Hey! Welcome to the (99th!) Creator Economy NYC newsletter, your weekly dose of insights and strategies to help you build, monetize, and scale as a creator.

Happy Halloween! In the spirit of the season, I’ve compiled a list of things that genuinely haunt every creator.

Let's dive in.

The community builder who found her perfect storefront

A few weeks ago, I put out a call on Instagram asking to connect with creators who've launched stores on Shopify. 

One of the creators who responded is someone I've been following for a while: Jess, aka @chickofalltrad, founder of Women of Type, the premier global community celebrating women and nonbinary lettering and typography artists.

She's got a ton of awesome merch for her community, and it's inspired how I'm thinking about merch for Creator Economy NYC. 

So I asked her the questions I was personally curious about: Why Shopify? How has it supported your business?

Her answer was simple:

She even hosted her book launch at Shopify's SoHo space back in 2022, which is pretty incredible when you think about how a platform can actually show up for creators IRL.

Her bottom line: "If you're not a web designer but want to sell your work, not have to code, and have someone hold your hand, Shopify is my choice."

I fall into all that criteria… and I’m sure you might too.

So, if you've been sitting on the idea of launching your own store, this might be the nudge you need.

And check out Jess’s store here!

Creator nightmares: a Halloween horror story

Over the past few weeks, I've been collecting creator horror stories, partly by accident, partly on purpose.

First, I was out filming street interviews with Notion last month when I realized (only after wrapping) that my mic was never fully plugged in for some interviews. Completely unusable audio. Classic.

Then I started hearing brand partnership nightmares from creators in our community. Net 90 payment terms. A ton of revisions. The dreaded "let's do a test first" at 30% of your rate.

It got me thinking: what are the things that actually scare creators?

So I asked around creators in our community, like Jack Appleby, Piper Phillips, Varun Rana, Colin Rocker, etc, who all chimed in with their own war stories. Turns out, we've all lived through many of the same nightmares!

So here's a list of things that genuinely haunt every creator:

The financial frights

• "Net 90 payment terms" - Cool, so I'll just... not pay rent for three months?

• "We're paying in perpetuity" - Translation: we own your work forever for a one-time fee that barely covers your weekly groceries

• "We'd love to collaborate! The exposure will be amazing!" - My landlord doesn't accept exposure

• "We'd love to do a test first" - Translation: we'll pay you 30% of your rate to see if this works, and if it does…

• "We usually pay $X but..." - The "but" is never good

The technical terrors

• "Didn't press record" - You just filmed the best take of your life. It doesn't exist.

• "Microphone wasn't plugged in all the way" - 47 minutes of unusable audio. You're welcome.

• "Out of storage" - Right as you're about to capture that perfect B-roll

• Your editing software crashing - Without autosave. Obviously without autosave.

• "This file is corrupted" - Three days of work, gone. Just... gone.

The security scares

• "An attempt to log in to your account happened in _____" - [insert random country you've never been to]

• "Your account has been flagged for violating content policy" - Which policy? What content? They'll never tell you.

• "Unusual activity detected" - Unusual to whom?? I'M THE ONE DOING THE ACTIVITY

• Getting locked out of your account - the day before anything major

The brand boo’s

• "Concept approved! Can you get the draft sent over by tomorrow EOD?" - You approved it 10 seconds ago, Janet.

• "We've gone ahead and provided a script for you" - It's 847 words. For a 30-second video. And it's... very bad.

• "Quick question!" - It's never quick. It's never one question.

• "Can you hop on a quick call?" - Translation: I didn't read your email and need you to explain everything verbally

• 14 rounds of revisions - because …

• "Can you mention the brand earlier in the video?" - You want me to lead with an ad read? But also keep it organic and native?

• "Can you put the UTM link in the caption?" - Nothing says authentic like a 67-character tracking URL

The social media nightmares

• Your boss/mom/ex liking your content - Please stop. I beg you.

• The algorithm changed - again

• "Why didn't this go viral?" - I don't know, Sarah, why don't YOU go viral?

• Posting on LinkedIn - and immediately questioning every life choice that led you here

• Random DM from an anonymous account: "I love your work! Want to collaborate?" - Profile pic: AI. Followers: 3. Posts: 0. Sure, let's work together!

• "Looking to skyrocket your IG page's reputation with 10K-100K+ followers instantly? 🚀" - nothing screams being a creator like buying 100K followers for $637

• Opening analytics - sometimes ignorance really is bliss

The family gathering frights

• "So... what exactly DO you do?" - For the 47th time, Aunt Linda, I make internet things

• "Why don't you tell everyone what you do for work?" - Mom. Please. Not at Thanksgiving.

• "But like... what's your REAL job?" - This IS my real job, Uncle Bob. I pay taxes and everything.

• "My friend's daughter is an influencer too!" - ok

• "Can you make me go viral?" - Can you make your casserole edible Aunt Marie? We all have our limitations.

• "So you just... play on your phone all day?" - Yes, grandma. That's exactly I do.

• "I saw your post! I didn't understand it but I liked it anyway" - Thanks.

• Your dad explaining your job to anyone - He's never been more wrong about anything in his life. Lots of flowery language. Lots of comparisons to Mr. Beast even though you make B2B LinkedIn content

• "You should post about [deeply unsexy thing]" - politics

Happy Halloween, you beautiful, slightly traumatized creator. 🎃

What else would you add? Hit reply and let me know!

Upcoming events

We're cooking up something for the first week of December - details coming soon. In the meantime, keep an eye on our events calendar to be the first to know when we announce it (and to see what else we've got in the works).

See you out there.

Finally launch the thing you've been thinking about

If you've been sitting on an idea but can't seem to take the first step, this is for you.

F*ck It, Create It is a carefully crafted course and workbook that helps you clarify what to build and gives you the confidence to actually ship it.

It's the same framework that helped me go from "I should do this" to actually building Creator Economy NYC into the largest creator community in the country.

This is what one person in our community wrote me this week after taking it:

That's what this course does at the end: gives you clarity and confidence to finally move.

Only 14 spots remain to be in the first 50 to sign up, which gets you the exclusive F*ck It, Create It hat and a collaborative working session with me and fellow creators.

2 FREE resources to accelerate your creator growth

The Creator Goal Setting Guide: A simple but powerful document to help you declare who you want to BECOME in 2025.

The Creator Accountability System: Your visual companion for consistent creation in 2025 (I’m using this now to send one newsletter a week!)

Thanks for reading! Have a great Halloween!

See you next week,

Brett