Eric Siu argues creators should build newsletters and communities for stable income instead of depending on sponsorships. He cites Austin Rief of Morning Brew and a creator who left a startup as examples of people who made this shift, especially important during economic downturns.
Austin Rief, so he's one of the co-founders of Morning Brew. He said there's no better time to have an engaged newsletter. And yesterday I was talking to a creator. She left her job earlier, was working at a popular startup. She's just focused on creating now. She's like, I don't want to make a newsletter. I don't want to make a community. I was like, so how are you going to make your money right now? Sponsorships. Then I gave her the logic. I was like, hey, Japan's in a recession right now. Germany's in a recession right now. UK's in recession. Do you think we're in a recession or not? What gets cut during recessions? Like sponsorships. Probably should think about like protecting yourself and insulating yourself long term.
