I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
Why I sell courses as a busy SaaS founder
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Hey Reader, I got a question from a podcast listener recently, and it's one I’ve heard a few times: "Nathan, why are you selling courses if you have a successful business? Why start and manage a personal brand? I'm always curious why massively successful business owners dive into content creation vs pour more time into their main thing… as running a brand takes multiple hours per week." It's a good question. When you're leading a company that's growing well, conventional wisdom says to double down on what's working. Avoid distractions. Stay in your lane. But I've found tremendous value in building my personal brand alongside Kit. If you've been following me for a while, you know I'm passionate about flywheels. They're systems that compound over time and help you grow your business faster without working harder. But I noticed two things in the creator economy:
I'm fascinated by what the most successful creators do differently. I break down their strategies on my podcast, but I also wanted to work more individually with people through the Creator Flywheels course and group coaching program. Which brings us back to the original question: Why create content and courses as a busy founder? My answer is three-fold: 1. My personal brand serves as a marketing flywheel for KitThe most obvious benefit is that my content creates a natural path for people to discover Kit. When someone watches my YouTube videos, listens to my podcast, or reads this newsletter, they learn about building creator businesses. And what tool do creators need? Email marketing. This creates an authentic connection to our product. I'm not interrupting anyone with ads. I'm providing value first through education then introducing a solution that makes perfect sense. The people who follow my work already know, like, and trust me—making them ideal customers who understand our mission. 2. Being a creator helps me understand our customersTo effectively serve creators, I need to be a creator myself. By publishing content regularly, launching courses, and dealing with the challenges of building an audience, I experience the same struggles and victories as our customers. When we're designing new features at Kit, my experience gives me a deeper understanding of what actually matters to creators—because I am one. I've felt the pain points firsthand and know what solutions truly help. This perspective is invaluable and couldn't be gained any other way. 3. It keeps me using our productUsing your own product regularly is essential. When I'm sending emails, building automations, or setting up sales funnels, I catch issues that might be missed as the one building the product. Many founders become disconnected from their product as their company grows. They're too busy with management, fundraising, or strategic planning to use what they're building. By staying active as a creator, I ensure I'm regularly using Kit just like our customers do. This helps me catch friction points and identify opportunities for improvement that I might otherwise miss. The surprising benefit I didn't expectHaving both Kit and my personal brand creates motivational balance. In any business, there are seasons where progress feels slow, you're not yet seeing results even though you’re putting in the work. Instead of losing momentum, I can draw motivation from wins in the other business. It's not about avoiding hard work—it's about maintaining the emotional energy needed to push through challenging periods. While running two businesses does require additional time and energy, I always have some form of progress to celebrate. My creator business strengthens Kit, and Kit supports my creator business. I should also point out that I don't do this alone. I've built a team to handle the operational side of my personal brand, which lets me focus on the creative part I enjoy most. This means I only spend a few hours per week on content creation while putting 90% of my focus toward running Kit. Is building a personal brand alongside your primary business for everyone? No. But for founders who serve creators, I believe it's almost essential. PODCASTHow To Turn Podcast Guesting Into a $1M BusinessToday I’m joined by Dustin Riechmann, founder of Seven Figure Leap, who reveals how podcast guesting became the engine behind his seven-figure business. You’ll learn how Dustin replaced traditional marketing with podcast guesting, why big shows aren’t the secret to growth, and how to turn interviews into clients with his 5 Ps system. We unpack:
Watch or listen to episode » X POSTDon't give your kids an allowance (pay them interest instead)Val Katayev created a simple system that teaches kids about money by paying them 12% annual interest on money they "loan" to him. It's easier for the them to understand when they can visualize it, so he made a Google Sheet they can check anytime. The results are impressive:
What makes this brilliant is teaching financial principles through experience rather than lectures. The kids see their money working for them daily, which builds the foundation for understanding how wealth grows. QUESTIONWhat questions would you like me to answer?I'm planning another Q&A episode for the podcast and would love to hear what's on your mind. Whether it's about building an audience, scaling a business, or something completely different, let me know what you'd like me to dive into. Just hit reply. Have a great week! —Nathan |
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
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