This journalist-entrepreneur built a media empire in 3 years

^{Making a living as a creator shouldn’t be some elusive thing. And what’s the best way to learn how creators are making it work? To go behind-the-scenes. These bi-weekly interview issues are like having coffee with your favorite creators. If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about solopreneurship and the creator economy.}

Good morning. This week’s creator is a case study in using your past roles to set yourself up for success going solo. She’s set herself up so she can capitalize on the “rocketship of B2B creator land” that’s about to take off. 

You’re going to love this read.

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Nicole Casperson made her way to journalism by way of trade publications. What was once a sore spot for not working in big media became her unfair advantage, years later when she stepped out as a B2B creator. Casperson had covered fintech for years and felt women were always set aside for a diversity column or special day. 

She initially pitched the idea for Fintech is Femme to an agency for B2B creators and signed with them, where she built the newsletter. After two years, she went independent and has been running the brand with her co-founder, (her creative director husband) ever since. 

“There’s a massive opportunity out there for creators to be making more money as their own entrepreneurs. I wanted to build a media company with real generational wealth for my family and the people I work with – and that only happens through entrepreneurship,” Casperson said. 

She believes what holds creators back most is operations and wanting to remain pure talent. There’s no playbook for entrepreneurship, but Casperson has learned everything by doing. “The velocity of knowledge that I have because I can negotiate my own deals. I’m the best seller of my content.” 

The journalist also learns a lot through osmosis from the high-profile women she interviews, which she applies to her own brand. 

Today, Fintech is Femme is a full-scale media brand with a newsletter, podcast, and events series. She leads Fintech Week in NYC and SF. 

Fintech is Femme started with the newsletter, which grew to 50,000 subscribers in less than a year. How? She made a lot of women feel seen, without subjugating them to a diversity metric. 

Casperson continues to write two newsletters per week without fail. The podcast followed pretty quickly, where she sits down with executives you’re seeing on Bloomberg or CNBC and get to know them on a human level, beyond those quick media moments. Coming out of Covid Casperson launched the event arm, where she’s hosting events like Fintech Week. 

Event sponsorships are 70% of their revenue, with the other 30% being event coverage. 

Companies sponsor stage content or the podcasts that happen throughout these summits. The other side of her revenue is being hired to go to other people’s events. “These companies are hiring Fintech is Femme and me as a journalist to cover the event from a very smart, behind-the-scenes perspective.”  

They don’t hire her to show up. They hire her to interview execs, moderate a panel, do real video journalism, and write a newsletter. And not just reporting a product launch but showing how they did it.  

Casperson said brands love her “come with me” videos, the podcast clips, and the newsletter. Her audience is high-powered fintech professionals, so they’re interested in authority content that will impact their business. “I never have to think about going viral. I just need a CEO, a CTO, a CMO of these massive fintech companies to see my content and learn from it.”

The biggest question she gets asked by sponsors is “show me your audience demographic.” Casperson is always glad to. 

Casperson believes self-made is one of the toxic myths that the media portrays and to try not to do it alone. Her creative director husband and co-founder is able to take her journalism and turn it into revenue. “Find somebody who can go all in with you,” she said. And no, it doesn’t need to be your partner. 

Conviction and consistency are her two other pieces of advice. The ability to ask and put yourself out there will fundamentally change your career. That’s how she’s landed brand deals, sponsorships, and partnerships. 

“I just ask.” 

“You have to love yourself. Negotiating a sale gets a lot easier when you know your value,” she added. 

Get over the vanity metrics and focus on your unfair advantage. 

“Being a journalist-entrepreneur is my unfair advantage because I get to interview people not just as a journalist who doesn’t know what it’s like. When I’m interviewing a founder of a massive company who just IPOed, I may not know how to IPO, but I do know what it’s like to be in the trenches building a company. We get to relate as peers in a way that I never could before, just as a reporter,” Casperson concluded. 

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Amanda

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