I'm going all-in on something many people have never heard of.

The influencer economy was really taking off back in 2019.

Even in a place like Darwin we had former My Kitchen Rules contestants and mostly unknown wanna influencers offering businesses access to their audiences that represented an equivalent of half the population of our town for a bit of money some free products and services.

This appealed to local wellness consultants, AirBnB owners, market stall holders, prospective fashion designers and makers of potions and powders who were tired of running Facebook ads that weren't working and wanted something new to try.

And of course it didn't work.

Mostly because these were local businesses.

And influencer followings are a mix of people in other countries, fake bot accounts and the occasional person who was really only following that influencer because they were attracted to them.

And none of those people will buy essential oils from Darwin when the postage is around three times the cost of the oil. Or massage therapy from someone in Darwin. Or a booking for a holiday home in Darwin.

Simply, our town wasn't big enough to support a healthy economy of local influencers because there aren't enough local people available to be influenced to do or buy these things.

And while his might only be an example in a small regional city, there is enough of a pattern of this happening on a much wider scale.

The age of influencer is ending.

The age of the creator is here.

What is a creator, anyway?

Perhaps, ironically, influencers are creators as well.?

The difference is that influencers add nothing of substantial value to the world.

And that is where I think the difference between an online creator and an online influencer differ.

An influencer will put themselves at the centre of everything. Their body, their face their wealth and their aspirational travel, possessions and relationships are the star of the show.

The creator, on the other hand, is just a facilitator or narrator or filmographer or teacher. Their content is the star of the show.

That's an important distinction - even though, sometimes, on the surface, creators can feel like a "business influencer" and are often called exactly that by people who don't like anyone standing out.

So, for me, a creator is someone who shares content on platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok or even Facbeook and Instagram that isn't actually about them, but about some information, knowledge, education or entertainment that they happen to have some level of expertise around.

Naturally, there are some creators who are none of these things.

The finger-pointing history TikTokers who cherry-pick conspiracy theories about history or archaeology and constantly produce misleading headlines and false "facts" fall into this category.?

They are the scum-eating bottom-feeders of the creator world.

What I'm mostly focused on are the educators who share their knowledge, experience and playbooks on how to do things - and they do it in such a way as to help others do the same.

So, does that mean creators are just creating competitors to themselves?

Yes. And this is so hard for a lot of people to understand.

Why would you create competition for yourself by sharing all your knowledge and moves?

True creators do this from a very different worldview than the standard approach to business and career growth. They operate from something called a "growth mindset."

This is where you see the world as full of opportunity, abundance and choices, rather than a place of scarcity and limitations.

And I know it sounds crazy, but I am one of these crazy people.

If someone asks how I managed to do something that made me successful, I will tell them openly and for free, without hesitation.

Does this mean they will copy me and compete against me?

Yes. And that's the whole point.

For us, the world is full of opportunity and there's plenty for everyone.

We want competitors because what we do will change rapidly from one month to the next. This is not a bricks and mortar business selling cakes, that is terrified that another cake shop will open next door. This is an economy where you literally create your replacement so that you can move on to the next thing you want to do.

Because we understand that the world isn't for the grand old permanent institutions anymore, everything can be disrupted, torn down and changed almost overnight.

Since the internet arrived, industries have been wiped out, and new ones have been replacing them. Now even those replacements are being rapidly disrupted and replaced.

Yet all this begs the question...

How does a creator change so rapidly?

It's basically through neverending learning.

What you learn today, you teach tomorrow. Then you learn something new tomorrow to teach the day after that.

The sheer scale of information available now - and the pace at which is comes to us means that the world needs curators and presenters to help the rest of us make sense of everything new that is coming down the pipe.

And this is where creators come in.

They are just about always phenomenally good communications - and often excellent educators, teachers and trainers. Their superpower is being able to take the raw information and make it helpful for people who could use it.?

And this pace of knowledge also means that they need to produce new content constantly. Sometimes weekly or even daily. And that means having systems in place to support them through that speed of information and content creation.

It takes me one hour to produce all of my text and image posts across multiple platforms each week. Another hour to take one of those topics and expand it into this newsletter - and copy that over to my website blog. And then another hour to record, edit and post my daily videos.

I need to move at that pace to keep up with the amount of amazing knowledge I am absorbing each week. And the only way for me to retain it is to use it and then teach it to others.

And that takes systems. A lot of systems.

Systems that scape the web and social media for the best new ideas and knowledge. Systems that then summarise and pull out the most important information. Systems that then place that in a big repository of ideas and ways of thinking about my areas of expertise. Systems that sort that information into priority topics. Systems that test those topics out on social media platforms. Systems that choose the best performing topics and then bring them to me to explain in my own words on platforms like my newsletter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

This is the kind of thing that used to take a newsroom full of dozens of researchers, writers, editors and sub editors before it ever got anywhere near a printed piece or a broadcast presenter.

Today it's done by one person and a bunch of systems supporting them.

That's why, as of 2024, the global creator economy is currently worth $156.37 billion. The creator economy is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 22.5% and is expected to hit $528.39 billion by 2030.

And that's why I'm getting myself all over it.

So you can too.

That's all for this weekend. Just one short read about what the creator economy is and why it's something you should consider being part of.

If you're not getting value out of these tips, please consider unsubscribing.

I won't mind and there are no hard feelings.

And if you are enjoying this newsletter, the best compliment you could pay me would be to share it with one person who you think would benefit from it.

See you again next week.

Cheers,

Dante

P.S. Here's a few free ways I can lend a hand if you need some help.

I am running a LOT of workshops throughout the Northern Territory during 2024's October Business Month. I'm covering digital skills, entrepreneurship and technoloy. See the program and book here.

My free Social Media Writing online mini course has now been completed by over 3000 people over the last two years. It's still free, still massively relevant and will help you write better online. Get it here.

I'm working with Meta on four workshops in Darwin during October Business Month. They're all free and designed for small businesses to expand their reach, understand marketing and secure their accounts online. It's on October 2 in Darwin. Book here.

And here's some of the tools I'm using to get my work done.

I use Brevo to send over 14,000 emails to my subscribers each week. Mailchimp is rubbish, so I use this. Try it out here.

I am a member of only two paid groups. Kate Toon's is one of them. It's not just Kate though - it's her community. Find out more here.

Notion is my second brain. I organise my notes, thoughts and writing there. I even write my newsletter using it. Try it out for free here.

I've been using Neuron Writer for over a year. I now have over 100 articles ranking on Google because of it. Get it here.

Very few books will cause me to make a massive u-turn on what I'm doing in life and business. The Art of Focus by Dan Koe it one. Get it here.

Motion is the calendar I use to bring all my calendars together. It's also how people book time with me. Check it out here.