DECEMBER 2, 2022

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Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs.

In Friday 5s: Season one is done for The 10K Creator. We share just five of the lessons learned and share exciting plans for a bonus episode involving you. Plus, we share some best practices on partnerships, LinkedIn, and more.

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Business Lessons from The 10K Creator podcast

Ten weeks ago, Daren Smith of Craftsman Creative sat behind a microphone with The Tilt founder Joe Pulizzi for the first episode of The 10K Creator podcast. The setup was simple. Daren would talk about his content business with Joe or another expert every week. He would use what he learned in his business and report back.

As the first season concludes, Daren talks about the lessons he’s learned. And this Tuesday (Dec. 13) at 1 p.m. US EST, Daren and Joe will get back together to take your questions for a live bonus episode.

1. Commit to the long term: When you make the decision to go full force in your business, realize it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You likely are going to have two to three years until you get to that “I-did-it” moment. And then years four, five, and six can be amazing. (And if that timeline or commitment doesn’t work in your life, it’s OK to do something else.)

2. Don’t go it alone: While you may be a solo entrepreneur, that doesn’t mean you have to operate in a bubble. The expert guests on the 10K Creator Podcast reassured Daren that he is on the right course. That encouragement to keep going reassured Daren.

They also reinforced the importance of having a methodology and process, so you can do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. While you may not interview experts in this industry like Daren did, you can connect with successful creators in online communities and in-person events. Heck, you can even just reach out directly to a creator you admire and see if they’d be willing to answer a question or two.

3. Make a plan from renting land to owning the audience: Daren uses Twitter as his primary content marketing channel. He optimized his profile and calls to action to direct people to his website and ultimately convert to email subscribers. In the last month, Twitter is the No. 1 referral channel for his site traffic.

4. Invest and market the business: Craftsman Creative went from 832 email subscribers to 1,851 in two months. How? Daren used Sparkloop’s referral program to gain over 300 of those new subscribers. He paid $3 for every subscriber referred by another newsletter creator in the Sparkloop system. (The value of his average subscriber is $17, so that acquisition cost was worth it to him.)

He also reached out to people who had purchased a course from him and invited them to sign up for the newsletter. Nearly half of that list of 1.1K did so. Now, he incorporates the newsletter invitation into his course registration welcome emails.

5. Think big: Through the 10K Creator Podcast conversations, Daren realized the importance of going after the big-ticket deals. His income increased from an average of $1,750 a month to $6,750 a month for October and November.

In his business, that revenue is coming in the form of sponsorships and consulting (and a little bit from affiliate marketing). For example, he says, instead of selling 1K content products at $100 a pop, sell a sponsor for that content product at $10K.

Though Daren resisted selling consulting services at first, he realized from the expert advice it was a smart choice. He could sell a higher-priced consulting package and better identify from those interactions what type of content his audience needed.

​Listen to all 10 episodes of The 10K Creator podcast to give your creator business the boost it deserves.​

Join Daren and Joe for the special live bonus episode at 1 p.m. US EST Tuesday, Dec. 13. Sign up here.​

The 10k Creator would have never happened without the support of Streamyard, Lulu, and ConvertKit.

- Ann Gynn

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• It seems every social platform is going through significant change …Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and more. Content creators need to treat this moment like media professionals have for the last 20 years: a focus on email. [Content Inc. podcast]
• Joe and Robert discuss the opportunities around the Twitter dumpster fire. [This Old Marketing podcast]
• Love The Tilt Newsletter? Want to contribute and help other content creators? Check out our guest blogging guidelines.
• Wondering if Creator Economy Expo (CEX) is a fit for you? Watch Joe explain why it is worth the investment.
• ICYMI: 4 Mega-Success Mistakes Frequently Made by Content Entrepreneurs​

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• ​Follow the ATM method to become a well-paid creator. [article + 5 mins]
• ​Nat Eliason shares some ideas for getting into the business side of the creator economy. [article + 19 mins]
• ​YouTube shares a best practices guide to podcasting. [guide + 67 pages]
• ​Watch Gillian Perkins share 5 monetization strategies for creators. [video + 18 mins – revenue chat starts at 7-min mark]
• ​Podia walks you through four steps to turn your YouTube tutorials into an online course. [article + 12 mins]

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Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Pam Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, Marc Maxhimer, and Dave Anthony.

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