MAY 4, 2021

Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-a-week newsletter for content creators who want to be or already are content entrepreneurs. We talk aspiration, inspiration, revenue, audiences, tech, trends, and more to help your content business thrive.

$TILT coin tuesday

We are testing something … Want to give it a try?

For TODAY ONLY, anyone who uses their unique referral code (at the bottom of this email) and gets someone to subscribe to The Tilt will get two $TILT coin for every one referral.

That means if you get five people to subscribe, that’s 10 $TILT coin (current value of $75.00). Oh, let’s say we are dreaming, and you get 20 people to subscribe today. That’s $150 in $TILT coin. Can you do it? We bet you can. Go for it.


full tilt

Content Businesses Require Content Creators to Think Like Owners

What’s the news?

Side hustles. Gigs. Freelancers. Independent contractors. According to Bankrate, one in three people needs a “side hustle” to cover regular living expenses. Over 41M independent workers exist in the U.S.

So what?

Most of those people are not entrepreneurs. Using the same language they use to describe your content business isn’t accurate.

Why does that matter?

As Later CEO Roger Patterson explains: “When we … de-legitimize (entrepreneurship) with a different term, we may be sending a message to ourselves and others that our endeavors aren’t to be taken seriously.”

The Tilt Talk and Advice

What should you do?

Even if you have another full-time job, think and act like a business owner. You must set up and run a business.

What does that mean?

Start by documenting your plan. Clearly define who you’re creating your content for (i.e., your target audience). Then, craft a mission statement. We like this simple fill-in-the-blank formula from Orbit Media: “Our content is where (Audience X) gets (Information Y) that offers (Benefit Z).”

Does a traditional business plan work for a creative business?

It can. But make sure to include the differentiator for successful content entrepreneurs – a laser-like focus on the audience first. You have no chance of achieving your financial goals if you haven’t built the audience.

What can you do today?

Write down the details about your target audience. Document your mission statement. List three to five business goals with completion time frames.

Any other must-do things?

Separate your business finances from your personal finances. Keep records for your business. Consider your legal structure options. Many sole proprietors establish single-member limited liability companies (LLC).

What if you don’t know how to do it?

The Small Business Administration website is a trove of educational info. See what programs your local small business development center or chamber of commerce offers. Find a business mentor through the SCORES program.

What if your plan is wrong (or at least not that great)?

Your business plan isn’t written in stone. You may think you know what your audience will respond to, only to find they are more interested in something else you do. Use your plan as the compass and adjust it when a new and improved path reveals itself.

What else?

A solid, documented plan is helpful for one other big reason – it makes it a lot easier to get rid of “side hustle” and “gig worker” from your vocabulary. You’ll feel more confident that you’re on the entrepreneurial path. And maybe then, you can make your content business your “real” job.

– Ann Gynn

To learn more about how to view your content business and work on your business plan, read the longer story.


Pilates Teacher Moves Online Training Empire

Entrepreneur: Madison Page

Biz: Core to Coeur

Tilt: Digital teaching studio for movement teachers and students

Channel: Website

Rev Streams: Subscriptions

Marketing mix: Blog, newsletter, social media (and instructors’ audiences)

Our Favorite Actionable Advice

  • Get creative: Maddy didn’t set out to become an online entrepreneur. It happened because she wanted more control of her Pilates teaching environment.
  • Think beta: Conduct a pilot program or test your idea before going full throttle into the business.
  • DIY: Create your own platform and you don’t have to rely on social media as anything more than a marketing tool.

Some of the Story:

Moving to Portland in 2015, Madison Page found her teaching income was hurt. Ever creative and resourceful, Maddy noticed many of her fellow Pilates teachers offered private lessons and classes on Skype and Zoom. “Well, I can do that,” she thought. So she did.

However, there are only so many private classes one person can teach. And she still needed more students to teach in this convenient way. In 2019, Core to Coeur was born.

Core to Coeur is a platform for movement professionals to teach private and group classes. Starting with 16 teachers, it now offers over 700 classes each week.

As Maddy once explained: “In start ups, you’re taught that the best marker that the founder is onto something special is what’s called traction.” To find that traction (or tilt, as we call it), Maddy asked friends and colleagues to become research participants. They gave feedback, helped her learn about her customers, and understand what she should build.

Maddy has crafted a business that isn’t centered on social media. Instead, she focuses on her owned platforms. She’s a master at maximizing. She repurposes one piece of content across all of her channels in an appropriate way, not cut-and-paste. She creates posts for Instagram and Twitter from a blog post her student wrote. She features podcast guests in her newsletter and on Instagram. She shares her YouTube tutorials in her community forum and newsletter.

Her best advice for content entrepreneurs? Start slowly.

“You’re gonna have to do a lot of things for free. And that’s a barrier,” she says. That’s one reason she continues to keep teaching while creating content and building Core to Coeur.

– Kimmy Gustafson

All the Story: To learn more about Madison Page, the content entrepreneur, and Core to Coeur, the content business, check out the longer story.

Know a content creator who’s going full tilt? DM us or email ann@thetilt.com.


quick talk

Caught on … Better Marketing

“Keep your eyes on the health of the platform you write on, as well as the landscape around it.” – Sean Kearnan


things to know

Money
  • More advertisers’ eyes: YouTube’s ad revenue grew to $6.01B in Q1, a 49% jump over Q1 2020. As advertisers look away from traditional TV, they’re looking to the fast-growing platform. That’s good news for YouTubers who should expect to see their revenue share increase too. (CNBC)
    Our take: Don’t get more comfortable relying on YouTube for most, if not all, your income. Invest some of that new YouTube money in other revenue streams where you’re in complete control.
  • Recommendation revenue: Instagram is adding features to let content creators earn money from recommending products and create a marketplace for creators and brands to connect. (Reuters)
    Our take: Read the fine print when these new features launch. Make sure you understand what Instagram offers that you couldn’t do on your own right now.
Audiences
  • Bouncing growth: After five years of building an audience on digital and social media platforms, Overtime is going into real life with Overtime Elite, a high school basketball league, complete with a high school and salaries for the students. (And in turn, creating more content opportunities.) (Wall Street Journal)
    Our take: We agree with A Media Operator: “Overtime is a classic example of building an audience first and then letting the product follow.”
  • Not a solo effort: “The brand-side influencer work that attracts the biggest audiences is deeply collaborative between creative agencies and influencer,” writes Hayley Truncali. (Marketing Insider)
    Our take: Brand partnerships don’t just involve the brand and the content creator. Creative agencies get involved. Though often hired by the brands, their goal is to build a successful bridge between the two to stay on message while resonating with the audience.
Tech and Tools
  • Real-time match: Google’s Customer Match uses your first-party data to increase your relationships or to find new people through Google Ads. Its recent update allows you to see in real time the percentage of your email list that is expected to be a match. (tl;dr marketing)
    Our take: If you invest in Google Ads, make sure to connect your first-party data to optimize your results.
  • Poppin’ podcasting: If your podcast involves more than one person, it’s a good idea to have an audio interface and a portable recorder ready to help. Oh, and don’t forget a pop filter – they keep “p” sounds from popping the mic. (Wired)
    Our take: You don’t need to spend a lot to get the right gear, but you do need the right equipment setup.
And Finally
  • Take a page: A field manual identifies your key mission, landmines that might jeopardize that, and a simple set of instructions to take “extreme ownership even in the most extreme, chaotic, and unpredictable situations.” Fit it on one page, prioritize execution, and review by all involved. (Better Humans)
    Our take: We’re big fans of writing down your mission and goals and reading them every day. The twist here? Identifying and know how to handle landmines. You can’t avoid all the possible disruptions, but you can be prepared to make them less disruptive.
  • Trust your gut: Skinny Girl brand creator Bethenny Frankel says the beginning of entrepreneurship is the hardest: “In the beginning, I had to really just go with my gut and believe in myself and not be sure if I was right because there’s no way to know.” (Today)
    Our take: Research is important, but it’s not the end point. At times, it matters to follow your instinct, particularly when you’re creating something that has never existed.


we’re a stan for Andrew Kamphey

It may seem boring, but Better Sheets is big business for Andrew Kamphey. He sells spreadsheet templates and how-to-create templates as a subscription service.

Andrew tells Mashable he made about $40K in the past year. When COVID hit, he thought people now working at home might have more time to explore business projects outside their traditional workday. As a startup’s Google Sheet guy, he already had set up a lot of the worksheets they would need.

Better Sheets reports more than 2,100 subscribers. It has a limited offer of lifetime access for $49 or subscriptions for $19 a month. His social media following is small: Twitter (356) YouTube channel (832).

Why we’re a Stan: Andrew isn’t afraid of free content competition. As he writes on his site: “Once you think of a ungoogleable question [sic]. Then come back to BetterSheets.co. In the meantime, you can watch every single YouTube video I made.”


the business of content

Hear what Joe Pulizzi, founder of The Tilt, has to say about a content partnership example that can’t lose in his weekly podcast, Content Inc. (It’s worth the four minutes.)

In the latest This Old Marketing, Joe and Robert Rose discuss how content studios from big brands are moving from Content Marketing 1.0 to 2.0.


flex your tilt

We’re launching this feature soon. But we need your help. Let us know who to feature (self-nominations are encouraged). Use #TheTilt. DM us. Or email Ann@TheTilt.com.


the tilt team

Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, Dave Anthony, and Mackenzie Pippin, with an assist from Kimmy Gustafson.