Creator Toolbox: Tools, Mindset and Workflows for Content Creators

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Podcast by Colin Gray and Jacob Anderson

Creator Toolbox: Tools, Mindset and Workflows for Content Creators

The Creator Toolbox is all about the nuts and buts behind every creator business. We'll cover the gear and tools you need to run your creator business, and dig into how to stay consistent, how to monetise, and how to start to take your creator business seriously. Join Colin Gray (Founder of Alitu and The Podcast Host, a $1m+ creator business) and Jacob Anderson (Head of Growth at Alitu) as they dig into their experience in running a creator business since 2010.

Latest episodes

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11 September 2024

Creating Collaborative Montage Content with Multiple Guests: Behind the Scenes on a Season of our Podcast

In this special episode of The Creator Toolbox, we dive into the craft of producing highly polished, montage or documentary content. That means one or more episodes with narration, clips from multiple interviews, music and FX, all aimed at creating a way-above-average listening and viewing experience.

We'll share our experience in creating a podcast series in this way, but it applies to multi-interview YouTube episodes just as well.

We cover everything from setting up interviews with expert podcasters to editing multiple voices into a cohesive narrative, unpacking the strategies behind our latest (20th!) season of PodCraft.

We’ll walk you through how we source high-quality guests, create seamless transitions with narration, and blend in the perfect soundtrack. Whether you’re a podcaster, YouTuber, or content creator, these tips will help you elevate your production skills and streamline your workflow.

Join us as we show you how to turn a series of interviews into a compelling season of audio storytelling.

Chapters

00:00: Introduction and Welcome

02:10: Switching the Format for Season 20 of PodCraft

05:05: Finding the Right Podcast Guests

09:12: Structuring the Interviews

14:05: Scheduling and Recording the Interviews

17:30: Editing and Organizing the Content

24:00: Narration and Music Integration

30:15: Creating Blog Posts for Episodes

34:12: Publishing and Promoting the Season

38:00: Closing Thoughts and Final Tips

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45:56

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04 September 2024

Ghost or WordPress? How to choose the best platform for your creative project

Welcome back to another episode of The Creator Toolbox! In this episode, we talk about our new Creator Toolbox blog and dive into ways to develop a website to suit our creative needs - from building it, to preparing the content and finally going live.

We discuss the blurry lines between a blog and a website. Jacob also gives some good examples from his own experience. We then expand on why we chose Ghost as the most suitable hosting platform for our content. We talk through differences with WordPress and general practicalities, including UX, coding, integrations and plugins, email marketing, and community-building. 

We delve into the crucial aspects of content ownership, but not for the sake of growth, discoverability, collaboration, conversation, and community building. Here, we touch on Substack, Ghost, LinkTree, Beehiiv, ConvertKit, and more.

Colin highlights the importance of owning customer relationship marketing through email marketing and presses a strong case for content ownership. He also shared a recent discovery of Bear, a minimal, no-nonsense blogging platform with no ads, trackers, or scripts. Jacob adds that Ghost also supports a short-form blog on the platform.

If you found this episode helpful, the best way to support us is by checking out Alitu, our podcast-maker app. We're always working to make podcasting accessible for creators like you.

Thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you on the next episode!

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20 August 2024

What is a StoryBrand? Plus Automations, Shortcuts & Project Juggling

On this episode, we dive into some automation tools that can really boost your productivity as a creator. I shared my experience with the Stream Deck, which has become an unexpected favorite of mine. It's not just for streamers – I use it for everything from controlling my studio lights to automating repetitive tasks in video editing. We also touched on browser recording tools for automating web tasks and text expansion for speeding up writing. These might seem like small time-savers, but they really add up.

Next, Jacob introduced us to the concept of a "Story Brand" by Donald Miller. This is a powerful marketing framework that puts your customer at the center of the story, with your product or service as the guide. It's all about simplifying your message and connecting with your audience on a deeper level. We even explored how Apple used a similar storytelling approach in their iconic "Think Different" campaign. It's fascinating to see how effective this can be.

Lastly, we tackled a challenge that I think many creators face – balancing new projects with existing ones. We discussed strategies like outsourcing updates, taking on partners, and keeping a database of all your projects. I shared my own experience with this, including a course I created called "Immortal Content" that I haven't promoted much. It's a constant juggling act, but it's important to revisit old projects and see if they can be revived or integrated into your current work.

We wrapped up by highlighting Steph Smith as our creator of the week. Her ability to consistently ship new projects while maintaining high-quality content is really inspiring.

Remember, if you found this episode helpful, the best way to support us is by checking out Alitu, our podcast maker app, at alitu.com. We're always working to make podcasting as easy as possible for creators like you.

Thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you on the next episode!

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction

01:10 - Episode overview

01:49 - Alitu support slot

03:12 - Tool of the week: Stream Deck

07:05 - Automation tools discussion

17:40 - Introduction to Story Brand concept

20:01 - Applying Story Brand to different creators

28:28 - Importance of having a plan in Story Brand

32:49 - Apple's "Think Different" campaign example

40:57 - Implementing Story Brand

45:23 - Creator of the week: Steph Smith

49:19 - Balancing multiple projects as a creator

58:27 - Wrap-up and closing thoughts

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59:27

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12 August 2024

Perfect Writing Tools & Top-Level SEO for a New Content Project

In the latest episode of The Creator Toolbox, we cover writing tools (find the best space to create shownotes, scripts or full-scale blog posts!) and SEO for a new content project (my full process for figuring out the first 30 to 50 episodes or posts on a brand new brand).

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51:29

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31 July 2024

Repurposing Audio Content into EVERYTHING Else. A Smart Way.

In this episode of Creator Toolbox, Colin and Jacob dive deep into two game-changing topics for content creators. First, they explore an innovative AI-powered system for repurposing podcast content into written articles, discussing the potential and limitations of this technology. They then shift gears to compare various camera setups for video content creation, from high-end DSLRs to user-friendly webcams, offering insights on quality, ease of use, and price points. This episode is packed with practical advice for creators looking to streamline their workflow and enhance their content quality.

Episode Guide

  • 00:00 - Introduction and catch-up
  • 01:17 - AI-powered content repurposing system
  • 15:52 - Tips for working with AI in content creation
  • 29:15 - Importance of prompt engineering in AI
  • 41:29 - Camera setups for content creators
  • 41:29 - Jacob's iPhone 15 Pro setup
  • 45:40 - Colin's DSLR webcam setup
  • 53:21 - Affordable DSLR options
  • 55:11 - Insta360 webcam review
  • 56:25 - Opal C1 webcam discussion
  • 59:41 - Episode wrap-up and Alitu mention

Resources Mentioned

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22 July 2024

How to Evolve a Content Brand: From Zero to 6 Months and Beyond

In this episode of the Creator Toolbox, Colin and Jacob discuss their journey of iterating on this very show, and how a podcast can develop and evolve over it's first few months. They delve into the process of turning it from an experimental show into a whole new content brand, and this could apply to you whether it be a podcast, YouTube channel, blog, or creator brand in general. Listeners get valuable insights on launching, iterating, and refining their content channels, even if you're not 100% sure what it plans to be in the early days. Tune in to learn how to navigate the complexities of building a successful creator business, including case studies from the journey of ThePodcastHost over the past 14 years, and into the new journey for the Creator Toolbox.

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