Unpacking the Future of the Creator Economy w/ James Creech.

Some industries struggle to evolve. Others evolve by the day. Can you guess which category the creator economy falls under?

If you’ve dipped even one toe into this industry, you know that content creation is nearly impossible to track, let alone predict.

That’s why we connected with one of the few people envisioning where things are headed: James Creech, who was previously Co-Founder & CEO of influencer marketing platform Paladin (acquired by Brandwatch). 
 
He’s now building Creator Economy Jobs, a much-needed job board for our industry, and Measure Studio, an AI-powered social media analytics for brands and agencies.

Want to know what leaders like Creech are thinking about these days? Keep reading for a rundown of our conversation!

Why build Creator Economy Jobs?

Like many of us, Creech stumbled into this industry by accident. While working at a creator network early in his career, he saw a need for better technology to help creators succeed. That led to Paladin, as well as his next project: Creator Economy Jobs. 

“I get asked to recommend candidates all the time by friends and fellow founders who are hiring, and I love connecting people. But I realised there was no central resource to help job seekers and hiring teams in our industry, so I wanted a way to scale my impact – that was the inspiration to build Creator Economy Jobs,” he said.

Where do you expect the creator economy to go in the next three years?

We’ll let Creech take it away. In his own words:

“Three years from now, the world will be a majority freelance economy, with more and more gig workers, multi-hyphenates, and people who identify as creators for part of their professional identity.

We’re also observing a rise of B2B creators on platforms like LinkedIn, newsletters, and podcasts. This will become increasingly important as modern leaders realize they need to be creators and participate in the public conversation.

Finally, we’ll see more and more creator-led brands. Companies like Ipsy, Feastables, and Prime are blazing the way for more creators to build their own empires through the power of their passionate fan bases.”

What advice would you give to someone who would like to work in the creator economy?

Creech has three key pieces of advice:

“Be curious. Immerse yourself in the content, platforms, and new technologies impacting this space.

Be proactive. Take initiative and put yourself out there to connect with people.

Be helpful. Go out of your way to help others. You’ll be surprised how much this comes back to you.”

Hard to argue with any of that! For more from Creech, follow him on LinkedIn and subscribe to the weekly job roundup from Creator Economy Jobs, and the insider’s social media guide from Social Navigator.

Fuze’s Recommendations

So what’s next? How can you incorporate this insight into your 2024 planning?

👉 Be among the first creators to sign up for emerging tools like Creator Economy Jobs. You never know if you're on the ground floor of something special!

👉 Continue networking, making friends, and nurturing your connections. What goes around comes around.

👉 Keep your ears open for wisdom from people like Creech. Take their advice to heart, and remain open to change.

As always, if you’ve got this far, thanks for your time :)

If you would like to chat further, I'm putting aside time for one consulting call per week for creators / marketeers that are subscribed to this newsletter.

We'll speak for 30 minutes on a problem that you want to discuss and I'll follow up with valuable resources and an action plan to address the opportunity / issue.

I specialise in the area of brand partnerships, creator monetisation & creator marketing strategy.

Have a brilliant day,

Conor