[av_heading heading=’#116. Why the Creator Economy will change Everything with Hugo Amsellem’ tag=’h1′ link_apply=” link=’manually,http://’ link_target=” style=” size=” subheading_active=” subheading_size=’15’ margin=” padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” custom_class=” admin_preview_bg=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=”][/av_heading]

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Hugo Amsellem is adamant that the creator economy is the way of the future. Television changed the way we thought and acted in the 20th century. Now, creators go straight to their audiences, influencing the 21st century and beyond.

In pre-internet days banks, publishers, music and movie companies held the purse strings. Creators had to fight to be seen and heard. Not any more. 

In today’s post-permission world, the gatekeepers and barriers are disappearing.

Hugo says there is enormous potential for online education creators to expand their businesses into empires. But, they need an entrepreneurial drive and ambition to succeed.   

 What you’ll learn in this interview:

• What is the creator economy?
• Creator Accelerator Programmes – what and why
• Four steps to turn your audience into an empire
• What’s next? The future of the creator economy.

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One-stop-shop managers for creators

The creator economy consists of the many diverse businesses built by independent creators. Vloggers, influencers, writers and artists all want to monetize their skills or their creations. But this economy is more than individual creator businesses. It also includes the companies serving them.  

At first, these service companies were all V1 startups. V1’s build SaaS tools (Software as a Service) to solve creator problems. Examples in the Education world include course-hosting platforms like Teachable and Kajabi.

Now, V2 companies like Spring, Pietra, Night Media, Genflow and Jellysmack are emerging. These are one-stop-shop managers for creators. No longer do you have to build a big team. Instead, tech-enabled companies manage it for you. From marketing, social media, to product creation and distribution, they take care of it all. 

Hugo says that it’s like CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) moving to OPEX (Operating Expenses). E.g. You don’t hire a growth manager; you rent one within Pietra.

“It means that the best future merch empires are … like an extension of a team for the creators where the creators are going to call their manager and say ‘I want this and this done,’ and behind the scenes the account manager gets it done and can do a far better job and be way more scalable. So the cost structure can stay leaner like an agency model and the ultimate scale can be bigger.”

How Jellysmack works

Social media exposure plays a vital part in getting attention to creators. That’s why creators agonize over which platforms to work on. They don’t have the time, knowledge or resources to manage them all. So instead, Jellysmack takes the content from one platform, e.g. YouTube and scales it to all the others for them. 

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram etc., each platform has its own requirements and users. The editing, hook, length, title etc., you used on YouTube need to change for Facebook. Each platform has its own DNA, its own language. 

What’s more, Jellysmack doesn’t charge a flat fee. Instead, they’re paid by revenue share. That’s a big incentive for them to do the best job possible, with no risk to the creator. But, it also means that Jellysmack only works with creators who pass their filter for success.

Three Jellysmack tests for potential creator success

1. Content Category: Is it big enough? Does it have the potential to grow and attract massive audience numbers?
2. Does the creator have enough consistent content? Do they understand what works? Is it a labour of love, or will producing consistent content become a grind?
3. Finally, Jellysmack test the videos. They put out different cuts and ads to various communities. Do the test results show that there is potential to multiply the revenue?

Jellysmack Creator Accelerator Programmes

Accelerator Programmes are standard in the startup world nowadays. Jellysmack wants to bring the same benefits to creators who have that entrepreneurial drive and an obsession.

Applicants need to fit the Jellysmack filters (see above). But when accepted, they join a group that treats them like founders, not talents.

Creators often come from small towns where they’ve been misunderstood in the past. So, the three-month accelerator programme offers tremendous value in surrounding them with their peers. This is an intense programme designed to put pressure on creators to achieve. At the same time, the programme brings leverage through guidance, networking, education, tools and resources. 

When you’re a creator or startup founder, you’re usually alone in the beginning. Being part of something bigger than yourself brings group force.

One current difficulty lies in valuing the creator’s business and potential because they’re still pioneers. There’s no “norm” yet for investors to base figures on as they would in the startup world.

Four essential steps from creator to empire

Gather Attention

The first phase involves getting noticed. You put your content out into the world on YouTube, blogs, podcasts etc., to build an audience. Hugo likens the big media platforms to party hosts, where you can meet other partygoers and form a bond. At this stage, you can start to build revenue using AdSense and affiliate marketing. 

Generate Trust

Now that you’ve made some friends, you can invite them to your party. In this stage you build email lists and communicate directly with your audience. You develop superfans and reduce reliance on platforms that you don’t own.

This is the way to learn your fans’ problems. Then you can put the community into “buckets” and develop appropriate solutions for each.

Commerce: sell products

There’s tremendous potential for products in the online education space and many creators are succeeding in this level. If you’re struggling to think beyond a course or a book, see CS #114.  There, Olly dives into a host of ideas for products in a cohesive million-dollar ecosystem. .

Ownership and investment

In this stage you share financial benefits by encouraging your keenest fans to invest in the business in unique ways. 

Perhaps you’ll launch an NFT (non-fungible token). It could be a one-of-a-kind thing like music, trading cards, or tokenize your digital art. Indeed, with NFTs, fans become like fine-art collectors of your work.

Maybe you’ll launch collector coins or allow your fans to invest in the company. There’s enormous potential here, and few creators are working at this level yet.

The future of the creator economy 

“I think that what Mr Beast is doing right now is pioneering in terms of empire building. The next generation of people that are educated with Mr Beast will naturally think like him. It will be normal to have such a high level of ambition. And when those barbarians are coming at the gate of the media and commerce traditions, watch what’s going to happen. Technology has given individuals infinite leverage with online media, this will get bloody.” 

These days, the most popular and lucrative YouTube channels are aimed at children. Kids are growing up watching YouTube every day. They love and identify with the personalities who educate and entertain them. 

This generation will grow up having parasocial relationships with YouTubers and other creators, and it will change everything, says Hugo.

He believes that the internet age is destroying society’s institutions, and people are looking for new ways of belonging. One danger lies in people being drawn into extremism. Hugo hopes that creators can counter that.

“I hope and believe that creators will create less toxic belonging structures for people.” 

Many people join creators because of the community they get with it. You’ve probably noticed that within your community Facebook or Discord groups. Hugo imagines even more opportunities for creators to foster congenial communities.

Imagine, for example, if purchasing a Mr Beast Burger came with temporary access to a discord channel (e.g. for that night) where you can play with other people who have ordered a Mr Beast Burger that night. Now it has become a social event.”

What lies ahead?

Hugo has some big predictions for the next ten years.

First, he says, we’ll see our first billionaire creator. As a result, everyone will shift their attention to creators. It’ll become the new gold rush, bringing talent and money flooding into the creator economy. 

Second, he believes that creators will be responsible for changing political elections. Media will be superseded by influencers who can create stories that scale to millions of people. Already, politicians are leveraging social media. In future elections, they’ll need to court the influencers too. 

“I don’t know what will end up emerging out of that but I know that it’s going to be something new and I know that it’s unstoppable and that’s why I ride the wave.”

Contact Hugo

Twitter: @HugoAmsellem: https://twitter.com/hugoamsellem 

Arm the Creators website: https://www.armthecreators.com/
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