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

Our final event of the year is December 3rd - Creator Holiday Soiree with Shopify and others. Come celebrate with the community. Details and RSVP below!

This week, we're talking about what happens after you hit your goals as a creator, and why the goal you think you're chasing might not be the right one.

Here's how to rethink your goals before you set new ones for 2026.

Let's dive in.

— Brett

Creators that set these goals win

Nobody tells you what happens after you hit your goals as a creator. After you prove consistency works. After you've climbed cringe mountain. After you've built the thing.

They definitely don't tell you about the weird feeling that sets in when you realize: oh, now I have to decide what's next.

So newsletter #100 just went out last week. I did the thing. Proved consistency compounds, built an audience, created something real. That’s a big number!

But sitting down to write #101 this week, there was this moment. Not emptiness exactly…more like disorientation. The number that had been my North Star for two years was gone. And for a second, I forgot what I was actually chasing.

The circles are filled. The system worked. So... what now?

The goalpost just... moves. Or disappears entirely. And you're left going, "Wait, that was it?"

I've seen this play out at our events over and over. A creator finally lands their first big brand deal. They're pumped for a week. Then they're back in my DMs asking, "Okay, now what? What's the next level?"

The achievement felt good for about 48 hours. Then the hunger came back.

Achievement goals vs. identity goals

I think the issue is we confuse two different types of goals:

Achievement goals = endpoints you can hit

• 100 newsletters

• 10K followers

• First brand deal

• Six figures

These are what get you started. They're clear, measurable, satisfying to chase.

Identity goals = no finish line, just direction

• Being someone who shows up consistently

• Being a trusted voice in your space

• Being the person your community turns to

• Being someone who makes others feel less alone in this

These are harder to chase because you never "arrive." But they're what actually sustain you.

And here's the trap: we set achievement goals because they're measurable. We hit them and sometimes feel... nothing that we expected. Or it’s fleeting.

Because we didn't realize the real goal was never the number, it was who we were becoming while chasing it.

Deep…

What this means for you

I was talking to someone at our last event describe this exact feeling. They'd hit their follower goal, launched their product, made their first five figures. "So why do I feel like I'm still at the starting line?" they asked.

Because they were. Just a different starting line.

The achievement goal got them there. Now they needed an identity goal to keep them going.

If you're chasing an achievement goal right now, keep chasing it. You need to prove it to yourself. That validation matters.

But start asking: Who am I becoming while I chase this?

That second question will matter more than the first when you finally get there.

Keep this in mind as we’re closing out the year and you might be setting some goals for 2026. Make sure you're not just chasing a bigger number. Chase becoming someone.

Plan for 2026 with identity goals

I built a free Creator Goal Setting Guide specifically to help you set identity goals instead of just achievement goals. It's the same framework I used at the start of 2025, and I just updated it for 2026 planning.

It walks you through the "I will become ___" exercise and helps you figure out who you want to be, not just what you want to hit.

Creator Holiday Soiree - December 3

Well, it's about that time. Creating can be lonely, and we often don't have company holiday parties of our own to join - so we're making it happen.

Join us for an end-of-year celebration with Shopify and the creator economy community! Mix, mingle, and close out 2025 with fellow creators, marketers, and platforms over drinks, light bites, and exclusive merch.

More details to come.

6 weeks left in the year, it’s time to 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 proven mindset shift 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: gives you clarity and confidence to finally move.

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 2026.

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

That's it for this week. If you're planning for 2026, grab the goal-setting guide and spend some time on the "I will become" section. It matters more than you think.

And if this hit home, hit reply. I want to hear what goal you're rethinking.

See you next week,

Brett