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❄️ Winter is Coming
Over the last couple of years the creator economy has grown exponentially.
All of us moved online, so creators building an audience online got a lot of attention, and revenue.
Which caused many creator economy startups to flourish in these times. These are startups serving creators build an audience and a business.
But now, we're looking at a recession over the 12-24 months.
The global economy is going to contract, spending will reduce, there will be less money to go around.
All of this means that revenues aren't going to look good for the next couple of years.
And VC funding is also going to dry up for startups.
Of course, indie startups don't mind that, as their focus is revenue first with minimal costs.
As my friend Dago describes with such eloquence in his meme:
And dare I say, indie creators like me don’t mind a recession as well.
Here's why:
💰 Preparing for the recession
First thing I did this Sunday was open my financial tracker excel sheet.
Hadn't opened it in a while.
That sheet contains all my savings, investments and monthly expenses.
When I had quit my job last year, I had 24 months of savings - I could go on 24 months without making any revenue.
I updated the numbers this week, and checked the runway to be 28 months now!
Grateful 🙏
This means I'm in no hurry to make a lot of money.
I can focus the next 2 years on building multiple small income streams/ indie businesses / bets. All of them with little revenue.
And eventually when we come out of this recession, these businesses will have a chance to grow big.
My goal is just to survive the tough times.
🎲 Bets I’m trying
There are different business models I want to try out.
The service businesses that have worked well for me are Twitter ghostwriting and Product Management consulting.
But now I want to focus on building products as well.
✍️ Writing Course
My writing course is a first of many products that I will experiment with. It’s done alright so far, with more than $1000 in revenue organically.
Now I need to setup some email marketing and maybe even try ads to promote the course. And definitely take it to marketplaces like Udemy and Amazon.
I think writing is a hard skill that will be useful always, recession or not.
Even if people lose jobs, I know this skill can help them find work as freelance writers. And make a decent living even in a recession.
And my writing course solves that problem for them.
📰 Premium Newsletter
My premium newsletter has also generated some revenue without much promotion.
I’m going to promote it a lot more now.
I do have a lot of fun writing the deep dive reports in it, and my paying subscribers have found it very useful.
So that’s promising.
🎯 More bets
Apart from these bets, I’m planning to launch a job board for freelance writers/ content creators. I think there is scope for such a product right now.
And as people lose jobs and turn to freelancing, there is going to be even more demand.
Even companies will prefer freelancers over full time employees during these times. So there is hope.
More discussion around the job board:
Please do chime in with your 2 cents.
There is another really small bet I started recently - Indie MBA.
These are events/sessions/classes by domain experts, shared with a small audience on a Zoom call.
Not sure how to monetize them, but I have a few ideas around this concept that I want to try out.
Let’s see 🤞
If none of these products work out, I can always go back to the services businesses discussed initially.
💸 Help people make a living
There are more raw ideas I have.
But will get to them only if these ideas fail.
Ultimately, the goal for every idea is to help someone make money, or build a business. And add value to people looking to build solo/independent businesses.
Those are the kind of people I vibe with the most.
I think if I stick to this ethos and this user persona then I will be able to ride out the recession.
I think it’s going to be a fun ride, I’m a bit scared and a bit excited. Just the right mix of emotions I want to go into a recession with 😅
It will be an interesting adventure, join in on the fun:
Further Reading:
- How Startups Can Survivethe Creator Economy Winter | Napkin Math
- Y Combinator’s letter to Founders | Twitter
Written by
Eternally Curious. Writing, Learning, Building in Public. Writing about Ideas + Inspiration + Insights for Indie creators 🎨| Simple tips to make 10X Decisions in Business and Life 😇 | Creator Economy FTW 💸 | Product Manager
