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

I hear "I don't have time to create content" more than almost anything else. I've said it myself. This week's newsletter is my answer to that.

This week: AJ Eckstein's full system for staying visible and never running out of content ideas, even while running a company.

Let's get into it.

I’d be willing to bet you’ve said these words at some point “I don’t have time to create content.” 

AJ Eckstein is scaling a company, managing a team, and on calls with brands and creators all day - and he still posts consistently on LinkedIn.

Every client, every speaking gig, every partnership has come inbound from his content. Zero dollars on ads. Zero outbound.

His secret isn't discipline or a content calendar. It's that he never runs out of ideas, because he stopped trying to ‘create content’ and started documenting what's already happening.

AJ joined us at a recent CENYC event to break down his approach, and I walked away with a bunch of frameworks I think any busy person in this community can use immediately. 

The core idea behind everything AJ does is simple: he's not ‘coming up with content.’ He's capturing what's already happening in his life and work.

AJ doesn't block off time to brainstorm. He doesn't script videos. He doesn't plan content calendars.

He keeps a running document he calls his founder journal, which is literally several pages at this point, and every week he writes down what happened —what problems came up, what decisions he made, what stressed him out. Just a brain dump. And the content comes out of that.

The reason this works, and the reason I think it's so applicable for anyone reading this who feels strapped for time, is that it removes the biggest bottleneck in content creation: coming up with ideas.

You're not inventing anything. You're just paying attention to what's already going on and writing it down.

AJ filters his content ideas through five buckets that tell him whether something is worth posting about. This is the framework that makes the journal actually useful instead of just a pile of notes.

Decisions. What did you decide this week and why? The reasoning behind decisions is content people genuinely care about because it helps them think through their own.

Problems. What went wrong? What are you stuck on? AJ's single best-performing post was about losing $11,000 when he fronted creator payments and the brand went out of business. Instead of hiding it (or forgetting about it), he documented it. And it outperformed every win he'd ever posted. People connect with the struggle more than the success.

Progress. Not just the big milestones. The incremental stuff. Progress content works because people can map themselves onto your trajectory.

Metrics. Real numbers with context. Most people are afraid to share numbers. That's exactly why it works when you do. AJ shares real metrics from Creator Match, and it's a huge part of why brands trust him.

Questions. What are you genuinely trying to figure out? This is the most underused bucket. Posting a question you're wrestling with invites your audience into the process and the responses feed your next round of content. It's a loop.

This framework has the most direct application for anyone planning to launch something, such as a course, a product, a community, an event, anything.

AJ literally pulled out a rubber band on stage to explain:

Every piece of content you post before a launch is pulling the rubber band back.

You're building tension. You're showing your decisions, your problems, your progress. You're letting your audience into the build.

And when you finally launch, you release it — and it flies. Because the audience was already invested. They watched you build it, so they feel ownership over it.

The opposite is what most people do. They build in silence for months, then drop a launch post: "I made a thing!" No tension on the rubber band. Nothing to release. And they wonder why nobody cares.

AJ flagged some things that are worth keeping in mind, especially if you're already posting regularly:

Highlights only. AJ does a year-end post of his 10 biggest losses, not wins. It outperforms everything else he publishes. If your feed reads like a highlight reel, you're leaving your best content on the table.

Waiting until it's done. Think of it like a marathon: nobody wants to see just the medal at the finish line. They want the training montage, the setbacks, the 5am runs in the rain. If you're waiting until launch day to talk about what you're building, you've skipped the part people actually want to follow.

Trying to sound too smart. AJ's best-performing posts are selfies with raw captions — him on the floor of a hotel room, posture wrecked at his desk at midnight. That stuff outperforms polished content every time, especially on LinkedIn, because it reads like a human behind it.

Most of you reading this are already doing interesting work. You're building businesses, working with clients, making things happen. The content isn't some separate thing you need to find time for. It's already there. You just have to start writing it down.

Two years ago, AJ showed up to a CENYC event as just an attendee. Last month, he was on our stage. If you want proof that documenting your journey compounds over time… that's it right there.

That's the difference.

Follow AJ here, and watch his full talk here.

Know a creator or founder who keeps saying they don't have time for content? Forward this to them.

We're partnering with Relay — the business banking platform built for the way creators and solopreneurs actually run their finances — for our next event in the Flatiron this April.

The topic: money in the creator economy. How to manage it, protect it, and build with it. We're bringing together a panel of creators and industry voices to get into the conversations most people avoid.

This early RSVP is an application to attend. It helps us curate the room while details come together — and those who apply will be the first to receive updates as things are finalized.

The F*ck It, Create It Workbook is the thing that finally gets you off the sideline.

It’s a guided system — with companion videos — that walks you through the exact mental blocks keeping you stuck and forces you to ship your first piece of content, product, event… whatever you’ve been sitting on.

If you’ve been overthinking it. Waiting until it's perfect. Telling yourself you'll start Monday.

This kills that.

The Creator Goal Setting Guide (FREE): A simple but powerful document to help you declare who you want to BECOME in 2026. Get it here.

The Creator Accountability System (FREE): Your visual companion for consistent creation in 2026. Get it here.

Thanks for reading! Most of you reading this are sitting on more content than you think. You just haven't written it down yet. Start this week… even two minutes on your phone. That's the whole assignment.

F*ck It, Create It,

Brett