Ep. 65: From side hustle to 500K+ followers and a global business ft. Tom Fishburne
This week Francis is joined by Tom Fishburne, also known as The Marketoonist. Tom is a cartoonist and marketer who turned his satirical drawings about corporate life into a sustainable business that has brought him over 500,000+ followers across platforms.Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/tom-fishburne__RSVP to the Creator Business Summit: https://www.beehiiv.com/virtual-events/creator-business-summit__Follow TomLinkedInWebsiteNewsletterInstagram__Links & ReferencesThe Do Lecture__Timestamps00:00 Introducing Tom Fishburne, The Marketoonist01:05 How to price your work online08:49 Humor as a leadership skill11:45 The world of content creation in the early 2000’s15:05 It’s not the ink, it’s the think21:05 The importance of mimicry in creative work23:26 How to create a recognizable style26:36 You must be an entrepreneur in the creator economy30:41 Email, the most valuable platform33:16 The best platform for audience engagement38:32 Red flags for clients43:17 Why you shouldn’t scale your business44:37 How to nail speaking engagements52:25 Structuring your day for optimal creativity57:39 Focussing on sustainability, not growth
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Ep. 64: The Strategy Behind Building a 80,000+ Impact-Driven Community ft. Tiffany Yu
This week on The Creator Spotlight Podcast we're joined by Tiffany Yu, the founder and CEO of Diversability, an entirely disabled-run and disabled-led social enterprise to elevate disability pride. Tiffany is also the author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto, in which she highlights the myriad ways our society discriminates against people with disabilities - and what we can do about it.Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles__Get your free ticket to The Creator Summit at https://live.mightynetworks.com__TiffanyThe Anti-Ableist ManifestoLinkedInWebsiteInstagramTikTok__Follow FrancisLinkedInTwitter/XFollow NataliaLinkedInTwitter/X__Timestamps00:00 Introducing Tiffany Yu01:01 The three levels to building a community04:41 What is Diversability?06:17 The breakdown of a 80k community13:09 Key elements of a strong community18:43 The reach of virtual communities over in-person24:42 Influencers vs. creators31:48 The four pillars of monetization36:25 How the creator economy has helped the disability community49:02 Best platforms for virality and business growth53:57 The tenets of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto
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Ep. 63: The Creator Earning $250k+ Posting on LinkedIn ft. Jayde Powell
This week on The Creator Spotlight Podcast we're joined by Jayde Powell, a creator, social strategist and entrepreneur. Jayde has worked in the industry for over a decade and is an expert in social strategy, previously working with brands like Apple TV, LinkedIn and Delta Airlines. As a creator, she's built a thriving, sustainable business, and currently has 28,000 followers on LinkedIn. __Jayde LinkedInThe Em Dash CoWebsite InstagramTwitter/X TikTok __References Jayde's interview with Buffer Natalia's essay on authenticity__ Follow Francis LinkedIn Twitter/X Follow Natalia LinkedInTwitter/X __ Timestamps 00:00 Introducing Jayde 01:24 Making $50k+ in 3 months 06:39 What they don't tell you about speaking engagements 09:15 Creator Tea Talk 13:22 3 parts of approaching brand partnerships 14:49 Authenticity in the creator economy 19:15 Establishing a personal brand in 2025 24:19 The journey to 100k LinkedIn followers 30:27 The journey to $250k of revenue 34:42 All creators are entrepreneurs 42:04 How to build the self-promotion muscle 44:24 Creating unique content to stand out on LinkedIn 48:03 Building a sustainable future in the creator economy 52:56 The importance of community amongst creators 55:24 The #1 piece of advice for creators
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Ep. 62: He can 10x views in any YouTube niche ft. Kevin Jon
This week on The Creator Spotlight Podcast we're joined by Kevin Jon. Kevin is a YouTube strategist, creator, and founder of multiple media businesses. He started as a solo YouTuber, grew and sold his own channels, and now helps brands and broadcasters build profitable content on YouTube. In this episode, we dive into his playbook for growth, monetization, and turning channels into real businesses.__Get your free ticket to The Creator Summit at live.mightynetworks.com__KevinLinkedInTwitter/XMegalomediaChannel Craft__00:00:00 Who is Kevin Jon?00:00:58 Grow your channel with The YouTube Masterplan00:07:07 How to identify opportunities on YouTube00:09:13 What it takes to get 1M views on YouTube00:19:34 The difficulties of building a media empire00:25:15 What can be learnt from traditional media00:30:01 The most important metrics to track on YouTube00:32:29 Building the biggest YouTube agency in the world00:36:40 Selling a YouTube channel for $100K00:39:20 The value of pre-production00:41:45 Translating traditional media content to YouTube00:44:45 From teenage YouTuber to media entrepreneur00:50:08 Lessons from working in China: Be scrappier00:56:43 Bullish and bearish YouTube predictions
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Ep. 61: She Lost Her Job. Then Built a Community of 10,000+ ft. Melanie Ehrenkranz
In this episode of The Creator Spotlight Podcast, Francis speaks with Melanie Ehrenkranz, the creator of the Laid Off newsletter and Discord community. They discuss the origins of Laid Off, building a community where people feel supported and engaged, and the concept of the laid off to creator/entrepreneur pipeline.__Follow MelanieLaid Off NewsletterLinkedIn__ReferencesMelanie's Laid Off surveyNever Post podcast episode with MelanieInterview with The SidebarInterview with The New York Times__00:00 Introducing Melanie01:44 How 'Laid Off' began06:32 Building an engaged, valuable community10:12 Trend reports and insights from the laid off experience13:20 Monetization that gives back to the community22:47 LinkedIn culture and the need for personal brand30:36 Potential future services for Laid Off35:48 Permeable definitions of the creator39:56 The creativity of the newsletter format42:28 The laid off to creator pipeline49:01 How to gain your first 10K subscribers51:26 One year of Laid Off
Every week we spend an hour in conversation with a notable creator, discussing their approach to audience growth, monetization, and content production.Hosted by Francis Zierer (Twitter and LinkedIn).New episodes every Tuesday.This podcast is part of our newsletter, Creator Spotlight.
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