Your knowledge is a powerful tool, one that will set you apart from all the other creator entrepreneurs out there. So why not hone in on your skill, and make a profit by sharing your expertise?
This blog highlights the key takeaways from Thinkific’s creator panel at VidCon 2024 – if you missed it, don’t worry! We provide a comprehensive overview of the 7 effective strategies for monetizing your knowledge that will set you up for success in the creator industry.
These 7 strategies are tried-and-true, and used by many creators who have built their business from the ground up.
Continue reading for an in-depth view on the 7-step framework for monetizing your knowledge:
- Diversify your revenue streams
- Own your audience and build a community
- Build trust through a value ladder
- Define your niche and products
- Build momentum: Dream big, start small
- Sell and market authentically
- Set up and integrate your software tools & workflows
Related: How To Monetize Your Expertise
Step 1: Diversify your revenue streams
The first (and maybe most important) step to take when monetizing your knowledge is to open up more passive streams of income, which diversifies your revenue.
Diversifying your revenue will not only grant you access to more opportunities and financial freedom, it will provide you with some stability. A lack of stability in the creator industry is a huge barrier to entry for many, and it is often a hard pill for many want-to-be creators to swallow.
As they say, with high risk comes high reward. Our VidCon creators shared that any creator entrepreneur out there knows that this industry comes with uncharted waters – some months are really great months, and others may have you wondering how you’re going to pay the bills. This is where diversifying your revenue stream becomes the key to your success as a creator.
Once you learn that being a creator entrepreneur doesn’t have to always be accompanied by instability with your earnings, you will feel a lot more secure with having at least a couple contracts that are consistent. This mitigates the risk of having to scrape by every month trying to find money to pay your bills.
Benefits of diversifying your income
If you’re just starting out in the creator industry, diversifying your revenue streams can seem daunting. However, once you get into the groove of being a digital creator, you’ll find that there are plenty of opportunities and different ways to create multiple streams of income.
Diversifying your revenue may seem like a lot of work – which don’t get us wrong, it takes hard work and dedication to get your feet off the ground – but it is well worth it for the flexibility and freedom it gives you in the long run.
The truth is, the creator industry is unpredictable. When you rely solely on one contract, this could impact your career as a digital creator if there are any ruptures with the brand or partnership. This is why it’s a good practice to make sure you have diversification in your brand deals.
Adding multiple income streams also opens up the door to earning passive income. While it may take hard work to get a passive revenue stream up and running, once it’s established you really don’t need to touch it for years to come, besides making a few minor updates here and there.
Creating digital products is a great example of a passive revenue stream. You’re only one person, and there is only so much you can do in a day. Your time is valuable, and digital products allow you to monetize your knowledge in a way that doesn’t sacrifice your entire life to work.
Types of revenue streams
Now that we’ve gone over the benefits of diversifying your revenue streams, let’s dive into the different types of revenue streams out there that will help you monetize your knowledge.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of ways to diversify your revenue stream – the possibilities vast. However, here are a few ideas to help you get a feel for some common creator jobs out there.
Types of revenue streams for diversifying your income:
- Digital products – Selling digital products is a low-cost, low-hassle way to earn extra change. Things like ebooks, digital art, branding kits, digital resources (teaching materials, templates, newsletters), photography and audio clips, software, and webinars are just a few examples of the many types of digital products out there.
- Online courses – You can create an online course on just about anything and everything, and it is one of the most profitable ways to earn a passive income. Whether your course is short or long, there are no limits in the space of online learning. Discover everything you need to know about creating an online course here.
- Coaching or consulting – Offering paid coaching or consulting services compliments selling an online course, and it is another very profitable source of income that has low start-up costs. Start by becoming an expert in your niche to get the coaching ball rolling.
- Leveraging social media – Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are breeding grounds for brand deals and partnerships. The possibilities are quite limitless when it comes to leveraging social media as a creator.
- Affiliate marketing – Affiliate marketing involves promoting other brands in return for a commission on sales or referrals. This is a simple way to monetize your content as a creator through promoting affiliate links. On the flip side, you can also launch your own affiliate program to sell your online course, helping increase reach and visibility.
- Memberships or subscriptions – Offering memberships or subscriptions in exchange for your valuable content and expertise is a great way to earn passive revenue. If you have an active audience, introducing a monthly subscription or exclusive membership service will allow you to build recurring revenue.
Related: 19 Profitable Digital Products And Where To Sell Them
Step 2: Own your audience and build a community
When deciding to diversify your revenue stream, it’s worth mentioning that you don’t want to put all your eggs into one basket… our VidCon creators talked about the importance of owning your audience.
The truth is that social networks are not always aligned with creator’s goals, as they have their own agenda of making sure user retention and views are high. The reality is that there’s no transparency around social platform’s algorithms – which as a digital creator whose business is based solely off of Instagram or TikTok, this can impact gravely. If these platforms suddenly decide to change features or shut down, creators would no longer have access to their audience.
As a creator, you put so much time and energy into creating content and building a following, which is why you always want to have access to your audience regardless of what happens with social media platforms. To always have access to the audience you built and leverage your connections, establish a direct relationship with them. The best way to do this is through building an email list.
An email list gives you access to the email addresses and subscriber information (such as names and occupations) of those audience members who have opted in to receive personalized messages from you as a creator. This allows you to send things like personalized messages, general updates, and sales-focused emails in the form of a newsletter.
“Emailing newsletters to my subscribers has been one of the most profitable ways for me to actually make money with my audience” – Kristen Bousquet, You Soulcialmate
Kristen talks about how this direct line of access is one of the most valuable tools you have as a creator, as your email list allows you to directly sell to your audience. She mentions how her email newsletter is very personal, with only 50% of her email content focusing on creator education. The other half of the time she is sending information about animal rescue and her top book reads to build a more authentic connection with her audience.
Owning your audience helps you establish a loyal community with high customer lifetime value (CLV). Just keep in mind that building an email list does take time, commitment, and a little bit of trial-and-error (as does anything good that’s coming). Check out our comprehensive guide below for a step-by-step process on how to successfully build an email list from scratch.
Related: How To Build An Email List (Complete Guide)
Step 3: Build trust through a value ladder
The next step related to the topic of owning your audience and building a community is establishing trust with your audience. Trust is what builds those deeper relationships that are more meaningful and genuine.
One of the most effective ways to build trust with your audience is through a value ladder. A value ladder is essentially the journey a customer travels on with your brand. It’s a marketing strategy that takes customers from a low-priced entry-level offer to a high-priced premium product. Each step builds on the previous one. The goal is to move your audience members along a continuum to products or services that are progressively more valuable.
For example, at the bottom of the ladder would be the free content you’re already sharing with your audience on social media. The next step could be obtaining your audience’s email so they are granted access to your entry-level offer of a free ebook or webinar. From there, you could offer a low-priced mini online course that dives further into the information shared in the ebook. Next, you could introduce paid communities such as subscriptions or memberships. Going further up the ladder might involve purchasing a more in-depth online course and then even one-on-one coaching services. With the value ladder strategy, you can tell while you’re investing more in your customers as they move up the ladder, they are in turn investing financially in you.
As you can see, the key with the value ladder strategy is to create a series of offers that are increasingly more valuable and attractive to audience members in your niche area, providing customers with greater benefits. You are incentivizing them to become a part of your community through sharing free knowledge, slowly moving them up to a place where they become purchasing customers.
“The concept of a value ladder is that you’re not asking for something first, but rather you’re giving first and providing an incentive to move up the ladder eventually” – Cameron Uganec, The Leap by Thinkific
Generosity marketing is based on the idea that you start by giving information to your target audience that they are looking for. It takes time to build this trust and get your audience comfortable with committing to your brand.
Related: What Is A Value Ladder? (Strategy and Examples)
Step 4: Define your niche and products
You’ve most likely heard of the importance of finding your niche, however we’re going to cover how defining your niche and digital products is a crucial step in successfully monetizing your knowledge.
Your niche is what sets you apart from everyone else. That unique thing you offer in your niche market is one of the biggest factors when a customer is deciding whether or not they want to purchase your product or service. To make the most of educational opportunities within your niche and monetize your knowledge, you’ll want to be super specific with narrowing in on your topic of expertise and targeting your audience.
Our VidCon creators emphasized that when finding your niche, you’ll want to make sure that you’re listening to your audience. Oftentimes it’ll be your DM’s that unveil the answer to the question, what topic should I cover? The key is to not overthink your niche and to simply go narrower than you think within your broader topic. If you are answering questions in a very small niche market, sharing your expertise will be very impactful which will allow you to successfully monetize your knowledge.
Jon Youshaei shared his success tips on narrowing in on his niche, which allowed him to gain over 800,000 followers:
“Look for where the demand is at. For me, this meant searching for where there was the most demand for YouTube education and where there was a gap I could fill. You can do this for any niche.” – Jon Youshaei, Youshaei Studios
Jon coined the incognito method, which is where you use a private browser on the Internet, switching into incognito mode so that your search history doesn’t influence your results. You then type in your keywords on your niche topic, such as “YouTube,” and see what the autofill for that topic is telling you. This is what people are searching for the most – it’s essentially what people are demanding answers to.
From there, create a list that covers what the demand is for your specific topic and brainstorm how you can create a digital product out of your knowledge in this area. Jon uses a Venn diagram with “what I know” and “what I know I can deliver” as the headings, with the middle area being the grey spot. Jon says that if people are demanding it, but you don’t feel like it’s something you can speak to, it’s obviously not something you want to put in your course.
Andrea Casanova also shares her strategy to narrowing in on her niche:
“I find the best performing videos within my niche, and then I transcribe them using AI, such as chat GPT, and ask for insights on the actual videos or content ideas and then follow up with questions so I can keep getting ahead of my competitors.” – Andrea Casanova, We Shape This
Andrea says she views finding your niche and personal branding as a tree. You need a solid, sturdy trunk as your core foundation. From there, you’ll have multiple branches which consist of more specific topics that are catering directly to what your target audience is searching for.
Pro tip: Keep in mind that when narrowing in on your niche, you don’t need to be a walking encyclopedic or global leader on your topic – to monetize on your expertise and to educate others, you just need to know significantly more than the average person. Then add your own unique genius to the topic and help others learn and experience some noticeable growth or transformation.
Related: 13 Most Profitable Niches for Online Courses (Bonus: Tips to Identify your Niche)
Step 5: Build momentum: Dream big, start small
Once you’ve established your niche, you might expect to see immediate results with your efforts. However, building a successful business from scratch takes time and patience.
Cameron shares how starting off small is where the real magic happens.
“I find that new creators are successful with sharing their knowledge because of the fact that they’re a creator learner. It’s not to say that they’re a world expert in something, but they’re a couple of steps ahead of their audience. And there’s a real power in that because these creators can really empathize and use a language that makes sense to their audience.” – Cameron Uganec, The Leap by Thinkific
Dreaming big yet starting out small gives you an advantage because it allows you to become very connected with your audience. Starting out small allows you to learn with your audience and to slowly build momentum and a loyal band of followers over time.
A common concern with building momentum is that creators don’t have the time to start things off slowly. There’s always something to do, and the content treadmill seems to be always on high speed.
“We all have time, it’s just what are we prioritizing? We put our hands in so many different things that we’re not dedicating enough time to really let something build. I help creators build a sustainable business because in order for you to do it, it has to be something that’s sustainable for you, or you’re going to push yourself for three months and then you’re never going to touch it again because you’ll be burnt out.” – Kristen Bousquet, You Soulcialmate
Kristen shares that she’s been able to prioritize her time and build momentum by using tools such as AI and outsourcing. She uses AI to help give her a base level that she can build off of and customize. Outsourcing tedious tasks frees up her time and allows her to avoid burnout when focusing on things in her business that require more personalization.
Allowing yourself space to grow your business also helps prevent imposter syndrome, which is the idea of not feeling like you know enough or that your professional accomplishments are not from your own capabilities. Every creator feels this at one point or another, which can lead to creators experiencing burnout by pushing themselves too hard too quickly.
The key to overcoming imposter syndrome is to embrace duality. Andrea explains how she overcomes imposter syndrome as a creator educator:
“You can be great at something and still have a lot more to learn. And when you accept that, you take so much of that pressure off of you. I always like to say that I’m always wearing my student hat.” – Andrea Casanova, We Shape This
Related to imposter syndrome is the idea of perfectionism. Oftentimes, lots of digital creators feel as though they need to prove themselves to overcome imposter syndrome. This is where perfectionism takes over, and creators want to build the best course in their niche area before putting any other educational content out. Unfortunately, this leads to procrastination and allows the fear of not being good enough to creep in.
While you absolutely need to dream big, you also have to start somewhere. The key is to get going right away, so you can tweak and perfect things as they come up. So, create content and post it even if it’s not perfected, just so you have something that can help build momentum. Then you can slowly start jumping over those hurdles and moving up the ladder, learning as you go.
Related: How to Price Your Online Course (Complete Guide to Course Pricing)
Step 6: Sell and market authentically
The next step in this framework is to sell and market your products and services authentically. This is easier to do if you’ve built momentum and learned with your followers from day one. They will perceive you as genuine and trust the content you are putting out.
Selling and marketing authentically to your audience starts with building a connection. A great way to start creating this is to meet your audience where they already are and ask for their feedback. Essentially, you want to get on the same level as your audience. To do this, create interactive elements in your content and then respond to your audience. This will help you build more momentum, leading to those authentic sales. Connecting with your audience will give you direct insights into what it is that they want.
One of the best ways to find out what your audience wants is to go to your comments sections on your social platforms and learn what people are asking for and how they are asking you for it. If you’re just getting started and this isn’t an option for you right now, then go to your competitors’ social media and scroll their comments sections.
Finding out this information allows you to figure out how you can give your audience what they want with your own personal twist on the subject. Your unique genius is how you share your life experiences, the words that you use, and the storytelling that you use in terms of delivering knowledge in a way that your audience wants to hear. How can you deliver your unique genius to others? What is a unique way that you can showcase or teach something that’s been said before?
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Adult Learning Theory: Knowles’ Principles & More
Step 7: Set up and integrate your software tools & workflows
The final step in this framework to monetizing your knowledge is knowing how to get set up and what software you can use to help you in this process.
Our VidCon creators share their own tech stack, and what has worked well for them when creating their digital product business:
- Kristen Bousquet – All my tasks are all tracked through Asana which I use religiously. I also use Notion for every other type of document or spreadsheet that I need in my life in terms of my digital products. I host my products on The Leap and my online course on Thinkific. My podcast is recorded through Riverside.
- Jon Youshaei – I use Thinkific, which has made everything easy, and includes follow up assignments, self-assessment, and more. I also use Riverside for interviews. We have a public Discord with about 5,000 creators as well as a private Discord with just our team, with different channels that organize tasks for the day.
- Andrea Casanova – I frequently use AI to transcribe myself. After, I use chat GPT and perplexity AI for sourcing research papers and to get up-to-date information. My favourite AI tool is called Future Tools. For selling digital products, I use The Leap.
These are some of the tools that our creators use and love, but it’s by no means an exhaustive list of what’s out there. As you can see with our creators, the list of software tools that they use is not extensive, proving that you don’t need a whole lot of fancy gadgets to run and maintain a successful online business.
Our suggestion is to utilize free trials for different software tools and to slowly add more once you find areas in your business that need more automation or assistance.
Related: The Top 50+ Online Business Tools Used by Entrepreneurs
Conclusion
There you have it! A wrap up of our Thinkific’s creator panel at VidCon 2024 on how to monetize your knowledge. In this blog we uncovered 7 successful strategies that will help you profit from your expertise.
Overview of 7 strategies to monetize your knowledge:
- Diversify your revenue stream through opening up more passive streams of income and gaining stability in your career as a creator
- Own your audience and build a community through building an email list to always have a direct line of communication to your followers
- Build trust through a value ladder which helps establish those deeper relationships that are more meaningful and genuine, while moving your customers from a low-priced entry-level offer to a high-priced premium product
- Define your niche and products by being super specific with narrowing in on your topic of expertise and targeting your audience, which will allow you to better monetize your knowledge
- Build momentum by dreaming big and starting small through learning as you go with your audience, slowly establishing connections that promote lifetime customer loyalty
- Sell and market authentically by connecting with your audience so that they will perceive you as genuine and trust the content you are putting out
- Set up and integrate different software tools that allow you to better automate tasks and workflows when creating digital products
Start your journey as a creator educator by creating digital products to open up a new revenue stream for your business and bring your unique genius and experience to a wider audience. Join a community of 70,000+ small businesses – try Thinkific for free today.
