Mental Feed #3 - Life beyond the algorithm
Getting views but not going viral? Making money but not millions? Welcome to the Creator Middle Class. Avi Gandhi’s got your back!
Mental Feed: what are the coolest people in culture, creator economy, and creativity thinking about?
My guest for this edition of Mental Feed is Avi Gandhi, a man who's been in this industry for over 15 years (working at, advising or consulting for companies like WME, Wheelhouse, Patreon, Point72 Ventures, Creator Authority, VidCon, the Creators Guild of America, Discord, Canva, and P&G), and is on a mission to build the Creator Middle Class!
I love this approach, because while a lot of the attention goes to the (obvious) big stars, he is trying to empower those who are in a kind of limbo.
I see a lot of this in my work as well. Creators who are not big enough to hire people nor small enough to just quit often don't know where to find help.
Well, dear creator friends, Avi and his recommendations on this edition of Mental Feed are here to help you… and they are good!
First - Read Creator Logic, Avi's media company where he shares a lot of actionable business insights, proven monetization tactics, and in-depth case studies with over 60,000 creators;
Second - Join The $100k Creators Club - a community where Creators earn six figures together;
Third - Scroll down for Avi's tips on a podcast, a course, a co-working space for creators and a newsletter that will help you understand this industry:
A videocast on how to build - and monetize - communities!
Community is defined as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.” The key word is “people”. I’ve long believed that community is about human connection. In the Creator Economy, though, there’s a tendency to prioritize the content side of community because Creators are “content creators”.
Gina Bianchini - the founder and CEO of Mighty Networks - has been talking about “People Magic” for many years. When I realized that she had actually built features that make it easier for people within communities to connect and build relationships, it spurred me to give her podcast a listen. She does a wonderful job of laying out the tenets of successful people-driven communities and how to build, market, grow, and run them.
As I’ve prepared for the January launch of my community, The $100k Creators Club, her People Magic podcast has been my guide. There are some great concepts around sales, brand positioning, and customer experience here that are valuable even if you don’t plan to launch a community so I’d recommend it to anyone building a business!
A course on how to pitch and negotiate with brands effectively!
I’m lucky to call Justin Moore a friend, and was fortunate enough to take his Brand Deal Wizard course earlier this year.
It transformed how I approach pitching and negotiating brand deals.
Though I’ve been doing partnerships for and with Creators for 15 years, the thing I was missing is insight on how brand marketers think. Empathizing with the wants and needs of your counterpart in a partnership is critical to long-term success, and Justin is a Creator who also built and ran a brand marketing agency. As a result, he has empathy for and knowledge of both sides that informs the tactics he shares and makes them extra effective.
Justin’s book, Sponsor Magnet, just came out as well. If you’re interested in Brand Deal Wizard, I’ve got a referral link you can use here.
The IRL campus for the Creator generation
Making a living as a Creator is lonely - you spend a lot of time at home, alone, in front of your computer. I’m an extrovert and the thing I miss most from my corporate days is being in the office with other smart, like-minded coworkers. I tried WeWork, but had nothing in common with the other people who were there.
That’s why I got so excited when Neil Waller, co-CEO of top-3 influencer marketing agency Whalar, gave me a tour of what would become The Lighthouse Venice, back in the fall of 2023. His vision for an exclusive co-working space for Creators with offices, food, and production facilities got me hyped up!
At that time, it was just the husk of a former US Post Office; a few days ago, I got the chance to go there and have dinner with other prospective members, and it’s transformed into a beautiful collaborative space with incredible amenities for Creators.
I went home and applied immediately. Cross your fingers for me, I really want to get in.
A newsletter that helps you understand culture and the creator economy
Taylor Lorenz is perhaps one of the most controversial journalists in the world, in my opinion because she speaks truth to power - specifically, as it relates to internet culture - and power doesn’t like that.
Most recently, she went viral for explaining why people on the internet were celebrating the murder of an American insurance CEO. Her take was spot on, and in the world’s clearest case of “shoot the messenger”, the capitalist hordes came for her.
And yet, she persists.
When Taylor left The Washington Post to launch her Substack newsletter, I immediately put my credit card down to subscribe - and have not been disappointed. My only gripe is that I feel sorry for The Washington Post and other traditional media - they sorely need more reporters, like Taylor, who truly and deeply understand what’s happening (and why) in the tangential reality we call the internet.
(Note from Bia - It's also one of my favorite newsletters right now)
Mental Feed is a space to break free from social media algorithms and bring back a more organic, hyperlinked, and cozy web. Each edition, the coolest and smartest people in the Culture, Creativity and Creator Economy share what they’ve been reading, watching, or into—beyond the sameness of the algorithmic feed.