The teacher becomes the student

Rethinking how educational creators position themselves.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Creative Companion]( Presented by [the Creative Companion Club]() Hello my friend! There are two types of creators: a.) educators and b.) entertainers. The best educators are also entertaining – and yes, some entertainers who can teach you things. But, fundamentally, I believe there are people who help you learn and transform or happily pass the time. For a lot of business-minded creators, we choose the education path. When you're in the business of helping people learn and transform, you aren't competing with Netflix, Hulu, celebrities... So we setup our website and position ourselves as teachers. We often use one of my favorite frameworks, "I help X do Y." Examples: - ​[Joe]( helps podcasters of any size make money - ​[Justin](=) helps creators find & negotiate sponsorships - ​[Daphne](=) helps educators find happiness in their careers - ​[Kelley]( helps pharmacists learn oncology This is an excellent, helpful framework. You're making your message very clear, and the people coming to you know exactly what to expect from you! But something I've been thinking about lately is just how explicitly you need to adopt a posture of "teacher." One creator I look up to a lot is Ali Abdaal. Last week I shared his recent video, [What Am I Doing With My Life?](=) In that video, Ali breaks down his goal of £5M revenue goal for the coming year. And £3M of that figure is projected to come from his cohort-based course, [Part Time YouTuber Academy](). [Ali Abdaal on YouTube](=)​ ​ Ali started PTYA a couple of years ago and thought that he'd maybe have a few dozen students. But today, it's the biggest part of his entire business! He makes more money teaching people how to do YouTube than he does being a YouTuber with 3M subscribers himself. And here's the thing – I've never heard Ali call himself a teacher. He probably wouldn't say his business is helping people become better YouTubers (even though that's the main driver of revenue). But people flock to Ali and his course – why? Because he's really demonstrated that he knows YouTube. He has 3M subscribers! People want to learn from Ali not because he's a teacher...but because he's a student of YouTube. And one of the top students of YouTube at that. So Ali doesn't have to adopt the explicit posture of Teacher. Another example that has stuck with me: Anne-Laure Le Cunff of [Ness Labs](. I interviewed [Anne-Laure on Creative Elements](=) in October 2020 to talk about how she grew her email newsletter so quickly. Here's what she said: "I've always made it a point to be very transparent with people. It's everywhere on my website that I'm a student, I don't try to pretend I'm more of an expert than I am. And this is the invitation I give to people, I tell them, 'Hey, I'm on this learning journey want to come with me?' That's, that's a contract with my readers." That has always appealed to me, and I have even better language for it now – we want to learn from people who are still learning. The best teachers are students of their discipline, and there's a lot of power in adopting the posture of STUDENT even if your business is built on teaching. I'm fortunate that my business is very stable financially. I'm [well-diversified](, and I rarely offer any type of client services. My revenue mostly comes as a byproduct of my content. And so instead of adopting the position of teacher, I'm doubling down on my position as a student. I was previously positioning myself by saying, "I help people become professional creators." But now... [Jay Clouse on Twitter]()​ ​ I want to explore. I want to research. I want to document and tell stories. In doing so, I'm sure I'll continue to educate others. My mission is the same – to educate, empower, and encourage creators. But I'm on a learning journey. Want to come with me? ​ Share This Essay: [Share via facebook]() [Share via twitter](=) [Share via whatsapp]() Your personal share link: [ ​ ​ ​ [Sponsor Image]() PRESENTED BY THE CREATIVE COMPANION CLUB Join our community of creators The [Creative Companion Club]() is our private membership community for up-and-coming professional creators. Inside the Creative Companion Club, I'm sharing the behind-the-scenes of my business including my own monthly Profit & Loss statements, lessons learned, goals, and more. You get full access to all of my paid workshops, biweekly Office Hours, 1:1 member Hot Seats, and other private events. And every month, I host a Shared Focus Sprint – a month-long, lightweight cohort-based course around a specific outcome. Past sprints are available on-demand and include building high-converting landing pages and signature lead magnets. Find out why 82 creators love the CCC – including all of the creators I used as examples above! [Learn more]() ​ ​ CLICK WORTHY 🔥 Check these out 🎥 [Jason Alexander 80's McDonald's Commercial](=) – Joe Casabona recently joined the CCC and promptly introduced me to this incredible commercial before Jason Alexander was George on Seinfeld. --------------------------------------------------------------- 📘 [Find Joy in Chaos by Kevon Cheung]() – Kevon is one of the friendliest people on Twitter. As such, he's built quite a reputation as being a friendly guy on Twitter! He recently published this book on Gumroad to help you do Twitter your own way and build some new friendships. ​ LISTEN ON CREATIVE ELEMENTS #104: Listener Mailbag Answering 12 listener-submitted questions [Creative Elements Cover Art]( We have a special episode this week! For the first time, I wanted to do a little listener Q&A episode…which I’m calling a Mailbag! A couple of weeks ago, I posted on my social media looking for listener questions. So if you don’t follow me on [Twitter]() or [Instagram](=) yet, be sure to do so! I’m @jayclouse on both. So today I have 12 listener questions that I’m going to answer for you. This may be a little more free-form and rambly than a typical episode of Creative Elements, but let me know what you think. [Play episode]( [Apple Podcasts]() [Spotify]( [Stitcher]() [Castbox]( New to the show? Start with a [curated playlist](). ​ ​ LAST WORD 👋 Thanks for reading! My favorite people are the ones who read all the way down to this part of the email. So thanks for being YOU and supporting my writing. Yesterday was my wedding! But I wrote this on Tuesday...so...it's kind of weird and hard to write about the wedding itself. 😅 If you're reading this on Sunday, I expect that right now, I'm having a slow, joyful morning with my wife and loved ones. I'll be taking the next three weeks off for honeymooning, but you'll continue to hear from me! I'll be re-airing some of the most popular episodes of Creative Elements while I'm offline. And you can keep up with me on [Twitter](), [Instagram](=), and now [TikTok]()! Cheers, Jay --------------------------------------------------------------- [Photo of Jay Clouse]( Jay Clouse [Say hi 👋 on Twitter]() or [Instagram]( ☎️ [Book a 1:1 call with me]( Thanks for subscribing! 📬 Reply to this email or [contact me]( anytime. [Edit your profile]( or [unsubscribe here](. This email was sent with [ConvertKit]() and designed using [Palladio](=). Want to say thank you? ❤️ ☕️ [Buy Me A Coffee]() or send a note to P.O. BOX 797, Worthington, OH 43085. [Sponsor this newsletter]( to get your message in front of 12K+ creators.