The Creator Spotlight Podcast

Guest Justin Gordon shares insights from 12 years in podcasting, vlogging, producing, and newslettering. Topics include daily podcasting, lessons from 500+ interviews, starting a newsletter, making money as a creator, best and worst interviews, and advice for podcasters and writers.

Kate Lindsay from Embedded joins us for episode 18 of the Creator Spotlight podcast and discusses internet trends, growing a newsletter and popularising the Millennial Pause. Kate's newsletter: https://embedded.substack.com Kate's website: https://www.kathrynfionalindsay.com 00:00 Who is Kate and what is Embedded? 05:33 How Embedded evolved 09:56 Kate's other projects 13:35 Discovering Millennial Pause 16:44 Being an editor vs writer 19:09 Defining a newsletter and creator 27:42 The stats -- how to grow a newsletter 34:22 Are creators the new journalists? 38:49 Advice for online creators #podcast #creatoreconomy #millennials Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ.

Andrew Southworth, a musician and creator-entrepreneur, shares his 13-year journey from mechanical engineer to full-time musician. He discusses his myriad of ventures, from YouTube to newsletters. Southworth explains the importance of diversifying income streams while cautioning against over-diversification. He reflects on his early YouTube days, the evolution of his audience, and how he balances personal life with creativity. Plus, he offers invaluable advice for aspiring creators on hiring help and maximizing creative outreach.

Today’s guest is Akhil Chauhan, who runs The Writer’s Job Newsletter (TWJN). But he didn’t create the newsletter — he acquired it. The newsletter: https://www.thewritersjobnewsletter.com 00:00 Acquiring a newsletter 08:05 Researching solo 14:10 The differences in journalism in the UK vs US 15:35 Growing a newsletter to 10k+ subscribers 23:18 Work/life balance as a creator 29:23 Premium subscribers and monetisation 33:04 Keeping a distance from your audience 36:50 Advice to creators, from a creator 41:05 The future of TWJN 45:30 The biggest regret as a creator #podcast #creatoreconomy #sidehustle Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ.

Peter Ramsey of Built for Mars shares his journey from accidental consultancy to viral bank study. Topics include newsletter monetization, UX gamification, and content creation challenges. He discusses the diverse audience of Built for Mars, the future of online businesses, and his disdain for social media.

Caitlin Murray from Big Time Adulting joined us for episode 14 of the Creator Spotlight podcast and gave us the low-down on how she grew her audience of 1 million instagram followers. 00:00 Why Caitlin started Big Time Adulting 05:50 How to gain over 1 million followers 10:15 The 4 chapters of Big Time Adulting 14:15 Turning Instagram into a business 19:25 Building a positive community 24:08 Growing an Instagram following, organically 29:22 Podcasting is hard 33:41 Monetising as a creator 38:31 Starting and building a newsletter 47:45 Having multiple monetisation streams 51:53 Advice lightning round #podcast #creatoreconomy #interview

For episode 13 of the Creator Spotlight podcast we are joined by Tyler O'Shea, editor and founder of the website and newsletter Joker Mag. 00:00 Tyler’s motivation and the mentality of a creator 05:37 The inspiration to start writing 08:40 Is Google’s AI killing SEO 11:36 The average Joker Mag reader 14:44 How to find amazing sports stories 18:37 How to grow a loyal audience 23:25 How much time does it take to grow a newsletter? 27:38 The different monetisation channels 32:03 Hiring other writers 37:21 SEO tips: How to make your website the best 39:06 Advice for creators 43:40 Future goals 49:30 Quick Q&A #podcast #creatoreconomy #newsletter

Kate Samuelson, a UK-based journalist and co-creator of Cheapskate London, shares the secrets behind her successful newsletter showcasing free London events. She discusses how to effectively curate content and connect with an eager audience of over 19,000 subscribers. Kate reveals the unique weekly referral rewards that incentivize growth and the essential strategies for audience engagement, including intriguing subject lines. Finally, she emphasizes the importance of authenticity and personal connections in building trust with readers.

Today's guest is Haya Kaylani, creator of a curation-style newsletter called The Deep Dive. What does she curate? YouTube video essays, five of them every Wednesday. She’s built an audience of 92k TikTok followers and 13.5k newsletter subscribers in just 15 months — pure organic growth, with almost all of her newsletter subscribers coming over from TikTok. In this issue, we discuss: • 🎨 Curating, gatekeeping, and gatecreating • 📺️ Why writing about YouTube is a huge opportunity • 📢 Applying lessons from a career in PR to indie creator work • 🤳 Building a newsletter audience by building a TikTok audience 00:00 What is The Deep Dive 02:30 Being a curator 06:23 What is a video essay? 14:26 Going viral on TikTok 19:04 Why start a newsletter? 24:21 Why we need curators and gate-creators 28:22 The stats - How to grow subscribers 33:32 Haya’s premium newsletter, The Rabbit Hole 37:27 Monetisation and referrals 41:47 Advice for creators and lessons learned Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ. #podcast #creatoreconomy #newsletter

Today's guest is PJ Milani, a high school animation teacher recently turned social media star. He’s known for his “visual metaphors” — single-panel illustrations featuring lessons about life and creativity. Across his socials he has over 200k followers, his newsletter has 16k subscribers, and he teaches a perennially sold-out cohort course about visual thinking on Maven. In this issue, we discuss: • 🌱 Organic growth • 🔜 Trusting the process, every day • 🎨 What it means to live a creative life • 🤝 Working in community with other creators 00:00 Who is PJ Milani 01:25 Why PJ started creating — Getting on social media 09:04 How to gain 200k followers 14:48 Relationship between writing and drawing 19:39 Which social media platform is best — Twitter vs Instagram vs LinkedIn 23:57 How to convert social media followers into newsletter subs? 30:56 How PJ monetises his content 42:23 The long term plan Intro music produced by J. & Doug Organ.