Monetization
Learn how to capture value and generate revenue from the attention you're receiving.
Every essay
Why people aren't buying (and how to fix it)
The world is changing. Are you staying the same?
5 min read→Mar 14, 2026Shared Experiences (And Why You Should Invest In Them)
The opportunity hiding in plain sight for many content creators
4 min read→Jan 9, 2026Experiment: Cohort to Membership Sales
Does running a live cohort-based learning experience translate into membership sales?
4 min read→Jun 20, 2025How to improve your sales copy
I don't claim to be the greatest copywriter. I haven't studied direct response marketing, and I'm a little
3 min read→Apr 18, 2025Gumroad buys Small Bets – was it a good deal?
Analyzing the rare $4M community acquisition.
9 min read→Mar 15, 2025Pricing for Memberships
When I talk to creators who run memberships, I'm almost always shocked by their low retention rates. Most creators I speak to
3 min read→Feb 21, 2025Getting your audience to their destination
Your target audience are passengers trying to get somewhere. Maybe they want to: * Achieve a goal * Make a change in their life * Improve an
3 min read→Feb 8, 2025"How should I validate product ideas?"
📬“How can creators early in their journey best test and validate course/product ideas?” – Ross from the Green Urbanist I’ve changed my thinking
3 min read→Dec 7, 2024Building Better Community Products
Why we need to let go of, "You get out of it what you put into it," and put ourselves back on the hook.
4 min read→Nov 23, 2024Why most digital products fail (and we're to blame)
A call for creators to focus less on transferring knowledge and more on delivering outcomes.
4 min read→Sep 14, 2024Why you need a Signature Product
I hear many creators talk about their goal of creating multiple revenue streams to "diversify their income." This usually comes from wanting
6 min read→Aug 8, 2024"Should I sell a course, coaching program, or both?"
📬"Which is better: Selling an online course, a coaching program around the same content, or even option C, both?" – Sven from Cape
4 min read→Jul 28, 2024"How do I go from clients to full-time creator?"
📬"What does it look like for a person trading time for money (working for clients) but wanting to take that next step(s)
2 min read→Jun 30, 2024More, better, new
A simple, three-part framework for getting new customers.
3 min read→Jun 8, 2024Return On Attention (ROA)
Your business is a complex system with a lot of moving parts. There's a quote about systems from W. Edwards Deming that
2 min read→May 5, 2024How to build better sales pages
I review a lot of sales pages for members of The Lab and for personal inspiration. The number one most common mistake I find
3 min read→Apr 21, 2024Why you should ask your customers why they DIDN'T buy
I was on a run listening to my friends Jeremy Enns and Justin Jackson on their excellent podcast, Podcast Marketing Trends Explained. Jeremy suggested
2 min read→Apr 2, 2024Why I'm investing in IRL events
I've been thinking about events a lot. Technology has given us the (awesome) ability to reach people all over the world. But
4 min read→Mar 31, 2024"How do you choose what products to build?"
This was asked in my most recent Listener Q&A on the podcast. Over the years, I've created (and sold) a
3 min read→Mar 31, 2024Designing Your Product Strategy
Over the years, I've created (and sold) a lot of different products. But while that's true, I've also
3 min read→Mar 26, 2024"When should you start a membership?"
This month marks the start of year three in my membership community, The Lab . Since launch, we've kept the community at 200
2 min read→Mar 17, 2024Platinum Handcuffs
Creators want control – control over their time, work, and who they work with. Having complete control over what you do, when you do it,
4 min read→Feb 11, 2024Creating Magical Experiences
We move towards pleasure and away from pain. When we have a clear goal in mind, we feel the discomfort (pain) of being at
4 min read→Nov 12, 2023Evergreen vs. Launches
Launches vs. evergreen offers – which is better? There isn't an objective "better" between the two. Both are viable strategies with
4 min read→Nov 5, 2023The Audience Trust Battery
I was speaking to a member of The Lab last week about the right time to go "all in" on your creator
4 min read→Jul 23, 2023The magic of pricing tiers
It's probably safe to assume that you'd be happy if you were able to increase your revenue. But I find
4 min read→Apr 23, 2023When to start monetizing
Creators frequently ask me, "When should I start monetizing?" First, let's acknowledge that "monetizing" is a weird word.
7 min read→Jan 15, 2023You're getting disqualified.
Let's talk about why you aren't getting higher conversion rates. When I say "conversion rate" I mean the
3 min read→Nov 12, 2022How to build an online course
On September 17, I launched the presale page for my newest course, Build A Beloved Membership. On November 12, I finished building the course.
9 min read→Sep 17, 2022Why (and how) I designed my community to stay small
I launched my membership community, The Lab, in March of this year. In just 6 months, it has: * gained 135 members * generated $96K * nearly
14 min read→Apr 3, 2022Are you building a Skyscraper or a Strip Mall?
I was reflecting this week on some of the big decisions I've made in my business over the last 3-6 months
6 min read→Mar 18, 2022Introducing the Creative Companion Club
I'm coming up on five years since I started my creator journey. I started writing Creative Companion in January 2017 (though, by
5 min read→Mar 6, 2022Online community-building predictions 🔮
I organized my first local Startup Weekend event in 2012 – that puts me at a full decade now of community building. And since 2017,
6 min read→Jan 16, 2022Cultivating a Revenue Ocean
On Friday, I paid my Q4 quarterly tax estimate. TGIF, amiright? And about a week ago, I asked my accountant if she could start
3 min read→Episodes about Monetization
Sam Vander Wielen’s Beautifully Elegant Business: $8M+ From One Product. No Pivots. No New Offers. No Down Years.
Sam Vander Wielen is an attorney turned entrepreneur who built the go-to legal template shop for online businesses.
Listen or watch→Nov 30, 2025I helped a YouTuber design his membership
Meet Tommy. Tommy has a YouTube channel dedicated to helping Americans retire in France.
Listen or watch→Nov 25, 2025I’m launching my new offer TODAY!
Today, I’m launching my first-ever Signature Product Bootcamp: A four-week, live course for developing YOUR signature product (that you can sell with confidence for years).
Listen or watch→Oct 7, 2025The best and worst income streams for creators (ranked)
I’ve been a full-time creator for 8 years now and have earned $2,192,000 since 2022. I’ve spent a LOT of time and money experimenting with different ways to make money on the internet, so I’m going to rank them. The best and the worst.
Listen or watch→Aug 26, 2025Coaching: Helping a Lab member design their product suite | Hot Seat with John McBride
A coaching conversation with Lab member John McBride, co-founder of Fatherhood Unlocked, as we design his product suite.
Listen or watch→Aug 5, 2025Meet the Appliance Repairman Making $1.8 Million on YouTube Shop | Benjamin Schlichter
Ben Schlichter is no ordinary YouTuber. He doesn’t do challenges or video essays. He talks about appliances and makes a LOT of money doing it, but not in the way you think.
Listen or watch→Jul 25, 2025The key to more sales and referrals + a personal win [Weekend Update]
Why I'm becoming obsessed with value extraction
Listen or watch→Mar 18, 2025How you can plan for growth in 2025
We are almost a quarter through 2025. This is a good time to look against your goals for the year, take stock, and say, how are things tracking a quarter through the year? Do I need to refocus, redirect, and reallocate to hit these goals…
Listen or watch→Dec 3, 2024Natasha Willis – $70M from automated Instagram DMs
Natasha Willis is the woman behind the conversational marketing agency School of Bots, which has generated over $70,000,000 for clients like Tori Dunlap, Jenna Kutcher, and even Facebook.
Listen or watch→Nov 12, 2024Jonny Miller – $800,000+ from six cohorts of his signature course
Jonny Miller is the creator of Nervous System Mastery. It teaches evidence-backed protocols to cultivate calm, build resilience, and increase aliveness in 45 days. It’s a five-week, cohort-based course that is just wrapping up its sixth cohort in the last three years.
Listen or watch→Nov 5, 2024ChefPK – How this YouTuber makes merch people actually buy
Chef PK is a cooking YouTuber whose anime food channel has done 67,000,000 views. But that's not what we're talking about today. We're talking about physical products.
Listen or watch→Sep 10, 2024New fatherhood and my next product (Justin Moore live from VidSummit)
In keeping with tradition, I spoke with Justin Moore at VidSummit 2024 about two major things.
Listen or watch→Jun 13, 2024How to build raving fans and real connection (feat. Chenell Basilio and Becky Davidson)
Last week, I spoke at ConvertKit's annual Craft and Commerce event in Boise, Idaho. It's one of my favorite events of the year, and this year may have been my favorite event ever.
Listen or watch→May 8, 2024I coached Ali Abdaal on building a membership.
Ali Abdaal was in the early stages of building his own membership community, so I coached him through it. This is that conversation, from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal.
Listen or watch→Apr 30, 2024Breaking down my $60,723 product launch
Earlier this month, I launched a brand new product called CreatorHQ. The way I’ve come to describe CreatorHQ is a complete operating system for creators – it’s literally the system I’ve built for myself in Notion to run the entire Creator Science business.
Listen or watch→Mar 28, 2024Ask Creator Science – Selling without feeling salesy, choosing what products to create, my future plans, and more.
For this audio episode, we are going to dive into questions that I got from the lab, from Instagram, from LinkedIn, Twitter, and threads.
Listen or watch→Mar 12, 2024Amy Porterfield – Her step-by-step process for MASSIVE product launches.
Amy Porterfield is an online marketing expert and the creator of a multimillion dollar education business. Now you may know Amy from her top ranked marketing podcast called Online Marketing Made Easy or her new best selling book, Two Weeks Notice.
Listen or watch→Jan 23, 2024Justin Moore – A step-by-step strategy to get anyone sponsored, regardless of audience size.
Justin Moore is a sponsorship coach who has closed millions in brand deals.
Listen or watch→Jan 16, 2024Redesigning MY sponsorship strategy (feat. Justin Moore).
Justin Moore is a sponsorship coach and the founder of Creator Wizard, a school and community that teaches you how to find and negotiate your dream brand deals.
Listen or watch→Aug 1, 2023Kieran Drew – Behind-the-scenes of a $142,000 course launch
Kieran Drew is an ex-dentist who quit dentistry to learn writing, and now that is what he is teaching others as well.
Listen or watch→Apr 25, 2023Justin Moore – Redesigning his perfect offer ladder
Go behind-the-scenes as we reimagine a creator’s products and services.
Listen or watch→Feb 28, 2023How Brennan Dunn is Designing and Pricing His New Course Product
Brennan Dunn is a friend and a man of many skills and accomplishments – he’s a writer, marketer, developer, and even designer.
Listen or watch→Jan 24, 2023Mariah Coz – Selling high-ticket programs on evergreen (without sales calls)
Mariah Coz teaches coaches, course creators, and CEOs strategies for growing a course company that is sustainable, impactful, and evergreen.
Listen or watch→Dec 20, 2022Sarah Renae Clark – How This YouTuber Built A $200K/mo Coloring Book Empire
Sarah Renae Clark is a YouTuber who creates coloring books to help you overcome anxiety and create something you can be proud of.
Listen or watch→Dec 6, 2022Neville Medhora – Making millions with remarkable copywriting
Neville Medhora is the creator of Copywriting Course and SwipeFile.com
Listen or watch→Nov 15, 2022Kayse Morris – from government assistance to multimillion dollar membership
Kayse Morris is the creator of The CEO Teacher and has helped thousands of other teachers break through the classroom glass ceiling.
Listen or watch→Oct 18, 2022Pat Flynn and Matt Gartland – Courses, community, and the future of education
Pat and Matt lead Smart Passive Income, a trailblazer in the entrepreneurial space, developing state-of-the-art content, training, and resources to help you launch and grow your online business.
Listen or watch→Oct 11, 2022Bryan Harris – How this sales master grew his business $100K/month
Bryan Harris is the founder and CEO of Growth Tools, a monthly coaching service that makes it nearly impossible to fail at growing your online business.
Listen or watch→Aug 30, 2022Jason Sew Hoy of Supercast – How and why to create a premium podcast subscription
Jason Sew Hoy is the cofounder and CEO of Supercast. He was previously COO & Chief Growth Officer at 99designs.
Listen or watch→Aug 2, 2022Chris Do – From running a multimillion dollar design agency to becoming a multimillion dollar creator
Chris Do, founder of The Futur, on leaving a multimillion-dollar design agency to build a bigger business as a creator — and the mindset shift it took.
Listen or watch→Jul 12, 2022Justin Moore – How to get brand deals and why they are underrated
Justin Moore is a Sponsorship Coach & the founder of Creator Wizard, a school & community that teaches you how to find & negotiate your dream brand deals so that you stop leaving thousands on the table.
Listen or watch→May 10, 2022Tiago Forte – How Building a Second Brain went from public rant to thriving cohort-based course
Tiago Forte is the creator of Building a Second Brain. Tiago has spent more than 10 years researching and personally experimenting with a new way of organizing our digital lives and improving our productivity as creative professionals.
Listen or watch→Apr 12, 2022Jay-Talking about Memberships with Jay Acunzo
Over the last month, Jay Acunzo and I have both launched our own membership programs. And while we were in the thick of designing and launching those programs, we thought it would be a good idea to record a podcast about it.
Listen or watch→Feb 8, 2022Wes Kao – Should you teach a cohort-based course?
Wes Kao is co-founder of Maven, the first platform for cohort-based courses. Maven helps creators build a cohort-based course and deliver an incredible student experience at scale.
Listen or watch→Nov 30, 2021Jay-Talking about Speaking with Jay Acunzo
Jay Acunzo is an author, a speaker, and a showrunner. He started his career in marketing working with ESPN, Google and HubSpot. He currently hosts two podcasts.
Listen or watch→Sep 7, 2021Steph Smith – Generating thousands of sales on Gumroad (with a side project!)
Steph Smith is a growth marketer, writer, and indie maker. She's the creator of two books, Doing Content Right and Doing Time Right.
Listen or watch→Aug 3, 2021Gina Bianchini – Powering the business of community with Mighty Networks
Gina Bianchini is the founder and CEO of Mighty Networks. Mighty Networks helps creators bring their community, courses, memberships, and events together in one place under their brand.
Listen or watch→Jul 13, 2021Charli Marie Prangley - Building a YouTube Channel with 200K subscribers (on the side!)
Charli Marie Prangley is the creator of the YouTube Channel CharlieMarieTV. Every week, she shares insights into life as a professional designer alongside tutorials and advice on design tools and concepts.
Listen or watch→Feb 18, 2021BONUS: Pat Flynn interviews me on SPI 460!
Last week, I was featured on the Smart Passive Income podcast.
Listen or watch→Aug 11, 2020Morgan Nield – Selling on Etsy, building a marketing strategy, Pinterest, and transitioning from physical to digital products
Morgan Nield helps Etsy sellers go from part-time hustle to full-time income.
Listen or watch→Aug 4, 2020Miles Beckler – Affiliate marketing, building an audience, earning trust, and making money online
Miles Beckler is an internet marketer. In 2009, he and his wife Melanie started a website about mindfulness and meditation, and that site now receives over 8M visitors per year.
Listen or watch→Jul 14, 2020Puno – Finding freelance clients, managing your time, building a business to support your lifestyle, and creating exceptional courses.
Puno is a web designer and digital entrepreneur. She is the Founder of ilovecreatives, a platform connecting and edu-taining creatives living that slashie life.
Listen or watch→Jun 23, 2020Cat Coquillette – Leaving the agency world, selling art online, art licensing, and being a digital nomad
Cat Coquillette (CatCoq) is a location-independent artist and designer. Her work is most known for its bright pops of color, vibrant typography, and a blend of hand-painted brushwork and clean vector illustration.
Listen or watch→Apr 28, 2020Grant Baldwin – Having a professional work ethic, getting clear on your message, and how to get paid to speak
Grant Baldwin is the creator of The Speaker Lab and author of The Successful Speaker: Five Steps for Booking Gigs, Getting Paid, and Building Your Platform.
Listen or watch→