Yo yo! Happy Wednesday, Cmd+Shift+Create fam!

I have a question/favor to ask you before we hop in today; do you happen to enjoy this newsletter? If you’re an avid reader and you like what I’m pushing out every week, would you mind sharing this newsletter with one friend? One share can make all the difference and means the world to me as a solo creator. Thank you in advance to all of those who help me out, I appreciate you and your support on my content journey!

Now let’s jump into all that’s goin’ on this week. In my world, I’m starting to vibe with the dog dad life; this little mf chews on everything and makes me want to lose my mind like 3 times a day, but the energy he’s brought into the house is impeccable. I try to always keep good vibes, but this puppy is showing me up and teaching me a thing or two about pushing p(ositivity). Want a picture of the pup? Reply to this email with “pup!” and I’ll send you a never-before-seen Gene pic!

Other than getting used to the pup life, all else is onwards and upwards. The newsletter continues to grow steadily because of you incredible readers, CreatorPad is approaching early access for some of you beta testers, and I’ve started doing some scriptwriting to get that creative spark going again, which is an unreal feeling after stepping back for so many weeks.

I’m excited for the next few weeks and what lies ahead, but until the next bit of news from me, let’s check out who and what are commanding, shifting, and creating waves in our ecosystem. 😎 

Hiding the Vegetables with Mark Rober 🥦 

Massive YouTuber and engineer, Mark Rober just announced the launch of Hack Pack, an extension of his already super-popular Crunch Labs science kit, but built for teens.

With the goal of making robotics accessible to all, Rober and his team have launched this all-new science subscription pack, allowing teens to dabble in robotics and coding, without a boring lecture. Let’s dive in to see how Rober is commanding the edutainment space while hiding the veggies for his viewers.

• CrunchLabs has introduced a subscription service called Hack Pack, which offers hardware kits and software tools for individuals and schools so kids can have fun while learning through hands-on projects.

• Through these resources provided by HackPack, kids can experiment with robotics and coding on fun, interactive projects that excite and intrigue. This is what Rober calls “hiding the vegetables.”

• Kids don’t want to eat their veggies, but if you hide them in something good, they can become delicious. This is Rober’s idea behind CrunchLabs and its new release, Hack Pack. By hiding the educational aspects of these projects behind a hands-on experiment, kids are becoming more interested in STEM opportunities and experiments because they’ve already put ideas to practice.

• While Rober is successfully getting kids interested in robotics, science, engineering, and beyond, he wants to take it a step further by including a community feature for these students. Hack Pack subscribers can get access to a community for sharing projects and collaborating, which you know we’re all about here at CreatorPad!

• No matter how early or advanced you are in your robotics journey, Hack Pack is looking to democratize access to robotics technology and knowledge, allowing accessibility for everyone at every level.

Through these hardware kits, software tools, community access, and beyond, Rober is successfully getting kids interested in things that are a bit uninteresting, if taught traditionally.

As a tutor and ex-student who absolutely hated school, I love this initiative so much. This idea of hiding the veggies is something that I do in my tutoring lessons as well, as I’ve found that students are generally interested in most topics, it’s just about how you frame it.

Massive shout out to Rober and the CrushLabs crew, I can’t wait to see the influence you continue to have on future engineers, scientists, edutainment creators, and beyond! 😎 

MrBeast Changes Pace ⏱️

What’s an issue of Cmd+Shift+Create without a quick update on where Jimmy’s at? Well, the Beast himself has just made creators everywhere take a step back to analyze the length of their content.

With the launch of his newest project, MrBeast used over 300 cameras to capture his longest video to date, potentially shifting the landscape of video length on YouTube. Let’s get into how this is causing shifts:

• MrBeast just posted a 40-minute video, beating out his longest upload by 13 minutes.

• As MrBeast tends to set the trends on YouTube, his converting to a longer video format just may make other creators follow suit. I mean, just look at what happened when he closed his mouth in a thumbnail.

• While this isn’t the most groundbreaking piece of news, with MrBeast’s influence, we creators need to pay attention to the meta so we can get in where we fit in.

• Longer videos = longer watch time (hopefully, of course), and longer watch time = more money for creators.

So creators (specifically YouTubers), do you think you’ll make a shift to posting longer content, or will you stick with your current video length goals? Let me know your thoughts on the shift by replying to this email!

Tools of the Trade with Jake Felzien 🛠️ 

Meet Jake Felzien!

It’s no secret that as creators, we often need to balance lots of plates to keep our businesses afloat and our minds from running astray. This is no exception for Jake and his killer content.

As a creator, a husband, a dad, and an employee of a full-time job, Jake continues to blow my mind with each upload as I know his time is limited. Although Jake is running on all cylinders, each one of his videos is chockfull of insight and tips, leading to learnings and inspiration alike for viewers.

From breaking down editing tactics used by other creators in their videos, showcasing the tools and software that he uses in his content creation, and even interviewing other phenomenal editors, Jake’s channel lives as a masterclass in editing and cinematography tips. If you’re a creator who wants to learn how to make your videos pop a bit more, look no further than Jake’s channel.

Dubbing himself “your dorky editing dad,” Jake continues to dial in his content with each upload, leading to over 13k subs and some massive names in editing coming into his channel.

There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll continue to see Jake evolve as a creator, especially as his audience continues to grow. With the mindset of helping other creators and pushing out his creativity, Jake falls right in line with the passions that I and the entire Cmd+Shift+ Create community uphold, so it’s a pleasure to introduce you to Jake’s content.

If you’re looking for a little inspo and a lot of tips and tricks that you can implement in your content, then checking out Jake’s channel is a must. massive thank you to Jake for the incredibly insightful content and the positive vibes that he’s pushing out into the creator space. We’re all in this together!

Check out Jake’s channel!

🗞️ In Other News

• Instagram is doubling down on AI by announcing influencer chatbots, so your favorite influencer can make you feel seen while ignoring you!

• YouTube says no more third-party apps, and they’ll crack down by blocking or slowing content if you’re still utilizing one of these features. Honestly, YouTube Premium is the best purchase I’ve made in years, I couldn’t recommend it more.

• Instagram creator New York Nico is publishing a book with many of the characters featured on his IG (RIP Joey Chestnut). As a New Yorker who often longs to live in NYC again, seeing these wackos makes me miss the city. Shoutout to Nico for continuing to crush it across the board!

🤔 What Are Your Thoughts?

If you’ve gotten this far today, would you consider sharing this newsletter with a friend? I love bringing passionate creators into our newsletter ecosystem so I can learn all about them, their journeys, and their content. So if you wouldn’t mind sharing this with one friend, it would make my week!

🚀 Up Your Career as a Creator

Hope you enjoyed this week’s post. See you next week ✌️