In this first episode of the Full Time Creator Podcast, I’m Matt Hughes, the King of Video, and I'm chatting with Desiree Martinez, a creator economy expert. We break down what the creator economy is and how it changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’re thinking about becoming a creator, Desiree gives you easy steps to get started and talks about why having a plan is super important. We also dive into the money side of going from part-time to full-time creator, sharing tips to help you succeed on your journey. Tune in for some real advice and inspiration!

What challenges are you facing as you consider stepping into the creator economy? Let us know!

Hi, welcome to the Full Time Creator podcast.

My name is Matt Hughes, King of Video, and I'm here with Desiree Martinez.

I'm so excited for this because it's the launch of the podcast.

And it wouldn't be a good podcast if the first episode

didn't have Desiree on the show.

So thank so much for joining us, Desiree.

I am so excited to be here for the inaugural episode.

Well, you know, I looked at your title on LinkedIn, it

says Creator Economy Strategist.

And of course I was around when you made that switch.

And I thought, well, it's a great place to start because quite

recently I've been asked a couple of times what the creator economy is.

But before we get into that, could you let my audience know who you are

and a little bit about what you do.

I am Desiree Martinez, Creator Economy Strategist, lover

of Harry Potter and tea enthusiast.

I have been in the online marketing space for over 15 years.

I got started creating content back on my space, and it has been

a long, crazy journey since then.

I feel some days like I have lived like 45 years of marketing in like my 15 years,

but it's been a crazy journey of figuring out how do people spend their time online?

What are they interested in?

How do we continue to adapt and adjust as businesses?

And I am currently the owner founder creator connoisseur over at the cast

agency, which focuses on helping businesses elevate their impact through

organic online marketing and a fractional CMO, chief marketing officer services.

Good.

I'm so glad you answered that acronym because so many people

forget that everybody doesn't know what these acronym acronyms mean.

, which, which leads me on to that first question about the creator economy.

So I basically had a nutritional therapist and somebody else, it

was an Instagrammer actually.

And this Instagrammer was, I would say big in the creator economy, but I asked

her, I said, do you know what it means.

And she said, no, I don't.

So could you describe to us what the create your economy actually is?

The creator economy has definitely been an evolutionary process.

So the creator economy as a term was coined around 2021/2022 when we were

entering into this post-COVID era.

What led us to the creator economy very specifically was COVID.

Like, I don't think that there's any way to avoid how that happened.

We as a global society were thrusted into solitary and had to rely on the

internet for the vast majority of our interactions with the outside world from

socialising to entertainment, to getting any of the things that we needed done,

the internet was where it happened.

And from COVID, so many people were also faced with answering like two

pivotal questions, which is one, how do I continue to get money?

And two, how do I continue to stay relevant?

And this can be one for the people lost their jobs, whether they are like a brick

and mortar business that had to like go indoors for some period amount of time.

Whether it was a service provider and they're trying to figure out,

like, how do I still continue to get business and inform my customers

about what they need to know.

And this whole creator concept came in to be.

Through COVID, it was, Oh, I'm a YouTuber.

Oh, I'm a live streamer.

Oh, I'm a social media manager.

Oh, I'm an online marketer.

I'm a coach.

And it slowly whittled into this specific industry that became the creator economy.

And so the way I define the creator economy for people is,

it's creating content online to fuel a financial purpose.

Like, I feel like that is just the easiest way to do it because there's so many

different ways to utilize the creator economy for your financial needs and gain.

And I mean, we're happy to like dive into those questions and

talk about them if you'd like.

But I think at its root, like that is the definition of what the creator economy is.

Wicked.

I love that create content online to fuel a financial purpose.

I think that's probably the most succinct way I've ever had it described.

So thanks for that.

And I suppose when I think about those people that are maybe part time creators

or just thinking about becoming part time creators heading towards full

time, like, how do they get started with inside of the creative economy?

What would you advise them to do first?

Well, I think that people forget that they're already such

an active part of the creator economy.

If you hang out on Facebook and you scroll, if you watch Tik Tok

videos, if you enjoy YouTube content, those are all creator things.

So you have been a part of the creator economy from a consumption

and consumer perspective, whether you realize it or not.

But when we're talking about like how I take the next step as like, I don't

want to be just someone that consumes.

I want to be someone that creates.

I think that consuming and studying is the first thing that you really need to do.

If you don't understand how the platforms work, how content creates,

like, what is it that allows for you to emotionally connect or take action on a

piece of content, it's going to make it very difficult for you to know how to

strategically and specifically create content that's going to convert for

you around whatever your objective is.

I feel like the second step that goes into this is you have to pick a platform

that you are comfortable with being on.

I know a lot of people that are of different ages and different ranges that

are not comfortable in other platforms.

For example, I am not the biggest fan of Instagram, like Instagram

and me, like it's just, it's on a platform that I enjoy a whole lot.

In my almost, you know, 40 year old age, I tend to spend my time

scrolling LinkedIn and TikTok.

Like that's how I spend my time.

So it's really figuring out like, where are you comfortable

creating and building an audience?

And I think that that is an important step for everyone to figure out like

what makes sense for them in that sense.

And then I think the third step is like, okay.

What are you going to sell?

Now I know that a lot of people will have this mentality of, well,

I'm just going to start creating and I'll figure it out as I go.

And I think that that is a very bad way to get started with something.

I think that you have to know what you have to offer, like what your

services, your digital product is, your course, your physical product.

Are you going to be doing affiliate marketing?

Are you going to be selling Amazon products?

Like are you doing this for your business specifically?

And the objective is to sell those sorts of things.

By knowing what you are going to sell, it will then dictate how your content will

be created from there because by knowing what you're selling, that's basically

like, okay, if I'm selling this, that means I know who I'm selling it to.

I know what my price point is.

I know what problem it is that this product is solving.

And then from those core foundational pieces, you're able to then dive into

the content creation process that allows for your target customer to connect with

you and then ultimately buy from you.

Amazing.

The best thing about this, by the way, is for anyone

listening or watching on YouTube.

I didn't give Desiree any idea what the questions were going to be and to answer

the questions so good, I'm so impressed.

I mean, that just shows your professionalism right in this moment.

I want to dig

This was literally, it was Sunday.

We're like, Hey, you should be on my podcast.

Hey, you should be on my podcast.

And here we are

the dual purpose.

making it happen.

you know what's funny about that though, Desiree?

Like, I speak to people and I ask them questions and they're like, Oh

yeah, we should do that next year.

And I'm like, jeez, next year?

What are you talking about?

Like, what about tomorrow?

Let's do it tomorrow.

So I'm so glad when you said it and we were just like, yeah, here we are.

Cracking on.

Social media doesn't wait for anyone, does it?

So there's three things you said there.

There was, in my world, when I'm helping people launch YouTube channels,

you talked about being a consumer.

Like I talk about curiosity.

It's kind of that move from, , like you say, watching content,

consuming content to thinking about how can I make this myself?

What can I do?

What are the things that I'm watching that are really getting my interest?

What are the things that I'm scrolling past and why do I scroll past them?

I think it's so important to understand that.

And then really what you said is about being strategic, right?

If you're strategic from the start, do you think that's the quickest way to

move from being a part time or thinking about it to being a full time creator?

Is it just that strategic step or is there something else that you might need?

I think that there are a lot more things that are needed to

really adjust from part time to full time.

I think that there, it's sort of like how, like, like, you know, we used

to have this side hustle culture.

I have this side hustle.

That is this thing that helps one give me extra income because

I need it for some reason.

It's just, I think it's like, it's this personal brand I am building a

way for maybe this thing that I do nine to five or that is like I have my job

and I have this thing I like that I do from, you know, I work a nine to five

to fund my five to nine and it's sort of that idea of like figuring that out.

I think in order for somebody to pivot from a part time creator to

a full time creator, there are some specific things that you need to have

in place in order to be effective.

And I think the first thing you need to have in place is you need to be

able to have a very clear understanding of what your financial situation is.

Everyone starts creating at different times for different reasons with

different financial outcomes situations.

I have a podcast I do that's called the Funded YouTuber

that Matt is going to guest on.

And we talk about with creators, like how did you get started and why

did you get started and it, Oh, and like, what were the circumstances

that led you to going full time?

For some situations, people are like, I had no choice.

I had no job.

So like, I just went from having the nine to five to all of a sudden, now

I'm a full time creator because I have to figure out how to make this work.

Cause otherwise I don't, I don't eat that month.

There are some people that have had the gradual process where like,

I, I was an entrepreneur, I am an entrepreneur and I am doing this thing.

And being a creator just became this natural part of my journey because it was

the best way for me to sell my product.

And so it becomes these notions.

So by having the clear understanding of like where you are financially

and what your obligations are, it's going to be strategic.

So it's like how a person who is 24 and single starts as a full time creator

and how someone who's 34 and who has little kids and a mortgage and a partner.

Those are very different situations and environments.

So you have to be looking at like, what is it that is my current

financial situation that I can handle?

And so it's being able, like do I have to have savings?

Do I, am I able to just like live with my parents?

Do I have a buddy that I can like sleep on their couch?

Like having that play a place and knowing what to do and then knowing what is the

dollar amount I have to be making in order to be comfortable with where I'm

at in my life and what I need covered.

And so by understanding that it allows you to go to the second part,

which is like, okay, what am I going to do to scale a business based on

this creator brand I am building?

So a creator without a business is just a person with a hobby, right?

There are plenty of stories of people that have accidentally fallen

into having creator businesses.

And then there, but I don't think those really exist anymore.

I think that there might be those really random small cases like,

Oh, I was on TikTok talking about, you know, retro nineties plushies.

All of a sudden I have my own line of plushies.

That's nostalgic, inspired like those stories, obviously exist, but those are

the outliers and those are not the rules.

At this point, when we're starting today in 2024/2025, it is a very strategic and

specific decision to become a creator.

And the reason to do it is either I don't like my job.

I want to do something else.

I want to be known for something.

I'm trying to build up this thing, or I'm trying to build a business.

And this creator piece is the forward top of the funnel part for which it happens.

So I think by knowing your financial goals and knowing why you're doing it

and like what you're getting yourself in like what the scaling part of is going

to be, is going to dictate how you move forward from part time to full time

Yeah.

And I, I really think that understanding to the, as you said, to the dollar.

Where you're at currently and what your needs are is so important and I meet

business owners that don't do that like they don't know what their what I call

their keep the light some money is like Until you understand that, how do you

know when you're going to get past it?

And when you're going to start to thrive, really, you can just be, well, there's

a saying, I don't know if they say it in the US but we say you live by your means.

Do you say that in the US.

The Buyer means I think there's a version of

that.

It's basically the more you earn, the more you spend, you know, so you just

kind of get used to what you've got.

So by actually looking at, okay, what do I need to earn

here in order to go full time?

You see a lot of creators doing this as well when they

are part time, they say, well.

that it's easy for them to understand because they have a

job where it's £2,000 a month.

And they say, well, when I get to that point, I can leave.

Actually, there might be an earlier point.

If you understand exactly what you need to live, that you could make

the switch because you understand, okay, actually only need £1,200

in order to make them move.

And when I do, and you can then fully focus on that full time creator career,

things go faster anyway, cause you've got all this time then to do all

your, the things that are required.

A hundred percent.

Like I, I know for me, like I, I have a real, like a literal

personal example of this.

So my husband was in the United States military and we had gone in because of

benefits and we were starting our family.

And when my husband was nearing the last like two years of his contract, we made

the decision that we were not going to renew it and that I needed to get my

business to a point where it could replace his income and so I knew what the dollar

amount was because I knew what we were getting every month, but then I also had

to factor in like these other things I didn't know about and you know in the

States we have to worry about things like we have to pay for our own health care.

We have to pay for a lot of our own stuff that are not part of different

countries is you know, tax payments.

And so we, I had to like, no, like my husband makes this, but it brings home

this, but this is what he actually makes.

So I have to know what that dollar amount is.

And I got it like the month before I was able to get it to that spot.

And by knowing what that was, it was really helpful.

And it really, and it literally was like, there's the wants and

needs and it is interesting.

We, we have the saying like living within your means.

And, and there's also this saying that it's like, it's hard

to go back in quality of life.

And so that's when you can run into the, like, I mean, there's paying

my mortgage, my food, my, my bills.

And then there's the like, but I've also gotten really used to being

able to buy whatever I want on Amazon because same day delivery is amazing.

And, you know, being able to like, I'm going to go on this random local festival.

I'm going to pick up this thing because I can.

So it's knowing like what those, there's a being able to look at

like your money and really be like, what do I actually need to pay for?

What do I like lavishly pay for?

And it is a very different

yeah.

I think, I think that is the phrase.

I just got it wrong.

That's living within your means.

Yeah.

And that's, that sounds about right.

Often my brain does that.

The thing that I noticed and some people might've passed it by is, you

said two years before the contract ended, you made the decision that you

was not going to renew and you needed to do that and you hit it just before

those two years, that's two years.

So like, you've got to have that thought foresight, right?

When you're making these decisions, it's not going to happen in three months.

And I think the challenge with being thrust into it by a contract ending or

your financial or career changing, makes it really difficult because you're kind

of in a desperate place from the start.

Whereas if you can have the, make a decision that we're going to do this

now, we're going to be part time creators for this amount of time.

And we're going to head towards that financial goal, then it's much

better than when, Oh , my job's done.

Now I've got to focus on this thing, you know?

I don't know if it's better or not, honestly.

I think again, it goes about where you are.

Like if we want to go way back in time for like the Desiree

timeline of entrepreneurship.

I became an entrepreneur on accident.

I had no intention of going down this road.

I actually have since I was 10, I had wanted to be an animator for Disney.

I saw Toy Story in theaters and I was like, I came out of theaters.

I turned to my parents and I was like, that's what I want to do

when I grew up and for 12 years, that was what I worked towards.

I got good grades in school.

I did a ton of like independent and art study.

I went to college.

I graduated at the top of my, I had this second best portfolio in my entire

grade and I graduated from college.

And then what happened?

I graduated from college and the recession started and it was really

defeating and deflating because I had been living on my own.

I had all these goals.

I had done everything.

And I had to move back in with my parents and it was devastating.

And I felt so ashamed of myself and embarrassed and all of the things.

And so it was by going out looking for freelance work in my local network.

Trying to like hawk graphic design skills for 10 an hour.

I was started, people just started asking me like, what's this Facebook thing?

And I was teaching them like, Oh, this is what Facebook is.

Cause I had been on it for years and you can only get it with college email.

And I would started teaching it and people are like, you

should do this as a business.

And this should be like what you do.

And I was like, well, I can't get a job.

So why the hell not?

I know I have a place to live and food to eat because my parents

are kind enough to do that.

I think I was also like side hustling is like a swim teacher.

Like that was how I like paid for gas and like my car payment.

And you know, that's like what I did.

I think every situation you're faced with, whether it's you have time to be

strategic or whether it's you are thrusted into a situation, the biggest thing that

you just have to ask yourself is like, okay, what are the, what are my needs?

Versus what am I not wants and how do I get there in an effective way?

And then at the same time, you have to build two things simultaneously.

You have to build something that will fund your life now and you

have to build something that will fund your life down the road.

And so online branding, online creation, like YouTube channels, TikTok

messaging, you know, LinkedIn, whatever.

Those are longterm things.

But short term, short term, what can you sell now that can make you money now?

And like, and balancing what those two things are.

Yeah.

I like that.

And I think having two things at the same time, like your personal

brand is that effectively what you're talking about, right?

Like that's an asset.

And I think we often forget that the things that we're putting online,

the stuff that we're creating, our digital assets and they, you know,

YouTube's the best example of that because it works for us for a long time.

That whatever asset that you create.

So now it would be really nice to talk about how we make money then

as a creator and talk about how we might approach brands, right?

Cause I, in my mind, when we met and when we started talking around the TubeFest

time, so for those of you that are listening for the first time, TubeFest

is a conference that I have in the UK and Europe, video marketing conference.

Desiree was helping me write the start of that, and you sent a whole bunch of

brands to me, and which I'm always forever grateful for, but that was because you had

relationships with these brands, right?

So if you're a new creator or part time or even if you're a full time

creator and you've been a full time creator for a long time, but you

just haven't managed to build those relationships, where would you start?

And how do you kind of foster those relationships?

Well, the first place I would start is I

would start with being a list.

Like what are the companies that you, what benefit your audience that you

maybe use, or you're already like associated with in some way, a safer

form, like because you use that product, you're a fan of that product, you're

an advocate for that product and how could it benefit your audience?

So with the messaging be around it, and I would start creating content as if

that company is already sponsoring you or talking about you and really build up like

an interest in case they just see one.

Would your audience be interested in this?

Because your audience is going to always be the thing you're selling.

You are when you're online and like you're selling like YouTube videos,

spots, Instagram spots, LinkedIn posts, all those kinds of things.

Like you're the product, but your audience is what people are buying.

And so you have to make sure that your audience can activate and like

be interested in something like this.

And so that's the first thing for you to do is to test out, let you know,

like what your audience likes, what will work, what brands could maybe

potentially be partners for you.

And then you can go to those brands and our second step and be

like, Hey, this is like what I do.

This is like some examples of how this works and talk to them.

And how you're going to reach out to them.

I really think, honestly, nowadays it's LinkedIn.

Like LinkedIn is where it's at.

Like, I know that so many people are like the job board.

I'm like, yes, LinkedIn, the job board, because like the people that have

money, the people that are in charge of, of like the business up there,

they're because people are always up there going down, letting people know

like where they are professionally.

You can find those people that work at those brands and businesses and you

can just start building relationships.

Relationships is the foundation of anything in business and being

a creator and accounting creator kind of businesses is a business.

So you need to build relationships with people.

I have a relationship with Matt.

Matt and I WhatsApp on a regular basis.

I see his Facebook stuff.

I comment and I share, I support.

Like when he launched TubeFest, like there was nothing in my mind that

wasn't like, Oh my God, whatever I can do to help this man succeed and

accomplish his dreams and goals.

Like that is important to me because I know what it's like to have an

event that you're planning and you're training people to go to and it fails.

Like I have literally had a failed event and like that is the worst.

I never want anyone to feel like that, especially someone that I care about.

And so it just was this natural thing for me to do, but I have been doing

this for years and unlike so many of my peers, I invest in going to conferences.

I invest in time to spend time every week talking to people, reaching

out to people and going to stuff.

So in this past year, I have gone to VidCon.

I have gone to the Creator Economy Live event in Vegas.

I have gone to the creator or the information's creator economy event.

I've gone to VidSummit.

I go to, I flew to New York to go to a mixer.

Like I go to things because I know that that is where I'm going.

I can build really good relationships with people that can

turn into longterm partnerships.

And I just, because I've been doing this very actively for six, seven

years, doesn't mean that as someone can't start doing this today.

By being active in stuff, by physically showing up, by being interested,

by leading with how can I help and support you first, you'll always

be able to get so much further with whatever you're trying to do.

Yeah.

And I think, I'm sure the first time we really worked together

was Digital Marketing Rockstars.

I don't know if you remember in lockdown, we had a couple of virtual events.

I'm sure you was part of that.

Or there's some virtual event we've worked together on before years ago, though, and

like, again, I think about those things, and there was no real expectation from any

of us that anything else would come of it.

It was just like, Oh, and that sounds like a good idea.

I should get involved in that, and you're so right.

I mean, you're so blessed to be in the US with how many good events you have.

But in the UK like, in this month alone, I've got an event that I'm

going to, that's a creator event.

I've got a dinner that's, someone's coming from the US and

invited me for a dinner here.

Like you only get to those things by making those relationships and

actually everyone's so important.

Someone said to me once, I don't know if you know Lucy Hall.

She does a thing in a women's event in the UK.

And I went down to an event in London.

And it was just like you say, a mixer.

And she said to me, Matt, have you traveled all the way just for this?

And I was like, well, yes, Lucy.

She was like, why?

I said, because you said you were doing something cool.

And I, why would I not come to it?

You know, and it's about supporting people and helping people out

in those, in those early days.

I mean, for her, she was very successful at the time, but I just thought it

would be great to be around people.

I met this great influencer at the time.

Can't remember his name now, but Matt Navarro.

Do you know Matt Navarro?

Oh, yep.

Yeah, so I met him at that event and I'd never, I didn't know who he was,

but everyone told me it was a big deal.

And I was like, Oh, great.

But, but I wouldn't have been in the room with him if I hadn't been, you know,

taking the time out to go to this event.

So I think it's so important that you do.

I just think the best thing anyone could do is to say yes to

stuff.

Like I know people get really wrapped up in time and people always are worried

about budgets, which I totally understand.

But there are just these small investments that you can make.

Like I'm sure there's someone's couch you can sleep on.

I'm sure that you could just take a really late flight or train ride

back to you wherever you're from.

It's a little tired the next day, but you cannot replace relationships

and people like, and you also get these really neat opportunities to

meet people you never thought you'd want to know or that you could like

connect with in like different ways.

Like I remember I was at VidCon in Baltimore.

It was the only time they did that in the event, they were testing it out.

And I went to the event and I got sent this email about this, like the

creator economy leadership thing.

And I was like, I want to go be in that room.

It's like close doors.

No one talks about like what anyone says.

No one holds anybody against anybody.

It's like what chat chatter house rules or something like that, and you know, it's

this room full of like these incredible influence from Instagram, and YouTube,

and TikTok, and all this like great stuff.

You're like, wow, this is a cool room to be in and have

influence in a given opinion.

But there was this woman that was there.

Her name was Lauren and she at the time was working at a very high level with

Johnny Smith, which is like this big repurposing, buying sort of tool for

creators and we just bonded over the fact that our, both our kids have like, our

spicy brains are both ADHD and autistic.

And we were just talking and connecting and like, she was in the beginning of her

journey and I was like in the thick of it.

And so she was asking me questions and I was answering it for her.

And I texted with her like, Hey, how can I help you?

Like, this is a great resource.

She should, she'd ask me questions.

Like just being able to connect with people as people, like I would never

have had access to her any other way.

But because I get to be a person, I get to be a mom with her, it

allows for so much more connection.

And I think that when we're talking about connecting people, you're

building brand partnerships with people.

You have to be people first, not just you guys are the people

with checkbooks give me money.

Like it can't be that way.

Yeah, totally.

And, and, and again, when you do it.

Not free desperation, even if that's the position you're in, like, just, just

what, what could I do to help this person?

I remember I met someone Paul at VidSummit recently and the first thing he said to

me was like, Matt, how can I help you out?

And I was like, I've just met you and you want to help me out.

And I said to him, I just don't know.

I was like, It was just such a weird question for someone to ask

me straight away when they met me.

But since I've got to know him, I realised that it's just his personality.

He's just always on the lookout, like, every single person he meets.

And when I look at that, and like your situation talking to Lauren,

like, I just think to myself, how can I be more helpful to other people?

Because you know it comes back.

It always comes back, you know.

Okay, wicked.

So, let's talk about last thing to talk about really then is where

do you think the creator economy is going for full time creators?

Is there still space for new full time creators?

Very big question.

I think that the creator economy is about to go through its first shift.

And I've seen this because how I describe the creator economy,

it's just a rebranding of the social is social media marketing.

Like it's just the new word for it.

I have seen so many shifts.

They go every like two to three year cycles in the social space.

Usually marketing is like five year cycles.

So we're also coming in up at that next cycle of things.

But I think like where we are in the creator economy is, we do not

have accidental successes anymore.

Because it's a strategic choice to be a creator now.

Like it's something that people like intentionally, I want to be an

influencer, I want to be a creator.

I wanna be a TikTok or a YouTuber.

Like, it's a very intentional decision for people to make now with lots of paths

to get them to move through that sec.

Through that, I think that we are going, we're entering definitely into a much more

like, small, mighty niche communities.

Around things like I'm not just, like a book talk creator.

I am a spicy fantasy elf book talk creator.

And that is the people that

I

a very interesting niche.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like it's like, and they do really get that specific.

Like it can be like, oh, I'm not a fantasy creator.

Like I just make everything like I'm a Harry Potter fan, but everything

I create is about Slytherin.

Like, like even for me, like with my agency, with the cast

agency where we focus on, you know, Again, helping businesses,

you know, elevate their impact.

We work very specifically with like service based businesses that like,

they make a certain dollar amount.

They have certain people on their team.

They're not doing these things.

They have these parts and we're going to step in and act as

their marketing team for them.

And we're going to start with them creating from content at the

top of the funnel because they don't have any of that in place.

Right?

So it's like being really strategic, intentional with like who you're making

content for and having small but mighty communities that you are able to impact

and that small boy community is going to be the people that like they buy from you.

They advocate for you.

They are in your corner really well.

I also think that we're going to see a big need, a big pivot into creators

having to be very strategic brands and businesses, not just I'm just a creator.

Like, no, you need to be a business and a brand in order to have staying power.

There has to be pairing a sustainable and the pairing, the unsustainability of being

a face of a business with a sustainable business that you attach to it.

And the example that I like to use, this is Mark Rober.

Mark Rober is an incredible scientist and guy that gets to make

amazingly cool inventions online, but building a brand based on his

face and name is unsustainable.

But what is sustainable is that he has crunch labs, which is a subscription box

where you can send these engineering kits to kids every month and they get to build

and play and create in those things.

Like that is something that can exist without his face.

So when he decides he's done making YouTube content or he retires or something

inevitable happens to him like it's a thing that can still exist beyond him.

And so I think that we're going to see more of that effort

from businesses, from creators.

And so it's going to be my face, my creator work supports

a business that I'm building.

And it's a matter of like how those two pieces get interwoven

together.

So that's where I think we're heading right

there.

I think we have a lot of other little things.

The most successful people, the most successful people

are going to be those people that prioritize those things together.

Yes.

A hundred percent.

Well, and it's not even, it's successful and sustainable.

There's so many creators.

We saw so many creators in this past year that like gave up, retired, went away,

started new channels, did new things.

It's because everything they were doing was unsustainable.

So it's like, what are the sustainable things that allow for me to be, allow

me for my job of creator to last a long time and do what it's supposed to do?

, I mean, we're going to see a lot of little things, like I think brands are going to

continue to become creators themselves.

I think that we're going to see more resistance to AI.

I think that we're really going to get into a place where AI

supports what we do versus like leading the creation of what we do.

I think that we're going to, we're in the balance of like

community versus attention.

Like how are we using the different platforms for attention?

Then how are we using the platforms for community and

funneling them the right places?

So there's just a bunch of those kinds of things that we have to look forward to.

But the first things I talked about, I think are the bigger ones that

we'll see as the big sweeping changes.

Yeah.

I'm kind of betting my life and business on community over attention.

And I get what you're saying, especially with like Facebook channels

and all this AI content that's being created at the moment, I just can't

see that being the last thing thing.

I think people just get bored of it in the end.

And I think real connection at events and communities is going to be a big deal.

I feel like the faceless, whatever, I think

there always be a place for it.

I think we'll continue to have that, right?

Like that'll still be a part, but I feel like it's going to become its own

niche thing in the same way that like, clubhouse has like clubhouse still exists.

But no one's really talking about it a whole lot or being there a whole lot.

It's a niche thing.

Got a lot of attention and now it's finding its home with its community.

And I think attention leads to community and it's just the way that we as

creators funnel it down appropriately.

Wicked.

Thank you

so much, Desiree, I feel like this is the best way we could have

started the full time creator podcast.

Thank you so much for being my first guest.

I did interview a few other people.

They're going to follow this one, but when we spoke yesterday, I thought

actually this is perfect timing.

It couldn't have been better timing.

So if you could tell people how they can follow you, how they can find you on

the socials, I'd really appreciate it.

Yeah.

You can find me at thecastagency.com for my business and I like LinkedIn so you can

find me at Desiree Martinez on LinkedIn.

That's the best place to follow my crazy wacky journey.

And I think that my closing remarks would have to just be, remember you are an

impossibly amazing person that doesn't possibly amazing things every day.

So don't let anything stop you from doing what you want to do.

Amazing.

Thank you so much.

What a great way to finish it.

Thank you so much for listening to the Full Time Creator podcast.

This is our new podcast.

So don't forget to subscribe to us on YouTube, follow us on the podcast

platforms, and of course, leave us a review, you know, like, , on my old

podcast, nobody really left reviews.

How do you get people to leave reviews?

We'd have to find like some kind of incentive to get people to leave reviews.

I mean, does it even matter anymore?

Who knows?

See you in the next episode.

Bye.

Bye