👋🏽 Doors Opening

Hey! Welcome to Creator Economy NYC — the premier hub where the creator economy connects, learns, and thrives.

We sold out our first conference!

Tomorrow marks our first-ever all-day creator conference with Teachable, and I can't believe I’m saying that every single ticket is gone.

From creator to creator, it's daunting to sell something to your audience… let alone something that costs $147!

You’re filled with thoughts: Will anyone actually buy this? What if the room is empty? Is this price insane? Am I…?

Every creator faces this cliff edge when transitioning from free to paid offerings. It's the ultimate test of the value you've built.

But here's what I've learned through this process: Those years of showing up consistently — providing value without expectation of return — they weren't just good deeds. They were investments! Investments that compound in ways you can't predict until suddenly, you're staring at a sold-out event wondering how you got here.

As I finalize details for Saturday, I found myself reflecting on how this all started, with a story I've never shared about our very first Brooklyn event that almost went sideways...

Let's dive in.

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✍️ Spotlight

From shoeless to SOLD OUT: the CENYC story I’ve never shared

Back in May 2023, we hosted a Creator Economy NYC meetup in a Brooklyn venue where we all had to take our shoes off. Yes, take our shoes off.

I remember frantically messaging everyone about this unexpected detail, worried it would keep people away.

I was lugging snacks across the city, sweating through my shirt, dealing with an Uber Eats alcohol delivery that went to the wrong place. Pure startup creator energy… scrappy, imperfect, but determined.

About 30 of you showed up anyway.

At that moment, I couldn't have possibly envisioned that we'd be back in Brooklyn two years later, hosting a sold-out conference with Teachable and our other amazing partners. The scale of what we're doing this Saturday wasn't even on my radar.

The only thing I could focus on then was what was in my control: consistency. Keeping my goal of one event every month. No skipped months. No excuses. Just showing up, again and again.

That's the reality of building anything meaningful as a creator. The early days are messy. You're figuring it out as you go. You're doing things that don't scale — like personally carrying snacks across boroughs or sending last-minute texts about having to take your shoes off!

Oh, and Dara, who’s in the puffy jacket in the photo below from that event, is actually speaking at our conference this Saturday!

Now, what kept me going here wasn't some grand vision of hosting a conference. It was simpler than that: dedication to the process, continuous iteration, and genuine passion for connecting this community.

As you go through the journey of building your own thing right now – whether it's content, a product, or a community – remember that consistency compounds in ways you can't predict.

The seemingly small actions you take today are building the foundation for opportunities you can't even imagine yet. I’m always reminded of this graphic.

Stay scrappy. Stay consistent. And trust the process – what feels like a shoeless meetup today might be a sold-out conference tomorrow 😉

Oh and most importantly, f*ck it, create it.

🎪 City Happenings

Upcoming Events

We've of course been heads down with the conference. And I always default to transparency with you all, we'll likely have our next event in July. Big things ahead for the second half of the year.

In the meantime though, I wanted to share another upcoming conference with you all.

My friend and fellow community builder Andrew Yeung is hosting his second conference called OOO (Owners, Operators, and Outliers) happening next Friday, May 16!

It's the ultimate gathering for entrepreneurs, creators, and ambitious builders looking to level up their businesses and networks. Perfect for founders, operators, and side-hustlers who are building the future.

Featured speakers include:

• Sahil Bloom (NYT Bestselling Author and Twitter thread pioneer)

• Andrew Yang (Forward Party founder, former presidential candidate)

• Justin Welsh (Built a $2M/year 1-person business with 95% profit margins)

I got you hooked up with a discount: Use code CENYC for $100 off ($99 total)

📚 Resources

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!)

✌🏽 Stand Clear of the Closing Doors Please

Thanks so much for reading! If you’ll be at CONNECT, see you there! And as always, see you next week… and back to some regular programming!

LFC(reate),

Brett