One of the most challenging aspects of working on any online brand is dialing down what it is and who you serve. While I don’t struggle with this in some ways the part that I do struggle with is breaking this down into a succinct talking point. I do think, however, that this clarity of purpose, mission and brand description helps to steer the decisions that you make moving throughout the year. Today I’m sharing what Creators Getting Paid is but my hope is that by sharing this it will help you better define who you serve and what your business and brand is doing in 2026.
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What is Creators Getting Paid?
I’m almost at 5,000 subscribers on my Creators Getting Paid newsletter and almost 7,000 followers on the Substack app. What you might not know is why I started Creators Getting Paid. I started creating content online in the personal finance space in 2012. After awhile (think years) I noticed that many of the people that I knew started making money.
Serious money.
Life changing money and that wasn’t me. Part of this was the positioning of my brand, timing and all of the behind the scenes that I didn’t know that these other creators were doing. Then there was the other important thing, I wasn’t in the room for some of the conversations that other creators who were getting paid were having with each other. I’ll never forget asking someone that I knew (in a different creator space) hey-how are you making money with your brand? This person was so exasperated with me and I’d known them for years. I never asked them any questions about building online again. At the same time I was making money with my brand-not life changing money, but enough to be empowered and I felt like I needed to house these questions on a different platform than my personal finance brand. It was clear that I was talking to two completely different audiences.
So, I started Creators Getting Paid.
It was a place where I could talk about monetization, earnings, goals, products and more. Creators Getting Paid allowed me to have conversations with people who I knew were “doing the work” and also were being consistently overlooked as leaders in the online entrepreneurship space. This leads me to my first tip:
Define Your Mission
I wanted to have monetization conversations led by voices that were normally not heard from. The ultimate goal being to empower underserved audiences in the content creator space. I did this by crafting content that leaned into this mission, focusing on the missions of the creators that I shared and by designing an constant through line in my talking points, content and collaborations.
Create a Goal
I’ve always had a goal with Creators Getting Paid which is to help creators to grow and scale their income in a way that feels ethically right to them. Put simply: I want to help creators earn more revenue so that they can live well, help others and be empowered by the creator economy. At the time, I don’t think I understood how huge this goal was when I set it. I do now.
Have a Motto
It has taken me years, yes, years to find a motto that makes sense to me and communicates the ethos of this brand. Please note: It’s inspired by a local non-profit in Denver called the S.A.M.E. Cafe which stands for So All May Eat. Guests of that restaurant pay what they can or don’t depending on how things are going. Those guests who can, contribute more so that those who cannot can be served at the table with dignity.
I often think about this as I work through how I think about monetizing online.
My motto is now “So all may learn, So all may earn” This motto influences all of my moves within my brand. I don’t always get it right. I’m always thinking about access, motivation and more as I grow Creators Getting Paid.
Foster a Community
(The Creator Income Collective)
As I worked on Creators Getting Paid, I started to notice that I had some ride or dies. You know those amazing people who show up for everything. Every webinar, workshop and in-person experience. These were are the people who are in the audience of every “Shh, We’re Talking” livestream that I host with Corey Gumbs founder of The Black Podcasters Association and Angela Hollowell founder of Melanin MVP and Please Hustle Responsibly. These are the wonderful people who are looking for connection so and support so I started the free(ish) Creator Income Collective where we geek out about monetizing our brands and support one another’s work. Go to: creatorsgettingpaid.com/membership to become a part of the community today. It’s hosted on Slack.
Be Unapologetic
Stay true to what you’re building and who you want to serve. Your community will find and connect with the ethos of your brand and work. Time will also provide more clarity as you have more community conversations, connections and try out different things as time goes by. I hope this was helpful and I welcome you into the Creators Getting Paid community. Let’s get paid in 2026.
Finally, be bold in 2026. Share what you’re building so that we can support what you’re doing and shout you out.
