For creators

Everything I learned at the Creator Leaders Retreat.

A room full of people who have built audiences, taking turns to say the one thing they wish they had known earlier. Put on by Creator Leaders, powered by Adobe. These are my notes, speaker by speaker, mostly in their words rather than mine.

Adam Dawood3 September 20267 min read
Simon Squibb speaking at the Creator Leaders Retreat

Simon Squibb

We should all be building a database business.

  • Completion is good. Knowledge sharing is better. 1 + 1 = 11.
Daniel Priestley speaking at the Creator Leaders Retreat

Daniel Priestley

Short form gets you seen. Long form gets you known.

  • Short form is for attention. Long form is what makes someone feel they know you.
  • Two to seven hours with you is the threshold for a real relationship.
  • A lead form is the difference between renting attention and owning it.
  • Products and services do not make money. Product and service ecosystems do.
  • There is no such thing as a solopreneur.

His session got a write-up of its own. Read the write-up

Jordan Schwarzenberger speaking at the Creator Leaders Retreat

Jordan Schwarzenberger

Build a media company.

  • The mono culture is dead. The micro culture is here.
  • Your north star is an audience with scale and specificity.
  • Sell like a media owner, not like a creator with a rate card.

His full session, slide by slide. Build a media company

Jade Beason speaking at the Creator Leaders Retreat

Jade Beason

Know why the membership exists.

  • Why is the membership there? What do they get out of it?
Yasar Ahmad speaking at the Creator Leaders Retreat

Yasar Ahmad

One person, one problem, one solution.

  • 10,000 videos this year.
Vicky Owens speaking at the Creator Leaders Retreat

Vicky Owens

Going viral is repetition, not luck.

  • If you want something badly enough you will go and get it.
  • Going viral is about repetition. The same thing again and again, the same location, the same slogan.
  • Be realistic about what people actually care about.
  • You are not shadow banned. Nobody cares.
  • Always have a visual hook and a call to action.
  • Have a big series. Save a penny and the Porsche will buy itself.
  • Your marketing team's content can become a profit centre.
Mia McGrath speaking at the Creator Leaders Retreat

Mia McGrath

Start posting about your interests.

Tara Knight speaking at the Creator Leaders Retreat

Tara Knight

Use case marketing is the only thing that matters.

Also written down

Lines I kept, without a name next to them.

Said in the room, caught in my notes, not attributed. If one of these is yours, tell me and I will credit you.

  • Dream 100 creators.

Who put it on

Creator Leaders

Creator Leaders.

Getting this many people who actually know what they are doing into one room, and then getting them to say the useful part out loud, is harder than it looks. Worth following if you want to be in the next one.

The team behind it

  • Gabriel Nussbaum

  • Aydan Al-Saad

  • Irem Khan

Lets Discover

One room, one point, said nine different ways.

Own the relationship with the people who already trust you. A Lets Discover map is one way to start collecting them.