We're getting VERY close to reopening TheLab for new members for the first time since June. We've been redesigning the process to make it easier (and more fun) for creators to grow their audiences and income together.
We'll reopen to the Waitlist first to test everything out.
Claude just DESTROYED [copywriters]. And the newest update from ChatGPT will change the way you [do interior design] forever.
How many posts and videos like this do you see every week?
Two trends that surely can't last:
Creators choosing to become unpaid marketers for AI companies
Exaggerating the benefits of these tools for views
There are undeniable tailwinds to all things AI. Many creators, whether out of opportunism or desperation, have pivoted strongly to talking almost exclusively about it.
And it's hot! It commands attention, which certainly feels like the traction we've always hoped for, right?
But gosh—the gall of these people to stretch the truth or outright lie about the capabilities for views on a post. A post that has a shelf life of...maybe ~48 hours?
It's simply not worth the trade.
There is nothing more valuable in this business than trust. Trust is the true root of influence if you're influencing someone's behavior.
Trust accrues much more slowly than it is lost. I love the Lady Gaga quote:
“Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it's broken, but you can still see the crack in that motherf***er's reflection.”
If you're routinely lying (and stretching the truth is lying), your best-case scenario is that you're constantly reaching (and monetizing) a NEW audience. Maybe you can get a share of ad revenue for the attention you draw. But that's a hamster wheel approach that also assumes the price of attention stays high.
Simple economics suggests the supply of content will increase while demand stays the same (or decreases). It will eventually be harder and harder to get net new attention algorithmically without promising insane results for zero effort.
But trust will only get more scarce. Trust is earned or referred. No one will be referring you if they don't trust you themselves, and no one will trust you if you're a liar.
We need more truth tellers.
Telling the truth is one of the best ways to earn trust. It's not sexy, it's not always easy, and sometimes it comes at a cost. But truth tellers are trusted. Truth tellers are referred. Truth tellers stay in business because they don't need a NEW audience of foolish buyers every day—they build a discerning audience one person at a time.
It may take longer to build a following—but at least it's built upon the foundation of a strong reputation. Far better to work a 9-to-5 to pay the bills while building your creator reputation as a truth teller.
Your audience (and your soul) will thank you.
SPONSORED
“I’m super impressed with Circle AI.”
I just finished teaching a live course on building memberships. In that cohort, I helped students identify their target audience, the promise their membership was making, and build out their space.
When it came to deciding which community tool to use, I strongly recommended Circle. Not only do I genuinely believe it’s the best platform on the market, but the timing was perfect with their latest product updates.
And then one of my students did something that surprised me. Mandi Loomis turned her course notes into a community in minutes using Circle AI. This is directly from the transcript from one of our live calls:
"If you're building in Circle, I just started my free trial, and as soon as I created my account, an AI prompt opened up…I pasted all of my [homework] — the persona, the mission statement, and then the spaces I had brainstormed during our session on Monday, and it literally built the spaces for me that I had listed in there. I'm super impressed with their AI."
I already loved Circle, but it just gets more and more powerful.
Circle is hosting a free, virtual Build Summit on August 25-26 to help YOU start building with Circle AI.
Creator Science is on pace to have our biggest year of sponsorship revenue this year. For a long time, I totally avoided sponsorship and brand deals—we didn't have a good process, it felt a bit like a black box, and we let it go.
But then I started learning from Justin Moore. He's helped some of the biggest names in the space—including me. Even better, he's become a close friend! And I can directly tie our sponsorship process and results to his teaching.
I believe in Justin so much that I purchased 100 copies of his book, Sponsor Magnet, and sent them to Creator Science readers last year.
From August 17-20, Justin is running a LIVE 4-day $10K Brand Deal Challenge to help you go from reactive to proactive when it comes to sponsorships (just like I did).
During this challenge, you'll learn:
✅ Why the same brands trying to lowball you are paying other creators $10K+ right now (and how to position yourself as the obvious choice)
✅ The creative package structures that make brands say "When can we start?" (whether you have 5K followers or 500K+)
✅ How to use social clues to research your dream brands and build a pitch they can't ignore
✅ How to turn a single $10K deal into a recurring partnership (so you stop starting from $0 every month)
The challenge is only $27 to join, and includes multiple live sessions with Justin plus accountability to help keep you motivated along the way.
I'm an affiliate for this challenge, but I'd recommend it even if I wasn't. To me, this is a low-risk, high-return investment, so I'm sending you a dedicated email about it. There is simply no one better to learn this stuff from than Justin.
If you're trying to rev up the sponsorship engine in your business, this is a perfect place to start.
