Another week of creators doing what they do best. Creating.

Today's Highlights:

• Hugo of Arm The Creators walks us through the creator lifecycle and how to address each stage
• Li Jin, the pioneer of the creator economy, launched her new VC firm Atelier.
• YouTube shorts are coming to the US.

📰Talking Creators

The Creator Lifecycle: How can you turn your audience into an empire?

Like a business, every creator has different stages in their lifecycle as they grow. Some creators may remain in the SMB range, while others become enterprises. Think Logan Paul vs. the creator that just started. One isn't necessarily better than the other; however, both are at different stages of their lifecycle. Hugo Amsellem of Arm The Creators breaks down the creator's traffic channels, monetization capabilities, and metrics at every stage of the creators lifecycle.
Source: Hugo Amsellem

The team behind MrBeast Burger and Ghost Kitchens role of Influencer Ghost Kitchens

The days of creators only monetizing via brand deals, merch and courses are over. We're seeing it with the rise of NFT's, David Dobrik's Dispo (add me @antoniogaryjr), and MrBeast's successful launch of MrBeast Burger. Business Insider sits down with the CEO behind the restaurant operations of MrBeast Burger to discuss the rise of influencer "ghost kitchens".
Source: Business Insider

🤳Talking Social & Platforms

YouTube Says That its TikTok-Like 'Shorts' Feature will be Expanded to US Users Next Month

While YouTube shorts have been somewhat of a secret in the U.S., it's still been a huge success for a majority of the YouTubers that leverage it regularly. Similar to TikTok, YouTube shorts has allowed a number of creators to go from 0-100k subscribers in a matter of days. YouTube is boosting shorts in an effort to compete with TikTok and the growing short-form video wars. Initially, shorts was only accessible for select users in the U.S. and India; however, starting next month all users in the U.S. will be able to access the feature.
Source: Social Media Today

The creator movement is entering prime time, and so is Circle with a fresh $4M

Audiences and communities are the lifeblood of creators, so platforms such as Circle and Geneva are looking to be the all-in-one solution for community management. Circle removes the need of multiple tools in order to run a successful community. Plus, they don't take a significant amount of revenue from users (e.g. Patreon and Memberful). Similar to Teachable, Circle will be able to unlock additional growth by teaching creators the importance of community management and integrating with tools that already exist within a creator's stack.
Source: Tech Crunch

☂️Talking Drops From Creators

Li Jin Launched Atelier Ventures

Li Jin, who coined the term Passion Economy, recently launched her new VC firm Atelier Ventures. Li will continue to invest in companies that empower creators based on the following thesis:

Broadens access to a new form of work.
We believe there’s many types of differentiated skills and knowledge that can be productized and monetized in ways that perhaps we can’t even yet imagine. Startups are creating new ways to earn income by leveraging one's passions and individuality.

Lowers the barriers to entrepreneurship.
Dedicated tools and platforms can make it easier for workers to go independent—whether that’s education platforms, fintech tools, or SaaS platforms that provide the building blocks for an online business.

Democratizes the means of production and distribution.
New platforms facilitate more creation and distribution through simpler, more accessible tools. This is happening in podcasting, video, e-commerce, and other industries—making it easier to be creative and to make a living from it.

Empowers community.
The decline of traditional employment and workplaces necessitates more grassroots collectives, collaborative groups, and guilds. While creators and solopreneurs are self-employed, they collaborate and create in trusted networks with their audiences and other creators.

Source: Li Jin

🧨Talking Marketing & Monetization for Creators

$50K for a Meme. Leveraging NFT's to Generate Revenue

While the creator of Litecoin believes NFT's will crash, creators are making more than their day job by minting and selling digital goods. Digital goods being everything from memes to sports carts, to digital land.

Here are the three ways creators are making money through minting NFT's.

1. Digital Land - creators are building virtual landscapes such as galleries, obstacle courses, and anything their imagination can come up with that is only accessible by purchasing the land. This land can be accessed on platforms such as Decentraland, Somnium Space VR, Cryptovoxels, and The Sandbox.

2. Advertising  - Just like in real life, creators of digital land are offering ad space for both physical and nonphysical products. Similar to a mall or a billboard, you can purchase ad space in a digital universe and advertise your product.  

3. Digital Art - artists are making more for their art than in their day jobs by creating anything their creative mind can muster. The more known the artist is, the more their price of work increases.

🛍️Talking Shop

Talking Shop is an impromptu addition to the newsletter where I share updates on my end. Sometimes it'll be here and sometimes it won't. Let me know if you hate or love it.

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🏄Things you want to know

• Instacart, Uber, Lyft, Postmates, and DoorDash totally conned you into paying for Prop 22.
• Jil Sander keeps bringing the heat with her latest Uniqlo collab.

Until Next Time

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