Chapter 1 Exercises

Exercise 1: The Creator Economy Map (Reflection + Research)

Estimated time: 30–45 minutes Type: Individual research and analysis

Walk through your own media consumption for a single day. Keep a log — on paper, in a notes app, wherever — of every piece of content you consume that was made by an independent creator (not a corporation, news outlet, or entertainment studio). This includes YouTube videos, TikToks, Instagram posts, podcast episodes, newsletters, and blog posts.

At the end of the day, for each piece of content, answer: 1. Who made this? (Individual, team, brand?) 2. What platform delivered it to you? 3. How did you find it? (Algorithm recommendation, direct search, friend's share, subscription?) 4. Do you think this creator made money from this specific piece of content? How? 5. Do you have any sense of what you "paid" the creator for this content? (Time, attention, data, cash?)

Write a 300-word reflection: What patterns did you notice? Were you surprised by any of the creators' likely business models? Did anything you found make you more or less interested in building something similar?

Exercise 2: Platform Business Model Teardown (Analysis)

Estimated time: 45–60 minutes Type: Individual research

Choose one platform from the following list: YouTube, TikTok, Substack, Twitch, or Patreon.

Research how that platform makes money, how creators make money on it, and what the creator requirements are (minimum subscriber counts, eligibility, country restrictions, etc.).

Create a one-page breakdown that includes: - Platform revenue model: How does the company make money? - Creator revenue model: What can creators earn, and how? - Creator eligibility: What do you need to qualify for monetization? - Creator share: What percentage of revenue does the creator actually keep? - Structural incentives: What does this payment model incentivize creators to do? (Post more often? Post longer videos? Build a subscriber base? Sell products?) - One risk: What is the biggest downside for creators depending on this platform?

Sources to use: The platform's official partner/creator program pages, creator-economy journalists like Peter Yang (Creator Science newsletter), or the business section of any major tech publication.

Exercise 3: The Five Flows Analysis (Hands-On Application)

Estimated time: 30–45 minutes Type: Individual analysis

Pick a creator you respect in a niche you find genuinely interesting. Spend 20–30 minutes studying their work across whatever platforms they operate on. Then fill in the five-flows framework:

Then write a 200-word diagnosis: Where is the strongest flow in this creator's system? Where is the weakest? If you were advising them, what is the single highest-leverage thing they could improve?

Exercise 4: Your Personal Creator Ecosystem Audit (Self-Assessment)

Estimated time: 45–60 minutes Type: Personal strategy

Whether you're already creating or not, this exercise asks you to plan.

If you already create content: Pull your analytics from the past 90 days. Answer the following: - What is your total follower/subscriber count across all platforms? - What is your average engagement rate? (Likes + comments ÷ followers × 100) - How many new followers did you gain? How many did you lose? - What is your net follower growth rate? - What revenue, if any, have you earned? Break it down by source. - Which platform do you depend on most? What happens if it disappears tomorrow?

If you don't yet create content: Answer the following honestly: - What could you make content about where you have genuine knowledge or enthusiasm that would sustain you for years, not weeks? - Who would benefit from that content? Be as specific as possible (not "people interested in fitness" but "college athletes managing a nutrition plan on a $150/month food budget"). - Which platform seems most aligned with that content type and that audience? - What is your realistic starting situation? (Equipment you have, time per week, financial constraints)

Both groups: Write a 300-word "current state" document describing where you are right now in the creator economy, honestly. Keep it. You'll revisit it at the end of this course.

Exercise 5: 1,000 True Fans — Do the Math (Quantitative)

Estimated time: 20–30 minutes Type: Financial modeling

Kevin Kelly's model suggests 1,000 true fans spending $100/year = $100,000. Let's pressure-test this for your potential niche.

Part A: Choose three very different niches (e.g., sustainable fashion, personal finance for young professionals, tabletop gaming). For each, estimate: - What products or services could a creator realistically sell? - What price points are realistic? - How many true fans would you need to earn $60,000/year (a reasonable full-time income)?

Part B: Look up three mid-tier creators (100,000–500,000 followers) in niches that interest you. Try to find any public information about their revenue (many creators share this in YouTube videos, in newsletters, or through tools like Social Blade, which estimates YouTube earnings). Does the 1,000 true fans model match what they appear to earn?

Part C: Write a 150-word reflection: What are the limits of the 1,000 True Fans model? Where does it hold up? Where does it break down?

Exercise 6: Meet Someone New (Community + Research)

Estimated time: Ongoing, this week Type: Field research

Find one creator who is within two years of where you want to be — similar niche, similar size, someone who's not yet famous but is clearly figuring it out. This could be someone with 5,000 followers or 50,000.

Read or watch at least three pieces of their content. Then: 1. Send them a genuine, specific message (DM, email if they share it, comment). Not "love your content!" — something specific about what you noticed or learned. Don't ask for anything. 2. Subscribe to or follow them on at least one platform. 3. Engage with their next three posts as a real human being.

Reflection question: Why is building relationships with other creators at your level more valuable, early on, than trying to get the attention of big creators? What does horizontal community give you that vertical reach doesn't?

Exercise 7: The Equity Lens (Critical Analysis)

Estimated time: 30–45 minutes Type: Group discussion or individual writing

Re-read the equity callout from section 1.6. Then research one of the following documented issues in creator economy equity: - The documented pay gap between Black and white creators in brand deal negotiations - TikTok's 2020 internal suppression of content from users with disabilities and low-income identifiers - The geographic concentration of creator economy success in the US, UK, and a handful of other English-speaking countries - The equipment and bandwidth requirements that effectively exclude creators in lower-income countries or rural areas

Write a 400-word response that answers: 1. What are the structural causes of this specific inequity? 2. What would need to change — at the platform level, the brand level, or the creator-support level — to address it? 3. If you are part of a marginalized group in this context, what strategic responses might creators from that group take? 4. If you are not part of this group, what responsibility, if any, do creators with privilege have in addressing these inequities?

This exercise does not have comfortable answers. That's the point.