Behind the Scenes Working for Ali Abdaal

A Creatorpreneur leverages the principles of business and entrepreneurship to turn their creative side hustle into a sustainable and scalable business. This newsletter helps you do that, and reminds you to have fun every step of the way. 🥳

Hey folks 👋

Most of you know that Creatorpreneur is part of Ali Abdaal’s business, and that he is the original Creatorpreneur, but what is his team really up to and how does his business work?

👀 Behind The Scenes

Well, some of the team work in the free content side of the business, helping Ali produce YouTube videos, podcasts, newsletters, Tiktoks, Instagram reels, tweets and the occasional LinkedIn post lol.

And the other members of the team work in the paid side of the business, where the main job is to create as much revenue as possible by making the best courses possible. There's the Part-Time YouTuber Academy team making the PTYA course, and the Creatorpreneur team (us 😊) making a bunch of different courses and building the Creatorpreneur brand.

The course that the Creatorpreneur team are currently working on is about Camera Confidence, which is being released in a few weeks, so if you want to get a free 5 day crash course about camera confidence, as well as a discount when the course is released, then sign up to this waiting list here with one click.

And regarding the team, that’s kind of it. There’s around 13-18 full time and part time members of the team. Some that we haven't mentioned help Ali with his book or help manage the day to day operations of the business like finances and admin, and we operate most of our day to day business using Notion and Slack, two goat level softwares 🐐.

If you’re interested in learning more about the team, reply to this email with your question and we can share more in future issues.

🛠️ Creatorpreneur Tool of the Week

A few months ago, we wrote about the Hedgehog Concept, which is a tool that helps you figure out what you actually want to do as a creator. It's so important for every creator to have this nailed down, so we're going to have another look at it.

🦔 The Hedgehog Concept

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing” - Isaiah Berlin, The Hedgehog and the Fox

A fox circles a hedgehog. The fox is cunning, nimble and crafty. The hedgehog is dowdy, slow and unassuming. On paper, the fox is the clear winner.

Yet when the fox attacks, the hedgehog simply curls up into a ball of spikes. Despite it’s swift feet and sharp fangs, the fox is powerless.

The hedgehog will always win, because it excels at a single skill. A single idea unifies everything it does.

This fable was popularised by Jim Collins. He suggests that, like a hedgehog, a business needs to excel at just one thing.

You can work this out for you and your business by asking these three questions:

1. What are you deeply passionate about?
2. What could you be the best in the world at?
3. What drives your economic engine?

Purpose x Authenticity x Value

Let’s break these down a little.

1 - What are you deeply passionate about?

This is your purpose.

• What gets you up in the morning and keeps you working late, voluntarily?
• What gets you excited when you’re teaching or telling someone else about it?
• What do you feel like sharing with other people?

2 - What do you do better than anyone else?

This is your authenticity.

• What are you (or do you have the potential to be) really good at?
• What do you wish you’d known three, five or ten years ago that could help people now? As Rory Vaden says, “you’re most powerfully positioned to serve the person you once were”
• What industries / audiences / groups are you familiar with or part of? e.g. amateur chess players, investors, high school students, teenagers struggling with their love life, etc.
• What would others say you’re good at?
• In How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams argues that “leveraging multiple mediocre skills” can lead to extraordinary success—especially if that combination is rare.

3 - What drives your economic engine?

This is your value

• Think about what other people will pay you for. What aspects of your creative side hustle could earn you a sustainable income?
• Don’t use revenue as your primary motivator, but ask whether or not you could reasonably charge money for the service or value you’re providing to others.

That's the Hedgehog Concept.

📝 Creatorpreneur Diaries ft. Gareth & Tintin

In future issues of this newsletter, myself (Tintin) and Gareth, are going to be sharing regular updates of our journeys as we try to become effective Creatorpreneurs ourselves.

As the two members of the Creatorpreneur team, we can't be sitting here writing about these idealistic concepts, without admitting that it's actually quite difficult to be a good Creatorpreneur, and not sharing the ups and downs of our own journeys as creators. That way, you'll know that whilst we are writing about useful things to consider as Creatorpreneurs, we are also making a fool of ourselves too. 😊

For now, you can check out Gareth's channel here and my channel here.

🤔 What's Next

• Answer the questions above to help you narrow down what it is that you can be really good at as a creator. Remember that this kind of stuff is really difficult, and everyone's niche is constantly evolving, but these processes are helpful for gaining clarity about what it is we want to create.

That’s it for now.

Have a great rest of your week!

Tintin at Creatorpreneur

🚀 Free 5 Day Creatorpreneur Crash Course

If you like these Creatorpreneur newsletters, you might like our free 5 day email crash course, where Ali Abdaal shares everything he knows about becoming a 'professional' Creatorpreneur. Over the 5 days you'll receive the tools, resources, and knowledge to kickstart your journey as a Creatorpreneur and build a scalable and sustainable business.