• Aisha Beau Frisbey is a full-time lifestyle creator on Instagram and YouTube.
• In July, she launched her first DTC product: a deck of affirmation cards highlighting Black women.
• Frisbey breaks down how she is recession proofing her business with multiple revenue streams.

With a possible recession looming, Aisha Beau Frisbey, a full-time lifestyle content creator, is working to create a business that will thrive no matter the economic environment.

Frisbey, who has 34,000 Instagram followers and 30,000 YouTube subscribers, finds that her business is often at the whim of brands' budgets and changes in the market. Recently, those changes have affected the industry as some influencers see canceled brand deals and creator economy companies lay off staff.

Last quarter, the toll of a potential economic downturn began to weigh on Frisbey's business as a creator, she told Insider.

Earnings from brand deals "went down drastically for Q2," Frisbey said, adding that "that absolutely had to do with the changes in the economy."

She also pointed to changes within the platforms, specifically, Instagram.

"You're fighting with the algorithm to be seen and then when you are seen by a brand, they no longer have the budget," Frisbey said.

Here's a breakdown of Frisbey's earnings for the first half of 2022:

* Note: Frisbey is signed to a talent management firm, which typically take between 10% to 20% of earnings from brand partnerships. These numbers reflect her earnings after that percentage was taken out.

Insider verified these earnings with documentation provided by Frisbey. 

Things are starting to bounce back compared to Q2, Frisbey said.

"I am starting to see more of an uptick now in terms of brands reaching out," she said. "That makes me optimistic."

So far this quarter, Frisbey has inked about $11,700 in brand deals, and $5,750 in speaking engagements and events, according to documentation viewed by Insider.

Still, in response to the decline, Frisbey set out to diversify her revenue streams to get "ahead of the curve," she said.

"I have to get even more creative and think outside of the box now on how I'm going to expand my personal platform and live up to being the mogul I was hoping to be," she added. 

Her new initiatives include selling a line of DTC products, booking more in-person and virtual events, writing a book, and growing her newsletter.

In July, Frisbey launched her first DTC product: a set of affirmation cards titled "Letters to Myself." Frisbey hired Brooke Danaher, an artist based in the UK, to pair illustrations of Black women with affirmations written by Frisbey.

"I felt like it was something that was in alignment with my brand, but also unique without me having to reinvent the wheel," Frisbey said. "I want my audience to feel like they see themselves in this deck."

Frisbey took to Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to advertise her new product to her followers, strategically spacing out announcements leading up to launch to see how each channel responded. Today she directs followers to a Shopify store in her Linktree link-in-bio.

She's already made $3,250 this quarter selling the card decks.

Frisbey is also working closely with her talent manager at Well Spirit Collective to build and monetize her newsletter.

"My plan is to make sure that I have cultivated my audience and the relationship that I have with my audience enough that I can take them with wherever I go," Frisbey said, especially "in the event of a recession where brands are not paying influencers anymore."

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