As social platform instability, burnout, and income volatility threaten the creator economy, a new data report from Kajabi reveals how the shift to Creator Commerce empowers a new era of creator success.
Kajabi, the leading creator commerce platform, has released its State of Creator Commerce report, analyzing the creator economy’s evolution and the rise of creators as entrepreneurs. This shift to what Kajabi calls Creator Commerce empowers creators to fully own their audience, products, and most importantly, their income. The report reveals a major turning point: creators are no longer just building audiences on social media—they’re building and scaling businesses beyond social media.
The creator economy was built on creators, not for them. While social platforms have cashed in on the talent, time, and influence of creators, the real value has always come from the people behind the content. Now, the power dynamic is shifting. Creators are stepping into their full potential—not just as influencers, but as entrepreneurs. They’re owning their audience, their products, and most importantly, their revenue. This is the rise of Creator Commerce—a movement where creators call the shots and keep 100% of what they earn.
The report reveals a major turning point: creators are no longer just building audiences on social media—they’re building and scaling businesses beyond social media.
Social Platform Instability Isn’t Just Risky—It’s Impacting Creators’ Financial Future
With social platforms more unpredictable than ever—amid looming TikTok bans, shrinking payouts, and ever-shifting algorithms—creators are searching for stability, ownership, and freedom. For too long, platforms have reaped the lion’s share of profits from creators’ time, talent, and influence. While platform payouts and brand deals still generate revenue, they offer creators limited control over their earnings. The golden era of being a Social-First Creator—relying primarily on social media for income—is fading. Creators are now seeing a significant decrease in platform payouts (-33%), affiliate marking revenue (-36%) and brand deals (-52%).
“The creator economy was built by the hard work of creators, but you wouldn’t think that when talking to creators about their businesses,” says Ahad Khan, CEO of Kajabi. “Creator Commerce flips that script—creators no longer need to rely on algorithms or brand deals. Instead, creators can take back control so they reap the rewards of their hard work. This is where shifting your approach as a creator can be game-changing. Creator Commerce empowers a new type of creator—the Entrepreneurial Creator—to keep 100% of the revenue they earn off of their hard work.”
From Content to Commerce: The Rise of the Entrepreneurial Creator
In 2025, creators aren’t just making content, they’re building profitable and sustainable businesses. As the industry shifts toward Creator Commerce, a new breed has emerged: the Entrepreneurial Creator, with 59% of creators now identifying as entrepreneurs (up 16% year-over-year).These creators use social platforms to grow audiences, but don’t rely on them for income. Instead, they invest in their own communities, newsletters, courses, coaching, digital products, and memberships, giving them ownership and control. The result is predictable, scalable income on their own terms.
“The temporary disappearance of TikTok in January 2025 served as a major wake-up call for a lot of creators,” said Lia Haberman, Creator Economy Expert and ICYMI Newsletter Founder. “Regardless of whether TikTok ultimately sticks around, the uncertainty forced a lot of people to confront the reality of platform dependency. It was an important reminder that building a business—or even an entire career—on a single social platform is risky. Don’t build on borrowed land. Own your platform.”
In fact, Kajabi’s report reveals Entrepreneurial Creators earn 25% more than Social-First Creators, and specifically on the Kajabi platform, they earn 200% more. Creators are taking back control and choosing ownership over dependency by focusing on diversifying their revenue streams and employing a mix of different digital products and marketing tools.
Creator Commerce Isn’t Just Profitable—It Improves Creators’ Wellbeing
Compared to Social-First Creators, Entrepreneurial Creators are experiencing positive improvements across both their personal and professional lives. In addition to generating more income than Social-First Creators, Entrepreneurial Creators report better and stronger well-being, including more control over their work schedules (58% versus 36% of Social-First Creators), greater creative freedom (49% versus 28% of Social-First Creators), and improved work-life balance (42% versus 28% of Social-First Creators).
“Gaining independence from social media has been a game-changer for my wellbeing, work-life balance, and having more confidence in what I offer,” said Malcolm Duke Baxter III, Founder of Dominate the Diamond and a Kajabi Creator earning seven-figures. “With multiple revenue streams, I feel more in control of my business and my time as I’m no longer tied to the ups and downs of algorithms. I create content because I want to, not because I have to for income.”
How to Build a Sustainable Business as an Entrepreneurial Creator
The next era of the creator economy won’t be built on fleeting trends or unpredictable platforms—and Kajabi is powering that shift toward Creator Commerce. Kajabi provides an all-in-one ecosystem where entrepreneurs can grow their audiences and sell digital products to generate sustainable income. Creators are building thriving businesses on Kajabi, and have earned over $9 billion in revenue—100% of which goes directly to them.
Here’s how other creators can get started on their entrepreneurial journey:
Own your audience. Entrepreneurial Creators say direct access to their audience—through email lists, private communities, phone numbers, and member platforms like Kajabi—is critical. In fact, 55% cite audience ownership as the most important factor for success. Building relationships outside of social media leads to deeper connections and more reliable revenue.
Specialize to monetize. Creator Commerce offers a major opportunity for creators with niche expertise, knowledge, or skills. By leveraging the audiences they’ve built on social media, these creators can turn followers into customers who pay for their products and services. Creators with niche expertise are seeing higher monetization success, as 57% of Kajabi Entrepreneurial Creators say niche focus is key to growth, compared to just 22% of Social-First Creators.
Find the right blend of products and revenue streams. Kajabi creators are embracing entrepreneurship on their own terms by finding the right blend of products—from communities and newsletters, to courses and coaching—that allows them to build a business that fits their creative vision.
Lean into the strength of community: Among Kajabi products, the freshly redesigned Communities offers creators a place to gather the audiences they’ve already built, free of ads, algorithms, and spam, with new customization and gamification features to drive engagement and connection. Kajabi Communities is the market leader with over 30K thriving communities, helping creators generate nearly $500M in revenue. In fact, Kajabi’s State of Creator Commerce findings show creators with community offerings report making 2x more than those without.
Maximize monetization with Cart: Kajabi also just released a brand new way for creators to monetize with multiple products in one place through Kajabi Cart, which ups the ante for Creator Commerce. It redefines the way creators sell by letting them offer multiple products in a single checkout, directly from where they already create and sell.
