On Current and Future Struggles in the Creator Economy

There’s been a lot of chatter around this lately, maybe because it’s a new year or maybe because there’s a lot of turmoil in the general everything of everything right now. (Some of that is real. Some of that is caused by the nonstop firehose of advertising-supported social media and news media needing us to stay glued to their words.)

Regardless, I have four comments on the state of the creator economy. For the four people who’d care for such things from me.

1/ CAN WE EVEN CATEGORIZE “CREATORS” REALLY?

Eh, I dunno how much making sense of “creators” can ever be a thing. Maybe it’s similar to making sense of “freelancers.” Or consultants or agencies. What KIND do you mean? What market did you select? How’s that market doing? Now we can make sense of things.

I’ve stopped trying to make sense of what constitutes a creator business, which is even more murky to me to define than a freelancer (because actually, the latter is somewhat clear to me: you sell your time to execute projects or services). 

Market selection/momentum matters more than the moniker of “creator” if you want to make sense of how sturdy or vulnerable a given person or business feels.

2/ IF WE CAN CATEGORIZE CREATORS AS ANYTHING, IT’S REALLY TWO THINGS

In my opinion (and Jay Clouse would have way better insight here), any analysis has to begin by separating creators who entertain from creators who educate. (Set aside semantics like “good education is entertaining; good entertainers impart lessons” — because, yes, agree, but not the point I’m making.) Mr. Beast has little to do with someone teaching you how to operationalize your startup. Do you sell a vitamin or a painkiller? Vitamin winners seem to be uber-famous or niche-dominant. Those who sell painkillers seem to have an easier time of things, and a given industry or niche can support more of them. How many mini-Mr. Beast YouTubers can thrive? Compare that to how many business consultants can and do thrive.

Comparing a creator focused on a YouTube channel + TikTok and talking about Marvel to MY business is like comparing an orange in Florida to a pine tree in Alaska. Yes, I suppose there are some very macro-level things affecting both, but I certainly don’t see them showing up in any daily, weekly, or even annual sense.

3/ DOESN’T MARKET MATURITY MEAN THE MIDDLE STRUGGLES, EVERYWHERE?

“The middle is a death trap” is a refrain I’ve heard more than one person talk about when it comes to creators. You’re either massively famous or you’re very nichey. But “the middle is a death trap” just sounds like standard market maturity to me. That’s true in most things. In beer, you want to be Budweiser or craft. Only a couple stay in the middle and survive (Genesee?) and most close shop or struggle. VCs either invest across stages and sectors or specialize in certain types of rounds or technologies. If you’re in journalism, this looks like the New York Times vs. niche media platforms/outlets. If you’re in SaaS, are you a great point solution or a robust platform? In marketing, do you appeal to a niche with your message and/or own a distinct premise, or are you trying to blanket the world in your brand and grow on total throughput of attention and dollars? In selling your expertise as a consultant or educator, do you offer high-ticket services to discerning buyers? If so, you don’t need much traffic and benefit more from relationship marketing and direct sales. Or instead, do you sell lower-dollar courses, products, or classes? If so, you need more traffic and total reach to survive or thrive. Being caught in the middle between somewhat-relationshippy, somewhat-trafficky, is going to be a bad time.

It just feels like a growing market often kills the middle, or at least makes the middle very difficult. (David Beisel wrote a great article about this years back for the firm I worked for and he cofounded, NextView Ventures, which cross posted to CB Insights. He used the beer analogy.)

4/ YOU EITHER DIE A CREATOR OR LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO BE A CREATOR WHO CREATES TO TEACH OTHER CREATORS HOW TO CREATE THINGS THAT HELP OTHERS BECOME CREATORS…

It sucks to say, but I think people attracted to the notion of being a creator for its own sake have been or will start struggling, at least compared to the people who want to solve a distinct problem or serve a specific audience and just happen to believe the right way for them to do that is to build an owned audience around their person.

But the fantasy of being a creator is gone, IMO.

“Being a creator” is out. “Being an entrepreneur” is in.

Solving problems needs to be the prime focus, not merely commanding attention. Being of use to others is going to matter more than pulling stunts on YouTube or yukking it up with your pals on a podcast. You need a distinct premise, even for the stunts and the yuks, and a deep knowledge of the audience, their realities, pains, needs and wants. You also need a sense of how customers happen. “Content + audience = business” is a faulty equation.

You need an actual business model, and a protected, owned platform. I dunno how many creators I encounter have a link in 1 social media profile that points to OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES (!). Or maybe there’s no link at all. That’s really telling they’re not thinking like an owner. They’re merely borrowing audience and reach, which got them to a certain point, but that’s the exact stuff that sputters or runs out of gas. Get me to your website, list, community, etc., SOMEWHERE that you actually own. Talent needs to think like an owner or hire someone who can.

Don’t misunderstand: pure self-expression and pure art matter more than they ever have. But you don’t need to marry the art part and the business part directly. You can earn a living on your art or you can earn a living so you can fund your art. (This statement might appeal more to those entertainment-leaning creators than my fellow educators, experts, and B2B soloists, but I always identified more as an artist than a B2B marketer myself.)

The Underpants Gnome stage is over. You now need an actual business. “Being a creator” is not, itself, a business model.