Happy Sunday! We are back! There's a lot to catch up on now that the magazine is released fortnightly. We missed you guys.

This week, we interviewed Caspar Tremlett, the co-founder of Mertra, and he revealed his next venture in the fashion world. Following that, we talk about what’s next for creator startups if TikTok gets banned & then whether a paywall business model is for you…

What’s next for Caspar Tremlett?

From co-founding viral Melbourne streetwear brand Mertra to now stepping away for his next venture, Caspar Tremlett has plans to uplift the next wave of fashion entrepreneurs. How you may ask? With a comprehensive online resource library…

“I was lucky enough to be put in touch with mentors”, Caspar noted. But some people don’t know where to begin. However he believes “there’s still so much more room for people to show their creative expression”. And all it takes is leaning on those already in the industry - so why not build a platform to faciliate that…

Brief summary: Caspar Tremlett & Aron Williams founded Mertra Mertra during the COVID-19 lockdowns - within a year it was the up & coming streetwear brand in Melbourne. After significant success, Caspar stepped away to focus on his own creative visions. After months contemplating what lied ahead, the idea came to him. Everyone want’s to design clothes - what if I create this ultimate online library for aspiring creatives and entrepreneurs in fashion? A bit like Virgil’s “FREE-GAME” - but going deeper with international manufacturer lists, designs and vectors for mock-ups, factory negotiation strategies, consulting & more.

In his recent interview with STORY STREET, Tremlett shared, "I want to provide almost a helping hand with as much valuable information as possible... to help grow and improve clothing brands," he explained. "I think there's never going to be a perfect time where you're fully ready," he remarked, reflecting on the pivotal moments that led him to take the leap into entrepreneurship. "You just need to start, and that's when things can get rolling."

Starting has never been easier: It’s amazing. Our current access to education is so democratised that anyone can, create anything. Whatever you want to know, it’s out there somewhere. Now with Caspar’s plans to build up this library, if you are an aspiring fashion creative - you can now learn from someone whose achieved all the success but also the trials & tribulations too.

3 Lessons Caspar Think’s You Should Know;

1. Do you really know marketing?: Own your aesthetic. Craft a vibe that is distinctly yours. “People aren’t loyal to your brand just because of your products…You should be creating a community”. How is your fashion label bigger than clothing? This helps you gain attention - then you create an experience around the products. Let your customers find each other through shared experience.

2. Actually understand the 3% rule: Basically only put a small 3% change on what’s trending right now - “you don't want to be too far ahead of your consumer but you also don't want to be too far behind on trends” - take what’s popular right now and make it yours. “People don't like things they're unfamiliar with”.

3. Invest in yourself: you’ll do everything in the beginning. Accounting, designing, marketing, inventory management etc. “You have to learn every process, system and role”. But that’s okay since “you can lean on others in the industry”. The resources are out there - YouTube tutorials, courses, books etc.

Click here, to be the first to access Caspar’s fashion library when it’s released 💡

So It Actually Happened….TikTok has 270 Days To Find An American Buyer or It’s Gone…

Here’s an overview of the whole situation…

• March 2024: President Biden signs Congress Bill the ‘Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.’

• Action required: TikTok in the USA must be sold by Chinese-owned company ByteDance to another company that complies with US security regulations.

• The Reason: US Lawmakers fear data leaks through TikTok to the Chinese government.

• The Risk: Failure to sell in 6 months will have TikTok removed from US app stores and webhosting, creating a total collapse in the platform in the USA.

This potential ban would significantly impact creators. App removal would cripple all creator’s abilities to access the existent American audience of 170 million users on TikTok. Communities, brand identities, engagement and views will all face declines if an American buyer doesn’t present itself…

These are significant numbers that would need to migrate if the app was banned. Early polls on the issue show a 3-way split from the American public:

• 31% support the ban - 35% oppose the ban - 31% are on the fence.

A buy-out could be on the cards with some tech giants speculated… but recent news has seen ByteDance come out and refute a sale citing it will not hand over TikTok’s algorithm in a sale – a key feature to the success of the app. Current “Anti-trust” laws and monopoly prevention policies will restrict Meta or Google purchasing TikTok, however there still remains potential buyers like Microsoft, Oracle or Walmart.

Creators face a few options which include building and migrating onto new platforms – with Instagram reels and YouTube shorts providing the closest replica of the TikTok format. But building a new audience on another platform would be a challenging and time-consuming process, potentially disrupting their careers.

So what you could do?…

• Develop a venture which builds a community on email (directly access your audience)

• Focus on Facebook, Instagram & YouTube short-form

• Build a website and collate all brand content into 1 place (own your intellectual property)

Should you have a paywall business model?

Building a long-term audience on YouTube requires the algorithm to constantly push out your content - but what if there was another way?

In comes the “paywall” business model.

Why start a content paywall? To independently access your community without having to appease social media performance metrics. You can directly engage with your audience rather than rely on algorithms (via platforms like Patreon or personal websites). With no algorithm also means no censorship or community guidelines - adding freedom to the creator’s choice of content. According to Patreon, the average paywall is subscription $7/ per month.

Successful examples: Paywall business models can be a career-changing pathway. Patreon creators like Cold Ones and The Yard podcast earn $124,000 and $338,200 a month respectively. To have more creative freedom and avoid paying Patreon monthly fees, creators can develop their own streaming site - like Sickos.TV.

However, sometimes when creators promote a paid subscription for their content it doesn’t sit well with their audience. This is because YouTube is democratised for viewers by being free to watch. For example, the YouTube channel Watcher received heavy backlash when they decided to shift to Patreon from YouTube, with their community wanting the content to remain free.

So…Here are 3 key considerations before deciding

• At what stage are you in building an audience? There’s poor discovery abilities on platforms like Patreon - it often only works when larger communities transition from YouTube, Instagram etc

• Completely transitioning often creates backlash: creators who suddenly stop putting out YouTube content and focus on subscription videos lose their audience. At least in the short-term, try to keep both going like Cold Ones, The Yard and Sickos all do.

• What are you giving subscribers? Only offering “exclusive content” for $7 monthly subscription isn’t appealing. The best creators add meetups, giveaways, merch discounts, free products etc

Happenings in the creator space 💡

1. RackaRacka announced new movie “Bring Her Back” in collaboration with A24 & Causeway Films

2. Cole Bennet announces Lyrical Lemonade will now be a home for the next generation of music video directors - with AMDvisuals as it’s first upcoming director.

3. Nedd Brockmann announces new challenge - attempting to break the world record for the fastest time to cover 1000 miles (1610km) on foot, while aiming to raise $10M for homelessness.

4. 30,000 Australians supported Fisher’s debut “Out 2 Lunch” Festival in the Gold Coast - a significant win since Australian festivals have been cancelled recently due to excessive international act costs.

Top 3 Videos Of The Week 🌐

The STORY STREET spotlight 💫⭐

Up & Coming Creators To Watch

• Kids Take Over - a hip hop / culture Instagram blog curated by Arshan Jawaid + a library of intwerviews with rappers, producers & pop-culture creatives

• Buildspace - an entrepreneurship based office space where people can build their own ideas + an online school called “nights & weekends” which is a free 6 week course on accelerating startups

• Jesse Toniolo - Creative director of Colour Plane, one of Australia’s most popular blank garment suppliers.

Latest on STORY STREET: lots of new vids!

Hi!! Been a while since we did a STORY STREET update, but hey, here we are.

• We’ve got a YouTube creator documentary aiming to come out on June 5th (fingers crossed) - we’ll start promoting it once the edit is done and trailers can come out

• Every Saturday before the magazine drops, we’ve decided to start posting a video recap on our Instagram @storystreett 🌐︎

• We have 4 many creator interviews coming out on our secret (for now) second channel 🤫 - more on this soon…

Have an amazing week, we will see you very soon <3

lus