The Library
Research, structures, and case studies for creative professionals navigating the restructuring of the creative economy. The library grows regularly. Membership is $12 per year.
Deal Structures
35 deal structures — business models and compensation mechanisms — for creative professionals shifting from time-based to outcome-based value capture. Each includes case studies, negotiation guidance, and decision checklists.
Positioning for higher fees through specialization and reputation. Value-based pricing vs. hourly.
STAGE 1Guaranteed monthly income with performance incentives. Combines security with upside potential.
STAGE 1Trading reduced fees for ownership in client companies. Building a portfolio of equity positions over time.
STAGE 2Charging premium rates for expertise and strategic judgment rather than hands-on execution.
STAGE 2Form a new legal entity with a partner, combining your creative assets with their operational resources for shared ownership and profit.
STAGE 3Co-develop products with established brands, earning revenue share or equity rather than flat licensing fees.
STAGE 3Worker-owned cooperatives where members collectively own the business, govern democratically, and share profits equitably.
STAGE 2Loosely organized collectives of independent creatives sharing resources, cross-referring work, and collaborating on larger projects.
STAGE 2Build a parent company owning 3–7 subsidiary businesses with distinct revenue models, creating enterprise value at 4–10x multiples.
STAGE 3Build 4–6 distinct revenue channels — each contributing 15–30% — to eliminate single-source dependency and create business resilience.
STAGE 2License your proven systems, methodology, and brand to others who operate independently — scaling through replication without direct operation.
STAGE 3Build infrastructure — tools, marketplaces, or platforms — that other creatives use, capturing value through fees, subscriptions, or transaction commissions.
STAGE 3Impose artificial budget, time, or scope constraints to force creative problem-solving while replacing guaranteed fees with profit participation.
STAGE 3Convert creative IP into institutional-grade financial instruments — selling bonds backed by future royalties to pension funds, endowments, and insurance companies.
STAGE 4Decentralize ownership and decision-making through token-based governance — community members vote on project direction and share revenue via smart contracts.
STAGE 3Build studios where AI handles execution while humans focus on strategy, curation, and taste — achieving 10x output at premium quality through technology leverage.
STAGE 3Everything you need
to use it.
$12 per year for the full library — every structure with the depth you need to actually negotiate, protect yourself, and capture value. New structures and case studies added regularly.
Case Studies
100+ case studies mapping how creative professionals structured deals, captured value, and built ownership — from independent musicians to billion-dollar holding companies. Each study documents the specific terms, the strategic reasoning, and the transferable lessons.
A seasoned German designer applies professional taste to commodity AI tools, builds 433K+ followers and six-figure revenue in months — the discernment premium in real time.
She won a journalism award covering murdered women in Juárez. Went to Goldman Sachs. Built a billion-dollar business for someone else. Burned out. Bought a laundromat for $25K. Now her portfolio generates nine figures in revenue and she's taught 9,000+ people to do the same.
Peter McKinnon spent a decade as a wedding photographer and videographer in Toronto — skilled, respected, and stuck. Then in 2017, at 31 years old, he started uploading YouTube videos about coffee, cameras, and editing. Within 18 months he had 3 million subscribers. Within four years, 6 million. He did not pivot from photography. He layered a media business on top of a craft career, then built product lines that generate revenue while he sleeps. The photography career made the content possible. The content made the product business possible. Each layer funded the next.
He licensed his first photo for $500 and a pair of skis, built a 10-million-student education platform, raised $58.8M in venture capital — then was laid off from his own company nine months after it was acquired for a fraction of what was raised.
A blog about logos became two museum exhibitions, three annual conferences, five books, and a two-person business with zero client dependency. The muffin bag business plan that worked.
In 2018, Ryan Reynolds took an equity stake in Aviation Gin instead of a standard endorsement fee. Two years later, Diageo acquired it for $610 million — Reynolds walked away with an estimated $120–150 million. In 2019, he bought 25% of Mint Mobile; four years later, T-Mobile acquired it for $1.35 billion, netting him approximately $300 million. In 2020, he bought a Welsh football club for $2.6 million; by 2025, it was valued at $129 million. In May 2025, the advertising company where he serves as Chief Creative Officer went public at a $1.2 billion valuation, shares jumping 65% on Day 1. The pattern is not celebrity endorsement — it is systematic equity acquisition funded by creative services.
Real structures.
Real receipts.
100+ case studies — and growing. Each one documents the deal structures, the strategic reasoning behind them, and the outcomes that followed. Sourcing on every claim.
In Sequence
The creative economy is restructuring. This book maps the forces reshaping creative value, provides 35 deal structures for capturing it, and lays out a four-stage progression from execution to ownership.
“The structures library changed how I negotiate. I moved from hourly billing to a hybrid fee plus backend — and now I own a piece of what I build.”
“The Premium Service Model framework helped me restructure my pricing entirely. The negotiation scripts alone were worth the membership.”
“The case studies are what set this apart. Real deals, real structures. Reading how others negotiated product partnerships gave me the template to structure my own.”
“The most comprehensive resource I've found on creative deal structures. The holding company framework helped me rethink the architecture of my own business.”
