In 2023, Goldman Sachs estimated the creator economy was worth $250 billion and projected it could grow to nearly $500 billion by 2027.
That’s half a trillion dollars and 2027 is right around the corner.
If you were building online in the early 2020s, you remember the excitement. Everyone wanted in on what I call the Internet Gold Rush.
Venture capital money was pouring into creator tools. Elon Musk bought X. New platforms seemed to launch every month. Courses were everywhere. I had one myself and eventually sold well over $1 million in digital products and services through Gumroad.
I know multiple people who were able to quit their jobs and post content online. In fact, I had a small group of friends, and almost every single one of them was able to leave their jobs and build online. I know people who were watching from the sidelines, and they thought they would be able to do it as well.
There was a lot of euphoria. A lot of hysteria.
But for some reason, almost all of it is gone.
But here's the weird part. Everything that was built during the gold rush is still standing. In fact, it's better than ever. The infrastructure exists. The tools are easier. The platforms are paying creators directly. And because the excitement has cooled off, there's less competition than there was a few years ago.
Ironically, the best time to build online IS right now.
Back in the day, there was really only one path to making money online on social media. You create an offer, you sell it, and repeat. This could be an ebook, a course, a service. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve sold well over $1 million in offers and services on Gumroad, so I’ve lived through that old model and it works.
The downside was you had to wear every hat imaginable:
You had to become a writer, a marketer, a copywriter, an email marketer, a salesperson, customer support, and a content creator all at the same time.
For many people, that was overwhelming. They saw someone making $20,000 a month online and assumed the money was easy. But what they didn’t see were the thousands of hours spent learning every piece of the business.
And because of this people simply became impatient.
But here’s what happened. The infrastructure got built during this gold rush. And now there are more ways to monetize than ever, and there’s less competition for it.
So let’s talk about what has changed…
One of the biggest things that has changed is that platforms are now paying you directly for the content itself. No offer required.
X creator payouts. Elon decided to get into the game here, and I’ve made around $35,000 to $40,000 directly from my X account through subscriptions and ad revenue. And here’s the thing. While I’m advertising all of my other services and offers online, X is paying me to be there as well. This puts me in a win-win situation. You would be insane not to be building there.
Facebook and Instagram payouts. I know multiple guys making well over six figures just by posting on Facebook and Instagram right now. I don’t personally monetize these platforms, but I can tell you they pay creators for performance, and they pay them well.
YouTube ad revenue. YouTube has paid out over $100 billion to creators, artists, and media companies over the past four years. Let that number sink in. It remains one of the most lucrative places on the internet to be.
And now, my new favorite one...
Substack. This one deserves the most attention, because it made collecting emails part of the platform itself. It has never been easier to do. Every month I get a few hundred new emails just by posting on the platform. PLUS with one click of a button, you can turn paid subscriptions on. You own the audience and get paid with recurring revenue.
There are hundreds upon hundreds of writers doing multiple six figures from Substack pages alone.
No product. No funnel. No launch even needed.
So you would think people would be going out of their minds to start a six-figure business ABSOLUTELY FREE. No college degree needed. No anything. All you need to do is get up in front of a camera or click keys into a keyboard.
But I think people haven't realized the opportunity out there…
If I handed you a menu of ways to build an online business, it would look something like this:
Platform payouts (X, Meta, YouTube, TikTok)
Paid newsletter subscriptions (Substack, beehiiv)
Tips and one-time support (Notes, Buy Me a Coffee style)
Sponsorships and brand deals (brands pay for your audience, you sell nothing)
Affiliate income (recommend, don’t create)
Community memberships and paid Discords
Licensing your content
And here’s the kicker. None of these replace the old model. You can still sell courses, you can still sell ebooks, you can still sell offers on top of it. All of these stack upon it. These are things that have been added over the past few years.
Your content now markets your offer AND pays you on its own.
You get paid to advertise yourself online.
So yes, people think they missed the opportunity because the headlines disappeared.
They’re wrong it’s just excitement that faded.
But the foundation they built is still here. In fact, it’s stronger than ever. Fewer people are digging for gold today than there were a few years ago (this is true).
That doesn’t mean the gold disappeared.
It means there are fewer people willing to pick up the shovel.
- Dino Anthony
I want to leave you with this.
If you click the link below, you’re going to get an invitation to a masterclass with myself and The Culturist. Joining will give you access to our full community and the call itself.
Important note: we had to move this to Friday of this week, so the call starts in 48 hours.
We’re going to be looking at your social media pages, specifically on Substack. If you want to get better at that platform, or if you just want to learn more about it, come to our live call. It’s absolutely free.
The call is inside our Masterclass community, but you get a free trial. All you need to do is click the link below, join the community, and you’ll be part of the call.
If you've ever wondered whether building online is still worth it, this is your opportunity to see exactly what's working today.
The call starts in 48 hours.
Click the link below and join us:
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