Digital Renaissance: Navigating the New Creator Economy

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Welcome to a raw, unfiltered exploration of the digital renaissance reshaping our world right now. The global pandemic didn't just disrupt our lives—it accelerated a technological revolution that transformed how we communicate, work, and express ourselves. As someone deeply embedded in this transformation, I'm pulling back the curtain on what's really happening in digital spaces and why it matters to everyone, not just "content creators."

Forget what you've heard about saturated markets or the death of podcasting. The digital advertising industry is projected to triple by 2029, approaching $300 billion globally. Yet I've watched countless businesses waste enormous budgets on ineffective digital strategies because they fundamentally misunderstand how today's audiences engage with content. Today's internet users can spot inauthenticity instantly—they're not interested in transparent product placement or environments saturated with obvious advertising.

This podcast exists to demystify digital evolution while encouraging you to find your authentic voice in an increasingly noisy world. We'll explore how emerging technologies like AR, VR, and XR are blending with our physical experiences, how traditional media now relies on social engagement metrics for content decisions, and why comparison culture is the greatest threat to genuine creativity. Whether you're running a business, starting a creative project, or simply trying to understand this changing landscape, this journey is about connecting real-world experiences with digital opportunities. Join me in this renaissance period where new voices and perspectives aren't just welcome—they're essential to what comes next.

What digital challenges are you facing right now? Share your thoughts and questions—this is meant to be a two-way conversation where we create understanding together.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
I want to re-welcome you to my podcast.
It's called Create With MeLessons from the Digital
Frontlines, and I'm here todiscuss all things digital, and
I don't just mean social media.
Covid-19 exacerbated thetechnological industrial

(00:40):
revolution and the way wecommunicate with each other,
educate our children.
The world got smaller becauseof technology, but it also got
larger and more isolating.
It exposed a tremendous amountof domestic and civil unrest and
violence.
It exposed a tremendous amountof the underlying implicit and

(01:00):
explicit inequalities and theperils of racism.
Mental health actually came tothe forefront of these
conversations, which was astigma before.
A stigma like, as in mentalhealth, like you have a
therapist, you're no.
Like we needed to discussmental health resources and we
still do so.
Yes, it affected a lot ofthings, like work from home.

(01:20):
Dynamics blurred the boundariesof normal work-life balance.
I mean, I was taking calls atlike 6.30 am all the way up to
like 9.30 pm for years it was anappy nap.
So, anyway, what happens whenyou have a lot of change in a
small amount of time?
It results in a period oftransition, transformation and

(01:42):
the opportunity for new voicesto be heard and expressed.
But just so you know, it's notall bad, this transition,
transformation period that we'reentering.
As I said before, the theme ofthis, like my branding, is this
piece of artwork that'sElizabethan pop art theme and it
all means to me this arenaissance period is occurring,
it's on the rise, it's alreadysort of happening.

(02:04):
It happened during COVID.
A lot of celebrities and publicfigures went live during the
pandemic on Instagram Live orFacebook Live or TikTok or
something.
They started using social media, not because they're being paid
to, because they wanted to,because they had nothing else to
do and their identity wasthwarteded, but a lot of those

(02:25):
folks actually started topodcast too.
From that experience they sawsome traction on the live
formats in other places and theystarted to podcast.
And now there's an entiremultitude of podcast networks
and agencies out there that workwith a lot of different folks
on their podcasts and representthem as actual public figures in

(02:46):
that space.
Essentially, a Hollywoodecosystem of podcasters or just
like newer companies ofpodcasters came from COVID-19
because the restriction of notbeing in a studio led to what
Content creation via whatPodcast formats?
And now there's a wholesegmentation of an industry that

(03:06):
did not completely exist in itsentirety before Now.
I know a lot of people have beentelling me why are you doing
this stupid podcast?
You look stupid doing a podcast.
Podcast era is over.
Podcasting was a trend, right.
It's not that easy, though,because I have a personality.

(03:29):
It's hard for me to just readthings when you have a
personality because you're apersonality.
The digital advertising globalindustry industries estimated to
triple by like 2028, 29, like,rounding out around maybe like
over $300 billion.

(03:50):
It's just not going away, andthat's why I emphasize the
ability to recreate your owndefinition of what it means to
create or redefine what it meansto be a creator, because being
a creator doesn't mean justbeing an influencer, like 20
years ago.
The motivation or theinspiration for me with this

(04:12):
podcast is to create awarenesstowards the digital realm, the
digital ecosystems out there,because there's so many of them
right now.
Ok, so I want to create someawareness.
First of all, I've never seen somany SMB, even enterprise level
companies struggle withunderstanding how to use digital

(04:33):
advertising to their advantage.
They have no strategy and thenthey call like a big consulting
firm and they waste, like I wantto say, almost six figures of
eight figures of money a yearhiring a consulting firm that
doesn't understand their brandbecause maybe they don't the
companies and they get littleROI on hiring these consultants

(04:56):
to just run ads all day longusing a pixel they don't even
understand how to use.
No one does, apparently, boththe consultants and the actual.
You know the business and it'sjust like such a.
It's such a sad thing to seelack of click-through rates,
loss of funds in their budgetsevery year and then they just

(05:16):
say, f this, I'm not doing thisanymore, when really their
content mix is like 95% ads andthe wrong type of ads.
Today People hate bullshit.
Today, by the way, on theinternet they're like they're
not into that shit anymore, likeyou can't like product place
something like you did on like acommercial television.
This is not like Mr Pillow.
On the internet People knowbullshit when they see it.

(05:38):
So, yes, you can't have like100%, like 90% ads everywhere.
It's like a cringe for people.
You want to have like someorganic content, some traction.
Then you can start to maybeconvert that into an ad and then
have better click-through rates.
Affiliate programs, brandambassadors, brand ambassadors,
brand sponsorships what have you?
The list goes on and on aboutdiversifying your monetization,

(06:01):
revenue streams, but we'll getinto the M word in another
episode with a host.
But that's one of my favoritethings is monetization.
There's just a misconceptionwith digital media at large.
There's an adverse reaction ora resistance to utilizing the
emerging technologies out therewhich, honestly, some of them

(06:23):
have already existed for a verylong time.
You need to discover yourauthentic voice first before you
jump on in.
You don't want to chase a trendfirst.
That can come later on withyour consistency and your
publishing cadence.
But definitely trust me on thisone.
If you're doing this for thewrong reasons, like chasing
trends or wanting to go viral,you're looking at a 15 second of

(06:46):
fame bullshit version ofreality.
Okay, it's not a business, it'snot fruitful, it's not
sustainable, you'll lackretention and you'll create
attrition to your accounts.
Bad idea, most people try to dothat, even big businesses, by
the way.
Let's create a viral momentLike let's go viral with that
take.
It's like let's not.
It's not realistic and it'ssilly.

(07:06):
It doesn't create retention andif I had a following, a giant
following, it would create moreattritionrition.
Don't buy robots.
It looks stupid optically andthere's no conversion to sale.
Everyone still looks at socialmedia's algorithms a lot or seo
search words, because it showsyou what's trending.
If, like ariana grande comesout with a music video, you're

(07:29):
gonna see seo is like top highon the youtube search for that,
because that means it's likeeveryone's like into it, right?
Everyone keeps searching forthe music video, whatever.
But, yeah, digital store friendswill approach, immersive media
will approach and innovativetechnologies will approach in
future episodes.
But I just wanted to say thatif we don't get with the times
that are happening, we're notgoing to be in the times.

(07:50):
We will be left behind, like AR, vr, xr, mr, all of the R's of
the world.
You got VR, virtual reality, vr, mr, mixed reality, xr,
extended reality I'm smiling ifyou're watching, because they
all end in reality, which iswhat Our lives.

(08:12):
So then we have what I are inreal life.
So the R is reality.
So you need to go out into thepublic, into the world, into
experience anything, even ifit's just like nature, human
beings, your friends, yourfamilies, even like ass's, just
like nature, human beings, yourfriends, your families, even
like assholes, like who cares.
Go out there, experience thereal world.
Take that information back tothe virtual and digital realms

(08:36):
of our world today and make ithappen, because we need the
intel to make the digital realmsuccessful.
Real world, digital world.
You need the real world to besuccessful in the digital realm.
It's like the matrix, okay, andHollywood's looking at
engagement rates.
I mean, they ship charactersconstantly based on engagement
rates.

(08:56):
Take Grey's Anatomy.
They ship characters and extendrelationships based on
engagement rates, based on microcommunities, niche communities,
highly engaged communities onTikToks, and they look at that
and they're like, holy crap,this FYP, like this particular
micro community, is super stokedabout this relationship.
Let's keep the character onlonger with the relationship

(09:18):
because, clearly, clearly, theengagement rates are very high
for this particular communitythat loves this particular
couple on this huge show.
So we're talking aboutbroadcast television utilizing
little social media to figureout what the writer room is
going to do and the showrunneris going to do and how they're
going to pivot some of thestorylines to include that

(09:40):
character longer, becausethere's going to be more
engagement, more retention, etc.
So we are looking at the fandom, we're looking at crossing
barriers between our realrealities and this screen.
Here we're on messy mode.

(10:15):
All right, here we go.
It's my time, it's my show,it's my life.
I'm self-producing, I'mself-creating.
We're creating with you.
We're leaving it out.
So that's why I'm here to sharemy knowledge, and digital is a
language.
I I mean zeros and ones, and weall know that language is
knowledge and knowledge is power.
Might as well be informed, sothat's why I decided to do this.
It's not been easy.
Listen, I go through whateveryone else goes through the

(10:38):
fear of rejection, the fear offailure, the fear of not
belonging, even in a communityof family, friends, cohorts,
colleagues, etc.
That you once identified with.
You're taking a risk, but a lotof people do have the potential
to actually create, and I don'tmean just create content, I
mean create at large, likeinnovate.
You could be an entrepreneur,you could create something new.

(11:00):
So as we move forward into 2025, keep it in mind.
If you can't overcome fear inthis process, it's going to be
real tough, because you're goingto be met with fear every time
you do it, no matter how muchyou think you've gotten over
fear.
As I said before supply anddemand, economics, economies of
scale, guess what you can't fuelthe pipes of a platform without

(11:21):
the content to supply it.
You have to set your appetiteto create first, and I think a
lot of people have the appetiteto express themselves.
However, people have beenscared to speak up and talk.
People will happen, opinionshappen left and right, and
notifications and destructionand all this stuff.
If you start to listen to everylittle thing, you cannot focus
on the objectives of findingyour authentic voice.

(11:44):
It's very, very important tocreativity because it's your
anchor, it's your passion, yourauthentic voice yes, it's going
to change over time.
Once people start to convinceyou you are a piece of s*** and
you suck, or you're a liar orwhatever the f*** they make up
about you, you will crumblebecause you're like am I, am I,
am I?
No, you're not.

(12:04):
If you know who you are and Iknow who I am, at least this
journey has been tough.
But listen, I am positive aboutthe future.
Comparison culture and doomscrolling are the worst.
If you find yourself gettingdepressed while you doom scroll
and you start to compareyourself to other people, please
stop.
Just turn the phone off, take awalk, go outside, do whatever.
Just get away from it, becauseit's going to be a passing

(12:25):
feeling.
But if you let it take overyour day, you're going to look
up and be like six o'clock atnight and it's like you started
this journey at 10 am.
Doom scrolling and comparing.
That can't work today and youwant to feel bad for yourself.
You want to hate yourself.
Keep doom scrolling withcomparison culture.
It's a mess.
Have the discipline to turnthat off.
But I invite you to drown outthe noise.

(12:49):
Okay, drown out the noise.
Find your authentic voice.
Shut it down.
Focus Okay, because at the endof the day, we have to use
digital to our advantage and ifwe don't, we will be left behind
, and that would suck.
Okay.
So if you think you're too good, you're not.
If you think you're too small,you're not.
Everyone's voice actually doesmatter, and even the content

(13:11):
creator definition has evolvedover time.
Again, doesn't matter if youwork for a big company, small
company, or you're just anindividual content creator or a
public figure.
You have to go through thisjourney on purpose to develop
that confidence that you'regoing to need when things get
crazy around the world and youstart to get you know, swayed by

(13:31):
others' opinions.
There's a saturated market, asthey say.
That's another bullying commentI got.
Well, guess what?
Saturation is the core toevolution.
Platforms come and go,algorithms change.

(13:52):
If people say it's toosaturated, you tell them this
Great, thank you, real estate onthe internet.
If they think it's saturated,what does that mean?
The elitist takeover.
No, nothing is ever toosaturated and if it is, it
evolves.
New platforms will be born fromsaturation.

(14:12):
It's evolution.
I don't want to be stuck likeone of those Darwinism, like
animals that died out.
I don't want to be stuck in theancient era of nothingness.
Of course it's going to evolveif it's saturated, so stay on
top of it.
That's even better, for you aregoing through this elizabethan,
true renaissance period of time.
It's transitional, it'stransformative.
People will want to hear whatyou have to say.

(14:36):
There is an appetite to create,an appetite for new voices to
be heard.
Creativity is everywhere.
It's in business, it's instorytelling.
You cannot have a contentstrategy without having a brand
identity.
This will definitely be yourdiscovery era, your business 101
time period here.
Okay, you got to go throughthis journey first and you have
to commit to it, which is thenext episode.

(14:58):
Which are my takeaways?
Start today, don't wait for thefuture.
Hit the publish button.
I'm going to do it today.
Hit that publish button whenyou're ready.
Okay, I'm creating with you.
This is a two-way dialogue, atwo-way narrative.
I want a feedback loop.
We're helping each other.
Again, we are a community ofcontent creators inspired by

(15:20):
innovation and encouraged byteamwork.
Go to creatorpopcastcom.
You can submit inquiries there.
My blog is there, as well asother things.
I'll just drop it in the links.
Before there was nothing, therewas always a possibility of
something.