspects of the report, theorizing on data points that shocked them, drawing conclusions from results that encouraged them, and offering advice for creators struggling with growth, monetization, and morale. From the ways creators are earning, the content creators are producing, and the mediums creators are consistently using, here’s everything you need to know about the State of the Creator Economy in 2022. Key Takeaways [01:00] - Have you heard? [01:05] - Instagram is working on a video reaction option for reels, drawing inspiration from TikTok’s current video reaction feature. [02:56] - Halsey claims her record company won’t release her album unless she comes up with a way to create a viral moment on TikTok. [04:15] - ConvertKit is hosting Craft + Commerce next month – the first conference in two years! [07:46] - Today’s main topic: The State of the Creator Economy Report [10:14] - Data suggests a gender pay gap within the creator economy. [14:00] - Why traditional gender roles may play a part in the gender pay gap. [15:31] - Creators tend to sell services and digital products more than subscriptions and memberships. In other words, creators are focusing on creating one-off products rather than recurring sources of income. [17:16] - The place where creators are launching their businesses has shifted from blogs to Instagram. [19:31] - Instagram can be a portfolio for creators, more so than traditional blogs and websites. However, Instagram is one of the hardest places to build an audience. [20:32] - Surprisingly, TikTok was underutilized among creators in comparison to email and Instagram. However, it’s possible the ConvertKit sphere of influence skewed that data. [22:49] - Creators in higher income brackets are sending emails more consistently. They’re also likely to value email above paid ads and social. [25:15] - In 2021, creators’ main goal was to grow their audience. In 2022, creators’ main goal is income growth. [26:59] - You don’t need a huge email list to earn a living. True fans matter. [28:25] - Creators in the highest income bracket did report a higher level of happiness than creators in lower-income brackets. [31:09] - This report proved that there’s a market for every specialty. [33:31] - Full-time creators tend to focus more on business strategy. [38:30] - Today’s listener shoutout! There were no listener shoutouts so let’s talk about Haley. Haley has been feeling very creative and recently did a branding photoshoot for a friend. She’s also diving into a brand new creative project – details to come. [40:07] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [28:13] - “It’s really about true fans. And if you can get those true fans on your email list, that’s what you need. So start sooner, start now. There’s no better time than now.” ~ @haleyjani [34:30] - “It’s just interesting that most people were full-on entrepreneurs but there were very few full-on DIYers or full-on artists.” ~ @miguelp.img [37:20] - “I think it’s honestly about showing the creative artist types the monetization options available to them. You don’t have to teach people marketing to be able to earn a living as a creator and be a full-time creator. There are options out there and I think that we just need to do a better job of educating creators on what they could be and opening their eyes to it.” ~ @charliprangley Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube State of the Creator Economy Report Buy a ticket to Craft + Commerce Rachel Rodgers Mat Kearney Amy Porterfield Corey Haines Samar Owais Why an insurance agent became a secret bird blogger Mandi from Happy Happy Houseplant Jenny Komenda Submit a listener shoutout! Twitter Instagram TikTok Snapchat Meta Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

Creator or not, we’ve all experienced burnout to some degree. You throw yourself into a side passion or new business and before you know it, you’re struggling to stay motivated and downright exhausted. While the feeling is familiar, many of us are less familiar with what leads to burnout besides simply “overworking”, how long it takes to bounce back from burnout, and the best ways to rest and recover. As creators, burnout is often exacerbated by the constant feedback we receive, positive or otherwise. Listening to a never-ending loop of opinions about everything you create is enough to exhaust the toughest among us. But are there ways to combat the inevitable commentary that comes with being a public creator? And how can you recharge without falling back into burnout the moment you start working again? In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Miguel discuss the recent ConvertKit article, Creativity Feedback Loops, outlining why creators face an uphill battle with burnout, how some creators are addressing feedback burnout head-on, the plus side to frequent feedback, the right way to rest, and what creators should consider before monetizing their passion. Key Takeaways [00:27] - Have you heard? [00:37] - ConvertKit just released a report entitled State Of The Creator Economy 2022 that covers a holistic overview of the creator economy, including data and statistics on creator types, status, gender distribution, monetization, and more. [02:32] - Twitter has created a space for “super followers” only. [04:14] - The co-hosts of the podcast Reply All are leaving Gimlet, a podcast network that was recently acquired by Spotify. They’re not the first podcast hosts to leave post-acquisition. [08:26] - Today’s main topic: Creativity Feedback Loops. [09:29] - Online feedback is ruthlessly honest. While difficult to swallow, it can be incredibly constructive. [10:51] - Data shows that Gen Z creators in particular are expecting kindness from their followers more than ever before. In fact, Gen Z creators are choosing their platform based on said platform’s enforcement of respectful comments. [12:26] - While negative feedback can be helpful, it can also be the thing that tips you over the edge and propels you into burnout. [13:55] - Burnout isn’t something you recover from quickly – so it’s important to be mindful of how you’re working and how often you’re giving yourself a break. [15:31] - As a creator, ideas are your currency. To keep the ideas flowing, you have to prioritize rest. In other words, resting is investing in your business. [17:24] - Having a full-time job takes the pressure off living and breathing your craft 24-7 just to survive. [18:58] - Balance means something different to everybody. You have to figure out what works for you. [21:01] - Learning to say no can save you from burnout. [24:03] - Intellectual burnout can be just as challenging for creators as physical burnout. [24:38] - The idea of monetizing creativity in itself induces burnout. [25:56] - You have to go into life as a creator with the clear understanding that creativity is a business. The business side of monetization is incredibly draining for some. To avoid burnout, consider outsourcing those aspects of your life. [28:10] - Sometimes you have to walk away from something good to avoid burnout. [30:37] - Today’s listener shoutout: Melanie is a video creator currently working on a documentary series on her YouTube channel. She recently posted her 11th episode. [31:47] - Craft & Commerce 2022 is coming up! The first live conference since Covid began. [34:11] - A quick sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [14:28] - “It can take weeks, months, or even years to really recover from burnout depending on how burnt out you are and what sort of situation is waiting for you after whatever break that you take. So you have to be really mindful about setting yourself up for success when you take those breaks.” ~ @miguelp.img [16:38] - “Having rest when you're burnt out versus having rest as margin for yourself to give space to relax and have ideas are two very different stages of being. You’re not going to get the ideas when you’re burnt out – that’s your recovery time.” ~ @charliprangley [26:02] - “You have to go into the creator world, if you’re looking to monetize your creativity, with the understanding and realization that being a creator is a business. So if you don’t have all of those business inputs figured out, then you’re really going to struggle [with burnout].” ~ @haleyjani Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Creativity Feedback Loops article State of the Blogging Industry (pub. 2017) State of the Creator Economy report Twitter introduces Super Follows Spaces Patreon Reply All Podcast Gimlet Spotify The Joe Rogan Experience Call Her Daddy Podcast MailChimp Tradecraft Shopify Happy Happy Houseplant Our listener shoutout Melanie Griesemer Submit a listener shoutout! Buy a ticket to Craft + Commerce Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free

Whether you’re an emerging creator, established TikToker, or you’re just hoping to scale an expanding side hustle, we could all use a little support. Thankfully, as the creator economy expands, so do businesses looking to elevate creators through focusing tools, monetization apps, and even hubs for influencer pay transparency. While they’re moving mountains for today’s creators, these incredible apps may not be tools you’ve ever heard of. So let’s change that. In this episode, Charli and Miguel break down their favorite apps for creators that have largely gone unnoticed. From website hacks to social platforms for female and non-binary entrepreneurs, here’s everything you can utilize as a creator on the rise. Key Takeaways [00:49] - Have you heard? [01:00] - The term “creator economy” has become commonly used only over the past year-and-a-half. [02:40] - Twitter Circle is a feature similar to Instagram’s “close friends” feature. It allows you to add up to 150 people who can see your “private” tweets. [07:04] - Today’s main topic: Apps for creators you’ve probably never heard of. [07:22] - Coolors is a color palette generator perfect for creators looking to redesign their content without paying top dollar for a professional designer. [09:17] - Sunroom is a safe and secure app designed to amplify women and non-binary people looking to monetize their businesses. [11:56] - Ulysses is a fantastic app for long-form writing. The app helps you focus and arrange your thoughts. [14:51] - FYPM shows you what other influencers are getting paid for similar campaigns with similar brands. [19:22] - Ambients generates different “environment” noises to help creators focus. [22:17] - Clashapp helps short-form video creators earn revenue directly from fans. [27:51] - Forrest App incentivizes you to focus without distraction. [30:42] - TinyPNG is a great app for anyone with a blog or website. It shrinks your website loading time by compressing images you add without affecting the image’s quality. [32:29] - Today’s listener shoutout! Alejandro Castanon is an artist and advisor who recently filed his LLC and two separate DBAs for his art business. [33:41] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [11:40] - “At one stage, TikTok was the little unknown thing that a few people were starting to use, right? And we never know what is going to be the next TikTok. Maybe it could be Sunroom, who knows. Check it out, be an early adopter.” ~ @charliprangley [14:30] - “When you’re doing something creative, how you feel when you’re doing it is so important.” ~ @miguelp.img [17:46] - “You have this temptation to price yourself in a competitive way so then you’ll undersell what you do because of the fear of losing out on it and you figure, ‘hey at least getting paid for something is better than not getting paid at all’, and then you sort of talk yourself down on your asking price.” ~ @miguelp.img Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Twitter Twitter Circle Instagram Patreon Coolors Sunroom OnlyFans TikTok Ulysses Notion Microsoft Word Google Docs Pages FYPM Google Ambients Clashapp.co YouTube Clubhouse Facebook Forrest App TinyPNG Alejandro Castanon Creativity feedback loops (and their impact on mental health) Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

In 10th grade, Henry Thong took media studies, thinking it’d be a chance for him to slack off. Instead, he discovered a passion for videography that transformed his career aspirations and redefined his future. Henry pursued film seriously from that point on, entering festivals at every chance he got and following the Casey Neistat philosophy of constantly creating content and sharing as much of it with the world as possible. That content push paid off once professionals started spotting Henry’s docuseries on YouTube. Always fascinated by the lives of fellow creators, his passion for telling artists' stories landed him a job producing video content at ConvertKit. But ConvertKit was far from his first career opportunity. Henry knew he couldn’t abandon his side projects, and only pursued jobs that allowed him to balance both. In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Henry discuss Henry’s advice for filmmakers looking to share their work and gain a following on YouTube, tips beyond beating the notoriously tricky algorithm, how to network with artists that feel out of reach, and how Henry balances a full-time job with the passion projects that fuel him. Key Takeaways [00:37] - Have you heard? [00:42] - An I Am A Creator film that Henry created was nominated for a Telly Award. ConvertKit’s I Am A Creator website is also nominated for a Webby Award. [02:06] - Elon Musk is officially the new owner of Twitter. [03:17] - A creator is on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. [04:02] - CNN+ was canceled a month after its launch due to the WarnerMedia Discovery merger. [05:06] - Today’s main topic: Making videos for YouTube. [05:42] - How Henry built his career as a filmmaker. [12:16] - The best way to build momentum on YouTube and the debate on short-form vs long-form content. [15:26] - Henry’s tips and tricks for generating organic traffic on YouTube and beating the algorithm. [21:19] - How Henry maintains healthy boundaries between his personal work and his ConvertKit projects and how he manages to sustain his side hustle while working a full-time job. [25:09] - What Henry learned pursuing a major passion project in addition to full-time work and why he eventually decided to put that passion project on pause. [29:42] - Charli’s perspective on short-form vs long-term content. [34:47] - How Henry networks with artists and creators, including those with mass followers that may feel “unreachable.” [38:38] - Charli’s and Haley’s closing thoughts on Henry’s advice. [40:22] - One thing Henry is incredibly proud of. [42:05] - Today’s listener shoutout! Kurt Libby recently launched a new app called HuntMob where anyone can create photo scavenger hunts. You can plug in your ConvertKit API key to directly grow your email list through the scavenger hunt. [43:14] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [13:18] - “When it comes to the algorithm, it’s so dangerous to play to the algorithm because it’s always changing. It all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. The longer-form content always ends up being better for audience experience. So there’s a lot of factors that influence your decision-making: It’s what you want to achieve with it and who do you want to reach?” ~ @henryzw [20:01] - “As with every social media platform, you’ve gotta think about it as more of a partnership with that company. What can you do with your content to keep people on their site for longer? Because in the end, YouTube just wants people to stay on there forever.” ~ @henryzw [32:57] - “Choose whichever format or run time that best fits your creative vision and then find ways to make that work.” ~ @henryzw Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Henry Thong Creator Sessions YouTube I Am A Creator. The Telly Awards The Webby Awards Elon Musk Rolling Stone CNN Netflix A Maker Who Inspires Casey Neistat Isa Adney Instagram Don Hahn Li Cunxin Makers Who Inspire: Mao’s Last Dancer: From Mao’s China to Queensland Ballet Ronny Chieng Makers Who Inspire: Ronny Chieng on Comedy: A Worthy Pursuit Patrick Droney NEEDTOBREATHE Kurt Libby HuntMob Submit a listener shoutout! Chris Ducker Youpreneur Pat Flynn Otter Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

What’s your platform of choice? TikTok? YouTube? Twitter? After setting a simple goal to grow, ConvertKit CEO Nathan Barry decided to shift his efforts to one medium rather than spreading himself thin everywhere. The result was a dramatic increase in Twitter followers and high levels of engagement across his posts. So what was the secret to Nathan’s retweet increase? The truth is, you don’t have to get lucky with a viral tweet or achieve that coveted blue checkmark to grow on Twitter. Tweets that educate and tell a story garner great engagement all the same. Luckily, Twitter threads accomplish those goals in a way that’s shareable and digestible. And accumulating solid Twitter friends quick to engage with those posts makes threads even more attractive to the algorithmic powers that be. In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Miguel talk with Nathan about why threads can help creators grow their audience on Twitter, how to distinguish your thread content from other tweeters, and why you don’t need comedic genius and expert copywriting skills to rack up the favorites and grow a solid following. Key Takeaways [01:04] - Have you heard? [01:10] - Meta is discussing charging content creators an almost 50% cut to create VR content. [03:20] - TikTok released a private beta for Effect House – an AR tool for TikTok. [03:51] - A large majority of Etsy sellers are going on strike because Etsy increased their seller’s fee from 5 to 6.5 percent. [06:30] - Sam Altman sourced image ideas for DALL-E on Twitter. DALL-E is an AI program that creates images from text descriptions. [08:41] - Elon Musk ultimately declined a position on Twitter’s board. [10:48] - Today’s main topic: How to grow as a creator using Twitter threads. [11:43] - Why Twitter? Nathan understands Twitter more than other growth platforms. He ultimately chose to focus on Twitter versus diluting his efforts across multiple platforms. [14:53] - Find a group of Twitter users with strong followings that have similar goals. Twitter’s algorithm favors quote tweets and engagements that happen within the first 10 minutes of a post. Having friends to consistently interact with your posts expedites your growth. [20:28] - You can ask for support without being a nuisance. Frame outreach as a desire for education versus a desire for favorites. Share your posts with creators and ask for advice. [24:14] - Threads have been a huge part of Nathan’s growth on Twitter because thread virality doesn’t require a perfectly written line of copy. He recommends repurposing blogs, telling stories, and using visuals. [35:56] - Adapt your threads to follow the format. In other words, each tweet should be a standalone tweet. [39:06] - Twitter and Twitter threads garner the most success when creators dedicate their time to Twitter or have spent time creating on other platforms and carry that content over to Twitter. [40:12] - Today’s listener shoutout! Rachel Brown is growing a bookstagram account and recently started receiving advance reader copies from publishers. [41:26] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [25:46] - “Threads are interesting because you can really teach something. Which, that’s my format. If you look at all my content it’s not entertainment content it’s all education content. The thread lends itself really well to that.” ~ Nathan Barry [28:16] - “Something that I try to do is write threads that only I can write. It’s from my own experience, it’s from something that we’ve learned growing ConvertKit, or it’s from data that we have from the platform.” ~ Nathan Barry [39:06] - “I think where [Twitter] works the best is, either two things: a creator who can dedicate a ton of time to it and say, this is my primary channel, this is what I’m really gonna emphasize. Or the creator who has spent a lot of time, the past 10 years, creating content on other platforms and has a strong point of view and life experience and all of that and wants to bring that over.” ~ Nathan Barry Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Nathan Barry Nathan on Twitter Twitter Meta Horizon Worlds Twitch Microsoft Stream Facebook Gaming FarmVille Welcome to the Effect House beta! Etsy Sam Altman Y Combinator OpenAI Sam’s DALL-E Thread DALL-E YouTube Elon Musk Instagram Nathan’s podcast Sahil Bloom Dicky Bush David Perell Matt Ragland Nick Huber WhatsApp Katelyn Bourgoin Customer Camp Social Blade Sarah Cooper The ladders of wealth creation The Billion Dollar Creator Wikipedia Keynote How we grew a local newsletter to 10,000 subscribers Nathan’s Twitter thread on growing a local newsletter Rachel’s bookstagram Henry Thong Creator Sessions I Am A Creator. Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch

If you’ve noticed that your attention span feels nonexistent, you’re certainly not alone. A recent Guardian piece, Your Attention Didn’t Collapse. It Was Stolen., paints a grim picture of society’s frightening struggle to focus. In a world where technology and social media continue to invade our lives, there’s always an algorithm ready to suck us in. The attention suck is especially hard to escape when not having an iPhone can sometimes mean not having a social life. But what role do creators have in the attention crisis taking over our lives? After all, creators produce some of the content that’s keeping us glued to our phones. And has the collective attention span decline impacted creators' ability to be productive themselves? In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Miguel discuss how creators can create without sucking their audience into an attention-stealing trap, how consumers and creators alike can actively combat the attention span decline, and the link between stress, happiness, and your ability to focus on the work you love. Key Takeaways [01:02] - Have you heard? [01:21] - Elon Musk bought a lot of Twitter shares and will be getting a seat on Twitter’s board. [02:17] - Twitter is working on an edit button. [06:42] - BeReal is an app that encourages users to share their real life on social media versus a staged highlight reel. [08:43] - Today’s main topic: Your Attention Didn’t Collapse. It Was Stolen. [10:50] - The forces consuming our attention are so powerful that sometimes the only solution is to physically remove the temptation. [14:38] - Creators should focus on serving valuable content that someone briefly focuses on versus stealing their attention away with no underlying purpose other than capital gain. [17:15] - There’s also a social expectation to be constantly available and engaged via our phones. [20:28] - Fight against the attention deficit by focusing on finding your flow state. To find your flow, focus on achieving a meaningful goal. [22:28] - Unfortunately, individuals swearing off distracting apps won’t address the systemic issue. Creators have a larger impact in making distraction meaningful. [24:36] - To achieve that flow state, you also have to be intentional with the content you’re surrounding yourself with when you’re creating. [26:03] - Find a hobby that forces you to disconnect. [27:01] - We as a society need to be intentional with how we disconnect. [28:31] - Reducing stress also improves your attention. [30:02] - As individuals, we have to set anti-distraction boundaries and windows of focus for ourselves that hold us accountable. [31:40] - Submit a listener shoutout! [34:54] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [14:21] - “We as creators need to have downtime in order to produce our greatest work. And we as creators also need to steal the attention of people in order to build and make our business grow and grow our audience. But we also can’t be a product of it as well.” @haleyjani [14:55] - “There’s a difference between stealing and borrowing. And I would hope that what I at least am aiming to do with my content is borrowing people’s attention. Where it’s kind of like, ‘watch me now, watch how I’m doing this design thing and how I’m handling this process’, and then you’re going to be better equipped to go and do it yourself when you’re giving that your full focus.” ~ @charliprangley [25:35] - “You have to be deliberate about what you surround yourself with when you’re engaging in something. So when you’re going to create a new piece of content or when you are going to do something that’s like a hobby for you or that you really enjoy, try to set yourself up to have as few distractions as possible.” ~ @miguelp.img Links Your Attention Didn’t Collapse. It Was Stolen. Twitter Elon Musk BeReal Paste Magazine Creator Sessions Treefort Music Fest Brad Wagner Smokey Brights Smokey Brights Creator Sessions Performance Earl Miller Neuroscientist Apple Watch Instagram Slack Submit a listener shoutout! Nathan Barry Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

With practice, anyone can write. But can anyone transform a blog into a full-blown online publication? There’s a big difference between the two, and how you navigate the transition from blog to publication can determine whether your brand develops or your blog stays stagnant. Dani Stewart, helmer of ConvertKit's blog Tradecraft, knows what it’s like to write, edit, and make that tricky transition. She began her career writing articles but successfully transformed that traffic-generating blog into a legitimate hub for compelling ConvertKit content. Dani’s expanded the operation, brought on new writers and even a blog manager. While she no longer spends her days writing, she is responsible for Tradecraft’s entire operation — a creative endeavor and an enormous challenge in itself. So what steps can creators take if they’re looking to start a blog or take their existing online presence to the next level? What’s it like to hire writers you trust and learn to delegate, project-manage, and make tough editorial decisions? In this episode, Charli, Miguel, and Dani discuss Dani’s advice for expanding an existing blog, the difference between a blog being your business and your business having a blog, tips for hiring strong writers, what posts to stop writing once your brand becomes big, and why the best blogs are more than just content hubs that drive traffic and boost SEO. Key Takeaways [01:21] - Have you heard? [01:35] - Instagram is introducing special tags to help elevate black creators and ensure creators receive credit for their original content. [02:49] - Apple Podcasts is improving access to listenership metrics for podcast creators. [04:18] - Today’s main topic: Managing an online publication. [04:26] - The difference between a blog and an online publication. [06:11] - Dani’s process for managing content on ConvertKit’s blog. [09:22] - Why would a business whose “main attraction” isn’t a blog choose to create and sustain a blog? [11:07] - The benefits of outsourcing blog management. [13:58] - How Dani’s position and type of creativity at work has evolved. [15:44] - The most difficult part of transitioning a blog to an online publication. [18:06] - How to handle hectic internal staff transitions and why having that buffer between an article’s completion and its publication is so important. [21:04] - The tools Dani uses to manage the extensive project management behind ConvertKit’s blog. [21:54] - How Dani strategizes content creation. [23:42] - How to grow your blog when it’s not in service of a larger entity and is instead trying to grow on its own. [32:05] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. [32:27] - Submit a listener shoutout! Quotes [16:08] - “An underlying fear I always have is that the people that I always trust that are doing such a great job are gonna move on and do something else. So the hardest part is finding people that you trust.” ~ @danileighstew [30:52] - “If you are planning on doing it, make sure to take time to set up style guides. If you’re starting to hire people and you want the same voice, you need to be able to show them what that is.” ~ @danileighstew [31:34] - “Why is your audience coming to you? Is it because you're a straight talker? Is it because it sounds like it’s coming from a friend? Do you use Gifs? Do they comment on certain aspects of your blog posts? Make sure that your writers understand that and can flow with that.” ~ @danileighstew Links Dani Stewart ConvertKit’s Blog (Tradecraft) Tradecraft How-To Guides Instagram Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts improvements will let creators see follower data, get help with subscription shows, more WordPress YouTube I Am A Creator. Charli on YouTube The Future Belongs To Creators 119: Working With a Virtual Assistant as a Creator with Chloe Anna monday.com Charli’s website Twitter Why you shouldn’t sell your ebook on Amazon Google SEMrush Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) Giphy Your Attention Didn’t Collapse. It Was Stolen Submit a listener shoutout! Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

There is lots of advice out there for aspiring creators. Just remember, the best advice doesn’t always come from entrepreneurs with millions of followers and millions in the bank. In fact, the most valuable advice can sometimes stem from the products, platforms, and ideas that never reached the masses. No stranger to The Future Belongs to Creators podcast, Support Operations Lead at ConvertKit and former full-time creator Ben Schoeffler wouldn’t exactly consider himself a “success story”. Selling courses, memberships, and everything in between, Ben never quite cracked the product code. But if you’re still toying with the idea of selling online, take Ben’s experience and learn from what worked, what didn’t, and what slipped through the digital cracks. In this episode, Miguel and Ben discuss the options creators have when it comes to selling online, the failed products that surprised Ben, the product success stories Ben learned from, and why the content creator business model isn’t the only path (or the best path) toward building a livelihood online. Key Takeaways [00:45] - Have you heard? [00:57] - Vimeo is telling creators they need to pay up or leave the platform. [03:55] - Today’s main topic: Selling products online 101. [04:02] - What we mean by “selling products” online. You can sell a lot of things online including both physical goods and digital products. Digital products are great options for mass-producing while avoiding the mess and stress of the supply chain. [04:33] - Ben has sold courses, a membership website offering exclusive podcast episodes, and his time coaching clients individually. [06:55] - The mistakes Ben made selling products online. [07:09] - The risks and upside to pre-selling products. [11:46] - Why you’re (probably) not charging enough. [17:18] - How to build the right product. [21:20] - If you’re a new creator, selling products without having an audience that knows, likes, and trusts you is incredibly hard. [25:20] - On the flip side, having an audience doesn’t always translate to sales. [27:32] - Don’t quit your day job too early. [31:39] - Be aware that there are other business models outside of the creator business model. While it’s trending, it may not be right for you. [36:28] - Submit yourself for a listener shoutout! [36:55] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [17:04] - “Price is a signal to certain things and higher prices oftentimes signal quality. So if you’re confident in your product you should not be scared about charging that higher price.” ~ @BenSchoeffler [18:08] - “You should build what individuals are asking for. Because you might be saying, ‘Ok, how do I know which product to build?’ Build what a specific individual is asking for, not what everyone or the people are asking for. That’s where I’ve had my most success.” ~ @BenSchoeffler [23:18] - “If you have someone that knows you, likes you, and trusts you, they’re going to be much more willing to spend money with you.” ~ @BenSchoeffler [33:27] - “There are lots of other business models out there and some of them are a lot more beneficial than just being on the content creation treadmill. So I highly, highly encourage you to think outside the box when it comes to what products you might be wanting to make or how you want to make income because there are things that require a lot less work or a lot more enjoyable work than just creating content.” ~ @BenSchoeffler Links Ben Schoeffler Vimeo YouTube Patreon Vimeo is telling creators to suddenly pay thousands of dollars – or leave the platform Shut Up, Brain Podcast Udemy, Inc. Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini Ben’s YouTube channel Facebook Advertising Etsy Instagram TikTok Vidalia Onions Submit a listener shoutout! Dani Stewart Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Every week we celebrate a win from a listener. Tell us about a recent launch, milestone or success (big or small!) right here and we might just shout you out in the next episode: https://convertk.it/listenershoutout. Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

Not all of us have the guts to chase our dreams. Despite family disapproval and peers all around him taking the safe route, Thomas Dulin knew he could make music for a living. Fortunately, he was correct, and today, Thomas is a music producer and sound engineer in Nashville, Tennessee living his dream. He splits his time touring with popular and emerging artists and making records of his own. While earning a living as a music producer sounds glamorous, an email list is what tipped Thomas off to a gig that would jumpstart his career. Even with a short resume, all it took was the promise of work ethic, an obvious passion for the craft, and one person to take a chance on him. Luckily, that one person was Drew Holcomb. So how does someone go from a college classroom to center (or back) stage? And what are the real barriers to entry besides doubtful onlookers? Over the last decade, Thomas has learned a lot about making waves in the business and he’s here to share tips for making it in an industry as competitive as they come. In this episode, Charli, Haley, Miguel, and Thomas discuss knowing when a creative career is right for you, what sound engineers really do, the importance of representation, and the early advice that shaped Thomas’ outlook on the industry. Key Takeaways [01:50] - Have you heard? [02:02] - Taylor Lorenz, a notable reporter in the creator space, has moved away from The New York Times, partly because the NYT is taking issue with its reporters building out personal brands. [03:30] - Apple unveiled new products yesterday including a display and a new desktop mac mini. [06:10] - Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, recently acquired Bandcamp to develop an e-commerce-powered marketplace for creators. [07:52] - Main topic: Building a dream career in the music industry. [08:18] - An intro to Thomas Dulin. [10:30] - How Thomas landed a gig with Drew Holcomb despite a short resume. [14:49] - How Thomas realized that a career in the music industry was his ultimate dream and the steps he took to achieve that dream. [18:27] - How Thomas envisioned his career in music and how he feels about the role he ended up in. [23:31] - Why sound engineering requires creativity and coaching skills. [25:26] - Thomas’ advice for aspiring music professionals. [27:37] - Does Thomas have a future as a course creator? [28:53] - The invaluable early advice Thomas received at his first job in the music business. [31:27] - Submit yourself for a creator shoutout! Plus, Thomas shares a recent success. [32:38] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode. Quotes [17:38] - “It wasn’t like a conscious decision, it was just like, this career exists, someone’s making money doing this, why can’t that be me?” ~ @thomasdulin [25:58] - “Somebody who wants to do what I do needs to love music in a way that is outside of ego or the need to make a living, honestly. If you go into it thinking you’re going to make a lot of money and this is an opportunity for that, you’re going to fall on your face guaranteed.” ~ @thomasdulin [27:00] - “The number one thing is to do it. Just know that you’re gonna fail and it’s not gonna be good for a long time, but figure out a way to do it, get a mic, get a converter, and one pair of headphones and just go after it.” ~ @thomasdulin [30:09] - “It’s not the producer’s job to take over and sort of steamroll whatever vision the artist has, but rather to come alongside them and guide them into what they want to make. And sure it is a creative process to guide the artist, but at the end of the day, it’s not our song, it’s not our art, we’re just there to facilitate that and be sort of the mountain guide for the artist.” ~ @thomasdulin Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Thomas Dulin Alyssa Dulin The Future Belongs to Creators: Why Deliverability Matters with Alyssa Dulin and Melissa Lambert Taylor Lorenz The New York Times The Washington Post Michael Barbaro The Daily Podcast Twitter Apple Apple Studio Display Mac Mini Epic Games Fortnite Bandcamp Travis Scott Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors Creator Sessions Maura Streppa Creator Sessions: Musical Performance with Drew and Ellie Holcomb BobNet email list TikTok Youtube Kygo ConvertKit Commerce Thomas’ (old) blog Thomas on Instagram Spotify Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Stay in touch Apple Podcasts Spotify Twitter Facebook Instagram Start building your audience for free With ConvertKit landing pages, you can build a beautiful page for your project in just a few minutes. Choose colors, add photos, build a custom opt-in form, and add your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.