Your newsletter's first $100,000
Today's issue originally published here.
A couple years ago, I started hearing about people building newsletter businesses. Seeing those three words together was confusing and interesting.
My consulting business at the time had a newsletter for years. At one point, we had nearly 20,000 subscribers. But I only treated it like a channel to teach, inspire, and pepper our audience with updates & offers.
Operating the newsletter like a business channel? Never heard of it.
Then I started taking notice of several solopreneurs and full-timers-with-side-hustles who claimed to be building their newsletter business. I followed casually, never thinking much of it. Until I started looking into the numbers…
Lightning struck for me last August. I had the idea to launch Profit Ladder . I would build it on top of a newsletter.
But what I thought I’d do with this newsletter since launch, continues to evolve. From a tool I use to write and share valuable content, to the foundational linchpin of my business.
In today’s post, I’m showing you how I’m building and growing my newsletter into the hub of my online creator business.
If you’re building a media business with a newsletter (or considering it), I hope it gives you some actionable ideas to test out.
You’ll learn:
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Over the next two Sunday deep dives, we’re going to break down the six ways I’m monetizing this newsletter.
Part One (today)
Part Two (Sunday, Mar 10)
For each channel, I’ll also provide revenue projections.
Keep in mind, one pivotal factor of your monetizable newsletter is subscriber count. I’m currently at 303 subscribers, with the goal of 5,000 by EOY. So today’s projections will be based on that growth timeline, assuming some degree of churn.
One note: My newsletter runs on beehiiv. Most of the same monetization capabilities exist on ConvertKit, Ghost, and, Substack (I think).
Here goes!
?? Here's the order I'm building these 6 channels: 1a. Exclusive Products: By starting with coaching & consulting, I get a real feel for my customers' biggest pain points and unmet needs. I'm also generating active income, which is critical fuel in the early days. 1b. Newsletter Referrals: Almost simultaneously to number 1, I'll start bring in bits of revenue promoting other newsletters. There's no "right" time to start this, but you will earn more as your newsletter grows because you'll be growing faster and therefore promoting sponsored newsletters to more people. 2. Impulse / Commitment Products: I'll use the insights from delivering the exclusive products to create simpler, DIY tools that new customers can use. This also drives awareness & interest in my exclusive products. 3. Premium Subscriptions: I turned on premium once I hit 250 subscribers. Not because it was the right number but I had enough people to test premium offers. I'm continually iterating what my subscribers get for $10/mo or $100/yr. 4. Sponsorships / Ads: I experimented with these and realized that it was more of a distraction. Not only for me, while focused on creating owned products, but for my readers.
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7 个月That’s the playbook! If your approach is to slowly release one by one, what’s the order you’d do it in? (Asking for a friend ??)
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7 个月Thanks for the shout out dude!!