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 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.

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 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 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
• cola.com">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 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.

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 your copy. All without writing any code! Check out landingpages.new to get started.

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.com">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.