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LaTecia Johnson

​Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free:
​This week's newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free
​And by Planoly. With PLANOLY, you can plan and schedule posts, manage multiple accounts, and organize your content. Try it out today to start your path to creator-entrepreneurship. 

It’s the last weekend in January and nearly the end of a 31-day sprint for me.
Over the last 4-weeks, I’ve broken down my predictions for the creator economy in the year ahead, how to use those predictions to grow your revenue to $250,000 over the same time, and how to build a launch plan to reach your target audience.
 Cheers to consistency.
 If you’re new here, Welcome, you can view past editions here to catch up.
This week, I am sharing what I believe is one of the most important elements to ensure success for you as the founder of your own creator-led business: effective delegation.
I’ve worked across several companies while also leading my own and the most significant determinant of a project’s success almost always boils down to three things:
#1 The trust (or lack of) between the leader and their team
#2 The team’s level of autonomy
#3 The systems in place to ensure success
 
I was a solopreneur the first year of my studio, then started hiring out of necessity.  I was tired, overworked, and desperately needed help. 
I hired the first person who expressed interest in working with me, and because of my limited budget (remember those $1,500 services), I was also limited on the level of skill I wanted to require.
Big mistake.
Several missed deadlines, late nights, and angry clients later, I had to fire the person.  I was still tired, overworked, and in desperate need of help.
When it came time to hire again, I put a lot more thought, effort, and budget into my next few hires: a creative strategist and a project manager.  Both hires grew into their roles, received promotions, and now work with me as core members of the studio team.  
I’ve also had hires that were huge misses that caused more headaches and money than I care to share but taught me valuable lessons about the importance of building trust and setting up teams for success.
Here’s how you can avoid making critical mistakes as you’re preparing to scale your business.
Structure your systems
 The first step to any delegation framework is to first structure the system.  This matters even if you’re the only one in the business.  Is there a particular way you like to onboard clients? Have you found an easier way to do this because you’ve done it for so long? That’s really great stuff to know – so write it down or record yourself doing it.
 It will take time at first, but you’ll be glad you did when during client work and need to onboard someone quickly.  My team currently has a massive database of SOPs, templates, and best practices they can refer to whenever they are stuck on something.  

I’ve found it helps to build trust and autonomy if they review the videos or content beforehand, attempt it, then come to me with questions.
 This small step completely shifted our interactions and saves so much time in the long run.
Identify areas you can offload
A key part of delegation is getting crystal clear about what you can offload to others and what will always require your input.
 Case-in-point: Founder-led sales. 
There was a period when I was completely burned out and thought that the solution was to offload the sales process to free up my time for other things like strategy and growth.
Those factors are absolutely important elements to cover as a leader, but so are closing deals! There’s no point in a great strategy if you don’t have the revenue to execute it.
 What I learned throughout this process is to vigorously inspect the actions I’m taking on a daily/weekly/monthly cadence and offload anything that isn’t revenue – strategy – growth-focused.
Thinking about systems, creating pitch decks or proposals, following up on emails, and anything else that can be taught has been documented, detailed, and offloaded so I can focus on the areas that have the most impact: cultivating a team of great leaders and growing the business.
Offload and get out of the way
This is the hardest part.   For me, it’s been a delicate balance in learning how to show I’m there without always jumping in to do it myself. 
I’m still learning how to do this, but once you’ve built the systems, documented them, and identified where to offload: actually doing it is going to be the difference maker.
Summary
In summary, maximizing your impact as a founder will be key to realizing your goals for your creator-led company and setting you up for sustained success.  To grow, you’ll need a team of people who understand your systems, can execute continuously, and free you up for the areas that drive the most value.
To do that, you’ll need to learn how to delegate effectively, and I recommend focusing on these 3 areas:
Week #1: Structure Your Systems  
Week #2: Identify Areas to Offload
Week #3: Offload and get out of the way  
That’s all for this week.

Thanks for reading.



​Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
​​​1. Book a call to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond.
2. Subscribe to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators
3. Promote yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into May 2023)
​​​Love + Light,
​​​LaTecia

​Want more? Follow @lateciarising and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? Drop me a line & I’ll be happy to collaborate.

<div class="mirror-content"><img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=800/editor-images/fb/483f2efa-3e69-42eb-9cd3-730a9b1e8a90" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​​Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free:​​This week&#x27;s newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  <a href="http://www.open-together.com/CREATIVES" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free</a>​​And by Planoly. With PLANOLY, you can plan and schedule posts, manage multiple accounts, and organize your content. <a href="http://share.plano.ly/6qzVNH" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Try it out today</a> to start your path to creator-entrepreneurship. <hr/>​It’s the last weekend in January and nearly the end of a 31-day sprint for me.​Over the last 4-weeks, I’ve broken down my predictions for the creator economy in the year ahead, how to use those predictions to grow your revenue to $250,000 over the same time, and how to build a launch plan to reach your target audience.​ Cheers to consistency.​ If you’re new here, Welcome, you can view past editions <a href="https://lu.ma/lateciarising/posts" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a> to catch up.​This week, I am sharing what I believe is one of the most important elements to ensure success for you as the founder of your own creator-led business: effective delegation.​I’ve worked across several companies while also leading my own and the most significant determinant of a project’s success almost always boils down to three things:​#1 The trust (or lack of) between the leader and their team #2 The team’s level of autonomy #3 The systems in place to ensure success​  I was a solopreneur the first year of my studio, then started hiring out of necessity.  I was tired, overworked, and desperately needed help. ​I hired the first person who expressed interest in working with me, and because of my limited budget (remember those $1,500 services), I was also limited on the level of skill I wanted to require.​Big mistake.​Several missed deadlines, late nights, and angry clients later, I had to fire the person.  I was still tired, overworked, and in desperate need of help.​When it came time to hire again, I put a lot more thought, effort, and budget into my next few hires: a creative strategist and a project manager.  Both hires grew into their roles, received promotions, and now work with me as core members of the studio team.  ​I’ve also had hires that were huge misses that caused more headaches and money than I care to share but taught me valuable lessons about the importance of building trust and setting up teams for success.​Here’s how you can avoid making critical mistakes as you’re preparing to scale your business.<h2>​Structure your systems</h2>​ The first step to any delegation framework is to first structure the system.  This matters even if you’re the only one in the business.  Is there a particular way you like to onboard clients? Have you found an easier way to do this because you’ve done it for so long? That’s really great stuff to know – so write it down or record yourself doing it.​ It will take time at first, but you’ll be glad you did when during client work and need to onboard someone quickly.  My team currently has a massive database of SOPs, templates, and best practices they can refer to whenever they are stuck on something.  <img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://images.glow.app/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FFnVFMFMXoAM6n8t%3Fformat%3Djpg%26name%3D4096x4096?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;w=800&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=5b1142e9197db8bf92343d2a3dccf7db" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​I’ve found it helps to build trust and autonomy if they review the videos or content beforehand, attempt it, then come to me with questions.​ This small step completely shifted our interactions and saves so much time in the long run.<h2>​Identify areas you can offload</h2>​A key part of delegation is getting crystal clear about what you can offload to others and what will always require your input.​ Case-in-point: Founder-led sales. ​There was a period when I was completely burned out and thought that the solution was to offload the sales process to free up my time for other things like strategy and growth.​Those factors are absolutely important elements to cover as a leader, but so are closing deals! There’s no point in a great strategy if you don’t have the revenue to execute it.​ What I learned throughout this process is to vigorously inspect the actions I’m taking on a daily/weekly/monthly cadence and offload anything that isn’t revenue – strategy – growth-focused.​Thinking about systems, creating pitch decks or proposals, following up on emails, and anything else that can be taught has been documented, detailed, and offloaded so I can focus on the areas that have the most impact: cultivating a team of great leaders and growing the business.<h2>​Offload and get out of the way</h2>​This is the hardest part.   For me, it’s been a delicate balance in learning how to show I’m there without always jumping in to do it myself. ​I’m still learning how to do this, but once you’ve built the systems, documented them, and identified where to offload: actually doing it is going to be the difference maker.<h2>​Summary</h2>​In summary, maximizing your impact as a founder will be key to realizing your goals for your creator-led company and setting you up for sustained success.  To grow, you’ll need a team of people who understand your systems, can execute continuously, and free you up for the areas that drive the most value.​To do that, you’ll need to learn how to delegate effectively, and I recommend focusing on these 3 areas:​Week #1: Structure Your Systems   Week #2: Identify Areas to Offload Week #3: Offload and get out of the way  ​That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading. <hr/>​ ​Whenever you&#x27;re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:​​​​1. <a href="https://calendly.com/latecia-johnson/60-minute-strategic-growth-session" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Book a call</a> to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond. 2. <a href="https://anchor.fm/creativebrinkpodcast/episodes/Exploring-the-Creative-Brink-e1e772s" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Subscribe</a> to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators 3. <a href="https://www.visionaryrising.agency/contact" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Promote </a>yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into May 2023)​​​​Love + Light,​​​​LaTecia<hr/>​​Want more? Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/lateciarising" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">@lateciarising </a>and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? <a href="http://latecia@visionaryrising.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Drop me a line</a> &amp; I’ll be happy to collaborate.</div>

Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free:

​This week's newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  

Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free

, you can plan and schedule posts, manage multiple accounts, and organize your content. 

 to start your path to creator-entrepreneurship. 

It’s the last weekend in January and nearly the end of a 31-day sprint for me.

Over the last 4-weeks, I’ve broken down my predictions for the creator economy in the year ahead, how to use those predictions to grow your revenue to $250,000 over the same time, and how to build a launch plan to reach your target audience.

 If you’re new here, Welcome, you can view past editions 

This week, I am sharing what I believe is one of the most important elements to ensure success for you as the founder of your own creator-led business: effective delegation.

I’ve worked across several companies while also leading my own and the most significant determinant of a project’s success almost always boils down to three things:

#1 The trust (or lack of) between the leader and their team

#3 The systems in place to ensure success

I was a solopreneur the first year of my studio, then started hiring out of necessity.  I was tired, overworked, and desperately needed help. 

I hired the first person who expressed interest in working with me, and because of my limited budget (remember those $1,500 services), I was also limited on the level of skill I wanted to require.

Several missed deadlines, late nights, and angry clients later, I had to fire the person.  I was still tired, overworked, and in desperate need of help.

When it came time to hire again, I put a lot more thought, effort, and budget into my next few hires: a creative strategist and a project manager.  Both hires grew into their roles, received promotions, and now work with me as core members of the studio team.  

I’ve also had hires that were huge misses that caused more headaches and money than I care to share but taught me valuable lessons about the importance of building trust and setting up teams for success.

Here’s how you can avoid making critical mistakes as you’re preparing to scale your business.

 The first step to any delegation framework is to first structure the system.  This matters even if you’re the only one in the business.  Is there a particular way you like to onboard clients? Have you found an easier way to do this because you’ve done it for so long? That’s really great stuff to know – so write it down or record yourself doing it.

 It will take time at first, but you’ll be glad you did when during client work and need to onboard someone quickly.  My team currently has a massive database of SOPs, templates, and best practices they can refer to whenever they are stuck on something.  

I’ve found it helps to build trust and autonomy if they review the videos or content beforehand, attempt it, then come to me with questions.

 This small step completely shifted our interactions and saves so much time in the long run.

A key part of delegation is getting crystal clear about what you can offload to others and what will always require your input.

There was a period when I was completely burned out and thought that the solution was to offload the sales process to free up my time for other things like strategy and growth.

Those factors are absolutely important elements to cover as a leader, but so are closing deals! There’s no point in a great strategy if you don’t have the revenue to execute it.

 What I learned throughout this process is to vigorously inspect the actions I’m taking on a daily/weekly/monthly cadence and offload anything that isn’t revenue – strategy – growth-focused.

Thinking about systems, creating pitch decks or proposals, following up on emails, and anything else that can be taught has been documented, detailed, and offloaded so I can focus on the areas that have the most impact: cultivating a team of great leaders and growing the business.

This is the hardest part.   For me, it’s been a delicate balance in learning how to show I’m there without always jumping in to do it myself. 

I’m still learning how to do this, but once you’ve built the systems, documented them, and identified where to offload: actually doing it is going to be the difference maker.

In summary, maximizing your impact as a founder will be key to realizing your goals for your creator-led company and setting you up for sustained success.  To grow, you’ll need a team of people who understand your systems, can execute continuously, and free you up for the areas that drive the most value.

To do that, you’ll need to learn how to delegate effectively, and I recommend focusing on these 3 areas:

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

 to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond.

 to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators

yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into May 2023)

and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? 

015 💡Maximize Your Impact: The Power of Delegation🚀

Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free: 
This week's newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free
And by Honeybook. The all-in-one business management tool helps creator-led businesses scale.  Send custom proposals, manage client communication, and automate your process so you can spend more time creating.  Try it out today and start your road to 6-figures! 


The top reasons founders of creator-led businesses fail are that they lack cohesive planning and discipline. 
They forget that consistency compounds. 
I want to teach you how to create an incredible launch plan that will get you on the road to your 6-figure year in the next 4 weeks.
I’ve used this same plan for every brand, creator, and startup I’ve launched in the last 10 years and all those launches garnered 6 figures or more in their first year.
All it will take is discipline and planning.
Let’s dive in.
Week #1: Define Your Target Audience 
Knowing your target audience is crucial for any successful launch. It will help you understand their needs, pain points, and preferences, which will in turn help you create a product or service that addresses those needs and stands out in the market.
I went through a similar exercise when defining my focus for The Creative Brink:

Once you understand your audience, you can begin to define exactly what they need.  This is where the magic happens.
Week #2: Research Your Competition and Market 

This step is essential to understand the landscape in which you will be launching your product or service. By researching your competition, you can identify gaps in the market, and by researching the market, you can understand the current trends and what customers are looking for.
I always make it a point to learn about every player in the space – especially the top 10. Why? Because I need to understand what you’re doing so I can replicate it and what you’re not doing so I can create a solution for it.
Most people make the mistake of ignoring challengers in their space, don’t let that be you.
Week #3: Choose Platform Channels Where Your People Are 
Knowing where your target audience spends their time online will help you reach them effectively. Whether it's social media, email marketing, or paid advertising, make sure to choose the platforms that will give you the best chance of reaching your target audience.
Why would I post on Instagram constantly when my target audience loves Twitter?
Why would I spend a lot of time on channels that don’t matter when I could be investing that time into strategies that will reach the people I want to reach and convert them?
That’s a key reason I focus less on other platforms and have invested heavily into remaining consistent with the 11,000+ creators that make up this list and podcast community.
I don’t need to spend more time convincing you to be here - you’re already here because you want to be.  That’s the best place to start.
You don’t have to do this research on your own – there are several platforms that you can plug your social media into to better understand your audience.  

My favorite to use for creators is Planoly, an all-in-one content planner and analytics dashboard.


Use Planoly, or a platform like it, to analyze your past content to understand your audience better.  Gather intel on everything from Likes and comments to the types of content that your audience is the most responsive to, then build a plan that uses this information.
All of week 3 should be spent on better understanding your audience and planning the content pillars that will take them to the next level.
Week #4: Build a Content Plan
Once you work through your audience, competition, and channels – it’s time to build a content plan that will take all these factors into account.   A content plan is a comprehensive outline of your message, content, and audience, including times to post and days. This will help you create a consistent and cohesive message that resonates with your target audience.
What does a content plan look like?
It’s a daily, weekly, or monthly breakdown of your content across channels including captions, hashtags, and topics.

Use the last week of planning to outline a content calendar and prepare the content for the next 3-weeks. 
My content days are usually once a week.  My advice here is to take an hour each day in week 4 to plan out content for 5 weeks, then pre-schedule it.  This will get you ahead of things and start to build consistency with your audience almost immediately.
From here, you’ll be able to spend an hour each week building on your content stash.
Summary
In summary, learning your audience and building content for them will put you weeks ahead of the competition.  It will also build up reservoirs of the two things that cause other creators to fail: consistency and discipline.
To do that, I recommend following a 4-week plan:
Week #1: Define Your Target Audience
Week #2: Research Your Competition and Market
Week #3: Choose Platform Channels Where Your People Are
Week #4: Build a Content Plan
That’s all for my guide on building a launch plan for your creator-led business.
Drop me a line if you'd like to download the “Creator Launch Checklist” to work through this plan for your next launch before it's available next month.
I’ll be updating this guide throughout 2023.
Thanks for reading.

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
​​1. Book a call to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond. 
2. Subscribe to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators 
3. Promote yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into May 2023)
​​Love + Light,
​​LaTecia

Want more? Follow @lateciarising and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? Drop me a line & I’ll be happy to collaborate.

<div class="mirror-content"><img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=800/editor-images/fb/483f2efa-3e69-42eb-9cd3-730a9b1e8a90" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free: ​This week&#x27;s newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  <a href="http://www.open-together.com/CREATIVES" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free</a>​And by Honeybook. The all-in-one business management tool helps creator-led businesses scale. Send custom proposals, manage client communication, and automate your process so you can spend more time creating. <a href="http://share.honeybook.com/visionaryrising" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> Try it out today and start your road to 6-figures</a>! <hr/>​ The top reasons founders of creator-led businesses fail are that they lack cohesive planning and discipline. ​They forget that consistency compounds. ​I want to teach you how to create an incredible launch plan that will get you on the road to your 6-figure year in the next 4 weeks.​I’ve used this same plan for every brand, creator, and startup I’ve launched in the last 10 years and all those launches garnered 6 figures or more in their first year.​All it will take is discipline and planning.​Let’s dive in.​Week #1: Define Your Target Audience ​Knowing your target audience is crucial for any successful launch. It will help you understand their needs, pain points, and preferences, which will in turn help you create a product or service that addresses those needs and stands out in the market.​I went through a similar exercise when defining my focus for The Creative Brink:<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://images.glow.app/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstackcdn.com%2Fimage%2Ffetch%2Fw_1456%2Cc_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%252Fpublic%252Fimages%252Fc422b4f9-d385-4c63-a1fa-e2d03283b168_2938x1652.png?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;w=800&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=747d56e962998136fb3e14093a08025b" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​Once you understand your audience, you can begin to define exactly what they need.  This is where the magic happens.​Week #2: Research Your Competition and Market This step is essential to understand the landscape in which you will be launching your product or service. By researching your competition, you can identify gaps in the market, and by researching the market, you can understand the current trends and what customers are looking for.​I always make it a point to learn about every player in the space – especially the top 10. Why? Because I need to understand what you’re doing so I can replicate it and what you’re not doing so I can create a solution for it.​Most people make the mistake of ignoring challengers in their space, don’t let that be you.​Week #3: Choose Platform Channels Where Your People Are ​Knowing where your target audience spends their time online will help you reach them effectively. Whether it&#x27;s social media, email marketing, or paid advertising, make sure to choose the platforms that will give you the best chance of reaching your target audience.​Why would I post on Instagram constantly when my target audience loves Twitter?​Why would I spend a lot of time on channels that don’t matter when I could be investing that time into strategies that will reach the people I want to reach and convert them?​That’s a key reason I focus less on other platforms and have invested heavily into remaining consistent with the 11,000+ creators that make up this list and podcast community.​I don’t need to spend more time convincing you to be here - you’re already here because you want to be.  That’s the best place to start.​You don’t have to do this research on your own – there are several platforms that you can plug your social media into to better understand your audience.  My favorite to use for creators is <a href="http://share.plano.ly/6qzVNH" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Planoly</a>, an all-in-one content planner and analytics dashboard.<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://images.glow.app/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstackcdn.com%2Fimage%2Ffetch%2Fw_1456%2Cc_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%252Fpublic%252Fimages%252F57ff38ed-8f4a-4363-ab47-5d91c8d10ce9_2800x1750.jpeg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;w=800&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=1ee65f4cd4dce317721d2f78559f4597" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​ Use Planoly, or a platform like it, to analyze your past content to understand your audience better.  Gather intel on everything from Likes and comments to the types of content that your audience is the most responsive to, then build a plan that uses this information.​All of week 3 should be spent on better understanding your audience and planning the content pillars that will take them to the next level.​Week #4: Build a Content Plan​Once you work through your audience, competition, and channels – it’s time to build a content plan that will take all these factors into account.   A content plan is a comprehensive outline of your message, content, and audience, including times to post and days. This will help you create a consistent and cohesive message that resonates with your target audience.​What does a content plan look like?​It’s a daily, weekly, or monthly breakdown of your content across channels including captions, hashtags, and topics.<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://images.glow.app/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstackcdn.com%2Fimage%2Ffetch%2Fw_1456%2Cc_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%252Fpublic%252Fimages%252F0a085865-7717-436f-891c-969e942aad1d_2598x1844.png?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;w=800&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=21292671ec8d53772db18dc9166400dd" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​Use the last week of planning to outline a content calendar and prepare the content for the next 3-weeks. ​My content days are usually once a week.  My advice here is to take an hour each day in week 4 to plan out content for 5 weeks, then pre-schedule it.  This will get you ahead of things and start to build consistency with your audience almost immediately.​From here, you’ll be able to spend an hour each week building on your content stash.​Summary​In summary, learning your audience and building content for them will put you weeks ahead of the competition.  It will also build up reservoirs of the two things that cause other creators to fail: consistency and discipline.​To do that, I recommend following a 4-week plan:​Week #1: Define Your Target Audience​Week #2: Research Your Competition and Market​Week #3: Choose Platform Channels Where Your People Are​Week #4: Build a Content Plan​That’s all for my guide on building a launch plan for your creator-led business.​Drop me a line if you&#x27;d like to download the “Creator Launch Checklist” to work through this plan for your next launch before it&#x27;s available next month.​I’ll be updating this guide throughout 2023.​Thanks for reading.<hr/>​Whenever you&#x27;re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:​​​1. <a href="https://calendly.com/latecia-johnson/60-minute-strategic-growth-session" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Book a call</a> to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond. 2. <a href="https://anchor.fm/creativebrinkpodcast/episodes/Exploring-the-Creative-Brink-e1e772s" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Subscribe</a> to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators 3. <a href="https://www.visionaryrising.agency/contact" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Promote </a>yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into May 2023)​​​Love + Light,​​​LaTecia<hr/>​Want more? Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/lateciarising" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">@lateciarising </a>and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? <a href="http://latecia@visionaryrising.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Drop me a line</a> &amp; I’ll be happy to collaborate.</div>

Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free: 

This week's newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  

And by Honeybook. The all-in-one business management tool helps creator-led businesses scale.  Send custom proposals, manage client communication, and automate your process so you can spend more time creating. 

 Try it out today and start your road to 6-figures

The top reasons founders of creator-led businesses fail are that they lack cohesive planning and discipline. 

They forget that consistency compounds. 

I want to teach you how to create an incredible launch plan that will get you on the road to your 6-figure year in the next 4 weeks.

I’ve used this same plan for every brand, creator, and startup I’ve launched in the last 10 years and all those launches garnered 6 figures or more in their first year.

All it will take is discipline and planning.

Knowing your target audience is crucial for any successful launch. It will help you understand their needs, pain points, and preferences, which will in turn help you create a product or service that addresses those needs and stands out in the market.

I went through a similar exercise when defining my focus for The Creative Brink:

Once you understand your audience, you can begin to define exactly what they need.  This is where the magic happens.

Week #2: Research Your Competition and Market 

This step is essential to understand the landscape in which you will be launching your product or service. By researching your competition, you can identify gaps in the market, and by researching the market, you can understand the current trends and what customers are looking for.

I always make it a point to learn about every player in the space – especially the top 10. Why? Because I need to understand what you’re doing so I can replicate it and what you’re not doing so I can create a solution for it.

Most people make the mistake of ignoring challengers in their space, don’t let that be you.

Week #3: Choose Platform Channels Where Your People Are 

Knowing where your target audience spends their time online will help you reach them effectively. Whether it's social media, email marketing, or paid advertising, make sure to choose the platforms that will give you the best chance of reaching your target audience.

Why would I post on Instagram constantly when my target audience loves Twitter?

Why would I spend a lot of time on channels that don’t matter when I could be investing that time into strategies that will reach the people I want to reach and convert them?

That’s a key reason I focus less on other platforms and have invested heavily into remaining consistent with the 11,000+ creators that make up this list and podcast community.

I don’t need to spend more time convincing you to be here - you’re already here because you want to be.  That’s the best place to start.

You don’t have to do this research on your own – there are several platforms that you can plug your social media into to better understand your audience.  

, an all-in-one content planner and analytics dashboard.

How to Use PLANOLY Web Dashboard's Analyze Feature

Use Planoly, or a platform like it, to analyze your past content to understand your audience better.  Gather intel on everything from Likes and comments to the types of content that your audience is the most responsive to, then build a plan that uses this information.

All of week 3 should be spent on better understanding your audience and planning the content pillars that will take them to the next level.

Once you work through your audience, competition, and channels – it’s time to build a content plan that will take all these factors into account.   A content plan is a comprehensive outline of your message, content, and audience, including times to post and days. This will help you create a consistent and cohesive message that resonates with your target audience.

It’s a daily, weekly, or monthly breakdown of your content across channels including captions, hashtags, and topics.

Use the last week of planning to outline a content calendar and prepare the content for the next 3-weeks. 

My content days are usually once a week.  My advice here is to take an hour each day in week 4 to plan out content for 5 weeks, then pre-schedule it.  This will get you ahead of things and start to build consistency with your audience almost immediately.

From here, you’ll be able to spend an hour each week building on your content stash.

In summary, learning your audience and building content for them will put you weeks ahead of the competition.  It will also build up reservoirs of the two things that cause other creators to fail: consistency and discipline.

To do that, I recommend following a 4-week plan:

: Choose Platform Channels Where Your People Are

That’s all for my guide on building a launch plan for your creator-led business.

Drop me a line if you'd like to download the “Creator Launch Checklist” to work through this plan for your next launch before it's available next month.

I’ll be updating this guide throughout 2023.

 to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond. 

 to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators 

014 Ready, Set, Launch: A 30-Day Guide to Planning and Execution

CREATIVEBRINK


Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free: 
This week's newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free
And by Honeybook. The all-in-one business management tool helps creator-led businesses scale.  Send custom proposals, manage client communication, and automate your process so you can spend more time creating.  Try it out today and start your road to 6-figures! 



I’ve been running my studio for 6-years and during that time I’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs as both a freelancer and studio owner.  In 2016, our initial offer was $1,500.  Last year the average contract value was $100,000. I
've seen both ends of the spectrum from barely making a profit due to low price points (still don't know what I was thinking at $1,500)  to the scope creep that comes with scaling up to meet the demands of larger clients. 

I've also spent hours upon hours in admin leading, coaching, and growing a team.  Some of it was fun, but most of it wasn't. 
I realized recently that I’ve leaned heavily into a growth model that was not the type of model I wanted to create.  Don’t get me wrong, the growth has been beautiful, but when I started the studio, I started it because I wanted to create more, but over the last few years, the not-fun parts of growth became the space where I spent most of my time. 
I’ve recently started to unwind the way the studio does business - enhancing the systems we onboard our $100K clients through while creating the space to focus on a key model that is emerging:
Creator-Led Companies.
What exactly is a creator-led company and what makes it different from a traditional studio model? Well, let’s dive in.
What is a Creator-led company?
A creator-led company is a model in which creators nurture and grow their fan communities, then launch their own e-commerce companies to monetize and fuel their creativity.
It’s different from the traditional studio model because it utilizes the connection to the audience to create products that the audience needs to monetize and drive engagement.
In this model, the creator’s community is the primary client, brands are secondary, and digital products reign supreme.  In the Creator-led company, the emphasis is placed on creating productized offers versus customization. If you’ve been running yourself wild customizing services for every new client, then this model might also work for you.
A question I’m getting often is how to leverage this model in an existing framework. 
It’s as easy as 1-2-3.
It starts with a very simple formula: Community + Value = Commerce 
Community-Led Growth 
Your community is the center of everything as a creator-led company.  This formula applies no matter how you shift it or what your offer is. It has to start with the community. 
Value-Driven Content 
Throughout this process, you'll lean heavily into your audience to understand their needs, then build solutions that help them achieve their goals.  This can be implemented in any type of business, from a photographer offering productize creative direction services to product managers building the solutions of tomorrow. 
Controlled Commerce 
After you've leaned into your community, delivered the value they need, and developed solutions for their biggest obstacles, you'll unlock controlled commerce by creating and establishing targets to achieve your goals. 


I'm going to share the exact process I walked through to build my own creator-led business, utilizing my studio as a launch pad.  I've also shared this with others in my Strategic Growth Sessions that I offer monthly.  This process takes you through how to extract value from your existing community and reposition your business as a Creator-led company, then scale to $250,000 in revenue in 12 months.

Niche Down, Baby 
Don’t make the mistake of creating content for everyone.  
You need to get really clear about who you are creating content for & why.  Identifying your target audience is a crucial step in creating a growth strategy for your creator-led business. Knowing who you are trying to reach with your content will help you create content that resonates with them and meets their needs. It will also allow you to tailor your marketing efforts to the specific characteristics and preferences of your target audience. By understanding your target audience, you can create content that speaks directly to them and effectively communicates your message.
Here are the main questions you’ll need to ask:
·      Who are you trying to reach with your content?
·      Who are your products or services most relevant to?
Only create content for them. Everyone else is a distraction. 
Show Up for your community
To expand your community, your people need to know where to find you so make it easy for them.  Choose two platforms where you know your community will be and make yourself ever-present. 
Notice I said choose TWO platforms. 
It’s my belief that when you’re starting this shift, spreading yourself across multiple platforms dilutes your message and makes it harder for the right people to find you.
Take the content you’re generating from those two platforms and repurpose it for the others.  If you’re writing threads on Twitter you should also be reposting that content on LinkedIn.  

If you’re creating videos for TikTok you should also be posting that content on Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts.
Choose Two platforms and show up for your community by providing them with valuable content.
Create Value with your content
As a freelancer or studio owner, you have a wealth of knowledge and there’s someone who can use that knowledge to get them to the next level. 
Do you have a proven formula on how to gain your first 10 customers? Learned some sick lessons along the way? Great – start sharing with your community and engaging them in the process.  Through conversations and engaging content, you’ll start to piece together the type of singular offer you can provide to solve problems for your audience.
Share value in your content, then package that value and Go-to-market.
Define Your Offer
Defining your offer is a key component to ensuring value for your audience, but it will also determine how much investment you need to make into your audience.
Ask yourself these two questions to unlock your product offer: 
What are all the problems your ideal customer is faced with?
How do you solve these problems for them? 

Once you answer these questions, formulate your package offering with the biggest solution at the top of your offer list then price out various points from there:
The Top-tier Solution: $10,000
The Mid-Tier Solution: $5,000
The Entry Point Solution: $2,500
Digital Product Solution: $500
Minimum-Viable Engagement: $250
This will help you to identify where your target customer falls on your solution wheel.  The goal should be to move prospects through this cycle as they move through your process. 

The person entering in at $500 should grow to $10,000 spent over time.  How much value you need to create for them and how much investment they’ll need to make throughout the process will be determined by how engaged you are.  
Launch + Learn
The final step in any plan is the act of going to market.  Don’t spend too long on the ideation phase and forget this step.  I do not recommend launching at the highest price point, rather, this model is based on launching with the easiest path and then gradually increasing the points of engagement.
 
To hit a goal of $250,000 over the next 12 months, you’d need to find the perfect combination of your existing offers. 
You could sell 25 top-tier products at $10,000 each but for me, the perfect combination consists of setting targets across all the core services and working backward from there.
To hit a goal of $250,000 in 12 months, you’d need to achieve a goal of $20,833 per month.  
To do that, you need to do 1 of the following:
Sell 41 digital products per month @ $500 each
Sell 8 Entry point solutions @ $2,500 + 1 digital product @ $500 per month
Sell & Fulfill 4 mid-tier @ $5,000 + 1 digital product per month @ $500 per month 
Sell & Full-fulfill 2 Top-tier solutions @ $10,000 + 1 digital product per month @ $500 per month
You don't need a crazy amount of people in your community to achieve this.  You just need to focus on building a community of highly-engaged people who are willing to share with and learn from you.  
Listen to them, continue to iterate, and provide the value they need to 10x their output.

That's all for today. 

​​Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
​​1. Book a call to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond. 
2. Subscribe to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators 
3. Promote yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into April 2023)
​​Love + Light,
​​LaTecia


Want more? Follow @lateciarising and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? Drop me a line & I’ll be happy to collaborate.

<div class="mirror-content">​CREATIVEBRINK<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=600/editor-images/vv/7371515e-f1ef-48e3-b090-838cdbe05f5e" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:100%;margin:24px auto"/><hr/>​Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free: ​This week&#x27;s newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  <a href="http://www.open-together.com/CREATIVES" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free</a>​And by Honeybook. The all-in-one business management tool helps creator-led businesses scale. Send custom proposals, manage client communication, and automate your process so you can spend more time creating. <a href="http://share.honeybook.com/visionaryrising" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> Try it out today and start your road to 6-figures</a>! ​<hr/>​ I’ve been running my studio for 6-years and during that time I’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs as both a freelancer and studio owner.  In 2016, our initial offer was $1,500. Last year the average contract value was $100,000. I​&#x27;ve seen both ends of the spectrum from barely making a profit due to low price points (still don&#x27;t know what I was thinking at $1,500) to the scope creep that comes with scaling up to meet the demands of larger clients. I&#x27;ve also spent hours upon hours in admin leading, coaching, and growing a team. Some of it was fun, but most of it wasn&#x27;t. ​I realized recently that I’ve leaned heavily into a growth model that was not the type of model I wanted to create.  Don’t get me wrong, the growth has been beautiful, but when I started the studio, I started it because I wanted to create more, but over the last few years, the not-fun parts of growth became the space where I spent most of my time. ​I’ve recently started to unwind the way the studio does business - enhancing the systems we onboard our $100K clients through while creating the space to focus on a key model that is emerging:​Creator-Led Companies.​What exactly is a creator-led company and what makes it different from a traditional studio model? Well, let’s dive in.​What is a Creator-led company?​A creator-led company is a model in which creators nurture and grow their fan communities, then launch their own e-commerce companies to monetize and fuel their creativity.​It’s different from the traditional studio model because it utilizes the connection to the audience to create products that the audience needs to monetize and drive engagement.​In this model, the creator’s community is the primary client, brands are secondary, and digital products reign supreme.  In the Creator-led company, the emphasis is placed on creating productized offers versus customization. If you’ve been running yourself wild customizing services for every new client, then this model might also work for you.​A question I’m getting often is how to leverage this model in an existing framework. ​It’s as easy as 1-2-3.​It starts with a very simple formula: Community + Value = Commerce <h2>​Community-Led Growth </h2>​Your community is the center of everything as a creator-led company. This formula applies no matter how you shift it or what your offer is. It has to start with the community. <h2>​Value-Driven Content </h2>​Throughout this process, you&#x27;ll lean heavily into your audience to understand their needs, then build solutions that help them achieve their goals. This can be implemented in any type of business, from a photographer offering productize creative direction services to product managers building the solutions of tomorrow. <h2>​Controlled Commerce </h2>​After you&#x27;ve leaned into your community, delivered the value they need, and developed solutions for their biggest obstacles, you&#x27;ll unlock controlled commerce by creating and establishing targets to achieve your goals. ​<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=800/editor-images/72/582cc734-b29e-43b6-8aa1-adc365d22eeb" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​I&#x27;m going to share the exact process I walked through to build my own creator-led business, utilizing my studio as a launch pad. I&#x27;ve also shared this with others in my Strategic Growth Sessions that I offer monthly. This process takes you through how to extract value from your existing community and reposition your business as a Creator-led company, then scale to $250,000 in revenue in 12 months. Niche Down, Baby ​Don’t make the mistake of creating content for everyone.  ​You need to get really clear about who you are creating content for &amp; why.  Identifying your target audience is a crucial step in creating a growth strategy for your creator-led business. Knowing who you are trying to reach with your content will help you create content that resonates with them and meets their needs. It will also allow you to tailor your marketing efforts to the specific characteristics and preferences of your target audience. By understanding your target audience, you can create content that speaks directly to them and effectively communicates your message.​Here are the main questions you’ll need to ask:​·      Who are you trying to reach with your content?​·      Who are your products or services most relevant to?​Only create content for them. Everyone else is a distraction. ​Show Up for your community​To expand your community, your people need to know where to find you so make it easy for them.  Choose two platforms where you know your community will be and make yourself ever-present. ​Notice I said choose TWO platforms. ​It’s my belief that when you’re starting this shift, spreading yourself across multiple platforms dilutes your message and makes it harder for the right people to find you.​Take the content you’re generating from those two platforms and repurpose it for the others.  If you’re writing threads on Twitter you should also be reposting that content on LinkedIn.  If you’re creating videos for TikTok you should also be posting that content on Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts.​Choose Two platforms and show up for your community by providing them with valuable content.​Create Value with your content​As a freelancer or studio owner, you have a wealth of knowledge and there’s someone who can use that knowledge to get them to the next level. ​Do you have a proven formula on how to gain your first 10 customers? Learned some sick lessons along the way? Great – start sharing with your community and engaging them in the process.  Through conversations and engaging content, you’ll start to piece together the type of singular offer you can provide to solve problems for your audience.​Share value in your content, then package that value and Go-to-market.​Define Your Offer​Defining your offer is a key component to ensuring value for your audience, but it will also determine how much investment you need to make into your audience.​Ask yourself these two questions to unlock your product offer: ​What are all the problems your ideal customer is faced with? How do you solve these problems for them? Once you answer these questions, formulate your package offering with the biggest solution at the top of your offer list then price out various points from there:​The Top-tier Solution: $10,000 The Mid-Tier Solution: $5,000 The Entry Point Solution: $2,500 Digital Product Solution: $500 Minimum-Viable Engagement: $250​This will help you to identify where your target customer falls on your solution wheel.  The goal should be to move prospects through this cycle as they move through your process. The person entering in at $500 should grow to $10,000 spent over time.  How much value you need to create for them and how much investment they’ll need to make throughout the process will be determined by how engaged you are.  ​Launch + Learn​The final step in any plan is the act of going to market.  Don’t spend too long on the ideation phase and forget this step.  I do not recommend launching at the highest price point, rather, this model is based on launching with the easiest path and then gradually increasing the points of engagement.​  To hit a goal of $250,000 over the next 12 months, you’d need to find the perfect combination of your existing offers. ​You could sell 25 top-tier products at $10,000 each but for me, the perfect combination consists of setting targets across all the core services and working backward from there.​To hit a goal of $250,000 in 12 months, you’d need to achieve a goal of $20,833 per month.  ​To do that, you need to do 1 of the following:​Sell 41 digital products per month @ $500 each Sell 8 Entry point solutions @ $2,500 + 1 digital product @ $500 per month Sell &amp; Fulfill 4 mid-tier @ $5,000 + 1 digital product per month @ $500 per month Sell &amp; Full-fulfill 2 Top-tier solutions @ $10,000 + 1 digital product per month @ $500 per month​You don&#x27;t need a crazy amount of people in your community to achieve this. You just need to focus on building a community of highly-engaged people who are willing to share with and learn from you. ​Listen to them, continue to iterate, and provide the value they need to 10x their output. That&#x27;s all for today. <hr/>​​​Whenever you&#x27;re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:​​​1. <a href="https://calendly.com/latecia-johnson/60-minute-strategic-growth-session" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Book a call</a> to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond. 2. <a href="https://anchor.fm/creativebrinkpodcast/episodes/Exploring-the-Creative-Brink-e1e772s" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Subscribe</a> to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators 3. <a href="https://www.visionaryrising.agency/contact" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Promote </a>yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into April 2023)​​​Love + Light,​​​LaTecia<hr/>​ Want more? Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/lateciarising" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">@lateciarising </a>and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? <a href="http://latecia@visionaryrising.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Drop me a line</a> &amp; I’ll be happy to collaborate. </div>

I’ve been running my studio for 6-years and during that time I’ve experienced a lot of ups and downs as both a freelancer and studio owner.  In 2016, our initial offer was $1,500.  Last year the average contract value was $100,000. I

've seen both ends of the spectrum from barely making a profit due to low price points (still don't know what I was thinking at $1,500)  to the scope creep that comes with scaling up to meet the demands of larger clients. 

I've also spent hours upon hours in admin leading, coaching, and growing a team.  Some of it was fun, but most of it wasn't. 

I realized recently that I’ve leaned heavily into a growth model that was not the type of model I wanted to create.  Don’t get me wrong, the growth has been beautiful, but when I started the studio, I started it because I wanted to create more, but over the last few years, the not-fun parts of growth became the space where I spent most of my time. 

I’ve recently started to unwind the way the studio does business - enhancing the systems we onboard our $100K clients through while creating the space to focus on a key model that is emerging:

What exactly is a creator-led company and what makes it different from a traditional studio model? Well, let’s dive in.

A creator-led company is a model in which creators nurture and grow their fan communities, then launch their own e-commerce companies to monetize and fuel their creativity.

It’s different from the traditional studio model because it utilizes the connection to the audience to create products that the audience needs to monetize and drive engagement.

In this model, the creator’s community is the primary client, brands are secondary, and digital products reign supreme.  In the Creator-led company, the emphasis is placed on creating productized offers versus customization. If you’ve been running yourself wild customizing services for every new client, then this model might also work for you.

A question I’m getting often is how to leverage this model in an existing framework. 

It starts with a very simple formula: Community + Value = Commerce 

Your community is the center of everything as a creator-led company.  This formula applies no matter how you shift it or what your offer is. It has to start with the community. 

Throughout this process, you'll lean heavily into your audience to understand their needs, then build solutions that help them achieve their goals.  This can be implemented in any type of business, from a photographer offering productize creative direction services to product managers building the solutions of tomorrow. 

After you've leaned into your community, delivered the value they need, and developed solutions for their biggest obstacles, you'll unlock controlled commerce by creating and establishing targets to achieve your goals. 

I'm going to share the exact process I walked through to build my own creator-led business, utilizing my studio as a launch pad.  I've also shared this with others in my Strategic Growth Sessions that I offer monthly.  This process takes you through how to extract value from your existing community and reposition your business as a Creator-led company, then scale to $250,000 in revenue in 12 months.

Don’t make the mistake of creating content for everyone.  

You need to get really clear about who you are creating content for & why.  Identifying your target audience is a crucial step in creating a growth strategy for your creator-led business. Knowing who you are trying to reach with your content will help you create content that resonates with them and meets their needs. It will also allow you to tailor your marketing efforts to the specific characteristics and preferences of your target audience. By understanding your target audience, you can create content that speaks directly to them and effectively communicates your message.

Here are the main questions you’ll need to ask:

Who are you trying to reach with your content?

Who are your products or services most relevant to?

Only create content for them. Everyone else is a distraction. 

To expand your community, your people need to know where to find you so make it easy for them.  Choose two platforms where you know your community will be and make yourself ever-present. 

It’s my belief that when you’re starting this shift, spreading yourself across multiple platforms dilutes your message and makes it harder for the right people to find you.

Take the content you’re generating from those two platforms and repurpose it for the others.  If you’re writing threads on Twitter you should also be reposting that content on LinkedIn.  

If you’re creating videos for TikTok you should also be posting that content on Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts.

Choose Two platforms and show up for your community by providing them with valuable content.

As a freelancer or studio owner, you have a wealth of knowledge and there’s someone who can use that knowledge to get them to the next level. 

Do you have a proven formula on how to gain your first 10 customers? Learned some sick lessons along the way? Great – start sharing with your community and engaging them in the process.  Through conversations and engaging content, you’ll start to piece together the type of singular offer you can provide to solve problems for your audience.

Share value in your content, then package that value and Go-to-market.

Defining your offer is a key component to ensuring value for your audience, but it will also determine how much investment you need to make into your audience.

Ask yourself these two questions to unlock your product offer: 

What are all the problems your ideal customer is faced with?

How do you solve these problems for them?

Once you answer these questions, formulate your package offering with the biggest solution at the top of your offer list then price out various points from there:

This will help you to identify where your target customer falls on your solution wheel.  The goal should be to move prospects through this cycle as they move through your process. 

The person entering in at $500 should grow to $10,000 spent over time.  How much value you need to create for them and how much investment they’ll need to make throughout the process will be determined by how engaged you are.  

The final step in any plan is the act of going to market.  Don’t spend too long on the ideation phase and forget this step.  I do not recommend launching at the highest price point, rather, this model is based on launching with the easiest path and then gradually increasing the points of engagement.

To hit a goal of $250,000 over the next 12 months, you’d need to find the perfect combination of your existing offers. 

You could sell 25 top-tier products at $10,000 each but for me, the perfect combination consists of setting targets across all the core services and working backward from there.

To hit a goal of $250,000 in 12 months, you’d need to achieve a goal of $20,833 per month.  

To do that, you need to do 1 of the following:

Sell 41 digital products per month @ $500 each

Sell 8 Entry point solutions @ $2,500 + 1 digital product @ $500 per month

Sell & Fulfill 4 mid-tier @ $5,000 + 1 digital product per month @ $500 per month 

Sell & Full-fulfill 2 Top-tier solutions @ $10,000 + 1 digital product per month @ $500 per month

You don't need a crazy amount of people in your community to achieve this.  You just need to focus on building a community of highly-engaged people who are willing to share with and learn from you.  

Listen to them, continue to iterate, and provide the value they need to 10x their output.

yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into April 2023)

013 Unlocking Growth: Scale to $250K in 12 months or Less

CREATIVEBRINK



Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free: 
This week's newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free
And by Honeybook. The all-in-one business management tool helps creator-led businesses scale.  Send custom proposals, manage client communication, and automate your process so you can spend more time creating.  Try it out today and start your road to 6-figures! 

I decided to take the last month of the year off to restore and recalibrate, but, as it turns out - December was a wild one for the creator space, so let’s get into:
Gumroad's rate increase 
 Audience ownership & distribution
Top trends I'm seeing for the year ahead 
Gumroad's Rate Increase 
Gumroad kicked the month of December off by announcing they would be transitioning to a standard rate of 10% across all their tiers this year; up from 3% for creators on the platform generating more than six figures.
This did not go over well for several reasons, but I think it can be summed up into two: the inauthenticity of the brand’s delivery and the lack of reasoning for the increase.  
 Message Delivery
Let’s look at the way the message was delivered: on Twitter.
Brands should avoid delivering news via social media updates whenever possible unless that message is also followed closely by a video from the CEO and an open Q&A with their audience on the changes.
The decision to increase rates, while probably in the best interest of their long-term goals, is a tough sell on being in the best interest of the creators on their platform and seemingly inauthentic to the hundreds of thousands of creators who’ve been selling their digital products.
It’s also a stark reminder for creators that we do not own the audiences on any of the current social media platforms – we simply rent them and rent is due every time a new decision is made that impacts growth or long-term monetization strategies.
Audience ownership & distribution
There are many reasons that a platform would opt to increase rates and, too often, creators fall in love with the vision of a product and lose sight of the reality: even products for creators need to be profitable, especially now.
 What’s the answer for creators who want to monetize their audience but don’t want to move their products to new platforms every few months once rates increase? The answer is simple: build your own.


When a creator builds large followings (+200K) on platforms the platform largely benefits.  They benefit from the brands who they can charge a premium to deliver ads to your audience.  They benefit from investors when they can tout monthly active users (MAUs) because of the content you are posting.  They benefit because they own that audience.  The creator also benefits, of course, through brand deals, content posts, and other ways I’ll share in another newsletter, but the creator receives the smallest piece of the pie, and thanks to changing algorithms; probably only penetrates 10% of their audience at any given time.

Now imagine a world where the creator owns the platform and the only way to access the 200K audience is by partnering with the creator, being vetted by their team, and delivering the type of tailored content that resonates with their community.
The creator is no longer renting the audience; they own the community and partner with the audience on revenue generated for it, by it, and with it.
This is the opportunity that waits for the creator economy and creator-led businesses.
Trends for 2023
Creators must stop thinking like employees of these social platforms and start building as Founders of their own – here are the top trends that will make 2023 a year like no other for the creator economy.


Trend #1: Rise of the Creator-Led Co.
This will be a BIG year for the creator economy and I’m betting that creators who understand how to build an audience, monetize it, and distribute content that resonates will own the year.
Trend #2: Utility-based communities
Web3 will continue to play at the forefront of this new economy as more and more platforms catch up to this new way of integrating community, digital content, and live events.  
Trend #3: Merging of Tech & Art even further
AI will continue its reign and the creators who are able to master it to enhance their productivity and streamline their content will own the future.  Just last week, I used a chatAI to help generate 30 topics to cover for the first half of the year – an increase of 100% over my output in 2022; then used an imageAI to generate the cover for this blog. 
 This was all done in a few hours and will only get better with time. 
 That’s all for today.

​​Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
​​1. Book a call to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond. 
2. Subscribe to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators 
3. Promote yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into April 2023)

​​Love + Light,
​​LaTecia



Want more? Follow @lateciarising and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? Drop me a line & I’ll be happy to collaborate.

<div class="mirror-content">​CREATIVEBRINK<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=600/editor-images/vv/7371515e-f1ef-48e3-b090-838cdbe05f5e" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:100%;margin:24px auto"/>​<hr/>​Thank you to our sponsors who keep this newsletter free: ​This week&#x27;s newsletter is sponsored by OPEN, a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  <a href="http://www.open-together.com/CREATIVES" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free</a>​And by Honeybook. The all-in-one business management tool helps creator-led businesses scale. Send custom proposals, manage client communication, and automate your process so you can spend more time creating. <a href="http://share.honeybook.com/visionaryrising" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> Try it out today and start your road to 6-figures</a>! <hr/>​I decided to take the last month of the year off to restore and recalibrate, but, as it turns out - December was a wild one for the creator space, so let’s get into:<ul><li>​Gumroad&#x27;s rate increase </li><li>​ Audience ownership &amp; distribution</li><li>​Top trends I&#x27;m seeing for the year ahead </li></ul><h2>​Gumroad&#x27;s Rate Increase </h2>​Gumroad kicked the month of December off by announcing they would be transitioning to a standard rate of 10% across all their tiers this year; up from 3% for creators on the platform generating more than six figures.​This did not go over well for several reasons, but I think it can be summed up into two: the inauthenticity of the brand’s delivery and the lack of reasoning for the increase.  ​ Message Delivery​Let’s look at the way the message was delivered: on Twitter.​Brands should avoid delivering news via social media updates whenever possible unless that message is also followed closely by a video from the CEO and an open Q&amp;A with their audience on the changes.​The decision to increase rates, while probably in the best interest of their long-term goals, is a tough sell on being in the best interest of the creators on their platform and seemingly inauthentic to the hundreds of thousands of creators who’ve been selling their digital products.​It’s also a stark reminder for creators that we do not own the audiences on any of the current social media platforms – we simply rent them and rent is due every time a new decision is made that impacts growth or long-term monetization strategies.<h2>​Audience ownership &amp; distribution</h2>​There are many reasons that a platform would opt to increase rates and, too often, creators fall in love with the vision of a product and lose sight of the reality: even products for creators need to be profitable, especially now.​ What’s the answer for creators who want to monetize their audience but don’t want to move their products to new platforms every few months once rates increase? The answer is simple: build your own.<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=466/editor-images/l1/d49832fd-1333-4b52-9864-52d1e3ee089c" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:100%;margin:24px auto"/>​ When a creator builds large followings (+200K) on platforms the platform largely benefits.  They benefit from the brands who they can charge a premium to deliver ads to your audience.  They benefit from investors when they can tout monthly active users (MAUs) because of the content you are posting.  They benefit because they own that audience.  The creator also benefits, of course, through brand deals, content posts, and other ways I’ll share in another newsletter, but the creator receives the smallest piece of the pie, and thanks to changing algorithms; probably only penetrates 10% of their audience at any given time.<blockquote>​Imagine a world where the creator owns the platform and the only way to access their audience is by partnering with the creator.</blockquote>​Now imagine a world where the creator owns the platform and the only way to access the 200K audience is by partnering with the creator, being vetted by their team, and delivering the type of tailored content that resonates with their community.​The creator is no longer renting the audience; they own the community and partner with the audience on revenue generated for it, by it, and with it.​This is the opportunity that waits for the creator economy and creator-led businesses.<h2>​Trends for 2023</h2>​Creators must stop thinking like employees of these social platforms and start building as Founders of their own – here are the top trends that will make 2023 a year like no other for the creator economy.<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=455/editor-images/8u/f9de11df-8417-43a2-adb4-4fb8599da920" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:100%;margin:24px auto"/>​​Trend #1: Rise of the Creator-Led Co.​This will be a BIG year for the creator economy and I’m betting that creators who understand how to build an audience, monetize it, and distribute content that resonates will own the year.​Trend #2: Utility-based communities​Web3 will continue to play at the forefront of this new economy as more and more platforms catch up to this new way of integrating community, digital content, and live events.  ​Trend #3: Merging of Tech &amp; Art even further​AI will continue its reign and the creators who are able to master it to enhance their productivity and streamline their content will own the future.  Just last week, I used a chatAI to help generate 30 topics to cover for the first half of the year – an increase of 100% over my output in 2022; then used an imageAI to generate the cover for this blog. ​ This was all done in a few hours and will only get better with time. ​ That’s all for today.<hr/>​​​Whenever you&#x27;re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:​​​1. <a href="https://calendly.com/latecia-johnson/60-minute-strategic-growth-session" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Book a call</a> to work with me directly to scale your creator-led business or high-growth startup to $150K and beyond. 2. <a href="https://anchor.fm/creativebrinkpodcast/episodes/Exploring-the-Creative-Brink-e1e772s" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Subscribe</a> to my podcast to Grow + Expand Your Mindset alongside 10,000 other creators 3. <a href="https://www.visionaryrising.agency/contact" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Promote </a>yourself to 15k+ subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter and podcast (Booking into April 2023) ​​​Love + Light,​​​LaTecia <hr/>​ Want more? Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/lateciarising" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">@lateciarising </a>and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? <a href="http://latecia@visionaryrising.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Drop me a line</a> &amp; I’ll be happy to collaborate.</div>

I decided to take the last month of the year off to restore and recalibrate, but, as it turns out - December was a wild one for the creator space, so let’s get into:

Gumroad kicked the month of December off by announcing they would be transitioning to a standard rate of 10% across all their tiers this year; up from 3% for creators on the platform generating more than six figures.

This did not go over well for several reasons, but I think it can be summed up into two: the inauthenticity of the brand’s delivery and the lack of reasoning for the increase.  

Let’s look at the way the message was delivered: on Twitter.

Brands should avoid delivering news via social media updates whenever possible unless that message is also followed closely by a video from the CEO and an open Q&A with their audience on the changes.

The decision to increase rates, while probably in the best interest of their long-term goals, is a tough sell on being in the best interest of the creators on their platform and seemingly inauthentic to the hundreds of thousands of creators who’ve been selling their digital products.

It’s also a stark reminder for creators that we do not own the audiences on any of the current social media platforms – we simply rent them and rent is due every time a new decision is made that impacts growth or long-term monetization strategies.

There are many reasons that a platform would opt to increase rates and, too often, creators fall in love with the vision of a product and lose sight of the reality: even products for creators need to be profitable, especially now.

 What’s the answer for creators who want to monetize their audience but don’t want to move their products to new platforms every few months once rates increase? The answer is simple: build your own.

When a creator builds large followings (+200K) on platforms the platform largely benefits.  They benefit from the brands who they can charge a premium to deliver ads to your audience.  They benefit from investors when they can tout monthly active users (MAUs) because of the content you are posting.  They benefit because they own that audience.  The creator also benefits, of course, through brand deals, content posts, and other ways I’ll share in another newsletter, but the creator receives the smallest piece of the pie, and thanks to changing algorithms; probably only penetrates 10% of their audience at any given time.

Now imagine a world where the creator owns the platform and the only way to access the 200K audience is by partnering with the creator, being vetted by their team, and delivering the type of tailored content that resonates with their community.

The creator is no longer renting the audience; they own the community and partner with the audience on revenue generated for it, by it, and with it.

This is the opportunity that waits for the creator economy and creator-led businesses.

Creators must stop thinking like employees of these social platforms and start building as Founders of their own – here are the top trends that will make 2023 a year like no other for the creator economy.

This will be a BIG year for the creator economy and I’m betting that creators who understand how to build an audience, monetize it, and distribute content that resonates will own the year.

Web3 will continue to play at the forefront of this new economy as more and more platforms catch up to this new way of integrating community, digital content, and live events.  

Trend #3: Merging of Tech & Art even further

AI will continue its reign and the creators who are able to master it to enhance their productivity and streamline their content will own the future.  Just last week, I used a chatAI to help generate 30 topics to cover for the first half of the year – an increase of 100% over my output in 2022; then used an imageAI to generate the cover for this blog. 

 This was all done in a few hours and will only get better with time. 

012  Key Predictions for the Creator Economy In 2023 

CREATIVEBRINK

Hi! This is the last newsletter of the year.  I'll continue my break until January 7th, then be back in your inbox with insights for the creator economy.  I'll be making some changes to the format and content, but you can expect a combination of industry insights, personal anecdotes about growth, and tips on how to scale a creator-led business. 

Sponsored: 
This newsletter is brought to you by O-P-E-N
O-P-E-N is a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  USING THE OPEN APP HAS MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE IN MY DAILY ROUTINE, and I’m excited to invite you to join me for a 30-day meditation journey designed to unlock your highest self and set you up for success in the year ahead.  
Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free
Let’s jump into it.

My word for 2022 was “Elevation”. It is the action or fact of elevating or being elevated. I’ve shared my words of the year for the last two years (read this: if you need a refresher). Each year, I choose the words that I want to embody the year ahead and reflect at the end of each 12-month cycle to see how that word weaved itself throughout my life.
So, 2022. Elevation.

 I wrote this on October 19, 2021, a few weeks after I’d accepted an offer to become an Entrepreneur in Residence and advise founders building in web3.  My advice to those founders & teams, working on the projects like artworld & decent.xyz, which were starting to shape how creators could interact in this new space, was to not focus on the idea of web3 but, to focus instead on what it enables.  
A few weeks later, I would be recruited to ‘come and build the future for artists’ at Royal.  
I wasn’t looking for a new challenge at the time but fell in love with the concept that artists could build their street team, drive engagement, unlock new ways to monetize audiences and deliver a level of transparency that is badly needed in the music industry.
It blended the work I've done as an agency founder with artists & the strategic muscle I've built over my career leading strategy for Fortune 100 companies and high-growth startups.
It was simply too great a challenge to turn down.
On January 20, 2022; a new category was born and I helped shape that.

During my time there, I partnered with incredibly talented people building things that never existed before and learned a lot of lessons along the way.
I created strategies to drive artist-aligned incentives, educated artists, managers, distributors & label teams on web3 engagement, and delivered partnerships with Nas, Diplo, & The Chainsmokers while championing campaigns for emerging artists 27Delly & Yemi Alade. 
I’m so incredibly proud of the work that has gone into making Royal what it is today, and firmly believe that it, alongside additional projects I’ve advised, is starting to outline the shape of what the creator economy will mature into over the next few years.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’ve spoken often about the creator ecosystem and the need for tools that enable creators to monetize their audience directly while still benefiting from the traditional elements of web2.  I’m excited about the progress but know there is still so much further to go. 
That’s the work I’m interested in pursuing.
Over the last few weeks, many people have asked me “what’s next?”; that’s something I’m excited to share the answer to in time. 
What I know for sure as I close this chapter with Royal, is that I am more excited than ever to continue building at the intersection of music, technology, culture, and web3 – to take what I’ve learned, pour it into all the things that are coming, fill my cup, and create even more things that spark thought and push creators forward. Any next chapter will definitely involve continuing to build VSNRY Rising, the creator studio I launched in 2016, and continues to grow even as I occasionally take on other opportunities in my career. 
Sometimes we lose sight of impact when we are in it, but I’ve allowed myself to wholly reflect on the work: the wins the world celebrated with me and the losses I haven’t been able to share with anyone except close friends & family – it all shapes us.


When I think about the word ‘Elevation’ and I tie it to the work, it makes sense – but what about the personal? Who have I been outside of the work, and what have I done that has elevated me?
I showed up.
 For my partner, for my bonus daughter, for my family and friends. For myself.
 I did the work.
Therapy. Meditation. Exercise. Coaching. Wellness.
I enjoyed the moments.
I hope you take time over the next few days to soak in your progress and prepare for the year ahead.  It's going to be a good one for creators. 
'Til next time.
Love + Light,
LaTecia

<div class="mirror-content">​CREATIVEBRINK<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=600/editor-images/vv/7371515e-f1ef-48e3-b090-838cdbe05f5e" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:100%;margin:24px auto"/>​Hi! This is the last newsletter of the year. I&#x27;ll continue my break until January 7th, then be back in your inbox with insights for the creator economy. I&#x27;ll be making some changes to the format and content, but you can expect a combination of industry insights, personal anecdotes about growth, and tips on how to scale a creator-led business. <hr/>​Sponsored: ​This newsletter is brought to you by O-P-E-N​O-P-E-N is a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  USING THE OPEN APP HAS MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE IN MY DAILY ROUTINE, and I’m excited to invite you to join me for a 30-day meditation journey designed to unlock your highest self and set you up for success in the year ahead.  ​<a href="http://www.open-together.com/CREATIVES" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sign Up and receive your first 30-days Free</a>​Let’s jump into it.<hr/>​My word for 2022 was “Elevation”. It is the action or fact of elevating or being elevated. I’ve shared my words of the year for the last two years (read this: if you need a refresher). Each year, I choose the words that I want to embody the year ahead and reflect at the end of each 12-month cycle to see how that word weaved itself throughout my life.​So, 2022. Elevation.<blockquote>​In a space that has most of the rules unwritten, I&#x27;m excited to be a part of writing them...</blockquote>​ I wrote this on October 19, 2021, a few weeks after I’d accepted an offer to become an Entrepreneur in Residence and advise founders building in web3.  My advice to those founders &amp; teams, working on the projects like <a href="https://www.artwrld.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">artworld </a>&amp; <a href="http://decent.xyz" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">decent.xyz</a>, which were starting to shape how creators could interact in this new space, was to not focus on the idea of web3 but, to focus instead on what it enables.  ​A few weeks later, I would be recruited to ‘come and build the future for artists’ at <a href="http://www.royal.io" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Royal</a>.  ​I wasn’t looking for a new challenge at the time but fell in love with the concept that artists could build their street team, drive engagement, unlock new ways to monetize audiences and deliver a level of transparency that is badly needed in the music industry.​It blended the work I&#x27;ve done as an agency founder with artists &amp; the strategic muscle I&#x27;ve built over my career leading strategy for Fortune 100 companies and high-growth startups.​It was simply too great a challenge to turn down.​On January 20, 2022; a new category was born and I helped shape that.<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=800/editor-images/je/d16060ec-4220-4e51-b454-188529e89436" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​During my time there, I partnered with incredibly talented people building things that never existed before and learned a lot of lessons along the way.​I created strategies to drive artist-aligned incentives, educated artists, managers, distributors &amp; label teams on web3 engagement, and delivered partnerships with Nas, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/diplo-song-royalties-warner-music-styngr-games-deals/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Diplo</a>, &amp; The Chainsmokers while championing campaigns for emerging artists 27Delly &amp; Yemi Alade. ​I’m so incredibly proud of the work that has gone into making Royal what it is today, and firmly believe that it, alongside additional projects I’ve advised, is starting to outline the shape of what the creator economy will mature into over the next few years.​If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’ve spoken often about the creator ecosystem and the need for tools that enable creators to monetize their audience directly while still benefiting from the traditional elements of web2.  I’m excited about the progress but know there is still so much further to go. ​That’s the work I’m interested in pursuing.​Over the last few weeks, many people have asked me “what’s next?”; that’s something I’m excited to share the answer to in time. ​What I know for sure as I close this chapter with Royal, is that I am more excited than ever to continue building at the intersection of music, technology, culture, and web3 – to take what I’ve learned, pour it into all the things that are coming, fill my cup, and create even more things that spark thought and push creators forward. Any next chapter will definitely involve continuing to build <a href="http://www.visionaryrising.agency" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">VSNRY Rising</a>, the creator studio I launched in 2016, and continues to grow even as I occasionally take on other opportunities in my career. ​Sometimes we lose sight of impact when we are in it, but I’ve allowed myself to wholly reflect on the work: the wins the world celebrated with me and the losses I haven’t been able to share with anyone except close friends &amp; family – it all shapes us.<img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=800/editor-images/s6/29c096e1-de73-4e32-af71-3f3d640308a4" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:400px;margin:24px auto"/>​​When I think about the word ‘Elevation’ and I tie it to the work, it makes sense – but what about the personal? Who have I been outside of the work, and what have I done that has elevated me?​I showed up.​ For my partner, for my bonus daughter, for my family and friends. For myself.​ I did the work.​Therapy. Meditation. Exercise. Coaching. Wellness.​I enjoyed the moments.​I hope you take time over the next few days to soak in your progress and prepare for the year ahead. It&#x27;s going to be a good one for creators. ​&#x27;Til next time.​Love + Light,​LaTecia</div>

Hi! This is the last newsletter of the year.  I'll continue my break until January 7th, then be back in your inbox with insights for the creator economy.  I'll be making some changes to the format and content, but you can expect a combination of industry insights, personal anecdotes about growth, and tips on how to scale a creator-led business. 

This newsletter is brought to you by O-P-E-N

O-P-E-N is a wellness brand that offers live and on-demand classes on their app for breathwork, meditation, yoga, and Pilates.  USING THE OPEN APP HAS MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE IN MY DAILY ROUTINE, and I’m excited to invite you to join me for a 30-day meditation journey designed to unlock your highest self and set you up for success in the year ahead.  

My word for 2022 was “Elevation”. It is the action or fact of elevating or being elevated. I’ve shared my words of the year for the last two years (read this: if you need a refresher). Each year, I choose the words that I want to embody the year ahead and reflect at the end of each 12-month cycle to see how that word weaved itself throughout my life.

 I wrote this on October 19, 2021, a few weeks after I’d accepted an offer to become an Entrepreneur in Residence and advise founders building in web3.  My advice to those founders & teams, working on the projects like 

, which were starting to shape how creators could interact in this new space, was to not focus on the idea of web3 but, to focus instead on what it enables.  

A few weeks later, I would be recruited to ‘come and build the future for artists’ at 

I wasn’t looking for a new challenge at the time but fell in love with the concept that artists could build their street team, drive engagement, unlock new ways to monetize audiences and deliver a level of transparency that is badly needed in the music industry.

It blended the work I've done as an agency founder with artists & the strategic muscle I've built over my career leading strategy for Fortune 100 companies and high-growth startups.

It was simply too great a challenge to turn down.

On January 20, 2022; a new category was born and I helped shape that.

During my time there, I partnered with incredibly talented people building things that never existed before and learned a lot of lessons along the way.

I created strategies to drive artist-aligned incentives, educated artists, managers, distributors & label teams on web3 engagement, and delivered partnerships with Nas, 

, & The Chainsmokers while championing campaigns for emerging artists 27Delly & Yemi Alade. 

I’m so incredibly proud of the work that has gone into making Royal what it is today, and firmly believe that it, alongside additional projects I’ve advised, is starting to outline the shape of what the creator economy will mature into over the next few years.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’ve spoken often about the creator ecosystem and the need for tools that enable creators to monetize their audience directly while still benefiting from the traditional elements of web2.  I’m excited about the progress but know there is still so much further to go. 

That’s the work I’m interested in pursuing.

Over the last few weeks, many people have asked me “what’s next?”; that’s something I’m excited to share the answer to in time. 

What I know for sure as I close this chapter with Royal, is that I am more excited than ever to continue building at the intersection of music, technology, culture, and web3 – to take what I’ve learned, pour it into all the things that are coming, fill my cup, and create even more things that spark thought and push creators forward. Any next chapter will definitely involve continuing to build 

, the creator studio I launched in 2016, and continues to grow even as I occasionally take on other opportunities in my career. 

Sometimes we lose sight of impact when we are in it, but I’ve allowed myself to wholly reflect on the work: the wins the world celebrated with me and the losses I haven’t been able to share with anyone except close friends & family – it all shapes us.

When I think about the word ‘Elevation’ and I tie it to the work, it makes sense – but what about the personal? Who have I been outside of the work, and what have I done that has elevated me?

 For my partner, for my bonus daughter, for my family and friends. For myself.

Therapy. Meditation. Exercise. Coaching. Wellness.

I hope you take time over the next few days to soak in your progress and prepare for the year ahead.  It's going to be a good one for creators. 

011 Elevation: year-end reflection

Breaking down the lessons I've learned from watching Serena Williams' illustrious career. 

Today’s issue is sponsored by Creative Market.  Give your brand a creative boost. Design faster with fresh assets. Explore trending graphics, fonts, templates, and more assets for your marketing needs with CreativeMarket.com 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Serena evolved away from tennis, playing her last match on Friday, September 2nd. I had dinner plans that could not be rescheduled, so I sat in the restaurant, airpod in one ear and eyes conspicuously trained on the cell phone in my hand.  Eventually, friends noticed I was not locked in on our conversation and asked what I was looking at… “history”...was my response.  Watching Serena play her last match and approach the final week of her legend-inducing career, got me thinking about the first time I watched her play the game she loved; the parallels I drew to her story, and how rooting for her helped me, and millions of little girls who looked like me, root for myself.
In today’s newsletter, I’m going to share 3 things I’ve learned from watching Serena Williams for the last 27 years and how it helped shape how I approach business.
When I say “shaped”, I don’t mean inspired me somewhat, I mean completely redirected how I approached business and became part of my guiding principles.
Blaze your own path 
Serena’s path to tennis greatness was not an easy one. She has always danced to the beat of her own drum and has never conformed to anyone else’s expectations.  Whether it was blazing onto the path wearing white beads on her head, exalting on a 115 mph serve, or embracing her muscular physique, Serena never back down from showing up as her full self and always embraced the path she walked.
Pivot & Adapt
The only thing guaranteed in life is change and Serena was built for it. From hard clay courts to fast grass to rainy days and blazing heat, Serena’s 858 career wins, leading the way for 24 grand slam titles, showed that she could win in any climate.  Her versatility on the court and ability to perform under pressure helped her build a reputation as both a fierce competitor and one who was incredibly hard to beat through the years, but I think the greatest lesson here is how Serena’s career is filled with different eras of play all based around how she changed her game.
The Serena Effect permeated across players and moments, locked in my memory throughout very specific times in her career.  In 1999 when she was the youngest to win and again in 2013 when she was the oldest to do it. 
 Never Stop Competing
Serena has had more winning years throughout her career than she has lost.  Showing everyone that winning was at the core of who she is and what she does.  Last Friday’s stand on the court as she took her final bow showed just that.  Serena wasn’t supposed to make it out of Match 1.  This was evident in the ceremony planned shortly after the match.  Again, on display in Match 2 of the US Open.  Serena kept winning because she kept showing up.  She dug deep and pulled out just one more serve here or a well-calculated set there and suddenly – those efforts compounded until they didn’t.



Being an entrepreneur is something that you don’t do if you can do anything else. It’s the thing you do because the idea of not doing it keeps you up at night; because your desire to win is stronger than anything else you have inside of you, and it’s the thing you do when you’ve tried too long to fit yourself into boxes that were never meant for you.
Entrepreneurship takes a lot of discipline, an unwillingness to quit, and an almost relentless drive to achieve what others before you have not.  Watching Serena’s approach to the game helped to shape the way I approach my chosen sport and I am forever grateful for her contributions.

See you again next week.
​​Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
​​1. Grow + Expand Your Mindset here (10,000+ Monthly Listeners)
2. Put dope things into the world here (Now accepting new clients)
3. Become a community member to accelerate your business here
​​Love + Light,
​​LaTecia

Want more? Follow @lateciarising and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? Drop me a line & I’ll be happy to collaborate.

<div class="mirror-content">​Breaking down the lessons I&#x27;ve learned from watching Serena Williams&#x27; illustrious career. <img alt="Image" class="image" src="https://cdn.lu.ma/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,dpr=2,quality=85,width=761/editor-images/6c/e176976a-bced-43ac-8b69-163bae15bdaf" style="display:block;max-width:100%;max-height:100%;margin:24px auto"/>​Today’s issue is sponsored by Creative Market.  Give your brand a creative boost. Design faster with fresh assets. Explore trending graphics, fonts, templates, and more assets for your marketing needs with <a href="http://CreativeMarket.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">CreativeMarket.com</a> <hr/>​Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Serena evolved away from tennis, playing her last match on Friday, September 2nd. I had dinner plans that could not be rescheduled, so I sat in the restaurant, airpod in one ear and eyes conspicuously trained on the cell phone in my hand.  Eventually, friends noticed I was not locked in on our conversation and asked what I was looking at… “history”...was my response.  Watching Serena play her last match and approach the final week of her legend-inducing career, got me thinking about the first time I watched her play the game she loved; the parallels I drew to her story, and how rooting for her helped me, and millions of little girls who looked like me, root for myself.​In today’s newsletter, I’m going to share 3 things I’ve learned from watching Serena Williams for the last 27 years and how it helped shape how I approach business.​When I say “shaped”, I don’t mean inspired me somewhat, I mean completely redirected how I approached business and became part of my guiding principles.<h2>​Blaze your own path </h2>​Serena’s path to tennis greatness was not an easy one. She has always danced to the beat of her own drum and has never conformed to anyone else’s expectations.  Whether it was blazing onto the path wearing white beads on her head, exalting on a 115 mph serve, or embracing her muscular physique, Serena never back down from showing up as her full self and always embraced the path she walked.<h2>​Pivot &amp; Adapt</h2>​The only thing guaranteed in life is change and Serena was built for it. From hard clay courts to fast grass to rainy days and blazing heat, Serena’s 858 career wins, leading the way for 24 grand slam titles, showed that she could win in any climate.  Her versatility on the court and ability to perform under pressure helped her build a reputation as both a fierce competitor and one who was incredibly hard to beat through the years, but I think the greatest lesson here is how Serena’s career is filled with different eras of play all based around how she changed her game.​The Serena Effect permeated across players and moments, locked in my memory throughout very specific times in her career.  In 1999 when she was the youngest to win and again in 2013 when she was the oldest to do it. <h2>​ Never Stop Competing</h2>​Serena has had more winning years throughout her career than she has lost.  Showing everyone that winning was at the core of who she is and what she does.  Last Friday’s stand on the court as she took her final bow showed just that.  Serena wasn’t supposed to make it out of Match 1.  This was evident in the ceremony planned shortly after the match.  Again, on display in Match 2 of the US Open.  Serena kept winning because she kept showing up.  She dug deep and pulled out just one more serve here or a well-calculated set there and suddenly – those efforts compounded until they didn’t. <blockquote>​ &quot;I am lucky that whatever fear I have inside me, my desire to win is always stronger.&quot; ​- Serena Williams </blockquote>​​Being an entrepreneur is something that you don’t do if you can do anything else. It’s the thing you do because the idea of not doing it keeps you up at night; because your desire to win is stronger than anything else you have inside of you, and it’s the thing you do when you’ve tried too long to fit yourself into boxes that were never meant for you.​Entrepreneurship takes a lot of discipline, an unwillingness to quit, and an almost relentless drive to achieve what others before you have not.  Watching Serena’s approach to the game helped to shape the way I approach my chosen sport and I am forever grateful for her contributions.<hr/>​See you again next week.​​​Whenever you&#x27;re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:​​​1. Grow + Expand Your Mindset <a href="https://anchor.fm/creativebrinkpodcast/episodes/Exploring-the-Creative-Brink-e1e772s" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a> (10,000+ Monthly Listeners) 2. Put dope things into the world <a href="http://www.visionaryrising.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here </a>(Now accepting new clients) 3. Become a community member to accelerate your business<a href="http://www.visionaryrising.agency/vsnrycreative" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> </a><a href="http://www.visionaryrising.agency/vsnrycreative" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>​​​Love + Light,​​​LaTecia Want more? Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/lateciarising" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">@lateciarising </a>and let me know how I can help you scale as a creator. Want to support this newsletter and get featured? <a href="http://latecia@visionaryrising.co/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Drop me a line</a> &amp; I’ll be happy to collaborate.</div>

Breaking down the lessons I've learned from watching Serena Williams' illustrious career. 

Today’s issue is sponsored by Creative Market.  Give your brand a creative boost. Design faster with fresh assets. Explore trending graphics, fonts, templates, and more assets for your marketing needs with 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Serena evolved away from tennis, playing her last match on Friday, September 2nd. I had dinner plans that could not be rescheduled, so I sat in the restaurant, airpod in one ear and eyes conspicuously trained on the cell phone in my hand.  Eventually, friends noticed I was not locked in on our conversation and asked what I was looking at… 

was my response.  Watching Serena play her last match and approach the final week of her legend-inducing career, got me thinking about the first time I watched her play the game she loved; the parallels I drew to her story, and how rooting for her helped me, and millions of little girls who looked like me, root for myself.

In today’s newsletter, I’m going to share 3 things I’ve learned from watching Serena Williams for the last 27 years and how it helped shape how I approach business.

When I say “shaped”, I don’t mean inspired me somewhat, I mean completely redirected how I approached business and became part of my guiding principles.

Serena’s path to tennis greatness was not an easy one. She has always danced to the beat of her own drum and has never conformed to anyone else’s expectations.  Whether it was blazing onto the path wearing white beads on her head, exalting on a 115 mph serve, or embracing her muscular physique, Serena never back down from showing up as her full self and always embraced the path she walked.