Sunday night. Coachella weekend. Me, my fiancée, Kai - our dog - and somehow, Alix Earle and her 6am quesadillas.

The algorithm had been trying me all weekend. A few Coachella videos. I kept scrolling. Then a few more. Then Alix.

I didn't scroll past that one.

I know what you’re thinking. Your fiancée's sitting right next to you.

Not what I’m saying. At all.

I made this reel a while back about how the entrepreneur brain works. It doesn't switch off. You watch Bieberchella from your sofa and you're already clocking earned media value ($754M in 2025, by the way - my eyes are on 2026).

You watch someone like Alix, one of the world's most influential creators, make quesadillas on Day 2, and you're unpacking why it works. All before she turns the pan on.

If you've got ambitions of building a personal brand, you need to adopt the same lens. Or get someone to apply it for you… stat. Because what I saw this weekend is worth paying attention to. Whatever your market. Whatever your audience. Keep reading.

Brands spend upwards of a million dollars just to have a presence at Coachella. Every influencer with a following goes. They post the outfits, the perks of the Artist Pass, the best stage sets, you get the gist.

And then there's Alix Earle.

9.8 million views. 5 million. 6.1 million. And of the stage?

We've seen nothing.

This is all get-ready-with-me's and un-get-ready-with-me's. Cooking her pajama sleeves along with her quesadillas. Moments that make you feel like you're right there in the room.

Of course, she's not the only one posting this kind of content.

But she’s cemented such an association with these formats that her audience doesn't just enjoy them; they expect them. They come to her page knowing what’s coming. Coachella doesn't demand a whole new strategy for Alix. It slots into one she's already running.

And so do the brands that want a piece of the pie.

Alix’s un-get-ready-with-me is now effortlessly housing Real Actives, her new skincare line. That’s her own brand, slotting into her own format, carried by an audience that was already there.

Brilliant.

Let's zoom out for a second - because this part needs to be said too.

There's a real risk to attending Coachella as an influencer. You're living your best life in the desert - VIP areas, brand activations, rubbing shoulders with celebrities. If your audience doesn't feel like they’ve been brought along for the journey, like they still know you, that’s a great way to attract distaste.

On a good day, that’s a “must be nice” in the comments. On a bad one, that’s completely original phrases (worse) on how you’ve changed, broken trust, and ought to be cancelled.

Not on Alix's page.

She's never broken the unspoken promise.

The one you build on the way up, that most forget about by the time they "make it."

They stop documenting the raw aftermath because mainstream media already captured the highlight reel. They stop sharing their skincare evolution with their internet besties because they've got LA's most acclaimed dermatologist to bounce off now.

And so the audience responds.

“so out of touch.”

Credit to Alex - she's the same Hot Mess she promised her audience she'd be, despite the escalations in lifestyle and opportunity. People still see themselves. Even live vicariously through her. Like a best friend, not an enemy.

That’s because she never lets her audience feel second best. If she's chatting up Tom Brady in St. Barths, you bet she's done a GRWM and outfit reveal five hours earlier.

That’s the in.

And the reason her audience keeps showing up. Wanting more, not less.

The questions you should be asking yourself now:

What's your get ready with me? What's the format your audience expects from you, every single time, without fail? And are you showing up inside it consistently enough that they'd actually notice if you stopped?

If you can't answer that… that's the work.

We went deep on this - and actually broke down Alix Earle specifically - on The Authority Shift. Why Audiences Don't Trust Creators Anymore. Go listen.

One last thing.

The weekend before this one, I had my bachelor’s.

Honestly, if it was up to me, I would have let it pass quietly. But I'm lucky to have people around me who wouldn't let that happen - they’ll be the ones to show up, go all out, turn it into something worth remembering.

As an entrepreneur who works around the clock (*flips*), I’ve not always loved a surprise. But these days, the system runs without me.

My own content pipeline. The agency, too.

There’s finally room for flexibility. For life.

That’s where I landed after the Alix rabbit hole this weekend. It’s clear: she's at Coachella, genuinely living it - and her content is just a byproduct of that. She's not stressed about what to post. She already knows. Because she's been posting it for years.

We run a management company. I see both sides of this up close. The creators who have that foundation in place - the formats, the system, the structure - they show up to an event like Coachella and just hit post.

The ones who don't, they’re creating content out of thin air all weekend - chasing ideas, stressed the whole time, they come home convinced it wasn’t even worth it.

That's the difference between a creator and an operator. And it's what makes the volume, the connection, and the scale actually possible.

Build the system. Then actually live your life inside it.

Like clockwork.

Still figuring out your GRWM? Hit reply, and I’ll help you out.

Co-founder, 1DS Collective

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