Charli Marie: The Side
Project Architecture
£168,000/year. Published to the penny. 75% day job. 25% side projects. Both by design.
The Thesis: You Don't Have to Choose
In 2020/21, Charli Marie Prangley earned £168,000. We know this because she published a detailed income report breaking down every stream to the penny. Seventy-five percent came from her full-time job as Creative Director at ConvertKit (now Kit) — £126,420 in salary plus £19,924 in profit sharing. The other twenty-five percent — £41,580 — came from side projects: a YouTube channel with 200,000+ subscribers, two podcasts, a newsletter, digital products, speaking fees, and a Figma channel sponsorship that alone represented 45% of her side income. She did this from Valencia, Spain. She edited YouTube videos at 5:30 AM on an 11-inch MacBook on the London Tube before commuting to work. One video per week for five years straight.
This is the most financially transparent case in the inventory. It's also the clearest example of dual-track progression — advancing within an employer's structure while simultaneously building owned assets on the side, each track reinforcing the other.
The creator economy's narrative of "quit your job and go full-time" isn't the only path. The dual track is a legitimate strategy, not a compromise.
Charli has explicitly said she doesn't enjoy freelancing and isn't interested in making her YouTube channel her full-time job. This is a deliberate, somewhat unusual choice. She chose a structure where two tracks reinforce each other rather than betting on one. The full-time role provides stability, real-world creative leadership, and profit sharing. The side projects provide additional income, personal brand equity, and creative autonomy. Neither track works as well without the other.
Timeline
The Dual-Track Model: Reinforcement, Not Compromise
The two tracks don't just coexist — they actively compound each other. Each makes the other more valuable.
Income Architecture: Published to the Penny
This is the only case in the inventory where exact income figures are available — not estimates, not ranges, but published pounds and pence.
| Side Income Stream | Annual (2020/21) | % of Side Income | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figma channel sponsorship | ~£18,837 | 45% | Title sponsor — monthly fee |
| YouTube AdSense | £5,427 | 13% | Old videos only — turned off ads in 2016 |
| Affiliate links | £3,123 | 8% | Webflow, Amazon, Treehouse |
| Video sponsorships | £2,920 | 7% | $2,500 minimum per video |
| Content hosting for brands | £2,796 | 7% | Figma Coffee with Charli, Webflow |
| Community membership | ~£2,820 | 7% | Declining — noted honestly in report |
| Speaking fees | £2,356 | 6% | Virtual + in-person conferences |
| Digital products | ~£1,659 | 4% | Grayscale font ($12), Scribbles ($5) |
| Podcast sponsorship | £1,442 | 3% | Design Life — $500/ep (noted desire to raise) |
Publishing exact income numbers — not ranges, not "six figures" — builds trust, differentiates from aspirational vagueness, and creates the content she wished she'd had when she was starting.
The Compounding Effect
Weekly content creates visibility (250K audience). Visibility generates career opportunities (Kit Creative Director with profit sharing). The career role provides real-world scale (leading a $43M company rebrand with Koto). Real-world scale becomes content (she livestreams actual Kit design work on YouTube). Content attracts sponsorships and products (Figma title sponsor, digital products, workshops). Sponsorship revenue funds continued content creation — and the cycle restarts.
The dual-track flywheel is distinctive because it has two engines, not one. The full-time career generates income, credibility, and content. The side projects generate income, audience, and optionality. Remove either track and the other becomes significantly less valuable.
Transferable Lessons
Charli explicitly chose not to go full-time as a creator. This is deliberate, not a compromise. The full-time role provides stability, profit sharing (£19,924/year), and the credibility of leading a $43M company rebrand. The side projects provide owned assets, personal brand equity, and creative autonomy.
For the creative majority: The dual-track model may be the most replicable structure in this inventory for creative professionals earning $75K–$250K. You don't need to quit your job to build ownership. Build the side track alongside the career track. Let them reinforce each other.
One video per week for five years. That's the entire strategy behind how Nathan Barry found her, how Figma found her, how 200,000 subscribers found her. The discipline preceded the opportunity. She didn't get discovered through a job application — she got discovered because the work was already visible.
The principle: You can't predict who's watching. You can only ensure there's something worth watching when they find you. Build in public. The side project is the job application you never have to write.
Kit's biannual profit sharing earned Charli £19,924 in 2020/21 — nearly 12% of her total income. This is a rare compensation structure that aligns employee incentives with company performance. She captures upside from Kit's growth without needing equity.
The evaluation: When comparing roles, the compensation structure matters as much as the number. Profit sharing, performance bonuses, and equity participation can dramatically change the value of a position. Ask about them. Negotiate for them.
Charli's income reports — exact pounds and pence, not "six figures" — build trust with her audience of designers. They differentiate her from the aspirational vagueness of most creator economy advice. And they create the content she says she would have loved to see when she was starting.
The strategy: Financial transparency is itself content. It's also a trust accelerant. If you want to serve an audience trying to navigate their own career economics, show yours. The vulnerability creates credibility that curated success stories cannot.
The ConvertKit origin story. A CEO seeing your conference talk and recruiting you over pizza is not repeatable. But building visible work that makes serendipity possible IS. The Figma channel sponsorship — a tool company paying a monthly fee to title-sponsor a design YouTube channel depends on the tool-creator ecosystem. Not every niche has this dynamic. Remote-first company timing — Charli joined ConvertKit in 2016, before remote work was mainstream.
The income ceiling. £168K is firmly in the creative majority — which is precisely the point. This isn't a "$10M exit" case. It's a sustainable, transparent, replicable model for creative professionals who want to build ownership without betting everything on independence. The ceiling may rise as the book, workshops, and courses mature.
Primary Sources
Verified Data Points
Gaps to Verify
