🎉Creator Capital: Launch Series 1/3

What does it mean to be a Creator?

Hey there 👋- Pranshu here :)*Thrilled* to have you at the launch of Creator Capital🙃In this part (1/3) :

  • I will walk through my CCCD framework to define Creators

  • Compare "Sovereign" Creators with One-Person Businesses

  • Explain why understanding the Economics way of Thinking is crucial

Note: You are getting this 1st issue if you purchased a Gumroad product or have directly subscribed. Feel free to unsubscribe whenever - just give Creator Capital a fair shot before? As promised, I have 3 gifts you will LOVE, especially as a Twitter person. I will give away one gift in each of the 3 parts (scroll to bottom). On that note, Let's begin! 🎉

Who is a "Creator"?

This word is thrown around a lot, esp in a phrase- Creator Economy, Creator-preneurship, Creator Business blablabla.

It's almost assumed that one already KNOWS what a Creator means when people use such terms online.

So yeah.

What DOES being a Creator mean?

Is it someone who creates "content" full time (even if they earn nothing from it)?

Is it anyone who earns most of their income via content (even if they work on it part-time & have a day job)?

It's all so confusing.

Here's my definition via the CCCD Framework -

A (true) Creator is anyone who -

  • CREATES something of value in the realm of social media & internet

  • CAPTURES a piece of that value in the form of money & attention

  • COMMUNICATES about that value via building an audience

  • DELIVERS on the value through Digital Products & Services

Miss any one piece & you are NOT a Creator in the true sense of the word.

Eg: You could be an expert copywriter who writes emails for Tesla. You do earn good money from that freelance gig. But you are NOT a creator as you never "communicate in public" about your service online.

Making a profile on Upwork & having a "public resume" means you are a freelancer yes, but you can only be a creator if put yourself out there consistently on social media & not just with clients.

If you DO HAVE all 4 pieces in place, it doesn't matter what else you are doing in life (say, a day job), you are STILL a Creator.

Eg: You have a course for Algorithms on Udemy. You are not earning much from it but you ARE building a Tech focused Newsletter by talking about Tech regularly on Li & Twitter.

This drives some sales for any present & future courses you have. You do this on the side along with your Software day job. You ARE a creator as you check all 4 boxes significantly.

Creators vs One Person Businesses

The savvy among you will notice the above 4 boxes are actually the 4 pillars of ANY business. Being a TRUE Creator means you are fundamentally a Business too. Even if it's early stage. Even if you are not a mature, thriving "sovereign" creator yet. 

"Sovereign Creators build sustainable businesses without the need for third-party social media or discovery platforms." (So they are mainly built on Emails). This is the ultimate level as a Creator & imo should be the North Star for all aspiring & present Creators today.

You ask Why?

Because -

Not all One Person Businesses are true Creators & not all Creators are true One Person Businesses.

Freelancers, Coaches, Consultants, Agency Owners...all of these people are often called One Person Businesses with one central decision maker (even if they hire a VA or small teams). But all of them are NOT creators unless they check all 4 boxes.

Now, some Creators (like Mr. Beast) have dozens of people working for them & as such are running proper companies. They can hardly be called One Person Businesses. You have so much responsibility (like salaries) that independent & central decision-making is HARD.

"All this is finer. But where does one start as a Creator?"

The foundational basics -

Economics & Creators

Economics is a social science that studies the way people interact with things of value. And then to estimate the most efficient allocation of resources to achieve a desired outcome.

And this is why all Creators must understand the "economics way" of viewing the world where:

  • you think in trade-offs: for any choice you make (eg reading this essay) you are aware of the next best activity which is the opportunity cost (eg watching a YT video)

  • you think "at the margins" for your decisions: if I sleep 6 hours instead of 5, will that increase my efficiency to more than make up for the 1 less waking hour?

This is not a "natural" way of going about life. But this is not optional as a Creator. Merely the definition of Economics has clues as to why:

Social Science: it studies people with all their psychology & irrationalities --> hugely applicable to building a "social" media audience

Interact with Things of Value --> Definitely something worthwhile given the definition of Creator above?

Most efficient allocation of resources --> The reason why people struggle with becoming a Creator (or even starting the journey) is the barrage of hard trade-offs that pop up.

Trade-offs occur as we need to make choices because of certain limitations. Thus -

Economics can also be called the study of how we make choices based on scarcity. Scarcity happens as we have unlimited desires but limited resources to fulfill them.

Eg: You want to write more tweets! But you run out of time or ideas. So "resources" just means anything that is "useful" to you.

If there were unlimited resources - scarcity & hence, economics would not exist (no choices to make)! 

So as a Creator you have an obligation to yourself wrt pursuing knowledge (in form of frameworks, tactics etc) that can help you:

  • make choices easier

  • make choices faster

  • make choices smarter

A reliable source of such knowledge is what Creator Capital aims to be on the surface. 

But of course, I want to go much deeper into the vision for this Newsletter, who it is meant for, and the "Why" behind its name and existence. That's for parts 2 and 3 so stay tuned!

Gift 1/3 🎉

With the help of a friend, I created a tool in 2021 with which you can Download ALL tweets in 30 seconds for ANY account. (no limit on number of tweets or number of accounts)

All it requires is a one-time 3 min setup: Here's the link.

Have fun with it & hit reply if you face any issues/ want to give feedback on the gift or this issue of the Newsletter.

See you tomorrow same time with part 2/3. Until then...