👋🏽 Doors Opening

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

This week was ELECTRIC — our event with Notion was packed with the community lining up to learn the tech stacks powering the industry's biggest names. Great to see many of you there.

And speaking of fire events... our all-day conference with Teachable is just weeks away! Snag your ticket here for $100 off usual price (but only until next week — these things sell out fast).

Now, let's dive into the tools and workflows discussed on this week’s panel.

Let's get into it.

📓 Brought to you by Notion

Notion is the tool that powers our community

After hearing so much Notion love at our event this week, I wanted to make sure you all knew about the program we were celebrating:

Notion just launched their Creator Program – and it's a game-changer for anyone trying to bring order to their creative chaos.

As we saw from our panel, Notion has become the backbone of so many creator businesses.

What makes this program special? Eligible creators get free access to Notion Plus and Notion AI – the exact tools our panelists highlighted as essential to their workflows.

Creators with 10k+ cumulative followers and 5k+ average views across platforms can apply.

Notion is basically saying "we want to give you back more time to create" — and who doesn't want that?

✍️ Spotlight

Tools that power six-figure content businesses

Let me just set the scene real quick before the takeaways:

The room was packed at our Creator Economy NYC event this week, where we partnered with Notion to celebrate their new Notion for Creators program.

Food in the back, drinks flowing (our signature CENYC-Spritz - yeah, it's just an Aperol spritz but made with love - and the Espresso No-tini specially crafted for Notion), and as always, the vibes were high as creators of all sizes gathered to learn about the tools and systems that can transform their creative hustle.

Our all-star panel featured a diverse mix of creator perspectives:

• Gabby Beckford – Travel and lifestyle creator who's built a thriving business while constantly on the move

• Shervin Shares – Tech and fitness creator known for testing gadgets, wearables and health experiments

• Julia Fei – Data scientist and part-time YouTuber balancing corporate and creator life

• Brandon Smithwrick – Director of Content at Kickstarter and creator of the "Content to Commas" newsletter

One of my favorite parts of the night was our "Wall of Tools" activation – as creators arrived, they added sticky notes naming tools they can't live without.

The wall quickly filled with everything from familiar favorites to niche tools I'd never heard of. It was fascinating to see which tools appeared again and again, revealing the core stack that powers our community.

Okkk, now I want to share the insights that had everyone furiously taking notes:

The moment creators realize they need systems

One of my favorite questions was asking each creator when they realized they needed better systems. Their answers revealed a lot:

Gabby's wake-up call: "I was losing money. I could see every day that I didn't have a system, there were things falling through the cracks." She sat down and created a 50-row spreadsheet in Notion documenting every task she does daily, weekly, and monthly, then identified what she loved, what she was good at, and what needed to be outsourced.

Brandon's realization: "You can only do so much scrappy. If you want to scale, you've got to figure out how to 10x your business." He shared a powerful quote: "You don't rise to the level of your ideas. You fall to the level of your systems."

Shervin's approach: "I've always used systems to help with my laziness." He knew he wanted to publish weekly YouTube videos, so he built systems that made it impossible to miss deadlines.

Julia's perspective: As a self-described "Type A" person, she already had systems and simply adapted her existing organizational frameworks to content creation.

We've all been there – that breaking point where the creative chaos becomes unsustainable. Systems are often important, but don’t overthink them!

Talking about “the second brain”

When I asked the room who was interested in Notion, nearly every hand shot up.

What became clear is that Notion isn't just another tool – it's become the operating system for creators.

Our panelists setups ranged from beautifully simple to mind-blowingly complex:

Brandon's Notion setup: He started simple with conversation notes, then expanded to different spaces for work, content, and personal life. Now he uses it for everything from tracking brand deals to hosting digital products and even family meetings with his wife!

Here are some of his templates you can download!

Julia's robust structure: As a data scientist, she's built an incredibly detailed system tracking every video, brand deal, and metric. Each video has its own page with scripts, status updates, and performance data.

Gabby's deep layers: "Mine's broken up like a bigger company — marketing, PR, SEO, PTO. It's literally like universe, Milky Way, earth — it's rich, scary, deep layers." She also stores SOPs (standard operating procedures) for her team in Notion.

Shervin's journey: He started with templates borrowed from established creators, then adjusted them to fit his needs. He eventually became more "scrappy" but still uses Notion as a foundation.

The gear that makes it all happen

The gear conversation revealed a fascinating trend – creators are going smaller and more nimble with their equipment.

Content cameras getting smaller: Julia noted her equipment has gotten progressively smaller throughout her career, from a bulky DSLR to tiny portable options, because "if there's too much friction with a big camera, I will never film anything."

The DJI Osmo Pocket 3: A unanimous favorite among the panel for its portability and ease of use.

Gling: The surprise tool everyone was talking about — an AI editor that cuts out pauses and "ums" and helps with text-based editing. Gabby called it "simple but powerful" for getting to that first draft quickly.

Meta Ray-Ban glasses: Brandon's go-to for capturing B-roll without needing to take out a phone or camera.

Shervin's foot pedals: The most unique setup by far! He uses Elgato pedals to control camera switching during filming, creating pre-edited multi-cam videos in real-time. Editing with his feet!!

What to keep intentionally scrappy

One of my favorite questions was what each creator intentionally doesn't over-optimize:

Shervin: Video ideas. "It's more important to be agile," he explained, never planning content more than two weeks ahead to stay responsive to trends.

Brandon: LinkedIn posts and brain-dumping ideas in Notion. "Your unique voice is why people come to you and what brought you the audience in the first place."

Julia: Brainstorming in a physical journal. "I let myself do that once a quarter... just let myself kind of do anything that I want."

Gabby: Execution. "So much of my life is unplannable," she shared, having outlines but being flexible about how they come to life when she's traveling.

Owning your audience: the real creator insurance policy

If there was one message that resonated throughout the night, it was this: platforms come and go, but owned audiences are forever.

Brandon shared how he grew his newsletter to over 1,000 subscribers in just two weeks using lead magnets – free digital products on Gumroad that require an email, connected via Zapier to his beehiiv account.

Gabby's ManyChat strategy was brilliant in its simplicity – "Comment 'Columbia' to get the ebook" prompts, triggering automated DM sequences that collect emails. "It's a cute little handshake," she explained, noting she still gets sign-ups from guides created years ago.

AI: The silent partner

Every creator is integrating AI, but in surprisingly thoughtful ways:

Gabby has created custom GPTs for recurring formats like thread writing – "I'll be like, in the Uber on my phone, 'I want to make a thread about running late in New York City. Give me five options,' and it'll write it in the right tone, format, word count."

Brandon maintains an "AI prompt database" in Notion with his most-used requests. His newest use? Analyzing newsletter A/B test results to improve subject lines.

Julia has shifted to using Notion AI for email drafting as it integrates with the new Notion Mail feature (which just launched that day!).

The bottom line

What struck me most was how each creator has built systems that enhance rather than replace their creative work. The goal isn't robotic efficiency – it's creating space for the human touch that makes content connect.

As Brandon put it: "Figure out your zone of genius and just focus on that." Everything else can be systematized, delegated, or reimagined.

For those who couldn't be there, I hope these insights help you rethink your own creator toolkit. And for those contemplating Notion, their new creator program offers free pro features including AI tools and expert guidance.

Let me know what tools you're using and what you'd like to explore next – maybe we'll focus a future event on it!

 🎪 City Happenings

Our FIRST-EVER-IRL-ALL-DAY Conference - 5/10

We are hosting our first-ever conference on May 10th with our friends at Teachable.

Your ticket to CONNECT is your ticket to the future of the creator economy. You’ll enjoy an immersive day featuring an influential creator keynote with Timm Chiusano, engaging panel discussions, interactive workshops, AND…

Endless networking opportunities, a lively happy hour, exclusive swag and merch, and interactive brand activations.

And because you’re here, I’m giving you $100 off a ticket (typically $247).

There are only a few left at this price, and they will go up soon. Don't miss it.

Will I see you there?

📚 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! I’m headed on vacation next week… first time in a few years!! Trying to unplug as much as I can before a busy spring. BUT, I will still be in your inbox next week! Let’s get after it!

See you next week,

Brett