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Howdy,

Here is your weekly dose of The Creator Stream, a list of what I enjoy and work on in the Creator Economy. Please feel free to forward this along to fellow creators.

💰 How To Work For Your Favorite YouTubers

YouTubers are crying out for talented people to join their teams:

If you're a student or in your early twenties, it would be a mistake not to consider this career path.

Here are some tips for getting into the Creator Economy...

1 - Traditional Path:

Love YouTube, TikTok, or Social Media?

Get a job at relevant social media / creative agencies.

If that seems too complicated, head to university or learn for free online, gain work experience, and volunteer.

This route offers stability, skills, income, and a clear path into the Creator Economy once you’ve gained a couple of years of experience.

2 - Skip the middle-man:

Got the skills but no formal education?

Build a killer portfolio, showcase your talents, and approach creators directly.

You can show them what you've got with offers of free thumbnails, edits, or scripts and use this as a chance to make valuable connections.

Then, once you're confident, charge for your services.

3 - DIY Approach:

No experience? No problem.

Be the creator yourself! Learn by doing.

Nothing impresses creators more than someone who's walked the walk. Start your own channel and become the talent you would hire yourself.

This is what I did in my teens; I grew a channel to 90,000 subscribers and learned so much about YouTube in the process (I still get people commenting to this day on how I made so many people’s childhoods, which is always a bizarre yet lovely feeling for me).

Each path has pros and cons, but they all lead to the same destination: a job or business in the creator economy.

Choose the one that aligns best with your goals, skills, and life circumstances.

If you want to know the exact strategy I would use if I were trying to work for a YouTuber (or any content creator) in 2024, I recommend you check out this video.

Question of the Week: I NEED YOU!

Next week marks a new frontier for the newsletter: a dedicated Q&A segment focusing on YouTube Growth, especially the art of packaging your content!

If you’re looking to sharpen your skills in crafting magnetic video ideas, simplifying your titles for impact, or designing thumbnails that pull in views, this is your chance.

Fill out this form and tap into strategies that could elevate your channel. Cheers!

My Favourite Things This Week

1️⃣ Article I’m Reading…

The Idea Impact Matrix: How to Craft Higher-Impact Content - Maximize your YouTube video ideas with the ‘Idea Impact Matrix’! This guide from Jay Acunzo offers a revolutionary approach to escaping the 'content hamster wheel'. It is one of the most interesting articles on content creation that I’ve read in quite a while.

The article will help you learn how to craft content that's plentiful and powerful. By focusing on originality and value, you can transform ordinary ideas into outlier video ideas that resonate deeply with your audience.

2️⃣ Video I’m Watching…

A Map For My Inner Child - This video appeared on my homepage earlier this week, and its intriguing title and stand-out thumbnail jumped straight off the screen.

It’s a short video with fantastic storytelling (some of the best I've seen on YouTube in a while). It’s shot in a way reminiscent of Casey Neistat's vlogging style, and surprisingly enough, Casey appears in the comments, calling this video 'a perfect movie'.

Despite being a small channel, the results from such simple and effective packaging and storytelling have seen the video receive rapid growth over the past week. It’s only 3 minutes long, so give it a watch!

3️⃣ Video I’m Watching…

5 Cameras, 4 Guests & 1 Massive Video Wall: What Could Go Wrong? - The Modern Wisdom Podcast is one that I’ve been watching since 10,000 subscribers when Chris Williamson was trying his best to become a better interviewer in a sea full of podcasts.

His rise over the past few years has been fascinating to watch and this experiment has made me sit up in my seat. This video is a behind-the-scenes mini-doc that covers the days preceding and during some of the biggest interviews in Modern Wisdom history (with a slight twist).

Chris tried something completely new to the podcasting world: to use a huge video wall typically used for TV Shows and Movies as a backdrop to his interviews. You may have seen the BTS video for Disney +’s ‘The Mandalorian’ to see the sheer scale of this thing, if you haven’t that’s also worth a watch - so to see it brought to the podcasting world was a surprise.

The result is a beautiful backdrop that’s so stunning I lost track of the conversation at certain points and while audio listeners don’t benefit from this, I hope he does it again. It cost him around $50k and he’s unsure if this experiment will be a total waste of cash, but I welcome creators trying things like this in the future.

🎙️ Podcast I Released

How To Build a Personal Brand in the Creator Economy - In this week’s episode of Making It, George, Gwilym, and I spend some time discussing how to build a personal brand in the economy.

If you’re unsure whether to niche down or be a generalist on YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram, this is a great episode to watch.

You can watch on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Thanks for reading, if you want to reach out to me, just send a tweet to @WhiffenYT.

Jamie

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Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

1. I create videos on how I’m helping my clients get more views and make money on YouTube. Check out my channel.

2. Book a free 15-minute consulting call with me where I can give you some pointers on how to improve your YouTube Channel.

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