I lead Growth at Teachable, where I'm relentlessly focused on helping creators turn their knowledge into income. We've helped over 100k creators sell more than $1B in courses and coaching.
I share insights on the creator economy:
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What are the jobs-to-be-done for creators?
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 4, 2021
1. Help me grow my business
2. Help me run my business
3. Help me save time
Creator platforms can leverage these jobs to shape their product, marketing, and pricing & packaging strategy 👇 pic.twitter.com/ajWl8jMtIm
The Compounding Creator
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 7, 2021
How one creator made $1,332,400 across 6 revenue streams in 2020:
🎬 $135k - Ads
🔥 $177k - Affiliates
💰 $182k - Sponsorships
📚 $470k - Self-paced courses
🚀 $295k - Cohort-based course
⭕️ $71k - Community
Breakdown 👇 pic.twitter.com/3LuNBTp2T0
The most common question I'm asked is: "how did we grow Teachable?"
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 8, 2021
In 7 years we've helped over 100k creators sell more than $1B in courses & coaching.
Here's the story of how we did it.
Revenue, metrics, and monthly investor updates in 🧵 pic.twitter.com/MG1agRa3vk
Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Cuban, Warren Buffett, Phil Knight, Peter Thiel, Sam Walton, and Howard Schultz.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 9, 2021
What do they all have in common? 🧵 pic.twitter.com/CQ1uT0DbuA
Doing a 3 part mini-series on monetization.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 10, 2021
Part 1: Simple funnel modeling.
Part 2: Psychology and strategy.
Part 3: One-time sales vs subscription.
P.s. free product pricing calculator in 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/6iKnBQ1EEK
Pricing is about much more than just price.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 11, 2021
Think back to your 4 P's from Marketing 101:
• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Place
• (Ps. did you know there's a 5th P now? It's People.)
The first 3 matter most for digital products, and should fit together. Here's how: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/okTRMOuetd
Every product is different. Every price point is different. But the underlying principles remain the same.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 12, 2021
Consider these pricing psychology concepts when creating your pricing strategy 🧵 pic.twitter.com/P42rWSK4AQ
📈 Trend:
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 7, 2021
• @Shopify Shop
• @gumroad Discover
• @SubstackInc Reader
• @Patreon search
• @teachable Discover
Why are creator-first companies exploring marketplaces?
Storytime in 🧵 pic.twitter.com/hsiu6Ifea7
10 years ago, pre-recorded video and asynchronous leaning was the pinnacle of online learning.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 14, 2021
But in 2021 and beyond, is this really the best we can do? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/EIVPYON6EV
In the last 10 days I've grown my email list from 0 to a few hundred, gained thousands of followers, had writers I admire reach out to me, been invited onto podcasts, into communities, made new friends, and been offered some great career opportunities.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 15, 2021
How? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/ULr2iveAUC
In a previous post, I stated that cohort-based courses are the future of online courses. That said, they are not the right option for every situation.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 16, 2021
Showdown: Cohort-based courses vs self-paced courses 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/WMRWSdJlQ6
In 2020:
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 17, 2021
∙ 56 Teachable creators made over $1M.
∙ 10 Patreon creators made over $1M (est).
∙ 10 Substack writers collectively made over $10M.
∙ 8 Gumroad creators made over $1M.
∙ 8 Twitch streamers made over $1M (est).
What's their secret? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/ssCh8VDJtz
Each week:@APompliano publishes 5 podcasts, 5 newsletters to 35k paid subs, 5 YT vids, while running an investment firm. @anthilemoon publishes 2 articles, a newsletter to 25k subs, while running a paid community with 1500 subs.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 19, 2021
What separates top creators from the rest? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/jX6Anwp9vN
One of the best ways to become a prolific creator is to share what you know.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 20, 2021
But what if you're not an expert? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/JVaMXHzkSj
Everyone wants to be an expert. No one wants to be revealed as an amateur.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 21, 2021
But in the modern world, it's often the amateur who has the advantage. 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/FRHHT5ipjp
For every 5 or 6-figure online course launch I see, I also come across hundreds of courses with no sales.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 22, 2021
When people spend so much time and effort creating something that no one buys, it's heartbreaking.
So if you're thinking about creating a course, read this first 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/Kvlyeyv0zm
It's March 31st, 2016, and Elon Musk takes the stage.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 23, 2021
He announces that Tesla is launching a new car, the Model 3. Three prototypes roll out. The audience goes wild. He tells them it'll cost $35k, it won't be released for a year, but they can preorder it for $1k.
Result? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/RGcVF9OcUR
"I really want to start a side hustle / become a creator / earn income online... But first I need to learn more about [topic]... Then I need to research the best tools... And I'm really busy right now, so I'll start later when things calm down."
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 26, 2021
Sound familiar? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/IiJdR6xnsa
How do successful creators make it look so easy?
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 29, 2021
I have a theory:
They've figured out the 3 creator fits 👇🧵 pic.twitter.com/SGeVU57t3x
As the creator economy matures, more creators are finding new ways to fund their work and go full-time.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 30, 2021
Here are the 3 models of creator monetization 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/QN8J2UTEVj
Common sentiment is that "audience-first" is the correct approach:
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) February 1, 2021
Create content, gain attention, build something for your new audience, sell it, and celebrate your new found success.
But if you're starting from scratch today, is that your only path? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/MfLaFWs57N
How do successful creators make it look so easy?
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) January 29, 2021
I have a theory:
They've figured out the 3 creator fits 👇🧵 pic.twitter.com/SGeVU57t3x
In 2020 on Teachable:
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) February 2, 2021
2 creators made over $10,000,000 ⁰
56 creators made over $1,000,000
823 creators made over $100,000
What do the top course creators have in common? 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/aRz47uYFTM
For the last 30 days, I wrote and published a daily mini-essay as part of the Ship 30 for 30 writing program. It's the single best investment I've made in myself in a long time.
— Ryan Gum || RyFi.eth (@ryangum) February 3, 2021
My last essay 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/cE3rEtAsrg