The global creator economy is estimated to be worth $104.2 billion.
If you want to get your slice of the pie – and you have expertise or knowledge in a particular field – you could become a Creator Educator.
If you’ve ever written, recorded or commented on content that explains, simplifies or explores a topic, you’re already on the path to being a Creator Educator!
Here’s how to turn your skills into a lucrative side hustle or full-time business – with everything you need to know about being a Creator Educator and top Creator Educators who’ve already found success.
Click the links below to skip ahead:
- What is a Creator Educator?
- What does a Creator Educator do?
- How to become a Creator Educator in 5 simple steps
- 5 examples of top creator educators
- Key qualities of a Creator Educator
What is a Creator Educator?
A Creator Educator is someone who produces and publishes educational content online, using their expertise to teach other people. Creator Educators use their unique experience and perspective to inform, educate and entertain learners.
Creator Educators tend to have control over the whole creative process, from planning to writing to publishing educational content. They might post material on social media or on an online course platform – or both!
What does a Creator Educator do?
Creator educators use their unique expertise to teach and help others grow. But within that role, there are a lot of different skills and tasks that Creator Educators use.
Every day is different as a Creator Educator – it can include:
- Planning and mapping an online course curriculum
- Producing learning resources
- Recording and editing educational content
- Designing and implementing a marketing plan
- Creating and uploading social media content
- Website design, content and maintenance
- Sales outreach
- One-to-one coaching calls
- Running live classes and webinars
- Brand partnerships e.g. podcasts, guest blogs and live speaking events
Creator educators are free to define their role and how they build their personal brand. Some Creator Educators also outsource tasks like marketing and administrative tasks or have a team to help them.
Related: 10 Steps To Creating A Wildly Successful Online Course
How to become a Creator Educator in 6 simple steps
If you’re keen to become a Creator Educator, here are the 5 steps to help you get where you want to go and grow.
If you’re a Creator Educator who’s just getting started, it’s a good idea to find your education niche.
A niche is a specific topic, audience or teaching technique that helps you carve out a space for yourself in a crowded online education marketplace. What will make students pick you over anyone else? Your niche.
To find your niche, think about what problems you can solve, based on your interests, passions and expertise. Research who else is already working in the field and who your key competitors would be.
Of course, you also need to make sure there’s an audience for your content. Get clear on your target audience, including key demographics. If in doubt, check out our guide to how to define your audience.
Use this process to help you find a killer online course topic and kick start your Creator Educator business.
Related: Find your niche in 4 Simple Steps (Expert Tips)
If you want your Creator Educator life to be stress-free – plan your content!
Before you start creating and uploading your content, take the time to create an outline for your educational content. Whether you’re building an online course or looking to grow your community online, a clear plan will help to make sure your content is easy-to-understand and follows a coherent path for learners.
Planning your content in advance also helps you to refine your offering. When you know what you want to say, you can dedicate time to thinking of the most effective ways to convey the information and deliver the best possible learning experience for your students.
Get inspired with our guides:
- How to plan an online course
- How to structure your course
- How to Create a Mini Course (Step-by-Step Guide, Examples, and 7 Expert Tips)
Planning your content before you start creating it is worth the extra effort – and will save you time and energy down the line.
For Creator Educators, your choice of platform can be make or break for your online course business. The best platforms for Creator Educators have everything you need in one space – including a course-builder, admin dashboard, community space, marketing tools and more.
Look out for platforms that make monetization easy – so you can start earning money from your expertise in no time.
Need help choosing? Check out our recommendation guides:
Try a free trial to see if the platform is right for you and your needs. And if in doubt, get in touch to find out more about your chosen platform’s features, capabilities and potential drawbacks.
When you’ve finished planning out your content and chosen your platform, you can take the next steps to create, produce and publish your content!
The exact process will depend on what kind of content you’re creating and how you’re planning to deliver your lessons. If you’re doing live cohort courses, for example, you’ll need to choose a reliable video conferencing software and get your lighting, sound and camera set up ready.
For most Creator Educators, your content will be probably video-heavy. Invest in your at-home studio set up to make the process easier and more efficient.
Check out our guides to help you get set up:
- How to set up a DIY home video recording studio
- The best YouTube equipment & tips
- How to make a YouTube video in 7 easy steps
- How to improve your video quality
You are your business’ best selling point so don’t be afraid to get in front of the camera and connect with your audience. Don’t forget to smile!
Related: How to price your online course
To grow your business and become a fully-fledged Creator Educator, you’ll also need to work on marketing to help you sell more courses.
Start by creating a landing page for your business. Then take time building an email list, social media following and online presence to grow your audience. Invest in brand collaborations to build brand awareness and tap into new markets.
Your customers are your best salespeople. If you can focus your energy on growing brand loyalty, you can turn your existing students into brand advocates – and get much needed social proof to use in your future marketing!
Related: How to use marketing psychology to sell more courses
The true value of your business lies in your ability to build and retain a community of learners. For Creator Educators who can create a community around their brand, there are a host of benefits including more brand loyalty, repeat sales, and increased CLV.
Look out for online course platforms that make it easy to create an online community or a members-only space. Thinkific Communities is specially designed to help creators build and monetize their learning community.
Related: How To Launch A Wildly Successful Membership Website
3 examples of top Creator Educators
Creator Educators range from start-ups to 7-figure businesses and more. Here are 3 successful Creator Educators who built their business from scratch – and never looked back!
Ellie Diop, Ellie Talks Money
After being made redundant from her corporate job in 2020, Ellie Diop was left without an income and four children to provide for. This was the catalyst Ellie needed to monetize her expertise and launch her business as a Creator Educator and coach.
Using Thinkific Plus, Ellie grew her online academy and rebranded as ‘Ellie Talks Money’. Though her initial motivation was supporting her family, Ellie quickly realized that being a Creator Educator meant changing the lives of thousands of entrepreneurs of color who could benefit from her experience to learn how to become financially stable and build a secure financial future for their children.
Fast forward to today and Ellie is now the head of a 7-figure online education business and one of Thinkific’s top performing Creator Educators. Read the full case study of how Ellie did it here.
Stefano Somma, Stock Market Masters Course
Thinkific creator Stefano Somma first started monetizing his specialist knowledge of stocks and investing back in 2021. After creating an Instagram account and growing his following to 23k in just a few months, Stefano realized there was high demand for tips and tricks on investing.
With the powerful goal of helping people 10x their investments, Stefano built his business on helping beginners learn the inside track fast. His first course launch brought in $125k in revenue and he’s since added two more courses to his academy. With a simple but effective business model, Stefano hit multiple six figures in just one year. And his Creator Educator business is set to keep growing with his plans to set up a new subscription service and one-to-one mentoring options.
Check out the full case study on Stefano’s Creator Educator success here.
Mimi Goodwin, Sew it! Academy
Mimi Goodwin started her Creator Educator career with a sewing blog where she began posting YouTube video tutorials to teach people of all shapes and sizes how to sew clothes they could actually wear. In just one year, Mimi’s attracted over 1 million viewers. The next step was to monetize her community.
In 2016, Mimi set up the Sew It! Academy with the help of Thinkific, bringing her expertise to an even bigger audience. Mimi focuses on affordability when pricing her online courses to ensure everyone can access and learn from her unique knowledge. She now has a thriving business with a loyal community of amateur sewers ranging from as young as 12 up to 80 years old.
Read the full case study of how Mimi grew her Creator Educator business here.
Key qualities of a Creator Educator
Anyone can be a Creator Educator. But if you have these key qualities, it could be the ideal career path for you! Here are the top characteristics of successful Creator Educators.
Creativity
The best Creator Educators embrace their creative side to produce content that’s engaging, eye-catching and offers viewers something new. To stand out from the crowd, creativity is a key skill for Creator Educators to utilize. Look out for fun, original ways to present your content and see how fast you can grow your audience!
People skills
As a Creator Educator, you’re going to need good people skills to nurture and encourage learners. If you can grow a community around your brand, you can massively increase the scope of your business.
People skills include taking the time to respond to questions, connect with learners and engage with your audience on social media in a way that feels authentic and genuine.
Curiosity
The most effective educators never stop learning. As a Creator Educator, you will be a source of knowledge and expertise for your customers – and if you can keep learning, you can keep your audience informed and engaged.
Look out for new developments in your industry and offer your take on the latest debates and challenges. This is how you cement your status as a thought leader and stay relevant.
Ambition
The sky’s the limit when it comes to your Creator Educator business. If you can dream it, you can make it happen! Creator Educators have the potential to grow a thriving, multi-faceted business built on their knowledge and passions. It just takes ambition – and patience.
Related: 8 Steps to Building a Successful Online Course Business (+ Business Plan Template)
Ready to become a Creator Educator?
Thinkific brings your unique vision to life with the best-branded learning experiences. Integrated sales and marketing tools allow you to scale by doing what you know best. Take advantage of in-built community-building tools to catch and retain learners for years to come.
Our proven success paths give you confidence to start seeing quick success – to grow your business, help more people and become a true Creator Educator.
Try Thinkific for free today!