→ The Case for Thank-You Pages
→ 17 Proven Newsletter Growth & Monetization Tactics
→ How much newsletter ads actually cost
→ Best newsletter landing page ever?
→ What to do starting on Substack from Zero in 2026
→ and more!

Let’s dive in.

Subscribe now

The Best Thank-You Pages

Plus: Get my custom GPT to get new sign-ups immediately engaged

My buddy Des Brown asked if I wanted to write a guest post for his newsletter.

And there was a topic fresh on my mind: Thank-you pages.

Yes. The almighty-yet-often-ignored TYPs.

Why?

Everyone stresses about their landing pages. Testing, iterating, perfecting it. Gotta earn them sign-ups, right?? 🤘

But you earned it.
Then what?
Then this??

Please please please do something more than this.

I beg of you.

Your Thank-you page (TYP) is the most-viewed page you aren’t optimizing. Ignoring it is a wasted opportunity.

Here are just a FEW things you can do with a proper TYP:

→ Drive first-party data with a simple survey
→ Drive revenue with an upsell, sponsor, affiliate, or offer
→ Build a waitlist
→ Build trust with a video or personal note
→ Drive engagement with a prompt to check their inbox

So instead of taking that opportunity and crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash, let’s do something with it!

Get the whole article with my ​5 Favorite Thank-You Page Examples (and the TYP Checklist) →​

Resource Of The Week ⚡

Get your new subscribers to confirm in one click with this Sniper Link builder 🎯

Long-time subscribers know I’m all about single opt-in.

But if you use double opt-in, you’ll know the pain of all those subscribers sitting on your “unconfirmed” list.

And you’re not alone.

Dave & Marsden Kline admitted to us they had 50,000+ subscribers who never confirmed their subscription.

OUCH.

Dave & Mar could’ve saved those 50k subscribers from email purgatory by using a Sniper Link.

While, no — you can’t hold a new subscriber’s hand and walk them to their inbox and make them click ‘Confirm’.

But you *can* use a Sniper Link — which almost does the same thing.

The POWER of a Sniper Link

A Sniper Link does 3 things:

1) Opens up the subscriber’s Gmail in a new tab
2) Automatically searches & filters for your confirmation/welcome email
3) Gets them to confirm immediately without distraction or confusion

So you can see the power, right??

“But Dylan,” you exclaim, bewildered by this wicked internet magic, “how do I make a Sniper Link—and where do I put it?”

Don’t worry, don’t worry. I got you.
Here’s the where and how.

WHERE:​
The Sniper Link should be used on the next page after sign-up. At the very least, include it in the post-sign-up text.

Your message can be as simple as “Click here to confirm your email address in Gmail”

HOW:
The “how” is the simple (and free) custom GPT I made for you.

Check it out here: ​SNIPER LINK GENERATOR >>​

This is 100% free and built with ChatGPT.

THE LAZY LEAD MAGNET STRATEGY

This strategy is kinda crazy—but so simple.

Matt McGarry shared on our podcast episode that one of his videos drove “hundreds of new subscribers.”

Chenell investigated deeper after we recorded with Matt.

Matt told her the video has now driven over 1,000 subscribers.

Umm tell us more, Matt!

HOW TO DO IT

On the surface, it’s pretty straightforward. Matt...

1) teases a relevant lead magnet in the video, then

2) shares the link in the description of the video, and

3) includes another CTA + link in a pinned comment below the video

But diving deeper, there’s more to it.

In fact, Chenell just published The 1,000 Email Subscribers Formula based on Matt’s exact strategy. You can click the link to get access.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE LAZY PART?

Matt casually mentioned something that nearly had me spitting out my drink all over my keyboard:

Ummm what?

He goes on to explain the “Lazy” part:

Folks, this is the power of Insanely Valuable Content™:

→ Create something so useful that it can become it’s own lead magnet. 💡

It works for Matt on YouTube.
And on LinkedIn.
And probably anywhere.

TWO FINAL THINGS

1) Chenell did a little Growth-In-Reverse-ing on Matt’s YT lead magnet strategy and reveals her findings in a video + free guide right here →​

2) Matt dishes on this and a LOT more in our recent chat. Watch it below:

​WATCH || LISTEN​

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free to watch but cost us time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the LinkedIn post so we can get them in front of more people!
(It’s the post below 😁🙏)

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others that I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡ What I’d do if I had to start a ​Substack newsletter from zero in 2026 →​

⚡ ​10 email automation templates​ that save creators +20hrs per week →

⚡ How Much Do Newsletter Ads Cost? ​The Complete Breakdown →​

⚡ ​17 Proven Tactics To Grow & Monetize Your Newsletter​ (via Chenell on Side Hustle Nation) →

⚡ Here’s ​the thing about sponsor revenue​ that nobody talks about →

⚡ This is one of the ​best newsletter landing pages​ I’ve seen →

The most-clicked link from our last edition 👇

⚡ Mark Mansons’s email ​subject line formulas →​

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I’d love to help you:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (​30 mins​ || ​1 Hour​)

2. Improving your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers. Book a ​Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>

Until next time!

Cheers,
Dylan

​LinkedIn | Twitter | Substack | IG

Here’s what’s happening in this edition:

→ Can you buy newsletter replies? I tried. |
→ How to build a $500k membership
→ The Hyper-Personalized Lead Magnet
→ Mark Manson’s subject line formulas
→ Best tools & apps for Substack writers

But before we get into it...

I have an update on last week’s “$25 Starbucks GC for a Reply” experiment.

Only my Kit subscribers got this offer. If you're not subscribed yet, what are you waiting for?

I Tried To Buy Newsletter Replies ☕

Here’s what happened. And what I’d do differently.

Last week in my newsletter, I did something impulsive and unplanned.

I tried to buy replies — with a $25 Starbucks gift card.

I offered the GC to the first person who replied to my newsletter with a correct answer to (what I thought was) a pretty simple question.

The result? A whopping 6 replies 😂

Two replies had nothing to do with the question or incentive. And four came after I ​posted about it on LinkedIn​.

For what it’s worth, I had no idea how/if this would work. Expectations were low.

My 3 Biggest Takeaways (and would I recommend it?)

1 - If you actually want this to work — don’t bury it like I did. I could have made it way more prominent in the email so skimmers wouldn’t miss it. Instead I put it in a body of text. Only thorough readers (maybe 10-15%) saw it.

2 - Making it the “first to reply” created a Bystander Effect: everyone thought someone else probably beat them to it. It turned individual readers into a crowd of bystanders. My ​LinkedIn post​proved it as several folks admitted as much. According to Claude, I should have added something like “Most people won’t bother answering — be the one who does”

3 - The incentive was misaligned. Coffee is great. Lotsa folks drink it. But I should have offered something more enticing and valuable, like a 1:1 call with me, or a free onboarding audit or roast. An incentive that was better aligned with my newsletter and my audience would have been more effective (and technically “free” for me, too).

Final Takeaway

There are loads of ways to encourage more newsletter replies. (In fact, I have a ​free resource​ on that)

And since replies are the Gold Standard for engagement, I was very okay to invest $25 into this experiment.

Truthfully, the experiment alone was worth the small investment. While mostly unsuccessful, I’d still recommend it in the right situation — but with the learnings from above applied.

Will I try it again? Maybe! But more strategically.

Let me know: would you try this? Reply YES or NO.

Super curious to hear your thoughts.

Resource Of The Week ⚡

Stay out of the Junk folder with instant deliverability feedback.

My newsletter last week hit 60% open rate (for whatever that’s worth) -- hurray!

But it could’ve been even better.

Turns out all my Outlook email subscribers missed it — because it went straight to their Junk folder.

Sh*t.

How do I know this? Because I use ​SendGauge​.

Moments after hitting send, I got a not-so-rosy deliverability score of 30/100 from SendGauge.

In fact, Alyssa Dulin (who built this tool) was kind enough to create a filter for me in Kit so I can stop sending newsletters to cold Outlook subscribers.

SendGauge has already done a lot for me and it’s only getting better. I’m in regular contact with Alyssa, and she is continuously improving SendGauge.

You can run your own deliverability test now: ​free for 7 days →​

PS - Yes I’ve shared SendGauge in this resource section before. But it’s so good and getting even better that it’s worth sharing again.

PPS - I do not affiliate with many products. The ones I am an affiliate for, like SendGauge and Kit, are the ones I trust, have tested, and/or continue to use and enjoy.

He built a 340-member community. He told us how.

I’ve been following Jay Clouse longer than I’ve been following *almost* anyone.

So it was an honor to co-interview him with Chenell — while in person — in Boise.

One of the things I admire about Jay is how thoughtful he is.

And it’s because he legit cares. He cares about his business. He cares about his family.

And he cares about his members and their experience in his community, The Lab.

He’s thoughtfully built a community that drives close to $500k in annual revenue while serving over 340 members.

How He Got There

Jay’s “overnight success” has taken years.

Jay fired up The Lab back in 2022 (it was called the Creator Companion Club at the time). And he launched it with a 200-member cap — while also using pricing as a filter to vet for serious creators.

He’s since eliminated the 200-member cap, added a beginner tier, and turned the higher tier into an application process.

In our interview, Jay shared why he made those decisions, along with...

→ The #1 metric he cares about
→ The crucial “middle” of community building most people ignore
→ How he onboards new members
→ How he structures his multi-tier membership and why
→ The surprising result of their best sign-up month ever (and what went wrong)

You can watch our interview live on YouTube or catch it on your favorite podcast player now :)

​Watch Now​ | ​Listen now​

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others that I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡ How to get cited by AI ​through your LinkedIn posts →​

⚡ ​The Hyper-Personalized Lead Magnet →​

⚡ Mark Mansons’s email ​subject line formulas →​

⚡Gmail open rates suddenly look lower: ​Here’s what’s actually changing →​

⚡ ​Best Tools and Apps for Substack Writers →​

The most-clicked link from our last edition 👇

⚡ ​14 Landing Pages with a 50%+ Conversion Rate →​

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I’d love to help you:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (​30 mins​ || ​1 Hour​)

2. Improving your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers. Book a ​Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>

See you in the inbox,

Dylan @

​​LinkedIn​ | Twitter | ​Substack​ | ​IG​

PS - We’re hosting some really fun sessions in the GIR Pro community this summer and would love to have you ​join​. Here are a few I’m excited about:

→ The 5-Day Challenge to get more leads
→ From 78 subs to 4.7M: The 1440 Growth Story
→ Kit’s 2026 Product Launch (spoiler: it’s their best yet)
→ 14 Newsletter Landing Pages w/ 50%+ Conversion
→ Selling the right thing to the right person [Claude + IG Tutorial]

But before we get into it...

Newsletter PSA: Don’t Do This

I have a PSA for anyone with an email list or newsletter.

Please. For the love of Jeebus. Don’t do this:

I was pretty pumped to sign up for this newsletter from a best-selling author & speaker.

So I filled out their newsletter signup form and hit “Submit”.

Welp.

Turns out just b/c you speak good don’t mean you newsletter good. 🤷‍♂️

Q: What should this podcaster have done instead of letting me know that my submission was successful?

I’ll reward a digital HIGH FIVE to the first person who comments below with what’s wrong here.

Not sure?

Well, if you were at me & Chenell’s Craft + Commerce workshop in Boise—you obviously rock and we appreciate you—but you also know damn well what’s wrong here.

(And hopefully you grabbed Chenell’s Subscriber Onboarding Course for FREE just for showing up to the workshop.)

If you weren’t there...

You should know there are 3 key parts to a new subscriber onboarding setup.

1- The Landing Page (he got this one right ✅)

2- ???? (I’m not giving away the answer here)

3- The Welcome Email (he never sent one...🤦‍♂️)

And each of these onboarding components matters in its own right. They can be the difference between a raving fan and a cold subscriber.

Don’t make the same mistake this speaker/best-seller made.

Make sure you check out the ​Subscriber Onboarding Course​ —OR— get it included in the ​Growth Vault​, along with 30 other newsletter growth & optimization tips 💪

Subscribe now

From 78 subs to 4.7M: How 1440 Built a Newsletter Behemoth

I met Tim Huelskamp (the CEO of 1440) at the New Media Summit in February.

Just before I announced Tim onstage, I (shamelessly) asked him to come on ​our podcast​.

He obliged — and seemed genuinely stoked to do it.

3 months later...

Chenell sat down with Tim at The Newsletter Conference in NYC. That’s right — Chenell did a live interview in front of an audience — with the guy who started one of the biggest newsletters in the world.

(I was unable to attend the conference, unfortunately)

Tim shared 1440’s growth journey from 78 subscribers with their first email send to over 4.7M subscribers today.

He also shared...

→ Why they stopped including images in their emails
→ The “Washing Machine” growth strategy
→ Their original FB ads strategy that they still use today
→ A discovery that 3x’d sponsorship revenue
→ Their new “Topics” platform and the future of 1440

This one is audio-only and now available!

​Listen now >>​

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others that I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡How I Used a Lead Magnet to ​Grow My Email List By 22% →​

⚡Everything Kit announced at their ​2026 Product Launch →​

⚡ How to sell the right thing to the right audience member with Claude + Instagram Automation ​[Full tutorial] →​

⚡ ​14 Landing Pages with a 50%+ Conversion Rate →​

⚡ I studied ​131 LinkedIn hooks​ from creators who are actually growing →

⚡ Substack launched ​Newsletter Sponsorships​ →

The most-clicked link from our last edition 👇

⚡ She accidentally built the ​the format LinkedIn’s algo is rewarding right now​ (including the algo data behind 2,000+ saves) →

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I’d love to help you:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (​30 mins​ || ​1 Hour​)

2. Improving your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers. Book a ​Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>

Either way, I’ll see you in the inbox!

-Dylan

​​LinkedIn​ | Twitter | ​Substack​ | ​IG​

* indicates affiliate links. I get paid a small commission if you use these links to purchase a product or service.

PS - A few more shots from C+C in Boise a few weeks ago:

→ The deliverability mistakes killing your open rates
→ 9 ways to use Kit’s MCP to improve your email efforts
→ Your AI inbox doomsday prep guide
→ 8 LinkedIn updates that help your posts get seen (checklist included)
→ and more!

Resource Of The Week ⚡

Want more leads? Get them with this 5-Day Challenge.

The team over at Leadsology asked me to do a resource swap a few months ago. And honestly I was a bit hesitant. I wasn’t sure the fit was right for my audience (you!).

Then it hit me.

Maybe you are using your newsletter to get leads.

Heck... I use this newsletter to get leads. Leads for my consults, leads for coaching, leads for ​GIR Pro​. But I don’t want to just flog a random thing to you. So I’m going to experiment in public with it.

With what?

It’s called the ​Leadsology 5-Day Challenge​—I’m going to actually try it and share the results. Right here.

You can join me if you want: → ​leadsology.guru/five-day-challenge/​

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others that I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡ She accidentally built the ​the format LinkedIn’s algo is rewarding right now​ (including the algo data behind 2,000+ saves) →

⚡ The New Rules of Brand Sponsorships: ​What Changed in 2026 →​

⚡ ​9 Ways to Use Kit’s MCP​ to Make Email Marketing Smarter, More Strategic, More Sales-Focused →

⚡ ​8 LinkedIn Updates that Separate Posts That Get Seen From Those That Get Ignored →​

⚡ “Summary is the new subject line” & ​other assorted AI Inbox Doomsday prep →​

​⚡ LinkedIn is launching new features like hotcakes → ​

The most-clicked link from our last edition 👇

⚡ ​How to Master LinkedIn in 2026​ (from someone who has 227,963 LI followers) →

The Deliverability Mistakes Killing Newsletter Open Rates

Keeping your newsletter OUT of the spam folder is kinda important.

But the problem is that everything involving deliverability and inboxes is constantly changing.

We wanted someone to dish on the latest deliverability gossip.

So we asked ​Alyssa Dulin​ — a deliverability expert at Kit.

And she told us exactly what to do, and this episode just dropped! She came in hot with loads of insights for email deliverability.

But why does that matter?????? (yes that’s a rhetorical question you obviously know why it matters but just in case)

It matters so we can keep getting our newsletters IN the INbox and out of the damn spam.

Here are my half-dozen BIGGEST takeaways from our chat:

1. Your sender reputation is like a credit score.

2. If you don’t send a newsletter for 180+ days, you start back at zero.

3. What the 3 major engagement signals are for deliverability—and how they rank.

4. The best way to treat “recommended” subscribers

5. What actually happens when Gmail clips your emails—and how to avoid it.

6. The strategy to deal with AI Inbox Summaries

Watch it now on YouTube or ​listen​ with your favorite pod player.

Oh I almost forgot!

We included a a 7-day FREE trial to Alyssa’s new deliverability tool SendGauge in the show notes. 10/10 recommend.

​Find out how to keep your newsletter out of Spam >>​

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I’d love to help you:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (​30 mins​ || ​1 Hour​)

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers. Book a ​Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

PS - Here are a few shots from the past week at Kit’s Craft + Commerce event.

→ What happens when you unsubscribe 15% of your email list? (results below)
→ Email tool of the week (don’t miss this one)
→ How to Master Linkedin in 2026 (full guide)
→ The welcome email pitch that 3x’d sales
→ How to scale your newsletter to $2M (full video)
→ and more!

Shall we? Let’s go...

⚡ The Case for Pruning Your Email List

My ego took a beating last month.

I removed 700 “dead” email addresses from my list 💀 Anyone who hadn’t engaged in 90+ days was gone—after running a re-engagement campaign, obvi.

(congrats on surviving! haha)

Losing ~15% of your email list in one day hurts the ego.

But what doesn’t hurt is the result—and that 100% validated the decision.

The email stats prior to removing 700 emails looked like this.

BEFORE:

→ 4,618 recipients
→ 1,967 unique opens
→ 42.59% open rate
→ 209 recipients clicked at least one link

AFTER:

→ 3,337* recipients 📉
→ 1,980 unique opens 📈
→ 59.33% open rate 📈
→ 130 recipients clicked at least one link 📉

*I also did not send to “Do not Disturb” subscribers or newly “cold” subscribers: those who have not engaged over the past 30 days.

In sum: Fewer recipients, more opens, fewer clicks.

So despite unsubscribing 15% of my email list... more people in total read my newsletter—even with ~1300 fewer recipients.

Now regarding the lower click rate....

A lower % of openers actualy clicked. But what appeared to be bot clicks in previous emails are now (mostly) gone. That’s purely an anecdotal observation but we’ll see if the trend continues.

So between this annual list prune and running my newsletter through the handy tool below, my newsletter is getting into more and more inboxes — and fewer promotions tabs and spam folders.

That’s a win in my books.

Tool Of The Week ⚡

Want your emails to land in the inbox?
Check this out.

My friend Alyssa Dulin works at Kit.

And she’s a deliverability expert.
​(We just had her onThe Growth In Reverse Podcast — teaser!)

Alyssa was tired of the deliverability tools that don’t actually help.

That’s right. She said f*** it and built her own.

It’s called SendGauge.

Even if you your emails are avoiding spam...I highly recommend you run your newsletter through SendGauge.

For example: I thought my newsletter was A-okay.

I got a ‘C’ grade. Woof.

So now thanks to Alyssa’s tool, I’m making changes I didn’t know I needed to make.

I’m trying to get that C up to a B+ 😁
​(also my high school mantra lol)

This is not a sponsored spot. But I do have an affiliate link for a
​7-day Free Trial of SendGauge -- so you can try it just like I am.

​SendGauge FREE for 7 Days →

PS - I do not affiliate with many products. The ones I am an affiliate for are the ones I trust, have tested, and/or continue to use and enjoy.

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others that I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡ How to Master LinkedIn in 2026 (from someone who has 227,963 LI followers) →

⚡ How to Scale Your Newsletter from $20K/yr to $2M →

⚡ The welcome email pitch that 3x’d sales →

⚡ Why your newsletter is the product →

⚡ Stop designing your newsletter to be “read” — design for skimmers (a newsletter design guide) →

The most-clicked link from our last edition 👇

⚡ This website is built to resemble and operate like an email inbox →

30 Days + 30 Free Tips
​= 30 Days of Growth

Last year my good friend Chenell launched the 30 Days of Growth “pop-up” newsletter.

30 creators.
30 days.
30 growth + optimization tips.
100% free.

Well she ran it back for a Round 2!

But it’s coming to an end TOMORROW (May 23rd) 😱

Yep, tomorrow is Day 30. This is 30 days of free, actionable tactics from people who’ve actually done it.

So sign up asap so you can get access to the whole series before Chenell comes to her senses and puts it behind a paywall.

​Sign up FREE at 30daysofgrowth.co >>​

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I’d love to help you:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. ​
   Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (30 mins || 1 Hour)
   ​

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers.
   ​Book a Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​
   ​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators.
   ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>​

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

​LinkedIn | Twitter | Substack | IG

* indicates affiliate links. I get paid a small commission if you use these links to purchase a product or service.

My SLP needed some TLC. So I took some of y’alls advice and made some changes.

​I think it’s better.​

Perfect? No. No such thing as a perfect landing page.

But a *good* landing page should be the three C’s:

→ Clear 💯 → Credible 🤩 → Compelling 💨

So here’s what I changed:

1. Split the page into two columns: left side = signup, right side = phone mockup image 💨

2. Changed the headline (still a work in progess) 💯

3. Changed the subheadline (also a W.I.P.) 💯🤩💨

4. Changed the button (”Get more subscribers >>”) 💨

5. Added a “wall of love” (via Senja) 🤩

So it now has elements of all three. Again, not perfect. But we’re making progress.

Thanks again to you kind souls who offered some advice. Looking at you, Teresa, Juliet, Josh, and others!

Now to tackle my Thank-You page 🙃

Here’s what’s percolating in today’s edition:

→ How To Grow With Lead Magnets in 2026
→ Five SaaS retention strategies your newsletter should copy
→ How to create your DREAM work
→ 7 Subscription mistakes that cost a newsletter $millions
→ Ranking the Best-To-Worst Newsletter Growth Strategies

Go get it...

FREE Resources (created & curated by GC⚡)

→ ​How to build a False Double Opt-In to rescue unconfirmed subs​

→ ​A Guide To 10x Your Newsletter Replies >>​

→ The 1KS Roadmap: A ​Free Course​ To Your First 1,000 Subscribers {% endif %}

→ Increase opt-ins like a best-selling author (​FREE templates​){% endif %}

→ ​30 Days of Growth​ (via Chenell )

How To Grow With Lead Magnets in 2026

Lead magnets & newsletters...

More on-again-off-again than J-Lo and Ben. The mid 20-teens was lead magnet mania.

Every blog article in 2014 was throwing pop-ups in your face, pitching their lead magnets. It was a hot, steamy affair. Peak lead magnet.

But somewhere along the way, newsletter folks claimed lead magnets stopped working.

“they don’t work, nobody sticks around, bad leads” wah wah wah.

Readers were burned by crappy lead magnets with sky-high promises. The relationship fizzled out because they lost trust in digital marketers (*gasp* shocking, I know) and figured out those “5 Simple Steps to $1M in Passive Income” PDFs were not so simple... or legit.

2023-26: The Lead Magnet Turning Point?

If you’ve been runnin’ in the newsletter streets lately, you’ll know that lead magnets & newsletters are SO back together.

(and also like J-Lo & Ben, it probably won’t last)

But why? What’s changed?

We did some digging and tried to figure out what lead magnets are actually working in 2026.

And we found some great examples that are driving thousands of quality subscribers.

But first...

What actually makes a “good” lead magnet? And how can you promote it and use it to grow?

Read on...

The Simple Lead Magnet Test: First Ask This

“Would someone pay for this?”

Your lead magnet should be so valuable that readers would fork over real money—not just an email address.

It’s just another extension of Insanely Valuable Content™️.

Good lead magnets solve painful problems (problems people would be willing to pay for).

These free resources:

• solve a specific problem

• deliver a quick win

• and feel immediately useful

That’s worth paying for when done right.

A Quick Warning: The Mistake That Quietly Kills Trust

An email address is not currency. But when one is exchanged for a “free guide”, the guide better deliver.

Because a bad lead magnet can damage your reputation, trust, and more.

A reader won’t ask for a refund. But they’ll unsubscribe and never trust you again. They might even tell their friends... Careful.

The 3 Types of Lead Magnets That Are Working Right Now

Don’t have a lead magnet idea, or time to build something “high value”?

Good news.

Most of us already have lead magnets at our disposal—we just haven’t uncovered them.

Chenell and I discovered the best lead magnets tend to fall into one of three buckets. And each one can be built from content you’ve already created 👇

​Read The Full Article Here >>​

The article also covers...

→ The 3 Buckets of Repurposed Content into Lead Magnets
→ How To Create Lead Magnets That Convert 5x Better (to the same audience)
→ The Easiest Lead Magnet Win Everyone Forgets About
→ The Lead Magnet Formats We See Winning Right Now

​Read The Full Article Here (what’re you waiting for c’mon seriously) >>

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡ There are no rules. You can create your dream work. ​Here’s how →​

⚡ Ranking the ​Best-To-Worst Newsletter Growth Strategies →​

⚡ Five retention strategies you ​probably aren’t trying →​ (Yep, these are SaaS retention strats—but newsletters can use these all the same.)

⚡7 Subscription Mistakes That ​Cost This Newsletter Millions →

​

The most-clicked link from last week 👇

⚡ ​6 lessons from New Media Summit:​ what it takes to build a business from content →

Growing a newsletter can be slow & lonely.

So build your newsletter faster. With our help.

Come hang out with me & Chenell.

Join us Newsletter Nerds in the ​Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

GIR Pro is a private online community for newsletter creators and operators like you and me.

A few reasons why GIR Pro kicks ass:

→ Learn from experts with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get instant, free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including ​The Growth Vault​.
→ Get quick feedback on landing pages, posts, newsletter issues, from me, Chenell, and our members.
→ Hang out with us IRL at exclusive Pro meetups (like we’re doing in Austin at the New Media Summit)

​Join GIR Pro →​

(if you join and it’s not for you, just let us know and get a 100% refund)

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I can help:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (​30 mins​ || ​1 Hour​)

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers. Book a ​Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>​

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

PS - We're doing a Substack 30-day posting challenge in the Growth In Reverse Pro community. It's pretty simple: post on Substack Notes every day and see what happens. Catch me over on Notes ​here​.

My main ​landing page’s conversion rate​. 😬

I posted it for accountability. It’s been bad for a while.

I need a kick in the ass to improve it. The problem is I’m not a conversion copywriter. I’m not a web designer. And I’m using a website platform I never took the time to learn properly.

But those are all excuses I whisper to myself as I intentionally ignore the much larger elephant in the room.

The elephant?

→ This newsletter doesn’t have a clear promise, premise, or transformation offering.

Ouch. 🐘

That’s why I can’t nail down a sexy, transformational headline with clear messaging and a compelling reason to subscribe.

Which is why my conversion rates are low.

Visitors land on my sign-up page and don’t get it. So they leave.

Your landing page should be clear, credible, and compelling. And if your landing page’s conversion rate is shyte like mine... it’s probably got a lot to do with those three C’s.

Long story short: I’ve got some homework to do this weekend.

Okay that’s enough of an intro rant from me. Let’s dive in.

Here’s what’s percolating in today’s edition:

→ Is engagement more important than growth? 🤝 vs 📈
→ 8 ways​ I’m using AI with my newsletter (not what you think) 🤖
→ The strategy to getting LinkedIn a #1 newsletter growth channel 🥇
→ 6-step checklist to build a ​$100,000+ paid newsletter ​✅

Here we go...

FREE Resources (created & curated by GC⚡)

→ ​How to build a False Double Opt-In to rescue unconfirmed subs​

→ ​A Guide To 10x Your Newsletter Replies >>​

→ The 1KS Roadmap: A ​Free Course​ To Your First 1,000 Subscribers {% endif %}

→ Increase opt-ins like a best-selling author (​FREE templates​){% endif %}

→ ​30 Days of Growth​ (via Chenell @ Growth In Reverse)

Is engagement > growth for newsletters?

I don’t know about you... but I don’t care about getting a zillion “subscribers”.

Of course I still want to grow my newsletter. But I used to literally obsess over the subscriber vanity metric.

10k. 50k. 100k subscribers.

Those numbers mattered to me because I wanted to sell impressions. Sponsors pay more as the subscriber count goes up.

So I optimized everything for growth.

I tried SparkLoop, Refind, newsletter ads. All those ~questionable~ paid growth tactics. And to be fair, some of them worked. Some of you came from those channels.

But I realized something while watching the subscriber counts increase and the open rates decline....

Subscriber count is meaningless if the metrics that matter are shit.

So now I’m optimizing for engagement. Because do you know what I want more than a massive subscriber list?

I want engaged readers.

I want readers who open my emails. (Not bots.) I want them to read the emails. And click in my emails. (Again, not the bots). And if I could be an ounce more selfish... I want my readers to reply.

Replies make a newsletter more durable. It’s true. (BTW - here are some strategies to ​10x your replies​).

IMO engagement is more important than ever. And there are things you can do to increase engagement like a pro.

How though? We got you covered 👇

5 Expert Newsletter Tactics That Get More Opens

Is it safe to assume you want the same as me? More engagement?

Then LFG! Chenell and I put together an episode just for you.

We pulled five engagement and retention strategies from newsletter experts and walked through how they work, including:

→ The Ice Breaker Method → The Unconventional Welcome Email → The Magnetic Closer → The Recommendations Onboarding Filter → The 4-Hour Email

​WATCH​ || ​LISTEN​

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free to watch but cost us time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the ​LinkedIn​ post so we can get them in front of more people! (It’s the post below 😁🙏)

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡ ​The Audience Growth Guide​ to grow your audience—and email list →

⚡ ​8 ways​ I’m using AI with my newsletter (not what you think) →

⚡ LinkedIn is his #1 newsletter growth—and subscriber performance—channel. ​Here’s his strategy →​

⚡The 6-step checklist to build a ​$100,000+ paid newsletter in 2026 →​

Winner: the most-clicked link from last week 👇

⚡ ​6 lessons from New Media Summit:​ what it takes to build a business from content →

Growing a newsletter can be slow & lonely.

So build your newsletter faster. With our help.

Come hang out with me & Chenell.

Join us Newsletter Nerds in the ​Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

GIR Pro is a private online community for newsletter creators and operators like you and me.

A few reasons why GIR Pro kicks ass:

→ Learn from experts with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get instant, free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including ​The Growth Vault​.
→ Get quick feedback on landing pages, posts, newsletter issues, from me, Chenell, and our members.
→ Hang out with us IRL at exclusive Pro meetups (like we’re doing in Austin at the New Media Summit)

​Join GIR Pro →​

(if you join and it’s not for you, just let us know and get a 100% refund)

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I can help:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (​30 mins​ || ​1 Hour​)

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers. Book a ​Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>​

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

​​LinkedIn​ | Twitter | ​Substack​ | ​IG​

PS - I almost burned down our house this week. Not even exaggerating. Hit reply if you want to know the story.

* indicates affiliate links. I get paid a small commission if you use these links to purchase a product or service

(Forgive this preamble. I swear I’ll get to regular programming shortly, but wanted to get this off my chest.)

Last week was the New Media Summit in Austin TX. I had the honor of being the event’s MC.

If you were there, you know how epic it was (not my MC’ing, but the event itself).

If you weren’t there, good news: you can ​buy the recordings​ and slide decks from all the speakers.

But you know what was more valuable than all the talks and slides?

The intros made.
The hands shaken.
The bonds forged.
The numbers exchanged.

Is that kinda cheesy? Maybe. But I give zero shits. Because it’s true. Bring on the cheese!

These live, in-person events are underrated. They are powerful.

For example.

When Sam-freaking-Parr calls out in-person events as a huge focus + difference-maker for his business—while at an in-person event—you know this kind of thing desperately matters.

While chatting with Matt McGarry on stage, Sam shouted out a hat he saw at the summit. The hat simply said “IRL > URL” (kudos to ​Rae Lambert​ rocking said ​hat​).

Sam’s take: IRL matters more than ever.

I think we’re starved for human interaction. Even more since 2020. And don’t come at me with “but Zoom!”

Zoom for human connection is a sip from a desert oasis. We need more. At least I do.

A conference like NMS is Niagara Falls. I’m still filled up from the new friends I made and old friends I got to reconnect with.

In short: humans (mostly) rock. And humans at events like this can change lives.

Still sounding cheesy? Good! Because it happened to Matt McGarry.

A tiny piece of advice he got from the Traffic & Conversion Summit 10 years ago changed his life. ​Dickie Bush​ started writing online because of one piece of advice he got from Khe Hy—at an in-person event!

And many others have met their best client, best friend, business partner, or future spouse at a live event.

Straight up: meeting people is leverage.

In this age of endless AI knowledge right at our fingertips, there’s an old adage that keeps reverberating around my skull like a clanging cymbal:

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

The value of these IRL events is the “who”, not the “what”.

So here’s my challenge you to: attend ONE live event per year—conference, summit, camp, “fest”, whatever—and let it change your business. And your life.

Here’s what’s percolating in today’s edition:

→ The underrated growth strategy most newsletters are ignoring
→ Advanced List Growth & Monetization Strategies
→ 6 Lessons from NMS 2026
→ How he made millions from teaching sponsor deals
→ 3 Mindset Shifts to help you ship your work

Let’s dig in.

FREE Resources (created & curated by GC⚡)

→ ​How to build a False Double Opt-In to rescue unconfirmed subs​

→ ​A Guide To 10x Your Newsletter Replies >>​

→ The 1KS Roadmap: A ​Free Course​ To Your First 1,000 Subscribers

→ Increase opt-ins like a best-selling author (​FREE templates​){% endif %}

→ ​30 Days of Growth​ (via Chenell )

The Underrated Growth Strategy Most Newsletters Are Ignoring

The word “hack” is gross.

You “hack up a lung”. You “hack” through nasty, overgrown brush with a machete. You “hack” an algorithm for questionable leads.

Growth hacks can work. But most hacks sacrifice integrity.

And that’s gross.

Growing a list at the cost of integrity is a bad recipe. You end up with...

→ Readers who don’t buy. → Subscribers who don’t open. → Free users who never upgrade.

So in the latest episode of the ​Growth In Reverse Podcast​, Chenell and I cover one of the best ways to grow a newsletter without sacrificing integrity.

PS - We also share a free playbook in the episode with all the juicy details. Just check the show notes ;)

LISTEN NOW

​WATCH​ || ​LISTEN​

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free to watch but they cost us time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the ​LinkedIn​ post so we can get them in front of more people! (It’s the post below 😁🙏)

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡ The 3 shifts that help you ​finally ship your work​ →

⚡ Advanced List ​Growth and Monetization Strategies​—from a $50M newsletter founder →

⚡ ​6 lessons from New Media Summit:​ what it takes to build a business from content →

⚡ He’s Made Millions from Teaching Others How to Land Sponsorships. ​Here’s how →​

The most-clicked link from last edition 👇👇

⚡ The one ​email marketing sequence​ EVERY business needs in 2026 →

Growing a newsletter can be slow & lonely.

So build your newsletter faster. With our help.

Come hang out with me & Chenell.

Join us Newsletter Nerds in the ​Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

GIR Pro is a private online community for newsletter creators and operators like you and me.

A few reasons why GIR Pro kicks ass:

→ Learn from experts with our live Creator Sessions. → Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges. → Get instant, free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including ​The Growth Vault​. → Get quick feedback on landing pages, posts, newsletter issues, from me, Chenell, and our members. → Hang out with us IRL at exclusive Pro meetups (like we’re doing in Austin at the New Media Summit)

​Join GIR Pro →​

(if you join and it’s not for you, just let us know and get a 100% refund)

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I can help:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (​30 mins​ || ​1 Hour​)

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers. Book a ​Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>​

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

​​LinkedIn​ | Twitter | ​Substack​ | ​IG​

PS - A few more photos from NMS because why not!?

→ Should you Gate FREE Content?!!?
→ The #1 email sequence every business needs
→ How to stop getting your newsletter “clipped” by Gmail
→ BTS: how this creator builds his popular weekly email
→ Another dad joke (sorry in advance)

Go get it...

Subscribe now

FREE Resources (created & curated by GC⚡)

→ How to build a False Double Opt-In to rescue unconfirmed subs

→ A Guide To 10x Your Newsletter Replies

→ 30 Days of Growth (via Chenell Growth In Reverse)

Are gates for cows...
​Or readers?

Well well.

I hit a nerve on LinkedIn last week.

I shared a screenshot of a post from HeyNews that showed a subscribe-to-read gate. I simply asked, “How does this make you feel?”

Well people had feelings about this—and boy did they share them.
So much so that the post went semi-viral (for me).

Turns out most people are NOT a fan of this tactic.

And some people offered some helpful alternatives to a full-on gate.

So where do you stand as a newsletter publisher—and a reader?

MY THOUGHTS ON CONTENT GATES

Here’s what I said in that LinkedIn post about gating free content. First, as a reader:

→ As a reader: it’s a small nuisance but I’ll subscribe if the article seems worth reading.

I’m a lot less precious about my email address than many in the comment section. Admittedly, I subscribe to *a lot* of newsletters and analyze them for a living.

But still. C’mon folks.

Have we become so entitled to free content that we clutch our pearls and gasp in horror when a creator puts a “subscribe to read” gate on an article?

You know... an article they wrote. On their own time. And dime.

And they aren’t asking you for even a penny?

Just your email address. (Meaning you can easily unsubscribe immediately if so desired)

What if we just put landing pages in front of articles and called them lead magnets instead?

It’s the same thing if you boil it down: a value exchange.

People seem to have no issue handing over an email address for a “freebie” (ie. lead magnet) but heaven forbid an article.

It comes down to personal preference. You don’t have to cave to the ‘subscribe to read’ gates. And I respect that.

I just think we could loosen up a little. Maybe?

So... Should You Gate Content As a Publisher?

From my LinkedIn post:

→ As a publisher: it’s a no-brainer! A little friction is worth an interested subscriber.

My gut says gated content is the future—whether those who consume free content like it or not (spoiler: they won’t).

Gating content (free or paid) has been frowned upon for many reasons. The cries of “what about SEO?!” The obvious friction to faster growth.

And every platform is optimizing for faster growth. It’s their business model. Where do you think those recommendation widgets came from?

😉

And so when you gate free content, it’s the veritable opposite of all the ‘Recommendations’ widgets. It’s the opposite of rapid growth.

As a publisher, it’s a choice of friction vs. non-friction.

Gates make it harder to grow. But maybe that’s ​not a bad thing​?

I mean...

How many of your “recommendations” subscribers are opening and engaging with your newsletters? I’ll bet good money it’s fewer than your landing page subscribers.

It certainly is for me:

→ 37% of my Creator Network (recommendations) subscribers have been cold for 90+ days (I got some cleaning to do...) → 23% of my non-Creator Network subscribers are 90+ days cold.

That’s a big difference.

Growth for growth’s sake isn’t what it used to be. Plus...

→ SEO isn’t the viable traffic strategy it used to be. → Making big newsletter bucks with ads & sponsorships isn’t what it used to be, either.

What we really need are subscribers who will purchase something from us or our partners.

Here’s how you get them:

1) Attract them with high-quality (insanely valuable) content. 2) Filter out the window shoppers with a content gate.

Think about it: if someone IS NOT willing to subscribe to access your free content, what are the chances they’ll ever become a customer or client?

Probably zero.

So you can put me in the camp of “gating your free content is not evil.”

But how will they know your content is “insanely valuable” if you gate it all?

You don’t. 👇

THE OPTIMAL GATE SOLUTION?

Many paid newsletters keep a portion of the content accessible to everyone.

They just put a paywall in front of the good parts.

Look how much Dickie Bush & Nicholas Cole include in their posts before adding a paywall gate:

They illustrate the problem—then if you want their solution, you have to upgrade. They don’t show you a “Upgrade now” button at the very top. Instead they prove the content is valuable first. Then—and only then—they add an “upgrade” gate.

This is the way 👏

This is the hybrid solution worth considering. If you’ve earned the reader’s attention and trust to make it that far, they’ll be more likely to subscribe to read the rest.

Or you can do what Lex Roman recommended in the comments above: metering the gate. Readers get a few “free” articles to read before they have to subscribe to read more.

The only remaining challenge? Getting your ESP or website configured for a partial gate.

But that’s a post for another day...

Kudos to Lex Roman and Chris Cerra for exposing this “metered’ or partially-gated idea.

PS - I’d love to hear from you on this. Reply and share your “gated” experiences and your thoughts. I’m all ears and would love to feature other good ideas or examples of successful partially gated content.

Newsletter Hits Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡ The one ​email marketing sequence​ EVERY business needs in 2026 →

⚡ How I ​write a newsletter​ with 40,000+ subs, sponsors, and growing →

⚡ Getting your newsletter ‘clipped’ by Gmail is actually a big problem. ​Solve it with this →​

⚡​Join this​ if you want 88.9% open rates for your welcome emails →

The most-clicked link from last week 👇

⚡ ​6 Best Ways​ To Monetize Your Newsletter in 2026 →

Growing a newsletter can be slow & lonely.

So build your newsletter faster. With our help.

Come hang out with me & Chenell.

Join us Newsletter Nerds in the ​Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

GIR Pro is a private online community for newsletter creators and operators like you and me.

A few reasons why GIR Pro kicks ass:

→ Learn from experts with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get instant, free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including ​The Growth Vault​.
→ Get quick feedback on landing pages, posts, newsletter issues, from me, Chenell, and our members.
→ Hang out with us IRL at exclusive Pro meetups (like we’re doing in Austin at the New Media Summit)

​Join GIR Pro →​

(if you join and it’s not for you, just let us know and get a 100% refund)

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I can help:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (​30 mins​ || ​1 Hour​)

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reducing unsubscribes starts with how you onboard your new subscribers. Book a ​Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. ​Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>​

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

​​LinkedIn​ | Twitter | ​Substack​ | ​IG​

PS - Dad joke of the week:

If the founding fathers were still alive, what would they be best known for?

Their age.

badum-tisssss 🥁

→ A newsletter flywheel earning $50M/yr
→ 5 new email subject line test (and the results)
→ He earned an extra $300/wk with one sign-up form tweak
→ 6 best ways to monetize your newsletter in 2026
→ A Dad joke in the PS.

Also a shoutout to the Seattle Seahawks for redeeming themselves from 2015. If you know, you know.

Subscribe now

FREE Resources (created & curated by GC⚡)

→ How to build a False Double Opt-In to rescue unconfirmed subs

→ A Guide To 10x Your Newsletter Replies

→ 30 Days of Growth (via Chenell Growth In Reverse)

This Newsletter Flywheel
​Makes $50M per Year.

We interviewed Matt Paulson — CEO of MarketBeat.

MarketBeat is a $50M/yr media business—with a newsletter (multiple newsletters, actually) at its core.

And you can’t run a $50M media business without figuring out one critical factor:

How to scale.

Safe to say they’ve figured it out. And now they’re doing it on ‘Easy’ mode.

Matt & his team have built a flywheel that basically prints money. This particular quote had me:

“𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆.”

MarketBeat is playing 3D chess while we’re all struggling at newsletter checkers.

Here’s how they’re doing it.

3D CHESS STRATEGY #1:
​MULTIPLE OPT-INS

What happens when a user lands on your newsletter sign-up page?

Maybe they subscribe to your newsletter? If they do, you thank them, send them a welcome email, and move on.

NOT MARKETBEAT THO.

One of their key strategies is getting MULTIPLE opt-ins when a new subscriber is still “hot”.

Matt told us that when they get a new subscriber, they’re also trying to get...

→ their phone number (for SMS marketing)
→ them on their other newsletter (American Market News)
→ a push notification opt-in

Matt’s rationale for all these opt-ins?

“𝗜𝗳 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝟰 𝗼𝗿 𝟱 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.”

The math checks out.

3D CHESS STRATEGY #2:
​THE “CRAZY” ONBOARDING FUNNEL

Then what happens next is where all the paid ad dollars are earned back.

Matt calls it their “crazy funnel”.

After sign-up, new subscribers receive targeted offers for other MarketBeat products and lead magnets.

Here are a few examples:

Notice the form above doesn’t even have an email address option? You have to provide your phone number for access.

MarketBeat isn’t just bullish on SMS marketing. They are ALL IN. More on that shortly.

And after you whizz through these 4-5 pages, you may be sent to another piece of MarketBeat content or a resource page.

But for the sake of this write-up, I scrolled through and was sent to one of their partners’ pages (TradingPub):

Alright I can feel the eye-rolls from this side of the keyboard. Don’t judge, though. My whole point in sharing this is to bring to light different newsletter revenue streams to try.

And I get it.

Post sign-up flows like this might not be your cup of tea. But there are people out there taking big sips—and making meaningful revenue doing so.

WHO SHOULD TRY THIS?

My final take on it:

→ if you’re running paid growth campaigns, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t have a “crazy funnel” post sign-up.

Why?

These flows can offset subscriber acquisition costs from Day 1—which means more money to invest in growth.

It’s worked for MarketBeat. And many others.

3D CHESS STRATEGY #3:
​THE SMS MONEY BUTTON

I teased phone numbers & SMS earlier. And here’s why.

Matt told us that 33% of their revenue comes from SMS marketing. That’s ~$16.5M from text messaging 🤯

No wonder they’re trying so hard to get your phone number:

While it costs money to send out SMS messages, Matt says they make between $5,000-10,000 per send.

(Keep in mind they have ~400,000 phone numbers to send to. This costs them approximately $2,000 per send.)

To be clear, MarketBeat isn’t sending out generic content updates with SMS—they’re advertising. Matt said that’s the only way SMS makes financial sense for them.

GET THE WHOLE STORY

Matt shares all this and a lot more in our chat with him.

My biggest takeaways from our chat with Matt:
​
1) Organic social media sucks work for growth (not scalable).
2) 33% of their revenue is from a revenue stream NOBODY talks about.
3) The Hub & Spoke newsletter model is broken—and Matt’s solution is better.

​WATCH || LISTEN​

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free to watch but cost us time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the LinkedIn post so we can get them in front of more people!
(It’s the post below 😁🙏)

Newsletter Hits
Of The Week ⚡

Curated links from others I think you’ll enjoy.

⚡5 New Email Subject Line Tests—and the results →​

⚡Hire newsletter talent without posting a job →
​(or join the talent waitlist)

​⚡Adding ONE extra field on his sign-up form earned him $300+ more per week →

​⚡ 6 Best Ways To Monetize Your Newsletter in 2026 →

​The most-clicked link from last week 👇

​⚡ Stop making sh*tty PDF lead magnets. Here’s the better way (from a guy with 10K email subs from IG) →

Growing a newsletter
doesn’t have to feel slow & lonely.

Build it faster.
With our help.

Come hang out with me & Chenell in our private community.

Join us self-proclaimed Newsletter Nerds in the Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

A few reasons why GIR Pro kicks ass:

→ Learn from experts with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get instant, free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including The Growth Vault.
→ Get quick feedback on landing pages, posts, newsletter issues, from me, Chenell, and our members.
→ Hang out with us IRL at exclusive Pro meetups (like we’re doing in Austin at the New Media Summit)

​Join GIR Pro →​
(if you join and it’s not for you, just let us know and get a 100% refund)

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I can help you:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (30 mins || 1 Hour)
   ​

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reduce unsubscribes. It all starts with how you treat new subscribers. Book a Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​
   ​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>

   ​

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

​

→ The LinkedIn Strategy That Earns $76/sub
→ A tool to protect your subject line from the snip!
→ He earned $50K with a Substack paid newsletter launch (in 3 days)
→ Stop making sh*tty PDF lead magnets (and what to do instead)

... let’s get after it, shall we?

PS - Go Seahawks 🏈

Subscribe now

FREE Resources (created & curated by GC⚡)

→ How to build a False Double Opt-In to rescue unconfirmed subs

→ A Guide To 10x Your Newsletter Replies

→ 30 Days of Growth (via Chenell )

His LinkedIn Strategy
​That Earns $76/subscriber

Matt McGarry has grown his newsletter to over 50k subscribers in 3 years.

And yes — he’s used some paid growth. That’s what his agency does best.

But most of his growth has been organic.

Matt’s leveraged a variety of organic growth strategies over the past 3 years. Twitter threads with “reply-to-get” CTAs got him his first ~1000 subscribers before Twitter became a dumpster fire.

So Matt pivoted to other channels. And now he’s laser-focused on LinkedIn & YouTube.

Why?

Matt told us he makes $76 per newsletter subscriber he gets from LinkedIn. Solid rationale.

Here are the two main strategies Matt’s used for LinkedIn & YouTube.

LINKEDIN: THE ‘COMMENT-TO-GET’ STRATEGY

There’s one LinkedIn strategy Matt keeps going back to: “Comment-to-get” posts.

You’ve probably seen posts like the one pictured below with a CTA “Comment X and I’ll send you the Y.”

Yes. You might be sick of these. But they still work when done right.

HOW TO DO IT

1. Create a new, valuable lead magnet (or use an existing one)

2. Publish a post that offers a solution (the lead magnet) to a common problem

3. Include the “comment-to-get” CTA like Matt did

4. DM the link to your lead magnet landing page to anyone who comments

WHY THIS WORKS

1. Minimal friction. Posting a simple comment is a low lift for a desired solution.

2. Gated content. Gating the highly-aligned & free resource with a sign-up form (ie. email address) gets you ideal subscribers.

3. BONUS: experts claim people in your DMs are more likely to see your future LinkedIn posts — I can’t verify this, but it’s surely a strong engagement signal for LinkedIn.

Matt attributes much of his newsletter growth via LinkedIn to this specific strategy.

YOUTUBE: THE LAZY LEAD MAGNET STRATEGY

This one is kinda crazy—but so simple.

Matt shared on our recent podcast episode that one of his newer videos drove “hundreds of new subscribers.”

Chenell investigated deeper after we recorded.

Matt told her the video has now driven over 1,000 subscribers.

Umm tell us more, Matt!

HOW TO DO IT

On the surface, it’s pretty straightforward. Matt...

1) teases a relevant lead magnet in the video, then

2) shares the link in the description of the video, and

3) includes another CTA + link in a pinned comment below the video

But diving deeper, there’s more to.

In fact, Chenell from Growth In Reverse just published The 1,000 Email Subscribers Formula based on Matt’s exact strategy. You can click the link to get access.

But what about the “Lazy” Lead Magnet?

I almost forgot!

Matt casually mentioned something that nearly had me spitting out my drink all over my keyboard:

Ummm what?? He goes on to explain the “Lazy” part:

“What I try to do with each newsletter edition is write something so valuable, concise, and insightful that it could become a lead magnet.

Every time I promote a ‘lead magnet’ -- it’s just one of my newsletters behind an email gate where people have to enter their email to read the content.

So it creates no additional work for me. I just have to write the post and then promote it.”

Folks, this is the power of Insanely Valuable Content™. Create something so useful that it can become it’s own lead magnet.

It works for Matt on YouTube.
And on LinkedIn.
And it’d probably work anywhere else he was willing to post.

TWO FINAL THINGS

1) Chenell did a little Growth-In-Reverse-ing on Matt’s YT lead magnet strategy and reveals her findings in a video and free guide ​>>​

2) Matt dishes on this and a LOT more in our recent chat. Watch it below:

​

​→ WATCH

→ LISTEN​

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free to watch but cost us time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the LinkedIn post so we can get them in front of ore people!

Newsletter Hits
Of The Week

​⚡ Stop making sh*tty PDF lead magnets. Here’s the better way (from a guy with 10K email subs from IG) →

⚡ He launched a paid Substack newsletter—and made $50k in 3 days →​

⚡ Why you should be posting on LinkedIn on the weekends →​

⚡ ​Use this tool to make sure your subject line doesn’t get snipped →

Growing a newsletter
doesn’t have to feel slow & lonely.

Build it faster.
With our help.

Come hang out with me & Chenell in our private community.

Join us self-proclaimed Newsletter Nerds in the Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

A few reasons why GIR Pro kicks ass:

→ Learn from experts with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get instant, free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including The Growth Vault.
→ Get quick feedback on landing pages, posts, newsletter issues, from me, Chenell, and our members.
→ Hang out with us IRL at exclusive Pro meetups (like we’re doing in Austin at the New Media Summit)

​Join GIR Pro →​
(if you join and it’s not for you, just let us know and get a 100% refund)

Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I can help you:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (30 mins || 1 Hour)
   ​

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reduce unsubscribes. It all starts with how you treat new subscribers. Book a Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​
   ​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>

   ​

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

​LinkedIn | Twitter | Substack | IG

Let’s get right into it.

Here’s what’s percolating in today’s edition:

→ A solution to the single vs. double opt-in dilemma (FREE GUIDE)
→ The Facebook ad creatives the top newsletters use →
→ The 4-Hour Email Templates to 35% more clicks
→ How Save Time Building Lazy Lead Magnets

... let’s get after it, shall we?

Subscribe now

How I Built My Own Version of Double Opt-In.
​Without The Risks.

You know what sucks?

Getting a bunch of new subscribers—that never open an email, go cold, and cost you money.

But you know what sucks more:

Working hard to acquire new subscribers. Only to lose them to your ESP’s double opt-in confirmation.

AKA email list purgatory where potential subs go to die 💀
(All because they don’t click these emails 👇)

(Here’s the TL;DR: single opt-in & double opt-in both have their faults.

So I created a free guide that walks you through our solution: The False Double Opt-in.

Just email me the words “FDO GUIDE” and I’ll send you the free guide that gets you out of this sh*tty predicament.)

Why Double Opt-In Is A Problem

Chances are, a lot of people will click the “Confirm your subscription” button in the double opt-in email.

But a lot of people won’t.

And if they don’t, you can never email them again. Ever.

That is stupid (and not your fault).

But I’m here to combat the stupidity. And I’ve done it (I think!)

I took the best parts of Single Opt-In AND Double Opt-In and built...

*drumroll*

The False Double Opt-in (FDO)* Free Guide.

Here’s my favorite part:

→ the FDO ensures a new subscriber wants to be on your email list—but if they miss that confirmation email from you, no sweat! You can send them a follow-up.

And if they never engage, no sweat! The FDO will eventually unsubscribe them for you. Automagically 🪄

Gone are the cold subscribers who never do you the favor of unsubscribing but instead count towards your email list count and impact your deliverability.

That is exactly why many of us choose double opt-in: to ensure only genuine, engaged humans are subscribing to our newsletters, right?

Right. But it can come at a HIGH cost...

A Dire Warning: Double Opt-In Dread

We had LinkedIn experts Dave & Marsden Kline on the podcast last year. Their email list at the time was over 43,000 subscribers. Impressive!

BUT!

Because they had the double opt-in setting turned ‘ON’, they had 55,000 potential subscribers sitting in email purgatory aka “unconfirmed” status.

Fifty. Five. Thousand.

Ouch.

55,000 potential leads.
55,000 potential sales.
55,000 potential clients.

Gone. Unreachable.

Instead of a 43k newsletter, they could have had a 98k newsletter — if they’d used this FDO strategy. (Click below to watch the exact spot where Dave admits their mistake.)

Want the free FDO Guide?

So that’s why I’m so bullish on the FDO.

And it’s why Chenell & I have discussed this strategy a lot on the podcast.

But we never had a proper guide to share. So I spent the last few days putting this one together.

It’s a Google Doc that walks through the 4 Steps to build an FDO.

It includes:

1. The exact 4-step walkthrough of how to set this up in Kit (but also repeatable in a different ESP)
   ​

2. An example of my pre-Welcome email (aka a better, segmented confirmation email) that I send to my new subs.
   ​

3. The exact Kit automation I use to execute this (with an image + shareable automation link).

If this sounds helpful, email me with the words “FDO GUIDE” and I’ll send it to ya.

And please bear with me as I’ll be replying manually to everyone.

*I can’t honestly remember who came up with the name False Double Opt-In so while I’d love to take the credit, I can’t in good conscience.

Newsletter Hits
Of The Week ⚡

​⚡ The Referral Program that helped build a 250k newsletter →

​⚡The 4-Hour Email Template I use to 35% more lead magnet downloads →

​⚡ How To Build a Lazy Lead Magnet That Converts →

​⚡ The Facebook Ads Used By The Best Newsletters on The Internet →

​⚡ A teardown of Beehiiv’s State Of Newsletters report →

Does growing your newsletter feel like this?

Stop beating your head against a wall.

Join 80+ Newsletter Pros in the ​Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

→ Learn from the pros with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including The Growth Vault.
→ Get near-instant feedback on your landing pages, social posts, newsletters from our active community members—and me & Chenell!

​Join GIR Pro →​

Here’s a preview of all the Creator Sessions you get immediate access to:

Jump on this offer before Chenell comes to her senses and increases the annual membership fee 👀

​Join GIR Pro →

​Need more newsletter support?

Here are a few ways I can help you:

1. Get clear on your newsletter strategy. Book a 1:1 Strategy Call With Me (30 mins || 1 Hour)
   ​

2. Improve your newsletter engagement & reduce unsubscribes! It all starts with how you treat new subscribers. Book a Newsletter Onboarding Audit >>​
   ​

3. Get daily newsletter support in a private setting from myself, Chenell Basilio, and dozens of other newsletter creators. Join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community today >>​

See you in the inbox,

Dylan

​LinkedIn | Twitter | Substack | IG

New here?

My name is Dylan. I’ve been writing this newsletter since January 2021. And I’m the cohost of the Growth In Reverse Podcast.

Our goal is to hit your inbox every week with the BEST tips, tools, and resources to grow your business with a newsletter.

Let’s get into it.

Newsletter Hits
Of The Week ⚡

⚡ How to turn FREE Substack subs into PAID subs using the brand new Drip Sequence feature → (this sequence works for any ESP w/ email sequences ;)

​⚡ The 26 Types of Lead Magnets That Work Best →

​⚡ Should you charge advertisers by CPM or CPC? This calculator will tell you →​

⚡ 10 things I learned about newsletters in 2025 →

The #1 Newsletter Metric?
​It’s not opens. Or clicks.

It’s not subscriber count either.

I won’t bury the lede...

It’s replies.

Replies matter a helluva lot. Not just for us “little guys”. Replies are a strong signal for bigger newsletters, too.

Fact is, replies do many jobs. They:

✅ Improve deliverability
✅ Provide feedback
✅ Signal subscriber engagement
✅ Support our mental health (didn’t see that one coming, didja?)

🐘 But there’s a big ol’ elephant in the room...

→ Getting replies is HARD.

How To Get More Replies

Here are a few ways you can lean into getting more of ‘em.

A) Ask for a reply! (Super obvs but are you doing it?)

B) Use a pattern interrupt like Chenell did—and got over 200 replies (check out the episode below at ~17:00 where she shares how)

C) Elicit the 7 key emotions Shaan Puri strives for when creating viral, engaging content.

D) Gamify or incentivize your replies (like Toby did with “the button” and Mario did with ‘The Puzzler’)
​
𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗦: Use Katelyn Bourgoin’s poll & giveaway strategy to incentivize replies. She uses this for clicks, but it could easily be altered to a) encourage replies and b) drive product sales!
​
PS - All of these examples above are covered in way more depth in the Growth In Reverse Podcast episode below!

Don’t have time to watch it? Okay here’s the deal.

Hit reply with the words NO TIME and I’ll send you a cheat sheet—but I’ll only do it if FIVE people reply 👀

(See what I did there?)

​

​WATCH THE EP >>​
​LISTEN TO IT >>​

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free for you but cost us time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the LinkedIn post so we can get them in front of more people!
(It’s the post below 😁🙏)

Does growing your newsletter feel like this?

Stop beating your head against a wall. Instead…

Join 80+ Newsletter Pros in the ​Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

→ Learn from the pros with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell Basilio to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including The Growth Vault.
→ Get near-instant feedback on your landing pages, social posts, newsletters from our active community members—and me & Chenell!

​Join GIR Pro →​

Here’s a preview of all the Creator Sessions you get immediate access to:

Jump on this offer before Chenell comes to her senses and increases the annual membership fee 👀

​Join GIR Pro →​

Improve your newsletter with these:

→ The 1KS Roadmap: A Free Course To Your First 1,000 Subscribers​
→ Increase opt-ins like a best-selling author (FREE templates)​​
​→ Start a newsletter for FREE with Kit (free up to 10k subscribers)​*
→ Book a 1:1 newsletter strategy sesh w/me: 30 mins || 60 mins

Peace and platonic love,

Dylan

​LinkedIn | Twitter | Substack | IG

→ Your Newsletter Questions Answered
→ 10 Reasons To Start A Newsletter in 2026
→ Driving revenue via CPMs is dead. What’s next?
→ One Man. One Newsletter. One Million Subscribers. ​

... let’s dive in?

Convert MORE LinkedIn subscribers to your newsletter.

​The LinkedIn algorithm keeps changing. And not for the better.

Reach is getting hammered. They’re following in FB & IG’s playbook: making users pay for reach. That audience you’ve spent blood, sweat and tears building?

Poof. Fewer and fewer will see your posts.

You know what that means, right?

It’s more important than EVER to de-platform your audience. The #1 way to do that is to convert your LinkedIn audience to your newsletter (or email list).

That’s why...

I’m putting together a 100% FREE resource that will share the tactical strategies the biggest names are using to get their audience off LinkedIn and onto their email lists.

Want to be notified when it’s LIVE?

(Comment ‘Yes please!’ to this post below) ↓

Media is changing.

YouTube is the new TV.

Podcasts are the new radio.

And newsletters are the new magazines & newspapers.

Learn how the best in the world are using these media platforms to build life-changing businesses at...

​The New Media Summit in Austin, Texas.

This event is an extra special one for me: I have the honor of being the event’s MC!

So join me.
Join Chenell.
Join Codie Sanchez. Tim Huelskamp of 1440. Matt McGarry. Matt Paulson.

PLUS: get another 20% OFF your ticket with my GC reader promo code:

Dylan20off ← copy for 20% off!

Get 20% OFF using Dylan20off >>
(Enter the promo code at checkout)

FREE Resources (created & curated by GC⚡)

→ Increase opt-ins like a best-selling author (FREE templates)

→ 30 Days of Growth (via Chenell @ Growth In Reverse)

We Did It LIVE
​First Ever GIR Livestream.

The Growth In Reverse pod did a live episode—and 30+ of you amazing people tuned in and dropped your questions.

The episode is over an hour long, but...

​

If you don’t have 64 minutes to watch—here’s the summary!

Questions asked + our answers 👇

1. What’s the ROI and ROF (“Return on Fun”) from doing the podcast?

• The “return on fun” has been extremely high — collaborating, bouncing ideas, and experimenting with a new medium has been energizing.

• Podcasting has made content ideation easier because talking ideas out loud leads to clearer thinking.

• Video/audio deepens audience trust far more than writing alone.

• The “trust pyramid”: writing → audio → video → in-person.

• Direct ROI is harder to calculate, but benefits include more exposure, stronger audience connection, easier repurposing, and collaboration compounding the value of ideas.

2. How can local service businesses (landscaping, house cleaning, etc.) use newsletters without competing with local media?

• Don’t call it a “newsletter”; instead position it as something people want (tips, reminders, seasonal tasks, discounts, or local deals).

• Keep the content highly practical and useful — e.g., weekly tips, seasonal checklists, maintenance reminders.

• Younger audiences respond well to perks like coupons, bar deals, or weekly specials.

• Utility beats format — make it something people sign up for because it’s genuinely helpful.

3. What advice would you give someone scared to start a newsletter because they worry they’ll run out of ideas?

• Start with a list of 30 potential topics to validate the niche.

• If you can’t generate 30, the topic might be too narrow.

• Writing naturally creates more ideas; each issue sparks new angles or questions.

• Over time, idea lists grow faster than they shrink.

• Having a topic bank reduces fear and keeps publishing consistent.

4. Will AI in email clients (Apple Mail, Gmail) hurt open rates or revenue?

• AI-generated summaries and new preview formats will inevitably influence open rates.

• Preview text may not display the way creators expect anymore.

• The long-term solution is to publish content people genuinely want to open (ie. IV Content™️) — not content they’re okay with being summarized.

• Strong, engaging, human writing continues to win regardless of inbox changes.

• These features basically filter out weaker content while rewarding newsletters readers truly enjoy.

5. Is it mandatory for newsletter writers to also have a podcast or video channel?

• No, not required especially early on.

• Focus first on mastering one platform and building a system you can maintain consistently.

• Once the core engine is working, expand into video or audio if it enhances the message.

• Start with the medium you’re most comfortable (some are more comfortable on camera or audio rather than written)

• Regardless of format, it’s important to have an email list behind it because email remains the most reliable asset.

6. How do you feel about lead magnets, and what formats work best?

• Lead magnets are effective when they’re hyper-aligned with your content AND help people take the next step.

• The most effective formats: checklists, templates, databases, tactical tools, quizzes, email courses.

• Custom GPTs are becoming a new form of lead magnet with strong potential for growth (like Chenell’s Hook Helper GPT)

• The best lead magnets solve a small but meaningful problem immediately.

7. How can service-based or seasonal businesses position a newsletter so people actually sign up?

• Consider avoiding calling it a newsletter — instead offer weekly value: reminders, guides, coupons, or hyper-local tips.

• Make it fun, quick, and practical.

• People sign up when they feel like they’re getting something useful, not “more email.”

8. Should creators plan ahead or batch content?

• Strongly recommended to have 4–6 weeks of topics outlined before launching a newsletter, podcast, or channel.

• Planning reduces stress and makes it easier to publish consistently.

• You don’t need full drafts — just a roadmap of topics, features, and upcoming promotions.

• A little planning upfront prevents last-minute scrambles and improves quality and consistency.

We go over a lot more. Check it out ↓↓

​WATCH THE EP >>​
​LISTEN TO IT >>​

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free for you.
But they cost time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the LinkedIn post so we can get them in front of more people!
(It’s the post below 😁🙏)

Newsletter Hits
Of The Week ⚡

​⚡ One Man. One Newsletter. One Million Subscribers. How he did it →

⚡ Building your newsletter around sponsorship CPMs is building on sand 🙅‍♂️ Do this instead →​

⚡ A LinkedIn hack to getting 150-200 followers & subscribers—every time →​

⚡ 10 Reasons To Start a Newsletter in 2026 →​

Does growing your newsletter feel like this?

Stop beating your head against a wall.

Join 80+ Newsletter Pros in the
​Growth In Reverse PRO Community →​

→ Learn from the pros with our live Creator Sessions.
→ Hop on a Hot Seat with Chenell to solve newsletter & business challenges.
→ Get free access to all of Chenell’s products and courses—including The Growth Vault.

​Join GIR Pro →​

Here’s a preview of all the sessions you get immediate access to:

The new year is coming up -- jump on this offer before Chenell comes to her senses and increases the annual membership fee 👀

​Join GIR Pro →​

Improve your newsletter with these:

→ The 1KS Roadmap: A Free Course To Your First 1,000 Subscribers​
→ Increase opt-ins like a best-selling author (FREE templates)​​
​→ Start a newsletter for FREE with Kit (free up to 10k subscribers)​*
→ Book a 1:1 newsletter strategy sesh w/me: 30 mins || 60 mins

Peace and platonic love,

Dylan

​LinkedIn | Twitter | Substack | IG

* indicates affiliate links. I get paid a small commission if you use these links to purchase a product or service.

→ The Problem With Newsletter Roasts
→ Building a $100M Newsletter Empire
→ A can’t-miss newsletter event in 2026
→ The perfect welcome sequence for ‘recommended’ subscribers

...now LFG (as the kids say)

Hello newsletter friend.

I did a Newsletter Roast for a community a few weeks ago.

Roasts are fun. People love them. And more often than not, everyone involved (including me) learns something.

But there’s a glaring issue with newsletter roasts—especially when roasting a particular issue of a newsletter.

→ They’re too subjective.

What “works” for one newsletter—to engage readers, drive clicks, keep people opening—might not work for another newsletter.

Tons of links? Some audiences love clicking. Some do not.
​Lots of imagery? Works for some. Not for others.
​Long form vs. short form? No and yep. Yep and nope.

My point is...

Other than a few best practices (like Gmail clipping, NOT sending PDF files, and hiding your ‘unsubscribe’ link), the actual “edition” of a newsletter is hard to roast.

“So what’s the advice then?”

1. Publish Insanely Valuable Content™ — content that people can’t wait to open, read, and share. (Not sure how? Hit reply with the words IV CONTENT and I’ll send you a free resource with some ideas!)

2. Note down key performance benchmarks — open rate, click rate, reply rate, etc.

3. Experiment to see what works FOR YOU and what doesn’t. Compare against your benchmarks and make decisions based on the results.

The bottom line?

As long as you’re delivering Insanely Valuable Content™️-- your newsletter should be a playground for experimentation.

A FREE Resource From The Ashes Of A Newsletter Roast

And as part of that roast, I’m also putting together an in-depth article on some of the more... let’s call them “Objective Truths” (ie. Do’s & Don’ts) of newsletters.

​Click here if you want it when it’s ready >>​

Here’s what’s percolating in this edition:

→ Building a $100M Newsletter Empire
→ A can’t-miss newsletter event in 2026
→ The perfect welcome sequence for ‘recommended’ subscribers

FREE Resources (created & curated by GC⚡)

→ Increase opt-ins like a best-selling author (FREE templates)

→ 30 Days of Growth (via Chenell @ Growth In Reverse)

He built a $100M newsletter biz.
​Here’s how.

Sean Griffey cofounded Industry Dive in 2012 with 2 colleagues.

But instead of launching one newsletter, they launched five.
And they were daily newsletters—each covering niche news & content from specific industries.

Thanks to their targeted focus of specific sectors, Sean and his team grew Industry Dive into a suite of over 30 different industry newsletters.

In less than 10 years, they reached $100M in revenue and sold their media business to Informa for $500M.

Sean breaks it all down in our chat on a very special edition of the Growth In Reverse podcast.

​WATCH >>​
​LISTEN >>​

Sean also reveals...​
​
→ How they managed 30+ daily newsletters and what their teams looked like
→ How they leveraged organic audiences to jumpstart their early audience growth
→ How they drove revenue
→ If he’s still bullish on newsletters (and why/why not)
→ The ultimate value of first-party data (and why they obsessed over it)

Can I ask a small favor?

These episodes are free for you, but they cost time & money to create.

It would go a LONG way if you could like or comment on the LinkedIn post so we can get them in front of more people! (It’s the post below 😁)

Newsletter Hits
Of The Week

⚡ Block off your calendars—this newsletter event is a can’t-miss.

​

⚡ The Ultimate Guide to Growing a Newsletter From 0 to 10,000 Readers.

​

⚡ Tired: just ‘sharing’ your lead magnet. Wired: launching it. Like this.​

​

⚡ The perfect welcome email sequence for the “casual” subscriber (aka “Recommendations” subscribers)

​

Growing your newsletter feel like this?

Stop beating your head against a wall.

Book a 1:1 Newsletter Strategy Sesh

​30-minute Strategy Sesh →​

Includes:
​→ Live 1:1 call with me
→ Recording of the call + transcript
​

​60-minute Strategy Sesh →

Includes:
​→ Live 1:1 call with me
→ Recording of the call + transcript
→ 1-month async support (via email)

Got more questions about these sessions? Just hit reply!

Improve your newsletter with these:

→ The 1KS Roadmap: A Free Course To Your First 1,000 Subscribers​
→ Increase opt-ins like a best-selling author (FREE templates)​​
​→ Start a newsletter for FREE with Kit (free up to 10k subscribers)​*
→ Book a 1:1 newsletter strategy sesh w/me: 30 mins || 60 mins

Peace and platonic love,

Dylan

​LinkedIn | Twitter | Substack | IG

Here’s why we wanted to chat with Olly:

• He founded StoryLearning.com in 2013.

• He grew it to a $10M online business with very little overhead.

• He now only works ~4 days per month in it.

• Giving him time to build a personal brand at OllyRichards.co (launched in 2023).

• Where he built a 118-page book (in a Google Doc) about how he built StoryLearning.com — and it’s FREE by the way.

• The Google Doc helped Olly grow his newsletter to over 18k subscribers.

• That same lead magnet has indirectly led to $1.2M in revenue for his personal brand.

All this is overwhelmingly impressive.

It’s clear when talking to him that Olly is smart, entrepreneurial, and disciplined. He did a lot of things the “right” way. But there’s one key part of Olly’s story that’s living rent-free in my mind.

And it’s something I believe strongly that newsletter operators — including myself — need to learn.

What is it?

It’s how Olly paid for the distribution of his 118-page Google Doc and grew his newsletter, in essence, for free to 18k+ subscribers in ~18 months.

And it’s called a Self-Liquidating Flywheel (or SLF for short).

But before I get too deep into the SLF, you should understand the potential impact this can have on your business.

Spending Your Subscribers’ $100k To Grow

Olly readily shares that he used paid growth (over $100k!) to market the free Google Doc, and grow his newsletter audience.

That’s right — he didn’t market his newsletter. He promoted a free resource.

You might be asking why the hell you’d spend $100k marketing a free resource 🤔

He marketed a free resource because it was the Trojan horse into his ecosystem. And he knew anyone who found the resource valuable would be an ideal fit to work with him in some capacity.

Olly shares in one post how he spent over $100,000 marketing the Doc.

• Nearly $50k was spent sponsoring other newsletters (“Sponsorships”)

• Nearly $7k was spent on Twitter & Meta ads

• $thousands spent on other paid efforts to push the Google Doc

Olly shared the image below in one of his blog posts about this.

“Still, $100k is a lot of money. Most people can’t afford that!”

That’s right. That’s why you use other people’s money to fund it. And you do that with the Self-Liquidating Flywheel.

The Self-Liquidating Flywheel

Back when I was working at SparkLoop, we interviewed Michael Houck of Houck’s Newsletter. He’s grown his newsletter to over 75k subscribers, mostly through paid growth & newsletter acquisitions.

Michael said something in that interview that stuck with me (I’m paraphrasing):

“Newsletter operators need to run their newsletters more like startup founders.”

What he meant was that operators should reinvest all net profits back into growth: Pay your bills first, then put everything back into the growth machine. Michael was doing that at the time with beehiiv Boosts & SparkLoop’s Partner Program.

And Olly was doing the same thing with his paid growth efforts — except he was using multiple channels to a more lucrative offer.

He’d created a “workshop” called the 7 Figure Marketing Stack.

Olly ran the 5-day paid workshop, recorded the whole thing, and built a sales page for it, selling it as an “evergreen” workshop.

Suddenly he had something to sell to newly acquired subscribers. Any purchases would help offset the cost of acquiring them.

And like magic…

A percentage of those subscribers converted and purchased the evergreen workshop. And the shiny red cherry on top was that it got to the point where the conversions were enough to cover his acquisition costs.

Then, Olly would use that revenue to buy ads to promote his Google Doc case study.

And that, my friends, is the self-liquidating flywheel.

Acquire subscribers → sell them a valuable evergreen resource → use revenue fund paid acquisition

Don’t Just Sell Anything — Sell What Complements the JTBD of Your Newsletter

You don’t need a full-blown course like Olly to build a self-liquidating flywheel. You just need a Self-Liquidating Offer (SLO) that helps your readers do what they already came to you to do.

A Newsletter’s Job-To-Be-Done: 3 Main Buckets

Most newsletters fall into one of three Jobs-To-Be-Done buckets:

1. Educate — ex. teaching people how to grow an audience, invest, run a business, learn French

2. Inform — ex. curating niche news, industry updates, popular trends

3. Entertain — ex. commentary/opinion pieces, stories, memes, gossip rags

TIP: Some of the most popular newsletters combine multiple JTBD elements; for example, MarketBriefs does a great job keeping readers informed on daily finance news while adding humor as entertainment value.

So what does a revenue-generating asset for each of these look like?

SLO #1: for an Education-model newsletter

Reader’s motivation: “Teach me how to do this faster/better”
Relevant asset: Template, checklist, swipe files, mini courses, toolkits

If you write a how-to newsletter on solopreneurship, your SLO could be a $17 bundle of business idea frameworks.

SLO #2: for an Information-model newsletter

Reader’s motivation: “Keep me up-to-date/ahead of the curve”
Relevant asset: Deep dives, exclusive reports, curated databases

If you run a curated media industry newsletter, maybe it’s a paid directory of podcast booking agents.

SLO #3: for an Entertainment-model newsletter

Reader’s motivation: “Give me more of what I love/hit me with that dopamine”
Relevant asset: Bonus content, behind-the-scenes footage, merch, membership, patronage

If your newsletter is built on humor or storytelling, offer access to a behind-the-scenes micro-podcast or bonus content.

It’s important to remember in all of this the win with your SLO.

The win here is that you’re not asking your audience to change behavior. You’re just extending what they already value, and then monetizing it.

The obvious caveat here is whatever you are charging for needs to be valuable and solves a problem your audience is facing. I won’t get into selling vitamins vs. painkillers in this article, but remember people are most inclined to pay for a solution to a painful problem.

How Do I Build My Own SLF?

Let’s do a quick review based on Olly’s system.

There are three main components:

1. Valuable, Free Lead Magnet: Olly built an extremely high-value resource as a free lead magnet: his 118-page Google Doc Case Study (of how he built his $10M business)

2. A helpful SFO as an upsell: Olly sold a live workshop to his audience, recorded the whole thing, and packaged it into his SFO (the 7 Figure Marketing Stack course)

3. Paid acquisition via relevant channels: Olly bought ads in newsletters and on social to market his lead magnet (118-pg. Case Study).

So the steps are pretty clear, but let’s review them for how you can replicate the SLF yourself.

Step 1: Create an aligned, lightweight digital product

Something that adds value, builds trust, and complements your newsletter’s JTBD. It could be:

• A bundle of templates or swipe files

• A short email course or challenge

• A curated list or directory

• Bonus content or behind-the-scenes stories

Step 2: Build a simple sales funnel

• Drive traffic (organic and/or paid) to a free lead magnet

• Pitch your SLO on the thank-you page and/or in welcome email sequence

• Keep it evergreen and low-lift

Step 3: Reinvest any revenue into paid growth

Start small.

A bonfire starts with a spark. You need to spark paid growth with an initial investment.

So test newsletter sponsorships or Meta ads with a tight audience. You’re not trying to scale to $1M — you’re trying to break even (or close to it).

That’s it, that’s the flywheel.

Wrapping Up

Most newsletter operators will hit a ceiling with organic growth.
That’s just the reality in 2025 and the state of social media.

But if you want to keep growing — and you want to fund that growth without draining your savings — a self-liquidating flywheel might be the smartest play you’re not using yet.

More stuff from me.

→ FREE 5-day email course to help you get your first 1,000 newsletter subscribers

→ Get content like this about newsletters and growth weekly from my Growth Currency⚡ newsletter →

→ Connect with me: LinkedIn || Bluesky

ARIatHOME is a talented musician.

He’s also a YouTuber with 328k subscribers — and that channel only has five long-form videos published.

Here’s an abbreviated story of Ari’s rise, how I found him (or how he found me), and the big lesson newsletter operators can learn from him.

Ari’s Content Strategy That’s Skyrocketed Growth

Ari started his YT channel in 2014 when he was ~15yrs old.

He was posting music videos of his songs and streams. Despite being a natural talent, none of the videos really took off.

Then, the YT algorithm served me an ARIatHOME Short last week.

And guess what → Ari was NOT at home anymore. He was out on the streets — of NYC.
​
And he was walking around like one-man digital marching band with a keyboard, mic, mixer, and speakers.

I watched transfixed as Ari approached complete strangers.

→ He sampled a stranger’s voice on the spot.
→ Built a beat from it.
→ And got complete strangers to freestyle rap over his beat.
​
I couldn’t stop watching. Literally mesmerized. And I’m not alone.
​
​That Short has over 582k likes and 9,500 comments.

In fact: all of Ari’s YT Shorts have 100k+ views. Some over 1M.

The Common Thread of Ari’s Most Popular Videos?

→ Collaboration.

Ari’s solo livestreams didn’t blow up.
His videos of him making beats and freestyle rapping by himself didn’t blow up.
​
​His videos blew up when he started collaborating with others.

Getting complete strangers to hop on the mic — that’s where the magic happened. Ari is proof that the right collabs can skyrocket growth.

And now that Ari’s blowing up, others are seeking him out.

In a recent stream on his unofficial channel, a stranger from the past reappeared to freestyle over Ari’s beats for a second time. It makes sense, right? Get yourself in front of other people’s audiences to grow your own.

Collabs > Social

Algorithms are unpredictable. Things are going great one minute, then you suddenly find yourself with half the impressions, engagement, and followers.

Collaborations, cross-promotions, guest-posting— all of these things avoid platform risk.

But let me be clear.

I’m not advocating complete abandonment of social media. But diversifying the baskets in which you place your eggs is age-old wisdom for good reason.

Ari (and many others before him) have demonstrated how powerful collaborations can be.

Making Collabs Great Again

Given their power, we want to make collabs great again.

We want to do them BETTER. So we decided to run a 45-day challenge in the Growth In Reverse Pro Community.

We’re calling it the “Grow Without Social” challenge, but the main focus is how to collaborate with others. Course, meetups, and Q&A included.

But you have to join the Growth In Reverse Pro Community to participate.

Join the Challenge

Even if you don’t, I hope you see the power in collaborating with others to grow your audience.

More stuff from me.

→ Check out my brand new podcast about all things newsletters with Chenell from Growth In Reverse👇

→ FREE 5-day email course to help you get your first 1,000 newsletter subscribers

→ Connect with me: LinkedIn || Bluesky

Credibility.

And for good reason: It's the "why" we should subscribe and read what you have to say.

You might be an expert. But if you don't tell people, you're an invisible expert.

And that's helping nobody.

So...

With the zillion newsletters battling for attention, you need to be compelling. Credibility is a lever you must pull.

How?

Every successful newsletter landing page leverages at least one (ideally multiple) of these credibility types:

1. Authority & Expertise (I know my stuff)

2. Social Proof (Other people trust me)

3. Results & Track Record (I’ve done this before)

4. Earned Media & Endorsements (Respected sources vouch for me)

5. Brand Familiarity (You’ve seen me before)

Here's more of a detailed breakdown of each of these.

1. Authority & Expertise (I Know My Stuff)

This is personal credibility based on your experience, qualifications, or your unique perspective.

The great thing with this one?

Even if you don’t have a huge audience, you can establish trust by showing why you’re uniquely qualified to share insights.

Some examples of Authority & Expertise:

• “Former Airbnb Product Lead” (Lenny Rachitsky)

• “I built a $5M one-person business” (Justin Welsh)

• “10+ years helping businesses grow their social media audiences.”

✅ Best for: Newer creators who have industry experience but may not have big audience numbers yet.

2. Social Proof (Other People Trust Me)

You probably kick ass at what you do. And people have probably said as much.

So share that sh*t.

The more people who subscribe, read, or endorse your content, the more trustworthy it looks. This can be explicit (big numbers) or implicit (the right audience reads it).

Some examples of Social Proof:

• “Join 250,000+ readers”

• “Read by CEOs, startup founders, and investors”

• “Trusted by teams at Stripe, Notion, and HubSpot”

• Ratings & Reviews from readers, users, customers.

✅ Best for: Creators who have an engaged audience, even if it’s not huge. Even 1,000+ subscribers can be impressive in a niche. TIP: Use ​Senja.io​ to collect testimonials pain-free.

See how Chenell leverages 5-star ratings with avatars and a total number of subscribers:

3. Results & Track Record (I’ve Done This Before)

People trust content from someone who has achieved what they want to achieve. If you don’t have a big following, highlight measurable outcomes.

Some examples of Results & Track Record:

• “I helped 5 creators grow from 1,000 to 10,000 subscribers”

• “Generated $100,000+ in newsletter sponsorships last year”

• “I’ve produced 5 indie films with budgets totaling $X million”

✅ Best for: Creators without a massive following but who can show real-world experience.

We explained in our latest Newsletter Roast why you *need* to ​lean into your credibility​. Daren could have really used that last example about his experience producing indie films when trying to get more subscribers to his newsletter.

4. Earned Media & Endorsements (Respected Sources Vouch for Me)

If credible sources have mentioned, featured, or endorsed you, that instantly increases trust.

Examples of Earned Media & Endorsements:

• “As seen in Forbes, Hacker News, and Business Insider”

• “Featured on the Tim Ferriss Podcast”

• “Endorsed by [Industry Expert]”

✅ Best for: Creators who’ve been quoted, interviewed, or reviewed by industry leaders.

See Justin Welsh's landing page with industry experts & digital business leaders:

5. Brand Familiarity (You’ve Seen Me Before)

Have a personal brand? Already recognized?

Use it!

I had a call with an operator recently who's built his LinkedIn profile to over 20k followers. And guess what? His face is all over his website and landing page.

He has over 140k newsletter subscribers. 100% organic growth. A lot of his success is due to his personal brand familiarity.

When your name, company, or product is already recognized, people trust you. It's subconscious credibility. Peopl trust brands (and faces) they’ve seen before—even if they don’t know much about them.

Examples of Brand Familiarity:

• Your brand or logo on your landing page

• Your face or avatar on your landing page

• Logos of well-known brands you’ve worked with

✅ Best for: Brands or creators with an existing reputation or affiliation with trusted companies.

Check out how Katelyn Bourgoin has her own image on the her homepage:

Wrapping Up

So what does this all mean?

Quite simple:

So stop being humble. You need to build yourself up a bit. Give people a reason to trust you with their email address.

Use one of these 5 credibility methods to do it.

Bonus 👀

One other super smart thing a bunch of these creators are doing? They're using Kit to create their landing pages, send their newsletters, and GROW with the Kit Creator Network.

I personally have gotten nearly 2,000 subscribers from the Kit Creator Network alone!

Doing this on your own is doable, but Kit makes it way easier. And legit more fun.

Trust me. I’ve tried all the major ESPs.

Kit offers the most user-friendly and customizable features for creators like us. I’ve been using Kit for nearly 4 years and recommend it to everyone — and not just because I’m an affiliate. I sincerely love the product, their team, and vibe.

Get a FREE Kit plan that includes your first 10,000 subscribers →

On a podcast recently, the host asked me an often-overlooked question about newsletters:

What are some of the basic strategic errors that newsletter writers commit at early stages?

I came up with a few mistakes I’ve made — and a few I’ve seen others make:

1. Your newsletter is too hard to find

2. Trying to be active on every platform

3. Having an ineffective Welcome Email

4. Forgetting about a monetization strategy

5. Writing a newsletter for everyone

6. Expecting big bucks & quick results

7. Not promoting your newsletter enough — or at all

Now we have our diagnosis, let’s prescribe some fixes.

🚫 MISTAKE: Your newsletter is hard to find

✅ FIX: Put the link every-damn-where

Your newsletter should be front-&-frickin’ center.

It should be in your social bio(s), unmissable on your website, and printed on a bumper sticker slapped to the back of your car (well maybe not that last one…)

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve struggled to find a link to a sign-up page. If you have a newsletter, make it OBVIOUS.

Ways to Fix it:

1. Put it in your social bio(s). For social platforms with only one link, use a “link-in-bio” SaaS tool like LinkTree or SleekBio.

2. Add it to your website’s nav menu or create a pop-up. But consider the experience if you do both. It might be a bit much for visitors. Do one of these exceptionally well.

3. Add a sign-up CTA to each article. Instead of (or in addition to) a pop-up or a nav menu button, you can add a small form in your website posts (when it makes sense) so people come to sign-up naturally.

🚫 MISTAKE: Being active on every platform

✅ FIX: Master one — ignore the others (for now)

You don’t need to be everywhere. It’s detrimental to growth and sustainability.

One platform is enough to begin with. Don’t dilute your attention and focus. There’s an old proverb about chasing two rabbits and catching neither. It’s the perfect metaphor here.

Ways To Fix It:

1. Find the most optimal platform. Newsletters are written content, so start with written platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter. BUT consider where your audience/ideal readers hang out online and focus there. Your content may be better suited for visual or video content on IG or TikTok, but just stick with one — for now.

2. Republish. If you can’t ignore the other platforms, you can always republish your content from your main platform to others. The challenge here is more platforms bring on more distraction with likes, comments, notifications, and reformatting requirements. So if you’re creating written posts on Twitter, republishing on LinkedIn is relatively streamlined — whereas posting on Instagram would require an image/video etc.

3. Make a 6-month plan. Master one platform, and while you’re building there, create a swipe file or strategy for how you might tackle another platform when you’re ready to add more to your plate.

🚫 MISTAKE: Sending an ineffective Welcome Email

✅ FIX: Include these 3 things in your Welcome Email

You need a Welcome Email. But don’t let the ESP send out its default version. Gross.

Even more, don’t simply send a “Hello!” email thanking your new subscriber for handing you the keys to their inbox. That’s kind but oh-so dull.

Be different. Be you. Be thoughtful: what would get your attention from a welcome email?

How To Fix It:

Ann Handley

recommends including at least 3 aspects in your Welcome Email:

1. A subject line that establishes your tone

2. A brief paragraph that sets the expectation of what to expect

3. An ‘easy ask’ in the form of a simple question about yourself.

🚫 MISTAKE: Ignoring a revenue strategy

✅ FIX: Thinking about revenue from the start

The whole point of a newsletter is to eventually make money with it.

Right?

So start thinking about the various ways you could start monetizing your newsletter in the future, now.

Why?

You might find yourself a year into your newsletter — without any idea of how to monetize it. Or worse, realizing the niche you’re focusing on has no money to spend on the service you’re selling.

Keep monetization in mind to help guide your content and growth.

Ways To Fix It:

1. Review various newsletter monetization strategies. I’ve written a lot about newsletter monetization, but the main ways to monetize your newsletter are: to charge for it (subscription), include paid ads & sponsors, sell affiliate products & services, or sell your own products/services. Brainstorm ways your newsletter could make money for each of these strategies.

2. Consider the overlap of what you're most comfortable with and what makes the most sense for your content & audience. You may not be as comfortable charging a subscription for your newsletter — but if your content is in high demand and you maintain a high quality standard, test the subscription waters. You won’t know until you try. And you can always pivot.

3. Research what others are doing & steal like an artist. I was 6 months into writing my newsletter when I first saw a sponsor spot in a “smaller” newsletter. It was inspiring and I had never even considered ads until I saw it. Now, ads & sponsors are 90% of my newsletter revenue. Figure out what others are doing to monetize and swipe some examples for inspiration and ideas.

🚫 MISTAKE: Writing a newsletter for “everyone”

✅ FIX: Niche down a few different ways

As the saying goes, “You can’t be everything to everyone.” And you shouldn’t try.

Take it from me…

When I started my newsletter, I tried to be a “newsletter for creators”. Way too vague and broad. And despite the creator economy “booming”, it didn’t take long for growth to plateau. I needed a change.

So I narrowed my focus to “helping creators start, grow, and monetize their newsletters.” A smaller niche and smaller TAM (total addressable market), but I had a clearer value proposition and a target audience.

The result?

My audience grew faster AND my content creation process was simpler! I had one general topic to write about (newsletters) instead of a general “creator economy” topic.

» How To Unlock Ideas: The Niche Key 🗝️

Ways To Fix It:

1. Find an obsession. A niche is helpful. An obsession is better.

   Justin Welsh recommends thinking of a niche more like an obsession. Are you ‘obsessed’ with your newsletter topic/content? If not, could you be more obsessed with how you create or deliver the content? Or maybe you could combine your professional knowledge with a passionate hobby.

2. Become a “Niche of One”. Justin also writes about the Niche Of One, where you take a specific skill — say, financial analysis — and combine it with your hobby — say, high-end wine. More on this concept here.

3. Toss your topic & newsletter format in a blender. Your newsletter topic may still be broad, but try blending it into a different format. In this article, I wrote about 6 different newsletters formats: (1) Opinion-based editorial; (2) Curated; (3) Review-based; (4)Case study or report-based; (5) News-based; (6) Seasonal or “pop-up” style. If your topic is too broad, try a less common format.

More on niches: Jay Clouse just published a stellar article on the topic.

🚫 MISTAKE: Expecting big bucks & quick results

✅FIX: Changing your mindset — like this

The newsletter game is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s more like the ultimate get-rich-slow scheme.

But most quit before experiencing the fruits (ie. that sweet, sweet revenue) of their labor. They start the journey with unrealistic expectations, quickly becoming dismayed by the slow growth that plagues 99% of new newsletters.

Ways To Fix It:

1. Try committing to a number of editions. I chose 100.

2. Cultivate a long-term mindset. Picture yourself one year from now, having published 52 weekly editions. Soak in the feeling of accomplishment, what you’ll have learned, and the opportunities you’ll have created for yourself — all because you didn’t quit. Now picture yourself in 3 years. All those feelings will be that much more intense — and there’s bound to be some revenue coming in. Keep going.

3. Write about something you’re interested in. This I can’t stress enough. It was the #1 reason I kept publishing week after week despite slow growth. I loved the process and what I was reading & writing about.

🚫MISTAKE: Hardly promoting your newsletter

✅ FIX: Talk about your newsletter — a lot!

Self-promotion is a four-letter word to many. It feels icky and sleazy — like Clyde, that used car salesman with the bad comb-over who swears that 1999 Buick is “a bargain!”

But promotion is absolutely 100% necessary to grow your newsletter. Share & promote it!

But how do you do it without coming off as “spammy” and feeling like another Clyde?

Ways To Fix It:

1. Change your promotion mindset. Get over your imposter syndrome and consider your newsletter is most likely valuable, helpful, and informative to the right group of people. There’s a more-than-zero chance people will enjoy reading your content and learn something. When you stop thinking about your newsletter as a used 1999 Buick and more like a helpful, informative guide, it makes it a lot easier to share.

2. Leverage social media. Use your bio and your audience to promote your newsletter. Share it in the DMs. Talk about it. Often! Use Twitter tools like Hypefury or TweetHunter (affiliate) to “auto-plug”a sign-up link to your most popular tweets/threads. Remember, if it feels like you’re promoting too much, you’re probably just barely doing enough.

3. Give people a REASON to subscribe. Share what they’ll learn (the feature), why they need to learn it (the benefit), and how they’ll learn it. Then, share a teaser about what your upcoming edition will include — along with a link — tempting people to subscribe. Like this:

Wrapping up…

You might not be making *all* 7 of these mistakes. But I’m sure we can all stand to promote your newsletter a little more, narrow our focus, and refine our monetization strategies.

Also, this isn’t an exhaustive list! I’d love to hear what mistakes you commonly see or have made and how you’ve fixed them.

Share with me on Twitter and I'll RT the best ones.

More From Me.

→ Check out my FREE 5-day email course to help you get 1,000 newsletter subscribers 🚀
→ Subscribe to Growth Currency⚡ and get weekly tips, tools, and resources to help you start + grow + monetize your newsletter 🤑
→ I run my newsletter business with ConvertKit. I’m a huge fan of the product, and their team — and an affiliate. Start your newsletter business for free with my ConvertKit link. These are affiliate links :)
→ Follow me on Twitter 🐦

Not that it’s tempting you…but you don’t have to quit your job to make a 5-figure newsletter side hustle.

I have a full-time job. And I’m on track to earn over $10k with my newsletter in 2022.

I’ve been operating the Growth Currency⚡ newsletter “on the side” since January 2021. Counting ads, affiliates, and consulting, I just cracked the $2,000 revenue mark for the entirety of 2021.

Then things started heating up in 2022. Why?

1. Niched down in March to focus explicitly on helping creators & solopreneurs grow, improve, and monetize their newsletters.

2. Established key relationships with other creators & newsletter publishers through Twitter and various online communities.

3. Raised my newsletter ad rates. As my premium ad spots kept filling up, I raised my rates.

4. Applied for and was accepted to join the ConvertKit Sponsor Network — taking the onus of sourcing, booking, and reporting on newsletter ads off my plate. (More on that here.)

Doing all that (and more) has led me here:

My newsletter will earn +$10,000 in advertising revenue and affiliate sales in 2022.

Before we jump into the nitty gritty…

I want to introduce the 4 main buckets I consider when creating a newsletter:

1. Organization

2. Creation

3. Promotion

4. Monetization

This article will cover what I do in each.

#1: How I Organize My Newsletter Workflow

You need a place to capture & save all of your newsletter info. Here’s what I use:

• Airtable¹: organize curated links, cross-promotions, and newsletter ads. Alternatives: Excel, Google Sheets, Trello, Notion, Clickup.

• Otter.ai: Idea capture. Otter works beautifully as a voice memo tool to capture ideas or outline blog posts on walks or runs. Then I paste the memo into a Google Doc. That’s how this article started.

• Google Docs: I write my articles here before publishing them in my newsletter, website, on Medium, and elsewhere.

TIP: quickly open a new Google Doc by typing docs.new in your browser.

The most important aspect of my workflow is the Airtable database. I need a resource to categorize and organize. That’s why a tool with filtering like Excel, Sheets, or Airtable is vital.

Organizing everything is heavy lifting upfront — but time-saving is critical when building a newsletter business with a full-time job.

How To Find & Quickly Save Curated Content

I find my curated content 4 ways:

• Newsletters. I’m subscribed to a lot of newsletters. But they’re my #1 source for curated content. Use newsletter directories to find newsletters to subscribe to in your niche.

• Twitter. Following the right people in your niche helps. I follow a lot of newsletter creators + newsletter platforms. Do the same. Create a Twitter list to stay organized and save time.

• Refind.com. Refind is an excellent resource for quality articles on topics of choice — but their Chrome extension (Refind New Tab) is what I love the most.

• Google. Sometimes I want to find a really specific article on a topic.

Once I find content worth saving, I use Airtable’s Web Clipper to save my links directly to Airtable — without leaving the source. It takes only a few minutes to set up and saves me HOURS.

Here’s a great demo of how to set it up and use it.

Notion also has a web clipper which you can get HERE.

#2: How I Create a Weekly Newsletter in 60 mins

Caveat: my newsletter takes me several hours each week to produce — but a most of that time is spent creating articles like this.

I spend a disproportionate amount of time creating content.

I rely on ads & sponsors for revenue (we’ll get into monetization shortly). So I need to ensure I’m publishing quality, original content readers keep coming back for.

The rest of the newsletter takes 60–90 minutes to put together.

I save time by creating a repeatable format.

My weekly newsletter format is as follows:

• [Sponsor]

• [Welcome]

• [News & Announcements]

• [Editorial]

• [GC Links: START + GROW + IMPROVE + MONETIZE]

• [Sign-off]

It’s a repeatable format I put together in about 60 minutes:

1. Add sponsor copy once received (5 mins)

2. Plug in relevant news/announcements (10–15 mins)

3. Paste my article intro in the Editorial section (5 mins)

4. Choose my curated GC Links for the week from the database; write ‘My Take’ on all four links (30–45 mins)

5. Write a short sign-off (2–10 mins)

The best part about a repeatable creation process…

I can easily hand it off to a virtual assistant or freelancer if desired. It’s also why I built my Airtable database the way I did: easy to delegate.

Think of your newsletter process the same way:

If you had to hand off your newsletter creation, what would make it easier to delegate?

#3: How I Promote my Newsletter

All the organization and content creation in the world doesn’t matter if you can’t get subscribers.

You have to make noise. Promote, promote, promote! If it feels like you’re over-promoting, you might be doing *just* enough.

My Twitter Promotion Tactics

Twitter is where I get the most subscribers because it’s where I make the most noise.

But to capitalize on Twitter traffic, optimize your bio. Put the link to your newsletter sign-up page in your bio/profile. Check out mine:

Then share what you published!

Spamming accounts isn’t cool, but sharing their content and tagging them in a tweet seems to be. Our egos love it when people share our stuff. So we give it love ❤️ and hit RT 🔁. But be discreet with this strategy or it can backfire.

Another way to get subscribers is teasers that encourage them to sign-up:

Promotion via Republishing on Other Platforms

Promotion can come in various forms. And on multiple platforms. For social media, I almost exclusively use Twitter.

But there are other platforms to republish & repurpose newsletter content.

SUBSTACK

‍I switched my newsletter platform from Substack to ConvertKit in October 2021. No regrets switching. But I should have kept publishing my weekly articles on Substack to benefit from its network effects.

So from October through June there were zero Substack posts. I began reposting my articles in July.

Since then, I’ve gotten over 1,200 views and 150 new subscribers.

Pretty good for a copy/paste job.

(Yes, it helps to have friends with Substack audiences including my newsletter in their ‘Recommendations’ #NetworkEffects)

MEDIUM

‍Republishing on Medium.com (aff) has been another great promotion & growth strategy. I wrote about it in more detail here.

In essence, I republish the same way I do for Substack — but I always include a CTA in the footer to check out my website, lead magnet, Twitter, etc.

Another copy/paste job, for the most part.

SPARKLOOP

‍I recently signed up for SparkLoop’s Partner Program (aff) where I can pay others to promote my newsletter. They send verified leads my way and I pay them a set rate for each referral:

Growth Currency Partner Program - SparkLoop
Earn $2.50 for each new subscriber you refer to Growth Currency. You can earn up to $500/month for valid new…partnerprogram.page

The jury’s still out on this one. It’s brought in 12 subscribers to date, costing me $30. With time not on my side, paying to acquire new subscribers is something I’m willing to try.

CROSS-PROMOTIONS

‍Cross-promos have  been working well lately— especially in adjacent creator/maker industries where my content is most helpful.

The challenge with cross-promotions is finding partners to cross-promote with and setting up the cross-promo itself. It takes some back-and-forth and can be tedious.

I get new cross-promoters to fill out a Tally form with all their details. Then I have a doc I share with them with my newsletter details. This saves a lot of time on both sides.

A few other ways you can promote your newsletter:

• Launch it on Product Hunt

• Post on IndieHackers

• Find appropriate Subreddits to share it on

• Join the Newsletter Creators FB Group

• Post about it on LinkdedIn, Instagram, TikTok

#4: How I’ve Monetized My Newsletter in 2022

There are 3 ways I’ve made money with my newsletter:

1. Ads & Sponsorships

2. Affiliate sales

3. Consulting calls

In 2021, I made most of my income consulting.

In 2022: 90% of my income with ads & sponsors. Affiliate sales have hit barely exceeded $500 for the year. Consulting has been even less.

How I Managed Ads & My Ad Revenue

From January through August, I pitched, sold, organized and reported on all my newsletter ads.

This took up a lot of my “newsletter” time.

To find advertisers, I used the following:

• ad marketplaces

• Twitter DMs (to warm contacts)

• other newsletters (see who’s advertising in newsletters)

NEWSLETTER MARKETPLACES ($2,424)

‍I used Swapstack & Paved as primary ad marketplaces. Here’s what I earned via each:

• Swapstack: $1,119
  Here, you can pitch brands (outbound) and brands can approach you (inbound). My pitches rarely got a response. All but one paid ad via Swapstack was the brand approaching me (inbound).

• Paved: $1,305
  Here, you cannot pitch brands. You have to optimize your newsletter profile & hope they find you. Paved also takes a 30% cut of your ad revenue — at least they did when  I was on their platform.

• TOTAL: $2,424

TWITTER ($1,833)

‍Once advertisers saw ads in my newsletter, I got more ad requests. Most of which came through Twitter.

I can attribute $1,270 ad sales through INBOUND Twitter DMs.

But I also leveraged Twitter for outbound ad sales. My “outbound” Twitter sales strategy:

1. Follow solopreneurs and brands who could benefit from advertising to my readers.

2. Engage with their tweets to build familiarity.

3. Then I’d send a DM introducing my newsletter ad opportunity.

I can attribute $563 ad sales through OUTBOUND Twitter DMs.

CONVERTKIT SPONSOR NETWORK — CKSN ($7,139)
I got accepted into the CKSN this summer. It’s been a game-changer and I’m incredibly grateful. I wrote about the experience in more detail:

CKSN has exclusive rights to my newsletter ad spots. They take a 20% ad revenue rate, I get the rest. This officially began September 1st, 2022.

So two big things changed as of September:

1. Fewer ads, more revenue. I went from three ad spots per newsletter (Premium $125, Standard $89, Footer $39; $253 total) to just one premium, top-of-newsletter ad spot that nets me ~$360.

2. Less work, more revenue. I no longer had to pitch, sell, manage, and report on ads — CKSN does all that for me for a 20% fee.

All premium ads have been filled since September 1st — and I anticipate this will continue through the end of the year.

Anticipating my ads continue to fill through the end of 2022 puts the CKSN revenue at:

• $5,324 earned revenue (July-today)

• $1,815 unearned revenue (Nov 29-Dec 31)

• TOTAL: $7,139

This has by far been the most profitable step I’ve taken for my newsletter in 2022. If you get the chance, apply to the CKSN. Other sponsor networks are popping up. Seek them out and apply. Nothing to lose.

OTHER REVENUE ($742)

‍Ads & sponsorships bring in the bulk of the revenue. Still, I earned over $700 with a few affiliate sales, selling a few copies of an older digital product, and a few consulting sessions.

• Affiliates: $532

• Products: $61

• Consulting: $149

Being Real About All of This

This was a heavy commitment for 2022. Just ask my wife. I’ve spent a fair amount of my evenings and weekends working on the newsletter. I sneak in some time on my “lunch” breaks, too.

I don’t want anyone to think I spent one hour weekly on the newsletter and magically earned $10K. Time tracking isn’t my strong suit, so I can’t quantify the time spent.

But while I’ve formatted my newsletter to a 60-minute creation session, articles like this take hours.

Promoting and building an audience on Twitter take hours.

Managing ad marketplaces, pitching brands, and managing advertisers take hours.

You can build a profitable 5-figure newsletter with a full-time job — but not without commitment and sacrifice.

I hope this has been helpful and insightful for you. As usual, I share this information to inform and guide your newsletter journey, getting you closer to your newsletter dreams.

More Stuff from Me.

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