How to Build a Creator Business Worth Acquiring

“So, salary transparent, she started as a TikTok account, and you might have seen them if you're on social media where they go up and, like, interview people on the street and ask them how much money do you make. And they obviously think that The US go viral. It's, you know, been this, like, cult sensation. And I think most creators might just stop there. They say, I've got a million followers. I'm getting brand deals. I'm good. What else is even possible here? And, you know, from the early days, I felt like she and eventually had you know, has a little bit of a team behind her. It's built more intentionally as, like, how do we actually expand this as a business”

“And I think just this week, Plaid bought this week in fintech, which, again, is not a traditional, like, creator in terms of how it's more of a traditional newsletter brand. But, again, it proves that same model, as we've been seeing, like, works. And I think with with creators, we're we're seeing a lot of, like, investment in terms of, you know, people want, like, a face to the brand”

“And, like, even with me, like, I struggled for a while because I was like, I'm building my personal brand. It's under me. And I was like and I wrote from a newsletter. It was just my name. And I was like, no. I need an entity that feels like it could grow from beyond just me when eventually I will have two you know, not enough time to to build this out. And so I think that does derisk you in a way. So you build your personal brand, and then you say, I'm building this as a brand, as a business, as a community, what have you.”

“But I think for this creator model, the way that I think about it is, like, if at you're as a creator, you are almost like, a label of sorts. Right? You're attracting people that are interested in the things you have to say and your experiences, etcetera. And when you start to build this, like, audience or community, what people don't realize is that your audience is probably likely to get along really well.”

“Well, like, something cool like Jay Klaus is doing. So he's got his, you know, high ticket creator science community. And they're just pegging it to the conference, to the the kids' Craft and Commerce conference. So it's like, can you peg it to something that people are already traveling for? Like, I think there's ways you could get, you know, creative with it, basically.”

“I mean, I wouldn't say there's a typical number. I think you would be well, you wouldn't be surprised given the nature of what you what you do, but most people would be surprised at the amount of people that are running 7 figure businesses, and it's them a couple of, you know, maybe some contractors, maybe one employee, and, you know, some VAs and things. Like, I think that is really that lean creator business that is very, very successful.”

“My mom quit her job, in choosing tech sales, big tech career, and, bought a house in Italy, started documenting that. She found that a lot of, you know, people, her core audience were these, like, middle aged women that had the money to spend, like, a very valuable demographic, and they, like, love to travel, and wanted, like, experiences to go to. So she's like, let me start hosting some retreats. And some of them were, like, real estate focused in terms of people that wanted to to move abroad, and others were just, like, for fun. But that's been kind of, like, her surprise business model of sorts is she's got a she's got a paid Substack community. She's making money through her retreats”

“But I think the big the big opportunity here and I've been trying to do a lot of research around this in terms of how many creators out there actually, you know, have x amount of followers, have this money and they're not doing newsletter. And, like, there's a lot. There's a lot of people that are they're leaving it on the table, and and and what would that look like if if they kind of expand into their own audience?”