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Last week, I talked about how we are taking a new direction—serving the creator economy. Well, here we go!

Disclaimer: This week is a longer read, but necessary to establish our shorthand as we move forward. Don’t hesitate to reply and let me know if you have questions or suggestions for future weeks.

Before we talk about platforms, payouts, or projections, I want to anchor us in an idea from Scripture and a prayer over your week.

In 1 Chronicles 12:32, Scripture briefly highlights a group known as the Sons of Issachar, describing them as “men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” The verse appears during a season of national transition. Saul is still king, but his influence is waning. David has been anointed, but his leadership is not yet fully established. Israel is living in the tension between what has been and what is becoming.

What stands not strength, scale, or visibility. It’s discernment. They are remembered for their ability to read the moment accurately and respond wisely within it. The text does not present them as prophets predicting the future, but as leaders exercising sound judgment in a complex, uncertain environment.

Now, let’s get into the data.

Every time you post, publish, or hit upload, your work enters the larger content economy. This is the broadest container. It includes everything competing for attention on a screen: a friend’s photo, a New York Times headline, a YouTube vlog, a podcast clip, or a studio-produced trailer.

In today’s environment, the feed matters more than the producer. To the algorithm and to the person scrolling, content from an individual creator and content from a large institution exist in the same attention marketplace. Distribution and relevance often matter more than who made the content. That’s why creators can sit next to legacy media brands and still win attention.

The creator economy lives inside this larger system. It refers specifically to individual-led media businesses—creators who monetize audiences through repeatable mechanisms like brand partnerships, platform ad revenue, subscriptions, memberships, donations, commissions, and products or services.

Estimates often cited by industry analysts suggest there are roughly 250 million active content creators globally. Out of those 250 million active creators, about 50 million monetize at all. Narrow the lens further, and the field contracts quickly. Goldman Sachs Research estimates that only about 2 million creators worldwide earn more than $100,000 annually, roughly 4% of the creator population.

Inside this ecosystem, creators tend to fall into recognizable roles. Some primarily entertain. Others educate. Some inspire. Others curate and contextualize information. The role itself isn’t the differentiator. Clarity is.

When people understand why you exist and what problem you consistently help them think through, monetization becomes less mysterious.

The creator economy could approach $480 billion by 2027, up from roughly $250 billion earlier this decade, Goldman Sachs Research projects. Today, about 70% of creator revenue comes from brand partnerships, which explains why brand deals dominate the conversation.

But visibility can distort perception. Brand money is large, but it isn’t always predictable. Direct-to-consumer revenue—subscriptions, digital products, memberships, and services—offers something different: control. The most resilient creator businesses tend to blend both, using brand partnerships for reach and audience revenue for stability.

Advertising data reinforces how central creators have become. U.S. creator ad spend grew from $13.9 billion in 2021 to $29.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $37 billion in 2025—a growth rate nearly four times faster than the broader media industry—according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Even more telling is how success is measured. IAB reports that 40% of advertisers now rank overall ROI as their top KPI for creator campaigns. Creators are no longer evaluated only on reach or engagement, but on outcomes.

At the top of the ecosystem, creators are supported by agents, managers, editors, producers, growth strategists, and legal frameworks. Goldman Sachs Research notes that roughly 70% of creators with more than 500,000 followers have formal representation handling negotiations and long-term strategy. Regulatory bodies like the FTC continue to reinforce standards around disclosure, transparency, and data privacy.

All of this points to one conclusion: the creator economy is no longer an informal internet movement. It’s a maturing industry.

AI is accelerating that maturity, but it isn’t changing the core value creators bring. IAB research shows that nearly three-quarters of advertisers are already using or planning to use AI to improve efficiency, especially for editing, briefs, and personalization. At the same time, 95% of advertisers express concern about AI diminishing authenticity and human connection.

That tension matters. It shows where your leverage still lives. Trust, voice, and cultural relevance can be amplified by technology, but they can’t be automated at scale.

Understanding the times doesn’t mean predicting the future perfectly. It means recognizing the moment you’re in and responding wisely.

After reading this, here are four ways I would invite you to put discernment into action:

First, pause long enough to evaluate what actually supports your ability to thrive. Ask yourself which actions genuinely move you forward and which ones simply keep you busy. For example, does posting more often actually deepen trust with your audience, or would fewer, more thoughtful pieces of content do more for your credibility? Does learning one more tool serve your goals, or would mastering what you already use create more leverage? Thriving rarely comes from doing everything. It comes from doing the right things consistently.

Second, be honest about the role you play in the creator economy. Not everyone is meant to entertain. Not everyone is meant to teach. Some creators interpret, some clarify, some challenge, some inspire. Discernment means recognizing where you naturally add value instead of forcing yourself into a role that looks more lucrative or popular. When you understand your role, you stop chasing every trend and start building coherence across everything you create.

Third, clearly define the problem you solve and who you solve it for. Ask yourself: what question do people already come to me with? What confusion do I help reduce? What decision do I help others make with more confidence? The more specific you can be about the problem and the people affected by it, the easier it becomes for others to recognize your value—and for you to communicate it without overexplaining.

Finally, identify what you can offer immediately to serve that need. You don’t need a perfect product or a fully built system to begin serving. Discernment asks a simpler question: based on what I already know, what can I offer right now that genuinely helps? That might be a paid consultation, a workshop, a resource, a framework, or a service that saves someone time or gives them clarity. The goal isn’t scale on day one. It’s usefulness. Scale follows service.

If you need help with any of these, just hit reply, and we can set aside some time to help. This is EXCLUSIVELY for my Remarkable Monday family. We’re small anough right now for me to manage that level of incoming. I don’t want the smoke—just yet—from the general public.

See you next Monday,