How to Succeed in the Creator Economy

When someone stumbles upon something different, it usually takes mainstream society a while to catch up. Understanding and validating the power of creators and the creator economy is no different. After years of creators forging their own careers despite judgment and confusion, the universe is finally catching on. And everyone wants in on the lucrative new economy that’s disrupting a $2 trillion industry. 

But when did the power players of society finally take notice of the creator economy? How can creators best leverage this newfound validation? And will this normalization cause creators to lose sight of their original purpose? Good or bad, eyes on the creator economy will only expand. 

In this episode, Charli, Haley, and Miguel dive into the recent Forbes article, To Succeed in the Creator Economy, Startups Should Address Creators’ Needs. The three discuss how creators should respond to the attention, why startups and businesses need a mindset shift when it comes to their relationship with creators, and what’s next for the creator economy all around us. 

Key Takeaways

• [00:54] - Have you heard? 
  • [01:40] - A TikToker is now the face of a Gucci-NorthFace collaboration.
  • [02:28] - Instagram is testing allowing users to reorganize their profile grid.
  • [03:23] - James Clear’s Atomic Habits was the #1 best-selling book on Amazon in 2021. 
  • [05:31] - Instagram is now allowing users to choose how their feed is sorted.
• [08:20] - A recent Forbes article argues that startups must address creators’ needs in order to survive in the modern creator economy.
  • [11:23] - Creating as a profession has become normalized and because of that, creators have the power to disrupt the mainstream media.
  • [15:26] - When did society start validating the creator economy? When creators learned to monetize their business? Or when venture capitalists finally started paying attention? 
  • [20:23] - There are three things startups can do to solve challenges in the creator economy: mitigating creator burnout, tailoring solutions to creators, and viewing creators as design partners rather than just employees. 
  • [26:06] - Startups must also tailor solutions to a creator’s audience. 
  • [26:55] - Creators have to establish the precedent of demanding proper payment for their labor, regardless of how exciting a partnership may seem. 
• [31:05] - Introducing creator callout!
• [32:56] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode.

Quotes

[10:33] - “The creator economy is just the economy now, and we are all living within the creator economy whether we are a creator or not. This is happening, this is the way the world is going. And so if businesses want to succeed in this new way of doing business in this new economy, then creators need to be considered as a key audience.” ~ @charliprangley

[14:27] - “Whenever the business itself is surrounded around someone’s creativity or someone doing something themselves, I feel like people’s minds tend to go to this place of illegitimacy. And it’s important to remember that it’s very legitimate because there are entire markets out there that are built around creativity.” ~ @miguelp.img 

[21:24] - “That is actually really what I think doesn’t happen often enough is that creators don’t position themselves as partners, they position themselves as employees of this company where they bring so much value.” ~ @haleyjani

Links

• Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube
• TikTok
• Gucci
• The North Face
• Francis Bourgeois
• James Clear
• Atomic Habits
• Reese Witherspoon
• James Clear at Craft & Commerce 
• Craft & Commerce Conference
• Meta
• To Succeed in the Creator Economy, Startups Should Address Creator’s Needs 
• Young Creators are Burning Out and Breaking Down
• I Am A Blogger coffee table book
• Isa Adney
• Stripe
• Creator Sessions
• The Future Belongs to Creators 107: Making Creativity Sustainable and Avoiding Burnout
• MailChimp
• fypm (f*** you pay me)
• Glassdoor 
• Happy Happy Houseplant
• Vintage Revivals
• Home Depot
• Sherman Williams 
• TFBTC listener shoutouts
• Terrible, Thanks for Asking 
• Wordle

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.