Business: You Don't Need a Big Audience to Do Brand Deals [Blog]
It's reported that 17,000,000 creators earned income from their content in 2017 and sponsorship revenue in the creator economy is expected to reach $15 billion by the end of this year.
But contrary to popular belief, you don't need to have millions of subscribers to get paid by brands.
When you're niche and your content is being consumed by a defined audience, brands know exactly who your audience is and you know what products or services would resonate with them. This product/audience fit creates an easy opportunity for a brand to sponsor a creator's content because they know there's a good chance for a positive return on their investment, even if it's only a few thousand dollars.
As a creator, you've built trust with your audience and a brand is willing to pay for that trust to help sell their product or service - make sure you get paid your worth.
Money: 14 Things Wrong with the FIRE Movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) [Thread]
The FIRE movement has been one of the most popular trends in personal finance, and for good reason.
I mean, who doesn't want to retire early?
However, there are hidden downsides of "retiring early" that the cult-like community doesn't explicitly talk about. This thread highlights some of the drawbacks and things to keep in mind when pursuing early retirement.
Strategy: What a YouTube Editor with 5 Billion Views Can Teach You [Video]
The secret to success on YouTube isn't as obvious as you may think.
While a lot of creators spend time on video ideas and production quality, capturing and holding an audience's attention requires much more effort and strategy.
This video with an editor who's videos have received over 5 billion views walks through how to create a video people actually want to watch and reveals how to create binge-worthy content.
Cash isn't king. Cash flow is.
Especially in business.
Cash flow is simply the money that comes in and out of your account every month. By focusing on your cash flow, you can have an accurate view of your monthly income, monthly expenses, tax payments, and more.
The reason that focusing on cash flow is important is because you need to know how to manage it to succeed and sustain your business. It's reported that lack of cash flow was the top reason that businesses fail.
As a creator, you have to approach cash flow and sustainability different than most businesses because your income is likely driven by your creative efforts. And as you know, maintaining those creative efforts year in and year out can be challenging, especially if you've established a fairly strict creation cadence.
In a reply to a tweet from Creative Juice, YouTube creator and entrepreneur Roberto Blake gave some cash flow advice to creators looking to go full-time:
It's important to think about the business you want to be in, the kind of work you want to do long term, and then determine the best ways to monetize.
Whether it be a community membership, product sales, or ad revenue, you have to figure out which revenue models align best with you and your audience.
Financial stress hurts the creative process more than anything, so here are a few tactics to help manage your cash flow:
• Automate your bills, savings, and taxes
One of the easiest ways to begin managing your cash flow is by automating everything you can. Take some time to get an understanding of how much income you have coming in every month, look at your expenses, and then determine how much money you can set aside for savings. Ideally, this would be 10-20% of your income to get started. So if you made $5,000/month, aim to save $500 for personal savings or investments.
Then you have to remember everyone's favorite expense.. taxes.
While the technical number will depend on your income, it's generally recommended to set aside ~25% of your income for taxes.
There are tools out there like Catch that help with this automation and savings and I wrote a guide on how to put your money on autopilot.
• Use an expense tracking/accounting tool
The best way to get an understanding of your cash flow is by using an accounting software. Personally, I use Wave because it's free but Quickbooks is a worthy upgrade starting at $7.50/month.
An accounting software allows you to project future income, see your monthly expenses, view your balance sheet, and more.
• Focus on creating multiple streams of income, but start with one
While multiple income sources is ideal, if you spread yourself too thin at the beginning you won't be able to gain traction as well as if your efforts were focused on building one stream first, and then moving onto the next.
Read Wave's Cash Flow Guide for Small Business Owners
👀 17 productivity hacks to 5x your focus (thread)
🧐 How to find spreadsheets on any topic in the world (thread)
👻 Snapchat will start letting you change your username later this month
🎙 Emma Chamberlain opens up about creating & her future on Call Her Daddy
❓ 8 questions to ask yourself as a creative entrepreneur
✅ Underrated pieces of advice for creators who want to start creating full time
Tool of the Week: Coolors.co (h/t MFM Podcast) - If you've ever struggled with picking brand colors, this tool's for you
Freelance Finds: 9 Pieces of Advice from 20+ Experienced Freelancers via MeetHarlow
Keep creating,
Treyton DeVore
