the creator economy
The creator economy, defined as the collection, creation, and distribution of content, allows audiences and content creators to interact directly in online communities. It's different from "the curator economy" which I talked about in an earlier post.
I first discovered "the creator economy" in 2013 by listening to "The French Podcast" while skipping on homework in college. 'The French Podcast' involved a couple's conversation, sometimes with friends, on various topics. Listening to a real-world French conversation was so much more enticing than pouring over the pre-socratic philosophers. Listening while walking to and from class, listening while in the library surrounded by classical compendiums, tomes, and treatises in both Latin and English, I was hungry to know more. Anywhere and anytime I had an ounce of free time, I would fill it with French.
In high school, I didn't log on to the Net really, just to make powerpoint slides and categorize images. Instead, I plunged into theology, catholic prayer, historical fiction, english literature, complete with its own linguistical structure and syntax. Massively mesmerized by the history of Europe, and more specifically, church history, it was an enriching time but it was also very impractical. In an indirect sense, the liberal arts in high school and classical curriculum at college gave me a rigorous development in my ability to read, write, and speak well. It also gave me patience in analyzing and researching difficult material. I poured over Plato in the original translation, I talked in conversational Latin. Also in college, I came upon the language learning bloggers Susanna Zaraysky and Luca Lamperiello. I would listen to their content on language acquisition for hours.
Since I was very religious before and during college, I was preoccupied with either past pursuits or heavenly habits. It was very black and white.
I moved into the earthly realm, so to speak, around 2015 when I left college. It started with personality typology. I listened to "Personality Hacker" podcast in the car going to and from work. I also started learning russian from the channel 'Easy Russian' and got advice from the "Magnetic Memory Method" podcast. Now, I was choosing experience and real life skills.
In 2017, I became even more of a cultivator and curator of online creator content, for my own pursuits, when I was researched how to become a piano teacher and a personality type blogger using Pinterest.
At a downtown Richmond coffee shop, I was looking up advice on traveling frugally my second time at university. While walking in downtown Richmond to and from the university or on the bridge with the rapids of the James River below me, I would listen to "The James Altucher Show." I remember one time I was walking in a hilly neighborhood to go to the water, listening to a digital marketer and James Altucher talk about not going to college. Another episode that really stood out to me was "Competition Is For Losers: Invent Your Own Category" with Ryan Holiday. Another one was "Set A Flag On Your Thing" with Gary Vaynerchuk. I wrote notes. And another one with Cal Newport talking about not following one's passion.
When I was learning about minimalism, I would listen to 'The Mind Palace Podcast. Each episode was pure pleasure listening to these two girls chatter away about their time minimizing "clutter," emotionally and mentally, not just physically.
Because I listened to "The James Altucher Show" in 2017 where he interviewed a lot of creators and entrepreneurs, I was exposed to entrepreneurship. I saw it as a way to come back to creativity. I read his free e-book "40 Alternatives To College" when I was in college. The irony.
Back home, in 2018, I decided I wanted to create an AR app. I took an ARCore course on the e-learning platform Coursera. That year, I also created a blog on my russian learning called "Russiophile," read an INTJ fashion blog [combining personality typology with fashion], learned how to create Pinterest graphics for my blog, and took a blogging course on Skillshare, an e-learning platform where creators share their knowledge. I also listened to a lot of episodes from 'The Ground Up Show' which were all about content creation.
In 2020, I listened to a lot of content from 'London Real' and 'The Joe Rogan' podcast, mostly about money-making and politics. In 2021, I listened to hundreds of hours of interviews with Derek Sivers, one of my favorite writers and bloggers, to pass the time in my hotel cleaning job. It was so refreshing after listening to all the pessimistic political content. When I was learning copywriting, instead of going to a bland book, I chose a course on Udemy, from a creator who already learned copywriting and simply wanted to share his expertise.
More recently, I re-listened to a podcast episode where the founder of Creator Science, Jay Clouse, interviewed Derek Sivers about his content creation process. I wrote notes. And on the regular, I listen to the podcast 'Talk to Me Taylor' with Taylor Ferber, a content creator who blends pop culture, politics, and men and women dynamics.
It's been a pleasure learning from individual creators, interacting with them directly, reading their blog, their free e-books, pretending that I am listening in on their conversations. I hope to tap into "the creator economy" in a bigger way, for my personalized learning, to contribute my own insights and become a part of these online communities.