Conscious Creators — Make A Life Through Your Art Without Selling Your Soul

“There is something incredibly powerful when the design is for connection versus the design is for content. Community is designed for connection. Social media is designed for content.”

— Gina Bianchini

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Gina Bianchini (@gbianchini / @ginab), CEO and Founder of Mighty — Where creators, entrepreneurs, and brands build digital communities and courses with cultural software. She is also the author of the new book Purpose: Design a Community and Change Your Life.

In 2019, she also launched the Community Design™ Masterclass, where over 8,000 people have learned how to build a community so valuable you can charge for it, and so well-designed it essentially runs itself.

Before Mighty, Gina she was the CEO and co-founder of Ning, a pioneering global platform for creating social networks she started with Marc Andreessen in 2004.

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

Resources Mentioned:

The Art Of Asking A Great Question | The Secret to Community Engagement

1,000 Creators Predict 2023 | From Mighty

Community Design Accelerator

(02:35) - What role “purpose” plays in culture

(07:59) - How she refocuses a community to think about the depth, rather than expanding, while building a business 

(13:57) - How she knew years before that the market would need a software like Mighty Networks

(16:18) - How she learned the ideas of community

(19:06) - Second-order effects that come up with thinking about community, from a cultural perspective

(22:55) - Why she’s confident that anyone can become a creator

(28:47) - The revelation that the biggest revenue earners on Mighty Networks had an average of 8,500 social media followers

(30:32) - Difference between audience and community

(33:52) - Compounding results in a community

(43:25) - “I am an introvert, I don’t know if I should build a community” — How she handles these statements 

(46:19) - What to do in the first few days and weeks of building a community

(53:58) - What a 5-star community looks like

(59:02) - How to create loyalty within the community

(01:03:38) - What it looks like to manage a community at scale

(01:05:25) - How her thinking about business has evolved since she started

(01:08:10) - How she became so well connected in Silicon Valley

(01:09:17) - Did she face imposter syndrome?

(01:14:18) - Community leaders that inspire her 

(01:16:32) - What she’s excited about in the upcoming years and Mighty Network’s future

“Whatever point you are at, you kind of have to go back and say ‘what is the thing that you're building?’ And ‘do people really want it?’”

— Immad Akhund

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Immad Akhund (@immad), CEO of Mercury — The company trusted by more than 100,000 startups for banking*. Mercury gives founders free checking and savings accounts, debit and credit cards*, domestic and USD international wire transfers, Treasury*, venture debt, and more. He co-founded the company in 2017 after his own frustrations as an entrepreneur with the traditional banking hurdles founders face as they set up and run their businesses. He started Mercury to remove that friction by building an intuitive product experience for necessary financial products in order to help founders manage their business with confidence. Launched in 2019, Mercury has raised $163M from a16z, Coatue, CRV and others.

Immad is a serial founder who cuts through a problem and catalyzes change for the industry around it. Born in Pakistan and raised in the U.K., Immad immigrated to the U.S. to join Y Combinator with his previous startup Heyzap (acquired by Fyber). He is a former part-time partner at Y Combinator and is an active angel investor, with more than 250 investments in startups including Airtable, Rappi and Substack.

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

(02:27) - Dichotomy of being a business person and a creative person

(04:42) - The impact and rise of no-code tools to build stuff

(07:15) - What trends to look for to determine what to build and whether you should raise funds or not

(10:00) - YC for creators

(14:36) - The process they followed to build Mercury

(17:44) - Product-led growth — What is it?

(19:26) - 10x improvements they made during the building phase of mercury

(21:46) - How they structured the production function

(27:07) - Times when Immad wanted to give up

(31:11) - How they were iterating to build, without having feedback from customers 

(33:39) - Things they did in the early stages that have been giving them massive results

(38:07) - What he looks for in people when building a start-up team

(40:24) - The difference between great investors and people with money

(43:18) - The transition from the building phase to the growth phase

(45:50) - Best practices — Product first growth mindset

(49:14) - How he enables the culture in order to make sure people support each other

(53:45) - What are the first hires to make

(55:09) - Has he ever hired 10x engineers

(59:02) - Building a remote company with a strong culture and doing rapid innovation

(01:03:28) - Mercury as a bank account and platform

(01:06:49) - How has his love for SciFi influenced the product building

(01:12:28) - How he propagated his ethics in the team

(01:14:58) - Politics — His thoughts on banning people 

(01:17:15) - Scifi books that have impacted him

(01:18:45) - One piece of wisdom that changed the game for him

(01:20:30) - One person he is grateful to

(01:21:31) - How he has evolved as an entrepreneur

(01:22:54) - What it means to be a conscious creator

“It's not just the people who are interested in you, but who's going to believe in you, who's going to support you, who's going to care about you as a person, not just as the brand.”

— Coach Carey

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Raia Carey (@coach_carey). As a 3x Certified Life Coach and motivational speaker, Raia is passionate about encouraging others to tap into the confidence they never knew they had. After overcoming various hardships, she was able to transform her mindset and begin a career that empowers others to do the same.

By openly sharing her triumphs and tribulations, Raia’s vulnerability helps foster a welcoming and safe environment in every room she enters. She strives to inspire and lead those around her by providing unwavering support, guidance, and motivation.

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

02:41 - Where she began her journey and how the business is doing now

04:29 - How she started working with big brands

06:44 - Impact over numbers 

07:46 - Her first events — Free or paid?

08:58 - The transition from charity to corporate events 

11:06 - Telling her first big clients about her charges 

13:30 - How she overcame the fear of charging “fairly” for her workshops

15:43 - The next jump in her pricing structure

17:18 - Coach Carey’s marketing strategy

19:43 - How creators can build self-confidence 

22:06 - Self-trust and its importance

23:19 - Learning how to set boundaries

28:22 - How she landed a commercial with Nike

31:34 - Does she still have imposter syndrome

32:51 - How to become comfortable with imposter syndrome

32:46 - Forms of self-care

38:49 - The twisted definition of self-care

40:13 - Practicing joy

41:55 - How building a safe space and confidence are related

48:08 - Elements of creating a safe space for the community

49:23 - Brave space Vs Safe Space

50:01 - Active Allyship and Heart-Centered leadership

51:14 - Leading with love Vs Leading with fear

54:23 - How she makes sure people are being heard

56:04 - Certifications to become a better coach

58:13 - Three books that have made the biggest impact

59:18 - One piece of wisdom that changed the game

01:00:08 - One person she is grateful to

01:00:44 - What it means to be a conscious creator

01:01:07 - What she is looking forward to the most in the next 5-10 years

“Your job and your goal should be ‘How do I continuously build the systems in place in order to have an empty calendar and empty tasks list?’ In the beginning, you are the firefighter. Your job as the CEO is to create the fire departments.”

— Ayman

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Ayman-Al-Abdullah (@aymanalabdul) — Former CEO of AppSumo where he grew them from $3M to $80M+ in annual revenue). Now he coaches CEO's to go from 7 to 9 figures.

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

(06:39) - Internal psychology evolution that happens when going from solopreneur to CEO who manages people

(07:36) - Tools that he uses to help leaders

(09:58) - The different steps that he takes a CEO through in order to transition from black pen writer to red pen editor

(12:45) - The first step Ayman takes with a creator that is earning less than a million

(16:07) - How and why to double down on one revenue stream instead of multiple

(17:49) - Example of what Sachit should do

(19:59) - Internal psychology of creators who are diversifying too much, way too soon

(23:50) - Do you need to start selling the courses before you maximize your profits on services?

(27:04) - Price, client selection, and other levers in a course + how to get them right

(31:09) - Why you should focus on removing things, rather than adding

(33:39) - Benefits that come with only focusing on one thing at a time

(34:33) - Other things that distract founders

(37:27) - How to know when you are ready for the next phase in your journey

(41:18) - The core team that a founder needs in the early phases

(43:57) - Where he starts with businesses that are doing 5 million

(47:31) - How to decide which tasks to keep and which tasks to delegate, as a creator

(49:28) - The next steps - Process, people, and performance

(52:04) - How to create and run the master dashboard for your business

(54:23) - When should you start hiring leaders instead of specialists?

(57:24) - Why no one is able to break through a certain cap when it comes to selling courses

(58:36) - How to level up as a leader if you’re working with a CEO

(01:00:47) - Mindset shifts required to hire leaders in the company

(01:02:45) - Story of a leader who let go of total control and hired someone + the changes that it brought to the company

(01:05:15) - What happens if a founder actually achieves a clear calendar?

(01:11:20) - How to be a complete person as a CEO

(01:14:17) - Tools that can improve the psychological aspects of CEOs

(01:18:08) - Three books that have made the biggest impact

(01:19:33) - One piece of wisdom that changed the game for him

(01:20:29) - One person he is grateful to

(01:21:36) - What it means to be a conscious creator

(01:22:36) - What he’s looking forward to the most in the next 5-10 years

“What really kind of gets me going to grow this business is I never want to make this something to where it's like - Oh, I don't know that person's name or they're just there because they're good at this. This is a family first. Beyond that, we are able to kind of sell some deals and make a business successful. “

— Matt Cisneros

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Matt Cisneros (@mattcisneros) — Founder of Backyard Ventures (BV), a full-service partnerships business for creators.

BV focuses on Podcasts, Newsletters, YouTube, and Social Media monetization so that creators can focus on creating content. While BV manages sales/partnerships, Matt's focus and passion are on growing relationships into long-term partnerships.

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

(02:39) - What they have done in aggregate in brand deals since the company has started

(05:55) - The conversation they are having with brands in terms of sponsorships and brand deals

(09:16) - How they convince and commit brands to work with creators and podcasters

(13:03) - How they’re evaluating creators while presenting them to brands

(16:17) - Higher end numbers that they have seen

(21:11) - The conversations that they have with creators

(24:28) - Signs that a creator will make a great partner 

(27:07) - Things creators can do to make great partnerships with brands

(29:34) - Things that creators do to make campaigns a great success

(35:04) - Deal structure difference — YouTube vs Podcasting and other platforms

(38:01) - Things creators should consider during the deal making process

(39:55) - Red flags creators should look for when working with brands

(42:11) - How creators can take relationships with brands to the next level

(43:43) - How big the numbers can get for creators if the relationship with brands grows

(47:43) - How he managed the 100s of relationships with executives of companies and creators while simultaneously building the business

(51:19) - Personal and professional relationship — How he keeps them separate

(53:58) - The biggest challenges, wins, and losses while building the company

(56:09) - The story of the first hire they made

(01:00:16) - Matt’s view on delegation ***

(01:03:09) - Long-term vision and targets for the company

(01:07:37) - How creators should decide who to bring on to represent or manage them 

(01:12:05) - Books that have made the biggest impact

(01:13:41) - One piece of wisdom that changed the game 

(01:14:47) - One person he is grateful to

(01:16:33) - What it means to be a conscious creator

(01:17:38) - What Tiago is looking forward to the most in the next 5-10 years

“People are burned out of courses and no one really enjoys them. So like notice what people like, people like masterminds - they like hanging out with other people and interacting. It's more about the people. It's less about the content.”

— Sam Ovens

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Sam Ovens (@samovens), CEO and Founder of Skool — a community platform for creators.

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

(02:37) - Balancing family and business

(03:28) - How his mental models about business changed since having a child

(04:51) - The process he went through to find his tech co-founder

(11:11) - His approach to building a great team, so he can get his time back

(14:25) - When Sam was working 15-20 hours a day - Would he do it again?

(15:51) - When they downsized the company to make ensure it’s fun end enjoyable

(17:55) - Example of how he turned non-fun tasks into fun tasks

(20:28)- Tasks that he got rid of during the process of downsizing

(25:09) - Lessons learned on building great products/courses in the online education world

(29:01) - How the product evolved over time

(30:08) - Thoughts on cohort-based courses and their future

(33:44) - Non-intuitive lessons he has learned over the last decade

(39:44) - The switch from trying to pull things from the market, to listening to what the market wants

(41:27) - Importance of communities in courses and education

(43:17) - How to create more engaging communities

(46:41) - Transitioning from a creator with an audience, to a seven-figure zen style business

(50:26) - Sam’s unique approach to launches and selling

(53:37)- How Sam sells using Loom videos

(54:54) - Core mechanics of an offer

(56:24) - How to create rush and scarcity at the launch of a course

(58:55) - How he goes from beta testing a course to the next step

(59:57) - Getting good at pre-empting things in business

(01:01:42) - Why he decided to go fully-in on Skool

(01:07:17) - The convergence of info marketing, creators, and tech

(01:11:01) - The pseudo-abundance of content on the internet

(01:17:44) - The gamification of communities 

(01:20:27) - Creative trade-off decisions they made in Skool

(01:21:53) - How he thinks about the community's success and KPIs

(01:23:34) - How he keeps the quality of the community high since it’s gotten big

(01:29:59) - The importance of mindset as a creator

(01:32:36) - How a community can create unsaid rules based on members personalities and how to deal with that

(01:35:54)- Personal ideas that he changed his mind about after learning about them from a community

(01:36:53) - Books that have been most impactful to him

(01:37:16) - One piece of wisdom that changed the game for him

(01:37:44) - One person he is grateful to

(01:38:11) - What it means to be a conscious creator

(01:38:47) - Things he is most excited for in the next 5-10 years

“I believe that we have the ability to solve someone's problems and in doing so that produces loyalty, commitment, addiction, attention, but I don't believe it comes from selling. Selling is nine times out of 10 — When someone is trying to get you to have that. But if I can find out what motivates you and what helps you and what impacts you, then I can solve anything”

— Steve Sims

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with entrepreneur Steve Sims (@stevedsims) — Quoted as “The Real Life Wizard of Oz" by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, Steve Sims is a best selling Author with "BLUEFISHING - the art of making things happen”, sought-after coach and a speaker at a variety of networks, groups and associations as well as the Pentagon and Harvard.

Find the show notes of the episode here - https://www.creators.show

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter. Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

(02:06) - Why most people are bad at communicating 

(06:37) - Steve’s approach to communication

(13:07) - How to build relationships with people you don’t know 

(15:43) - Why he thinks email marketing is weak

(20:36) - How and why simplifying is the key to everything

(22:49) - “Just pick up the phone”

(32:23) - The most fulfilling requests he fulfilled for people

(35:12) - Lessons he learned from his roots

(37:31) - How Steve defines Conscious Creators

“Every stakeholder is even. So your customer, or your stakeholder, or your janitor, or your employees, are just as important as the investor. This mentality changes everything.” — JP Newman

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Entrepreneur JP Newman, Founder of Thrive, FP — A top tier lender and investors real estate investment firm specializing in the multi-family sector with over 15,000 apartment units owned and over $200+ million in private equity under management and $1.75+ billion in total transactions value, since 2011. His commitment to enriching lives continues to evolve with a solid business model which outperforms his competitors through higher resident retention.

JP’s vision is driven by his unwavering commitment to using the best practices of putting people first, coupled with a core value for respect for everyone — all stakeholders — investors, residents, and employees.

His vision is for a world where everyone lives in thriving communities and building wealth and helping others are one and the same. He is passionate about enriching lives with every touchpoint and this solid business model creates opportunities for their residents and stakeholders, making them healthier, wealthier, and wiser.

Find the show notes of the episode here - https://www.creators.show

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

(02:14) - What makes a great community

(03:17) - How meaningful purpose acts as the strongest connector in a community

(06:12) - Concept of Conscious Capitalism 

(10:24) - Why you need to find the “Why” for your business

(13:12) - Serving people should be the “Why” of your life

(18:18) - How JP is using real estate as the vehicle to being a conscious creator 

(22:27) - Lessons he has learned by working in the film industry

(27:45) - The inspiration behind building a sports complex

(31:28) - How JP pulled himself out of a rut after looking in on his friends’ successes, while feeling like he had nothing to show for his own

(34:35) - JP’s life after he started working with his dad from his childhood bedroom

The second brain grew so slowly from one little use case to now I use it for basically everything, but you cannot start like that. That is trying to boil the ocean. That is trying to skip to the end.
— Tiago Forte

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Tiago Forte (@fortelabs), one of the world’s foremost experts on productivity. He has taught more than 20,000 people worldwide through his programs, while writing and speaking on how technology can help knowledge workers revolutionize their personal effectiveness.

Tiago’s online course, Building a Second Brain, has produced more than 5,000 graduates from over 70 countries. The course draws on his experience in academic disciplines such as information science, practical fields such as user experience design, and his work with top organizations and leaders in Silicon Valley.

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

(02:55) - It’s not about the tool, it’s about the system

(04:44) - Why people are distracted by finding the tools

(05:43) - How “Building a Second Brain” relates to shifting the internal psychology and unlocking the creative side 

(06:53) - Things he has taken from other industries that helped him build the principles

(09:57) - What creators can learn from fields like manufacturing and bring to their knowledge management

(11:44) - Theory of constraints and its elements

(13:22) - Biggest bottlenecks when it comes to being a creator

(15:36) - How he navigates the bottlenecks that he faces

(19:43) - How personal transformative experiences have changed things in the business

(20:52) - The roles of surrender and perfectionism in his life 

(23:48) - How to start building a second brain (a live walkthrough with Sachit)

(31:55) - Inflection point in the second brain as a product and idea

(36:26) - How things changed for him when going from 0 to 5 and now 17 employees

(39:31) - A time when Tiago thought of shutting the course down

(41:25) - Biggest challenges he has faced while thinking about scaling as a creator

(44:02) - Mistakes that creators usually make

(47:17) - Tiago’s advice to people who are in the process of exponentially growing, in terms of scale and team

(50:00) - His experience of running a thousand student cohort

(52:020 - The transition from cohort to a membership model

(53:52) - The impact of launching a year-long cohort, on marketing and sales

(58:33) - The transition and journey from ”people buying from Tiago”, to people buying the product

(01:00:32) - The experience of finding a new audience and finally feeling like the product is great 

(01:02:46) - Actions he took to shift from early adopters to the next phase of customers

(01:05:29) - How he is looking at Building the Second Brain over the next few years

(01:07:36) - How the A.I. writing tools will change the consumption, curation, and creation for content

(01:10:38) - Whose second brain he would like to access to

(01:11:28) - A person he is grateful to

(01:12:08) - What it means to be a conscious creator

(01:13:02) - What it might look like to give a starter second brain to his baby

The ultimate question for every creator, marketer, and entrepreneur is if you read and consume your content for the first time, would you go and say -that's legendary content! If you're a creator when your shit goes out, do you rush to consume it? Are you the biggest fan of your content? Because if you're not, it's telling you something. - Chris Lochhead

This week Sachit (@sachitgupta) chats with Christopher Lochhead (@lochhead). Chris is the thirteen-time #1 bestselling CoAuthor of Play Bigger, Snow Leopard, and Category Pirates and #1 charting business dialogue podcaster, who is best known as a "godfather" of Category Design.

He’s been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups, is a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO (Mercury Interactive, Scient, Vantive), and entrepreneur.

Follow our host, Sachit Gupta on Twitter and sign up for the Creators Collective Newsletter.

Do you want to learn how to make a living as a creator? Check out the CreatorsMBA.

(2:37) - Chris and Sachit’s first conversation

(06:45) - Chris’s content matrix and approach to becoming a great creator

(11:52) - The obvious content and how so many books fall into that category

(22:20) - Live example of how Sachit can take his non-obvious content and reach an audience

(25:17) - How to make a difference at scale

(27:41) - Different types of thinking

(32:24) - Figuring out what your category is, using your existing point of view

(41:24) - How Sachit has helped Chris identify that he has fallen into a trap

(43:27) - Why creators become creators

(46:18) - The only sane reason to use social media platforms

(49:45) - The big creator lie

(51:08) - Chris’s category — science research

(55:10) - The evils of hustle porn culture

(57:27) - How to monetize insight, not envy

(01:10:44) - Deep dive into category design and examples of obvious and non-obvious content

(01:12:04) - Why non-obvious content and ideas are the ones that scale

(01:15:26) - The content trap

(01:17:47) - How niching down super tight can make you more money

(01:22:48) - Category designers that inspire Chris

(01:26:39) - One person he is grateful to

(01:27:46) - Chris’s definition of a conscious creator

(01:31:12) - What he is most excited about in the coming years