The BIGGEST lessons learned from 7+ years and $1M+ earned as a creator (bookmark this)

1. Access is easier than you think. The people you think you could never meet or talk to? Chances are you can.

2. The difference between a BIG outcome and a SMALL outcome may be one relationship (or conversation) 3. Design matters a lot. EVERYTHING is designed – and people associate good design with being trustworthy.

4. Distribution matters as much as (or more than) the product.

5. Great marketing or distribution can't save a BAD product

Creator Science generated $566,000 in 2023.

That's a 68% increase over 2022!

...but net income may surprise you.

Let's break it down: 🧵 First, each channel as a percentage of total revenue...

1. Memberships: 57% (up from 48%) 📈
2. Sponsorship: 18% (up from 17%) 📈
3. Digital Products: 10% (up from 9%) 📈
4. Services: 6% (down from 11%) 📉
5. Royalties: 5% (down from 10%) 📉
6. Affiliates: 4% (down from 6%) 📉

I earn $50,000+ per month as a solo creator.

If I was starting over in 2024, here's what I'd do: 🧵 1.) Choose a word or phrase to become associated with

Every creator business needs a premise – a differentiated perspective on an idea.

• James Clear: Habits
• Codie Sanchez: Boring businesses
• Nick Huber: Sweaty startups
• Brené Brown: Vulnerability
• Ryan Holiday: Stoicism

When you are associated with a specific word, phrase, idea, or movement, that connection spreads.

As it spreads, it gets stronger.

That association is what builds the audience – and a very targeted audience at that.

The cost of tuition is rising.

Our trust in institutions is falling.

And creators are leading a revolution in education.

Let's talk about the biggest opportunity in the creator economy 👇 There are 20 million college students enrolled in the United States today – the highest enrollment ever.

And we all know higher education isn't cheap!

Take a look at the average tuition and fees of US-based colleges per student, per year:

Sometimes you get lucky.

Sometimes things go viral.

But virality and luck are nearly impossible to predict or engineer.

You need to develop an experimentality – and here's how: An experimentality is an experiment mentality (get it?).

Instead of relying on best practices or assumptions, an experimentality pushes you to run small, controlled experiments to find the truth in the data.

This is what it looks like:

https://twitter.com/KevinEspiritu/status/1672007513993285632

I'm adding 3,000+ new email subscribers per month.

But it took me 6 years to get there.

If I had to start over, here's what I'd do: 1. Have a specific reader in mind

If you don't know who you're writing for, you won't have a lens for what to write.

So instead of thinking about an ambiguous "audience" think about a specific individual that you actually know well.

Assume you are writing to THEM.

Should you focus on quantity or quality?

It’s an age-old debate.

Here’s what I think: Like with most things, the answer is in the middle.

Most successful creators go through three distinct phases:

1. Quantity
2. Quality
3. Quality Quantity

Let's break them each down.

"I think this concept of talent is wildly overrated."

This week I'm speaking with @guyraz.

You may know Guy from @HowIBuiltThis – but he recently launched another show called The Great Creators.

Guy has interviewed many of the greatest entrepreneurs and performers of our time. The New York Times has called Guy "one of the most popular podcasters in history."

His shows are heard by ~19 million listeners EACH MONTH.

Listen to hear about:
• Why talent is overrated
• The role of luck in success
• The dangers of ambition

Available on YouTube now!

Want to create an online course?

I've built 5 online courses with $100K+ in sales.

Here's my step-by-step process you can follow (even if you're not a video editor): 🧵 1. Define your concept

What will you teach in your course?

Courses typically offer:
• A transfer of knowledge
• New skill development
• Personal/professional transformation
• Some other specific outcome

Complete this sentence:
"After this course, you will be able to..."

I added 5,000+ new followers on Twitter last month.

...and I didn't write a single thread about ChatGPT.

11 secrets for growing on Twitter: 🧵 1. Followers come from threads and lists

Even viral tweets don't move the needle.

New followers come from great threads or being mentioned in other people's lists.

The best way to get mentioned in other peoples' lists of "must-follow" accounts?

Write great threads.

I've earned nearly $100K as a creator this month.

But it was TOUGH to get here.

13 warnings new creators MUST hear: 🧵 1. Results won't happen quickly

The first challenge is simply putting yourself out there over and over again.

That alone feels like a HUGE hill to climb – so when you do, you may expect to see results.

But, you won't. Not quickly.

That's expected and that is OK.

I earn $40,000+ per month as a solo creator.

Here are 20 lessons I wish I'd learned sooner: 🧵 1. You need a Spiky Point Of View

Coined by @wes_kao, your Spiky Point Of View is a perspective others can disagree with. It’s your thesis about topics in your realm of expertise.

A SPOV sits at the intersection of surprising + true.

You can build a whole business on this.

My podcast has 1.5 million downloads. It's won awards and is even part of the @HubSpot Podcast Network.

...but that podcast has also been the hardest platform for me to grow.

If I had to start over, here's what I'd do: 🧵 1. Find a cohost

Podcasters often play a role of "friend" to the listener. It's comforting to spend time with a friend every week!

It's even EASIER to feel like a friend when there are TWO familiar voices speaking to each other (as friends).

Cohosts are just fun to listen to.

I meet a lot of brilliant people who struggle to gain traction as creators.

The unfortunate truth is that people use Follower Counts as a heuristic for *legitimacy.*

And it's hard to build a "legitimate-looking" Follower Count quickly through legitimate means. If your Follower Count doesn't look legitimate, my advice is to find *other* means of showing legitimacy.

@theKevinShen shows legitimacy visually both in the *demonstrated results* of his work (before and after photos) but also in his clients themselves:

https://twitter.com/theKevinShen/status/1613190967615524866

Want higher email open rates?

Every email you send faces two critical tests in the eyes of the reader:

1.) Do I want to open this?
2.) Am I glad that I did?

Here's how to pass both tests: 🧵 **Do I want to open this?**

This comes down to:
a.) your reputation with the reader
b.) the subject line

A subject line is much easier to improve, but more often than not, the issue is your reputation with the reader.

Reputation is earned from the second question...

Two weeks ago, I had a thread go viral:

• 2M impressions
• 3000+ followers
• 4600+ Likes
• 750+ RTs
• 250+ replies

But what happened next is even more amazing... 🧵 That thread had a CRAZY ripple effect through my entire business.

A record two-day period (and month) of new email subscribers:

My newsletter grows ~1,000 subscribers per month.

But for the first 6 years, growth was much, much slower.

If I had to start my newsletter over, here's what I'd do: 🧵 1. Have a specific reader in mind

If you don't know who you're writing for, you won't have a lens for what to write.

So instead of thinking about an ambiguous "audience" think about a specific individual that you actually know well.

Assume you are writing to THEM.

You don't always get what you want.

...but you can REALLY improve your chances.

3 simple truths to help: 🧵 1.) Belief precedes outcomes

If you want a particular outcome, you have to BELIEVE that you can achieve it.

You can't just believe it's possible for *someone.* You need to believe it's possible for YOU.

In fact, you should believe it's inevitable for you.

I earn $40,000+ per month as a solo creator.

If I had to start over, here's what I'd do: 🧵 1.) Start an weekly newsletter

If you have experience in a particular industry or niche, start there and position yourself as an expert.

If you don't have experience, pick something you're obsessed with and position yourself as a curious learner.

Breaking down the 7 streams of income that earned me $338,000 in revenue this past year:

47.73% - Memberships
15.65% - Sponsorship
10.99% - Services
10.08% - Royalties
9.41% - Digital Products
6.08% - Affiliates
0.07% - Patronage

A few thoughts and observations about each: 🧵 1. Most of this was new revenue in 2022

Nearly half of my revenue came from my membership (The Lab) which launched in March.

Sponsorship breaks down into 54% podcast and 46% newsletter.

I only joined the @ConvertKit Sponsor Network and began earning from my newsletter midyear.

One of the biggest things holding new creators back is the lack of a clear PURPOSE.

Everything starts with your purpose. If you don't invest the time into getting this step right, everything else will struggle.

4 questions to help you develop a strong purpose: 🧵 1. WHO DO YOU HELP (AND WHAT DO YOU HELP THEM DO?)

If you aren't able to describe your target customer and what you help them do, you'll have a hard time convincing people that you can help them.

Start with a simple formula: I help X do Y.