Marissa Lovell is the founder and operator of From Boise, a local newsletter business generating over $100k in annual revenue. In this episode, she breaks down how she built it, what nearly made her quit, and the decisions that finally made it work.

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Marissa Lovell

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

From Boise

Francis Zierer

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Marissa from Boise

01:00 From nearly quitting to $100k+ revenue

06:18 The once-a-month growth strategy

09:34 Early stage experimentation

12:15 Accidentally growing a “personal brand”

17:56 Zero to 10k subscribers in one year

23:20 How big can a local newsletter be?

24:18 How to monetize a local newsletter

30:37 Investing in a website that feels right

33:27 Why a discount card for the community didn’t work

38:14 Connecting a community with dinner clubs

42:15 Building in public and empowering female entrepreneurs

46:58 Creating in way that suits you

52:35 Becoming a six-figure solopreneur

55:09 Doubling revenue for 2026

Fernando Hurtado is a former NBC Telemundo journalist who walked away from a six-figure media career to build on YouTube from scratch. In this episode, Fernando breaks down how he got monetized in days, landed (and lost) brand deals early, priced himself wrong, and rebuilt with a repeatable system for publishing high-quality videos without burning out. We talk risk, leverage, time-boxing creative work, and what journalists actually need to know before betting on themselves.

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Watch Fernando’s AAPI Latino’s video

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Fernando Hurtado

YouTube

Twitter/X

Instagram

TikTok

LinkedIn

Francis Zierer

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Fernando Hurtado

01:06 The hardest part of full-time YouTube

04:40 How to land (and lose) brand deals

09:30 Transitioning from NBC to YouTube

16:02 Four reasons to become a YouTuber

21:00 Learning the business side of journalism

28:59 Diversify your revenue streams

30:41 Building a sustainable upload schedule — without burnout

35:09 Creating videos for the algorithm and the culture

40:48 Showing the journalistic process

43:27 Creating a video that inspires discussion

45:50 Successes from one year as a YouTuber

51:36 Advice for going all in on YouTube

Jack Appleby is a marketing strategist and creator with over 15 years in the industry. In this episode, we break down why most brand content fails, why trends don’t matter, and how creators can build audiences people actually root for.

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Jack Appleby

Newsletter

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

Instagram

How to Hoop Forever

YouTube

Instagram

TikTok

Francis Zierer

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

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Timestamp

00:00 Introducing Jack Appleby

01:05 Social media is not marketing

05:30 Making $9,500 in a month on TikTok

09:36 Investing in a series that loses money

13:13 You don’t need production quality, you need story

15:31 Revenue streams as a marketer

18:16 The need for strong opinions online

26:21 Creating a story through short form video

30:49 Building a newsletter to 80k subscribers

36:05 Hiring a manager

44:42 How to make a $50k course

51:40 The need for better content in 2026

This week we’re joined by Kallaway, a creator and operator building a profitable media business by treating content like a system. In this episode, we break down how he thinks about distribution, YouTube packaging, short-form frameworks, and turning attention into a scalable, $1M-per-month business.

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Kallaway

Sandcastles

YouTube

Instagram

TikTok

LinkedIn

Website

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Kallaway

01:05 The $1M/month content machine

10:01 Bringing a consultant mindset to content creation

15:09 Treating content like a science

20:29 Long form video production process

26:22 Replicating your past successes

34:02 How rapping helps you be a better YouTube

38:05 Short form video production process

41:24 De-risking your failure in short form video

47:43 Creating content without being a creator

This week on Creator Spotlight we’re joined by Brittany Ratelle, a lawyer specializing in helping creators, creatives and online entrepreneurs cut through the overwhelm of getting their business legally legit. In this episode she breaks down the most common legal mistakes creators make, from brand deals and contracts, to hiring and platform risk.

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Brittany Ratelle

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

YouTube

Francis Zierer

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Brittany Ratelle

01:26 Biggest red flags in brand deal contracts

10:15 Avoid these contract mistakes

16:06 When should creators become a business

20:17 When is reaction content and remixing IP theft?

26:12 The only way to actually own your audience

33:44 How to write a contract as a creator

37:45 Hiring as a creator

42:37 Most common mistakes creators make, legally

45:10 What’s changing for creators in 2026

This week, Francis is joined by the rest of the Creator Spotlight team — Assistant Editor Natalia and Podcast Producer Tom — to reflect on the biggest creator economy themes from a year of interviews and share their predictions for 2026

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Francis Zierer

LinkedIn

Twitter/X

Natalia Pérez-Gonzalez

LinkedIn

Twitter

Tom McCloud

LinkedIn

Twitter

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Tom and Natalia

01:30 How to use serialized content in 2026

10:10 Changing our perspective of the creator economy

11:50 Our best piece of 2025

Our 2026 Predictions

15:13 Francis: In-person is the future

20:28 Tom: Podcasts are dying

27:30 Natalia: Short-term creator partnerships

Themes of 2025

29:10 Building strong parasocial connections

This week on Creator Spotlight we’re joined by the team from News Creator Corps. We break down what creators can learn from journalism — from fact-checking and sourcing to handling mistakes publicly. A conversation about fixing trust, misinformation, and credibility in the creator economy.

Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/profiles

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News Creator Corps

Apply for the Spring 2026 Fellowship: https://newscreatorcorps.org/apply/

• Rachel Lobdell

• Katie Grossbard

• Danielle Desir Corbett

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing News Creator Corps and the guests

07:40 The type of creator that’s NCC focus

13:31 Transferring conservative journalistic value to content creation

16:20 The eight lessons journalists can teach creators

23:42 The values of a diverse cohort

29:05 Finding your own guild

33:55 Trust and monetization in the creator economy

35:36 Teaching instantly applicable lessons

43:05 Building a recognised trusted reputation

46:38 Misconceptions of news creators

51:00 Fighting against the slop and misinformation

01:00:22 How NCC is helping creators

Brett Dashevsky is the founder of Creator Economy NYC, where he’s built a six-figure business by consistently creating content, growing a newsletter, and hosting events for creators. In this episode, Brett breaks down how newsletters and in-person events compound together to build audience, trust, and a sustainable creator business.

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Brett Dashevsky

• Newsletter

• Creator Economy NYC

• LinkedIn

• Twitter/X

• Instagram

Francis Zierer

• LinkedIn

• Twitter/X

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Brett Dashevsky

01:16 Biggest challenges growing a newsletter from scratch

07:00 Scaling multiple newsletters to the masses

12:44 A community built out of passion

20:00 Why consistency always wins

26:21 Building something bigger than himself

29:33 The best advice for creators

33:56 Revenue breakdown

36:19 How hosting events makes money

42:41 Securing long term deals with brands

48:33 Defining the digital economy

50:52 Event cost and attendance

56:36 Building tools for creators

This week on Creator Spotlight we’re joined by Tomo Chien, the founder and editor of ‘Morning, Trojan’, a newsletter aimed at engaging USC students with local news. He highlights the competitive landscape of student publications, the importance of original reporting, and the strategies used to grow the audience.

Read the newsletter

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Earn with Google AdSense: https://goo.gle/earnwithadsense

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Tomo Chien

• Morning, Trojan

• LinkedIn

• Twitter/X

Francis Zierer

• LinkedIn

• Twitter/X

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Tomo Chien 

01:08 Disrupting the local media scene 

05:10 The freedom to be controversial 

08:57 The one change that brought 10k subscribers 

14:30 Finding the stories people want to read 

20:02 How long does aggregating content take? 

25:02 Tomo’s high school news project 

28:55 Why he’s shutting down the newsletter 

32:22 Future plans after the newsletter 

37:28 Defining creator journalism 

This week on The Creator Spotlight Podcast we’re joined by digital writer, author, and serial writing entrepreneur Nicolas Cole. Nicolas is the co-founder of a $600K+ per month online writing education business. He shares the principles, systems, and mindset shifts that turned simple online writing into a scalable company.

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Nicolas Cole

• Website

• LinkedIn

• Twitter/X

• Instagram

• YouTube

Francis Zierer

• LinkedIn

• Twitter/X

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Timestamps

00:00 Introducing Nicolas Cole 

05:23 Scaling to $600k+/month 

12:00 Growing an educational product 

17:15 The demand for ghostwriting in 2025 

28:04 The hardest part of scaling a business

35:05 How to never run out of content 

40:05 Rejecting the ‘artist vs entrepreneur’ dichotomy 

50:00 How to earn more as a creator 

55:27 Education with accountability 

57:15 New rules for writing online in 2026