August 21, 2025 • 10 mins
Creators are taking over! 🤯 TIME Magazine just dropped its first-ever Top 100 Creators list, and it’s a game-changer for the creator economy. For the first time, influencers, entrepreneurs, and content creators are being celebrated right alongside the world’s most powerful leaders. And in this episode, I’m diving into what this means for you, too. From Twitch streamers to course creators to viral TikTok stars, this list proves there’s no one path to the top. And whether you’re just starting or scaling there’s now more opportunity than ever for creators and influencers in every niche. What a time to be a creator! 📌 See the full list here → https://time.com/collections/time100-creators-2025/
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🤩 Ready To Level Up? Speak with Our Success Manager: https://calendly.com/sidewalkerdailyteam/discovery
👉 Book A Call: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/coaching-influencers-creators/
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🎁 Free Gift For Influencers & Creators: https://sidewalkerdaily.com/influencer-business-resources/
🛒 Shop our Amazon Store 🛒: https://www.amazon.com/shop/sidewalkerdaily
This episode can also been seen on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GIfCuyWTfLE
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
in this influencer industry and see behind the current Well,
let's jump in. Time magazine came out with their Time
(00:24):
one hundred, which are basically the top one hundred creators
and influencers globally. Not only is this significant in so
many ways for the creator economy, for all of us
creators are officially taking over and on the map. There
is so much to dissect with who is on this
list now? Obviously I'm sharing my screen quake. The list
(00:46):
is broken up in different ways. They have the Titans.
You can go in and click and learn about these
different creators. They've also broken it up through entertainment, so
you can also see like we're the top entertaining style
of creators. You can go in and see leaders, right,
who are people that are leading in their perspective fields?
A lot of these people like this lady is a
(01:06):
parenting coach. She has a course on parenting. I know
her because I follow her and funny enough, you know,
she's listed as a creator, which is so cool because
we're seeing business owners now as creators as well. You
can go in here. Oh, I'm sure a lot of
you guys know this. You're Vivian two, you're rich bff.
So we're seeing leaders in different spaces. We're seeing they
(01:28):
have the phenomens. They've broken it up into different categories,
so you can go in and really take a look
between catalysts and what's really interesting, guys, because I obviously
did a lot of the work for you, and I
went in and I started to look and see, like,
who is who on this top one hundred and something
that's really interesting for me. You know, when I'm going
(01:50):
through this is a lot of things. What I want
to look at is what are these people have in common,
what do they do to get there, what makes them
stand out? How do you get to the top of
this lige? And also why this is so significant? So
I am going to include the link below so that
you guys can look at it. If you want the
print magazine, you can see It's funny enough, the biggest
creator that was mentioned, the cover star Kai Snat, is
(02:13):
actually a twitch gamer. He is on Twitch. So many
of you may not even know Twitch. Don't often think
to yourselves, it's only the instagrams or the YouTube's where
success can be. Success is where you water the garden,
and I love to see that. We have a Twitch
superstar as the cover as the headliner for the Time
Top one hundred. You're going to see creators in all
(02:35):
different spaces. And like I said, if you want to
go in here and just take a quick look or
take a look at, you know, read about someone, see
what they have. You can go in and click any
link and it's going to tell you about this creator,
what they do, links to their page, et cetera, et cetera.
So if that's something you guys are interested in, you
(02:55):
can go ahead and check these guys out. What I
want to do is talk about the running threads of
what makes them success. Before we talk about success and
the common patterns, let's talk about the significance. First of all,
mainstream validation time is putting these creators at the same
level as some of the world's top CEOs. We are
getting an entire editorial highlight just for the creator economy.
(03:17):
The creator economy is not niche anymore. Long gone are
the days of us being on the sidelines. The creators
really represent a significant amount of power, and that is
the word that I've been intentionally using. Power. Time magazine
has usually been for politicians and strong business leaders, and
now creators are literally at the same table with them,
(03:39):
which is remarkable. We're seeing the impact from a business
perspective of what these creators bring to our global economy,
not only in terms of what they make and the
influence that they do, but so many of them have
so many types of businesses, from product launches to their
own empires. They have built platforms, movements, so many of
them are their own CEOs. Like I said, we have
(04:00):
a course creator as a coach in there. She has
built her entire business on social media. And I really
love to how diverse this list is from a representation standpoint.
We have all types of creators, all ages. I saw
a twelve year old on this list. We have you know,
all races, all backgrounds, all political sides. This is not
just US centric anymore. We have international creators and it
(04:23):
just shows how big this world is and how there
is room for all of us. So let's talk about
why these people got to the top. Of the list
after I went in and dug through and started to
see what made some of these top creators stand out.
What they all have in common. First of all, platform mastery.
Every single creator that we are seeing in this list
(04:45):
started off with being the best of the best in
one specific platform. Take Alex Earl for example. You know
she is obviously I think, second place on this list.
She started off on TikTok and that was her thing.
I actually had a call yesterday with a bunch of
and we talked about how easy it is to see
all these shiny coins. I think of it a little
bit like that game Sonic. I don't know if you
(05:07):
guys remember, but Sonic and the coins and there's all
these coins and he ends up kind of getting lost
because he's just chasing the coins. When you think about
success as a creator, and what we're seeing a lot
of these creators have is mastery over one platform. Don't
try to be everywhere at once. Kill it in one
before you branch out. They literally dominate their primary platform.
(05:29):
And I think this is such an important reminder for
creators who are listening in that are just starting in
their journey. They want to do everything for everyone they're repurposing.
They're taking their Instagrams and putting them on TikTok. They're
trying to be everywhere. And again, while I get repurposing
is a thing, I have been very vocal with my
inner circle community, my community of creators I work with
(05:49):
that I may be a little controversial, but I kind
of feel like repurposing hurts your account. You're not being
true to one platform. Again, take Alex Earl, She Eat,
Breathe Lives, TikTok. But the thing is she's not repurposing
all of her tiktoks on Instagram. She's creating different content
for different spaces. She understands the algorithm per platform, you know,
(06:10):
and and the type of content that resonates and does
well per platform. Now, the second thing all the creators
on this list have is a strong connection with their audience.
It's not just viral views, you know. I know a
lot of creators who just go viral all the time.
They do like silly videos, and they just use abuse
and use and vieuse and views. But there is no
audience loyalty. There's no audience connection. I literally no creators
(06:33):
who have billions of views, but their audience is not
obsessed with them the way that those on the top
one hundred are. If you guys were to go through
that list and see who's on there, they have deep
relationships with their audiences. Engagement I know a lot of
us like to talk about like engagement rate. They're not
even looking at it like that, Like their people are
connected to them. You know, they have really focused on
(06:56):
building that true audience connection, and they're more focused on
that than they are of the views. The views are
a byproduct also of the connection, because think about it,
the more your audience is connected with you, the more
they're engaging, the more they're sharing, the more views come.
So instead of chasing views, chase connection. That is a
central theme I'm seeing and everyone on the top one
(07:19):
hundred list monetization, monetization. All of these top one hundred
quators are not just doing one stream of income. We
are seeing brand deals, of course, because it goes without saying,
you know, sixty to seventy percent of equator's income is
brand deals. It is brand partnerships. Yeah, there's merchant courses
and all the other stuff, and that's great, and a
(07:40):
lot of these guys have all of it, but brand
deals tends to be that top number one slot of
how these quators are making money. Now, if you are
a quator that is interested in brand deals, brand sponsorships,
how to do that, how to focus? That's our niche
here at Sidewalker Daily, I don't teach growth. I teach
monetization on the brand deal side. I have a free
(08:00):
training that you can access right away at the bottom
of this onclude a link so you guys can go
ahead and watch it, and we're gonna teach you how
to outreach brands and get you those paid brand partnerships. Now,
when it comes to monetization for these creators, we're seeing
a variety of different diverse ways. I mentioned merch Many
of them do have their own merch lines. Many of
them are collaborating with brands in other ways. Again, I
(08:22):
say Alex Eyl because she's top of mind. She just
did this Alex Earl for Hawaiian Tropic ad. So she
is working with Hawaiian Tropic. She's not doing a brand
deal for them, she is now creating her own products
for them. We're seeing creators, you know, launch digital products.
Mister Beaes had a whole Hamburger shop. Now he has
chocolate bars and Target. He has built his empire and
(08:45):
diversified his income. So all of these guys are working
in a variety of different monetization streams, and again they're
not copying one another. They're doing what works for them.
Like when I said that coach Becky, that parenting coach.
She is the master of selling courses, but she also
has built this amazing online influence. Right, So you're seeing
that there's not one right or wrong way, but monetization
(09:07):
is diverse and that is a common thread amongst all
of these guys. Now, one thing I did want to
highlight about this list when I was sharing, Remember when
I showed you guys like that section that was like
the phenomens. Well, I did some research and the phenomens
are creators who rose to fame very quickly. This is
a list of people who were able to amass a
large audience quite fast. They are shaking up social media
(09:28):
with their fresh energy. They're considered disruptors, and there is
that rise to quick quick stardom. Many of them have
raw delivery or just a viral momentum. They surf the
wave and I think it's just an interesting section of
the list because it kind of signifies to all of
us listening that your life can change truly overnight on
(09:48):
social media. Just think about, you know, the data out there.
Ask someone you know, a twenty four year old the
last time they watched TV. They're all getting their information
from social media, from online and and people out there
that have something to say or significant message or maybe
just got lucky. Call it what it is. There is
a space for people to have their lives change overnight,
(10:12):
and I think that is really exciting the possibility of that.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, make
sure to rate, review, and subscribe to our show and
visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com for more resources on all things
influencer marketing and social media. Until next time,
Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
in this influencer industry and see behind the current Well,
let's jump in. Time magazine came out with their Time
(00:24):
one hundred, which are basically the top one hundred creators
and influencers globally. Not only is this significant in so
many ways for the creator economy, for all of us
creators are officially taking over and on the map. There
is so much to dissect with who is on this
list now? Obviously I'm sharing my screen quake. The list
(00:46):
is broken up in different ways. They have the Titans.
You can go in and click and learn about these
different creators. They've also broken it up through entertainment, so
you can also see like we're the top entertaining style
of creators. You can go in and see leaders, right,
who are people that are leading in their perspective fields?
A lot of these people like this lady is a
(01:06):
parenting coach. She has a course on parenting. I know
her because I follow her and funny enough, you know,
she's listed as a creator, which is so cool because
we're seeing business owners now as creators as well. You
can go in here. Oh, I'm sure a lot of
you guys know this. You're Vivian two, you're rich bff.
So we're seeing leaders in different spaces. We're seeing they
(01:28):
have the phenomens. They've broken it up into different categories,
so you can go in and really take a look
between catalysts and what's really interesting, guys, because I obviously
did a lot of the work for you, and I
went in and I started to look and see, like,
who is who on this top one hundred and something
that's really interesting for me. You know, when I'm going
(01:50):
through this is a lot of things. What I want
to look at is what are these people have in common,
what do they do to get there, what makes them
stand out? How do you get to the top of
this lige? And also why this is so significant? So
I am going to include the link below so that
you guys can look at it. If you want the
print magazine, you can see It's funny enough, the biggest
creator that was mentioned, the cover star Kai Snat, is
(02:13):
actually a twitch gamer. He is on Twitch. So many
of you may not even know Twitch. Don't often think
to yourselves, it's only the instagrams or the YouTube's where
success can be. Success is where you water the garden,
and I love to see that. We have a Twitch
superstar as the cover as the headliner for the Time
Top one hundred. You're going to see creators in all
(02:35):
different spaces. And like I said, if you want to
go in here and just take a quick look or
take a look at, you know, read about someone, see
what they have. You can go in and click any
link and it's going to tell you about this creator,
what they do, links to their page, et cetera, et cetera.
So if that's something you guys are interested in, you
(02:55):
can go ahead and check these guys out. What I
want to do is talk about the running threads of
what makes them success. Before we talk about success and
the common patterns, let's talk about the significance. First of all,
mainstream validation time is putting these creators at the same
level as some of the world's top CEOs. We are
getting an entire editorial highlight just for the creator economy.
(03:17):
The creator economy is not niche anymore. Long gone are
the days of us being on the sidelines. The creators
really represent a significant amount of power, and that is
the word that I've been intentionally using. Power. Time magazine
has usually been for politicians and strong business leaders, and
now creators are literally at the same table with them,
(03:39):
which is remarkable. We're seeing the impact from a business
perspective of what these creators bring to our global economy,
not only in terms of what they make and the
influence that they do, but so many of them have
so many types of businesses, from product launches to their
own empires. They have built platforms, movements, so many of
them are their own CEOs. Like I said, we have
(04:00):
a course creator as a coach in there. She has
built her entire business on social media. And I really
love to how diverse this list is from a representation standpoint.
We have all types of creators, all ages. I saw
a twelve year old on this list. We have you know,
all races, all backgrounds, all political sides. This is not
just US centric anymore. We have international creators and it
(04:23):
just shows how big this world is and how there
is room for all of us. So let's talk about
why these people got to the top. Of the list
after I went in and dug through and started to
see what made some of these top creators stand out.
What they all have in common. First of all, platform mastery.
Every single creator that we are seeing in this list
(04:45):
started off with being the best of the best in
one specific platform. Take Alex Earl for example. You know
she is obviously I think, second place on this list.
She started off on TikTok and that was her thing.
I actually had a call yesterday with a bunch of
and we talked about how easy it is to see
all these shiny coins. I think of it a little
bit like that game Sonic. I don't know if you
(05:07):
guys remember, but Sonic and the coins and there's all
these coins and he ends up kind of getting lost
because he's just chasing the coins. When you think about
success as a creator, and what we're seeing a lot
of these creators have is mastery over one platform. Don't
try to be everywhere at once. Kill it in one
before you branch out. They literally dominate their primary platform.
(05:29):
And I think this is such an important reminder for
creators who are listening in that are just starting in
their journey. They want to do everything for everyone they're repurposing.
They're taking their Instagrams and putting them on TikTok. They're
trying to be everywhere. And again, while I get repurposing
is a thing, I have been very vocal with my
inner circle community, my community of creators I work with
(05:49):
that I may be a little controversial, but I kind
of feel like repurposing hurts your account. You're not being
true to one platform. Again, take Alex Earl, She Eat,
Breathe Lives, TikTok. But the thing is she's not repurposing
all of her tiktoks on Instagram. She's creating different content
for different spaces. She understands the algorithm per platform, you know,
(06:10):
and and the type of content that resonates and does
well per platform. Now, the second thing all the creators
on this list have is a strong connection with their audience.
It's not just viral views, you know. I know a
lot of creators who just go viral all the time.
They do like silly videos, and they just use abuse
and use and vieuse and views. But there is no
audience loyalty. There's no audience connection. I literally no creators
(06:33):
who have billions of views, but their audience is not
obsessed with them the way that those on the top
one hundred are. If you guys were to go through
that list and see who's on there, they have deep
relationships with their audiences. Engagement I know a lot of
us like to talk about like engagement rate. They're not
even looking at it like that, Like their people are
connected to them. You know, they have really focused on
(06:56):
building that true audience connection, and they're more focused on
that than they are of the views. The views are
a byproduct also of the connection, because think about it,
the more your audience is connected with you, the more
they're engaging, the more they're sharing, the more views come.
So instead of chasing views, chase connection. That is a
central theme I'm seeing and everyone on the top one
(07:19):
hundred list monetization, monetization. All of these top one hundred
quators are not just doing one stream of income. We
are seeing brand deals, of course, because it goes without saying,
you know, sixty to seventy percent of equator's income is
brand deals. It is brand partnerships. Yeah, there's merchant courses
and all the other stuff, and that's great, and a
(07:40):
lot of these guys have all of it, but brand
deals tends to be that top number one slot of
how these quators are making money. Now, if you are
a quator that is interested in brand deals, brand sponsorships,
how to do that, how to focus? That's our niche
here at Sidewalker Daily, I don't teach growth. I teach
monetization on the brand deal side. I have a free
(08:00):
training that you can access right away at the bottom
of this onclude a link so you guys can go
ahead and watch it, and we're gonna teach you how
to outreach brands and get you those paid brand partnerships. Now,
when it comes to monetization for these creators, we're seeing
a variety of different diverse ways. I mentioned merch Many
of them do have their own merch lines. Many of
them are collaborating with brands in other ways. Again, I
(08:22):
say Alex Eyl because she's top of mind. She just
did this Alex Earl for Hawaiian Tropic ad. So she
is working with Hawaiian Tropic. She's not doing a brand
deal for them, she is now creating her own products
for them. We're seeing creators, you know, launch digital products.
Mister Beaes had a whole Hamburger shop. Now he has
chocolate bars and Target. He has built his empire and
(08:45):
diversified his income. So all of these guys are working
in a variety of different monetization streams, and again they're
not copying one another. They're doing what works for them.
Like when I said that coach Becky, that parenting coach.
She is the master of selling courses, but she also
has built this amazing online influence. Right, So you're seeing
that there's not one right or wrong way, but monetization
(09:07):
is diverse and that is a common thread amongst all
of these guys. Now, one thing I did want to
highlight about this list when I was sharing, Remember when
I showed you guys like that section that was like
the phenomens. Well, I did some research and the phenomens
are creators who rose to fame very quickly. This is
a list of people who were able to amass a
large audience quite fast. They are shaking up social media
(09:28):
with their fresh energy. They're considered disruptors, and there is
that rise to quick quick stardom. Many of them have
raw delivery or just a viral momentum. They surf the
wave and I think it's just an interesting section of
the list because it kind of signifies to all of
us listening that your life can change truly overnight on
(09:48):
social media. Just think about, you know, the data out there.
Ask someone you know, a twenty four year old the
last time they watched TV. They're all getting their information
from social media, from online and and people out there
that have something to say or significant message or maybe
just got lucky. Call it what it is. There is
a space for people to have their lives change overnight,
(10:12):
and I think that is really exciting the possibility of that.
I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, make
sure to rate, review, and subscribe to our show and
visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com for more resources on all things
influencer marketing and social media. Until next time,
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