💡 Creator News: Everyone is Becoming a Founder Now, Events is Big Business

Time to start your Creator CEO business and throw some in-person parties.

Hey creators,

I started 75 Hard earlier this past week — a health and fitness challenge done for 75 days that seeks to rewire habits, and includes daily rules like completing two workouts per day, one indoors and one outdoors.

I’m 5 days in and it’s a tough one, but I think physical challenges like this actually benefit creativity in a big way as they get us out of our heads and back into our bodies. Highly recommend giving something like this a try!

Here’s my dispatch from my creative lab for you this week:

💬 Links I Sent My Fiancée

My fiancée (!!!) Kyle Cords is my co-founder which means DMing him links counts as productive work 💕

• There’s a huge demand for in-person events and programming, and companies are spending big on them. If you like hosting events, there’s a lot of opportunity for you — especially if you’re in a big city!

🌁 Dispatches From the Bay

What to do and where to eat in San Francisco.

• The weather has been gorgeous here in SF lately! If you want to take advantage of it, you can join free pick-up pickleball games during the week in the historic Presidio Park.

☕️ Content Trends

Trends in social media, content creation, and what’s going on here on Substack.

• According to the Wall Street Journal, there’s been a 69% increase in people putting “Founder” as a title in their LinkedIn from a year ago and a 37% increase in new business applications. I believe we’re on the cusp of seeing a flourishing not just of founders, but of Creator CEOs: creatives who are learning to turn

💰 What to Watch & Read If You Want to Make Money Online

Resources to make you smarter and richer in the Creator Economy.

• Just a reminder that I’m doing a class on how to generate your website in partnership with Vercel — they’ve got a really cool tool for non-technical creatives, and I hope to see you there.

• Book clubs are very profitable on Substack! I just interviewed Tarra of Heavy Meta today about her feminist book club, and a few weeks ago I interviewed Jules who runs a Gilmore Girls-themed book club. Both writers are bestsellers here on Substack (meaning they have over 100+ paid subscribers) so if you’re considering starting a book club, now is the time!

• The Sarah J. Maas interview on Call Her Daddy was a fun watch not only because I’m a diehard ACOTAR fan, but I really appreciate the way that Sarah J. Maas talks about her writing as an author and creative. While she’s still being vague about the next books she’s got coming out, I appreciate how she’s bucking the norms of the publishing industry in favor of giving her fans the story that they’ll love the most. I’m all for non-traditional formats in publishing, so looking forward to this! (Also there are spoilers for her series in this interview, so watch at your own risk!)

🛍️ Add to Cart

Things that have made my life better or products I have my eye on.

• I finally got rid of the last of my nonstick cookware in my house (RIP!) and now I only have cast iron and stainless steel pots and pans. There’s a tiny bit of a learning curve, but especially if you’re a woman with an iron deficiency the cast iron pan is a gamechanger. Also, learning how to pre-heat a stainless steel pan has been helpful to get it to have that “nonstick” effect.

  • Tip: when heating your stainless steel pan, toss a little water in the pan. If the water just evaporates, it’s not ready to use. But if the water droplets bounce around, it’s ready to use!

• I’ve been loving the Just Tea I’ve been getting from my local grocery store. It’s been hard to find loose leaf tea brands (if you have a favorite, please let me know in the comments!) I’ve been using their fruity and aromatic Earl Grey tea in my morning London Fog lattes and it’s been a nice way to start the morning.

  • To make a London Fog, just combine two parts Earl Grey tea with one part frothed soy milk. I like a little maple syrup in mine as well!

Questions? Thoughts? Would love to hear what you’re thinking, reading, or making in the comments.

Happy creating,

-Amy