The Creator Spotlight Podcast

@JohnNellis has grown by over 1 million subscribers in less than a year. We're talking to John's business partner, Alex, to dig deep into the strategy behind one of the fastest growing football channels on the platform. John Nellis: https://www.youtube.com/@JohnNellis 00:00 Intro 01:10 Getting into the world of football content 04:43 Tripling the growth of Sky Sports YouTube channel 07:27 The partnership with John 13:52 Combining the business and creative mind 16:24 How the business operates 18:41 How big is the team? 20:05 Producing content from in-front the camera 24:49 Why John Nellis is the best to work with 29:50 Growing and reinvesting into the business 35:10 The importance of the title and thumbnail 37:34 The myth behind "retention editing" 40:46 How the channel is monetized 44:27 Why you should delete your old videos 46:09 How much money is the channel making? 48:23 The work/life balance of a content creator 51:54 The goal for the channel 55:52 YouTube vs TV #podcast #creatoreconomy #contentcreator

This week Francis is joined by Caitlin Dewey, creator and writer of the newsletter Links I Would G-Chat You If We Were Friends. Caitlin's Newsletter: https://linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com 00:00 Introducing Caitlin Dewey 03:27 The Birth of the Newsletter 06:16 Taking a Break and the Pressure of a Rebrand 13:36 Building a Community With Readers 17:53 Building a Good Salary From Subscriptions 19:49 The Definition of Creators vs. Journalists 27:42 Bring Back Comfortable Middle Class Lifestyles 32:59 Collaboration in the Newsletter Community 37:37 The Painful Art of Content Planning 43:21 Substack's Shift in Business Model 50:13 The Craft of an Aggregation Newsletter 53:19 Fake News Is Now Just News #podcast #creatoreconomy #newsletter

For episode 29 of Creator Spotlight we are joined by Tommy Clark (@tclarkmedia) to discuss his content marketing agency Compound Media Studio, how he scales B2B audiences on LinkedIn and how you can grow your online business. 00:00 Intro 01:20 Accidentally starting a marketing agency 03:30 Building a team and hiring for content creation 06:17 Growing the newsletter Social Files 13:04 The devolution of Twitter - LinkedIn #1 now? 15:36 How to craft the perfect viral post 20:23 The relationship between the business and personal brand 23:41 Monetizing a creator led business 27:21 What makes someone good/bad at marketing? 29:27 Starting with content creation and rules for posting 39:19 Finding content ideas for viral posts 41:10 Uploading to YouTube but not being a YouTuber 43:55 How you can grow your online brand #podcast #creatoreconomy #linkedinstrategy

Ryan Gilbert, creator and writer of the newsletter 'Workspaces' joins us for episode 28 of The Creator Spotlight Podcast. Workspaces: workspaces.xyz 00:00 From supply chain to tech startups 04:31 Building a niche from scratch 10:57 Monetizing with affiliate links 12:42 Abandoning a career to pursue content 16:32 The acquisition and reacquisition of the newsletter 25:08 Monetizing the newsletter is harder now 28:22 How the newsletter grew to 13k+ subscribers 35:35 The stats 37:12 The best home-office setup so far 40:30 Balancing personal and brand identity 44:12 Strategies for newsletter growth 47:02 Reflecting on success and future plans #podcast #creatoreconomy #newsletter

Rachel Karten joins us for episode 27 of the Creator Spotlight podcast to discuss what makes good content, winning and judging the Webby Awards, and building a newsletter audience. 00:00 Getting started with food insta 04:39 Advice for working with brands 09:02 Winning and judging Webby awards 14:05 Building a newsletter for content creators - Link in Bio 25:03 Growing an audience of 65k+ 35:50 Being a good social media manager #podcast #creatoreconomy #creatorinsights

This week we are joined by Michelle Curb, co-founder and editor of Gloria (hellogloria.com) Michelle is an expert in leading monetization for online media brands. 00:00 The Gloria newsletter 05:50 Getting started in online media 08:52 Is it hard to sell a media company? 14:15 Monetization and stats 15:58 Building an audience online 24:52 “I don’t want to be online” 27:38 Day in a life of a media founder 39:21 How to monetize as a creator 45:35 Looking forward and back #creatoreconomy #podcast #thecreatorcommunitypodcast

Theo Lloyd-Hughes joins us for episode 25 of The Creator Spotlight Podcast -- he is a journalist specialising in women's soccer/football. He has a newsletter and podcast called Squad Depth, he produces The Athletic's podcast Full Time, he is also a freelance writer. Squad Depth: squaddepth.com 00:00 Why Theo pursued soccer journalism 08:23 How much does soccer journalism pay? 17:24 How to tell the real story 23:36 Newsletters are the future of journalism 39:11 The stats 41:17 Building a newsletter into a sustainable business 47:01 How to get better at podcasting #podcast #creatoreconomy #womenssoccer

Cole Derochie joins us for episode 24 of the Creator Spotlight podcast. Cole writes a daily newsletter keeping designers up-to-date with what's going on in the world of design. Cole's newsletter: todayin.design Cole's Twitter/X: x.com/colderoshay 00:00 How Cole accidentally became a designer 08:04 The espresso of newsletters 13:43 Evolving and growing the newsletter 20:24 Finding sources for design news 26:16 Writing a newsletter in 1 hour 29:08 Monetizing a 5,000 subscriber newsletter 37:53 Using Twitter to grow your brand #podcast #creatoreconomy #design

Sean Devlin is the founder of nicenews.com and he joins us for episode 23 of the Creator Spotlight podcast. He shares his secrets about building an online business, newsletter growth and advice for other creators. nicenews.com 00:00 Building a 800k subscriber newsletter 08:53 The biggest mistakes when designing a newsletter 12:26 Why it’s important to have nice news 19:20 How to find positive content online 22:32 Who subscribes to nice news? 30:51 Building a following of 800,000 39:00 How to monteize your newsletter audience 44:30 What not to do when building a newsletter 47:00 Is it too late to start a newsletter? #podcast #creatoreconomy #nicenews

Ambreen Ali is a tenured and accomplished journalist as well as Founding Editor of Central Desi, a local newsletter focussing on the South Asian community in New Jersey. She joins us for episode 22 of the Creator Spotlight podcast. Central Desi: centraldesi.beehiiv.com 00:00:00 Ambreen Ali - putting journalism first 00:05:02 Growing a local newsletter 00:14:07 Why being a journalist is difficult 00:22:02 Is society losing its media literacy? 00:28:53 The best and worst of tradition journalism 00:35:26 Why prisoners should be taught journalism 00:39:39 Making a local impact 00:43:26 Not wanting to be a “creator” 00:52:00 Monetizing journalism is hard 00:57:43 Advice to other creators #podcast #creatoreconomy #southasian