For most of her 20s, Felecia Freely, AKA Felecia For The Win, spent most of her waking hours in pursuit of a dream.
To become a full-time software engineer.
By day, she made ends meet by working part-time jobs. But by night, she’d spend hours teaching herself how to code.
That grind eventually paid off and she got her big break.
“Initially, I was overjoyed,” Felecia said of her nearly decade-long corporate career. “I was making more than triple what I had been making. I also had a great team and a good boss.”
But a few years in, her excitement began to wane. Despite a generous six-figure salary, Felecia wasn’t fulfilled.
“I could have anything that I wanted,” she recalled. “But for some reason, I wasn’t happy.”
So in 2022, Felecia decided to shake things up. She decided to become a creator.
“If I could actually build a life and career around topics that truly interested me, I’d have a lifestyle that would never get old,” she said.
Over the past few years, Felecia’s grown a loyal audience by creating what she calls “playful, thought-provoking content”. This shift has led her to a new life that isn’t always easy, but is deeply rewarding.
From shocking facts about water to theories on why we dream, her short-form posts have attracted a community of over a million curious minds who share her interests. This engaged neighborhood has also enabled Felecia to earn a living in ways aligned with her values.
One of these income streams is Lectures on Tap. It’s a series of in-person events Felecia launched this past summer on Eventbrite.
→ Felicia For The Win and theories on why we dream 😦💤
What Is Lectures on Tap?
With Lectures on Tap, Felecia hosts live talks from professors, journalists, and other subject-matter experts inside local bars in New York. She and her husband, who helps run the series, got the idea from attending similar events in DC.
“This led me to do some research,” Felecia said, “And I learned that there are people all over the world bringing this kind of experience to bars in their communities.”
Capacity is limited to 50-100 tickets, which sell for $40. To handle the logistics of sales and email promotion, Felecia and her husband have leaned on Eventbrite.
Lectures on Tap events are hosted in local bars across New York / Photography courtesy of Felecia For The Win
How Eventbrite Helps Creators Host Events
Since 2006, Eventbrite has been a long-standing leader in event management. Its longevity is one of the reasons why Felecia and her husband use it to run Lectures on Tap.
“Before we launched, we researched multiple ticket platforms,” Felecia said. “And ultimately, we went with Eventbrite because it’s been around for almost 20 years.”
Eventbrite offers an expansive suite of intuitive, event management tools. It makes life simpler for creators, who’ve never hosted events, to experience success running their own.
For starters, creators can save time setting up event pages with the platform’s customizable templates. It also provides in-depth analytics and data on ticket sales and attendee engagement.
Eventbrite is constantly evolving to meet the needs of creators, too. An example of this is its new TikTok integration which allows users to promote and sell event tickets directly on their TikTok videos.
“As a husband-wife duo, we also loved that Eventbrite was founded by another married couple like us in Kevin and Julia Hartz,” Felecia added.
Felecia (left) and her husband, Ty (right), co-created and co-host Lectures on Tap / Photography courtesy of Felecia For The Win
Experimenting Like an Engineer
Making money as a creator is tough. But if your content is nicheless like Felecia’s, earning can be an even steeper hill to climb.
As a creator, Felecia has taken an experimental approach, one that’s heavily inspired by her software engineering background. To generate income, she’s tried a variety of revenue streams including:
Social Media Consulting: After noticing her audience ask if she offered this service, Felecia set up an online store and a meeting link for people to book time on her calendar.
eBooks: Felecia noticed that most of her consulting clients asked similar questions, so she packaged her answers into an eBook that sold over 100 copies.
Merch: She designed and sold her own products.
Paid Community: Felecia tried running a premium community on Discord for a few months.
Brand Deals: She worked on sponsored posts, user-generated content, and even served as an in-house creator for a few companies.
Like a good engineer would, she saw each of these revenue streams as experiments. Whether they made money or not, they gave her valuable feedback about what it takes to earn a living as a creator.
For example, she ditched consulting since she wasn’t in control of her calendar. She also abandoned eBooks because sales were inconsistent without constant promotion.
On the other hand, Felecia loves collaborating with brands and running events. She enjoys the work involved with both and feels fairly compensated for her time.
What’s Next?
Since launching, Lectures on Tap has enjoyed breakout success. The brand has even taken on a life of its own.
“Hundreds of people from around the world have asked us to expand to their city,” Felecia said. “So even though that wasn’t originally in the plans, we’re absolutely going to see how far it can go.”
Beyond Lectures on Tap, she’s also been invited to participate in other events. In August, she was part of a four-person panel at The Publish Press and Eventbrite’s Coffee With Creators meetup.
Felecia (center) joins a panel at a Publish Press Coffee with Creators event / Photography by Jesse Leon
Aside from events and brand deals, Felecia has earned opportunities in more traditional avenues, too. This year, she became host of a series called Roots of Resistance that’s broadcast on PBS.
If Felecia could advise creators thinking about launching their own series of live events, this is what she’d recommend:
Be authentic to you and your brand: Is there a remixed version of an event you already attend that you could organize yourself?
Do case studies and build hype: Analyze how other creators built hype for products and services they’ve launched. Put your own spin on those ideas and make a lot of content to generate buzz.
Build an Email List to rely less on platforms: Think of your hype-building content as a soft sell of your event and your launch email as a hard sell.
It took time, but Felecia is proud of the path she’s forged. Instead of creating solely to generate the most views or the most money, every decision she’s made has prioritized one thing above all else.
Her happiness.
“I’ve engineered the life around me,” she said. “I couldn’t be happier for my current lifestyle and I’m stoked to see what comes next.”
Thinking about hosting your own IRL experience for your online community? Bring it to life with Eventbrite’s easy-to-use promotion and event management tools. And if you’re in New York, join Felecia For The Win at Lectures on Tap. Get tickets to upcoming sessions of thought-provoking talks in some of the city’s best bars here.