Newsletters 101 Part 1: How To Build & Monetize Them

[00:00:00] Hey and welcome back to Content Is Profit. This is Luis, half of the BIZBROS and I'm welcoming you to this incredible start of 2025 in the 10 episode series on where we go all the way from frameworks to how to monetize your content in a very specific way, even how to outrun Google or how to land your dream sponsors.

[00:00:20] So I think these 10 episodes are going to really help you. If you haven't listened to any of the other ones, go back and they start on January 3rd all the way to January 12th. So super excited to share this with you. Enjoy.

[00:00:33] Hey, I'm Luis. And I'm Luis. And you're listening to the Content Is Profit podcast.

[00:00:44] Guys, today we're talking about everything you need to know about newsletters. Newsletters 101.

[00:00:51] We've been fans of newsletters for a long time. So Fonzie, what's a newsletter?

[00:00:55] I am a big fan of newsletters.

[00:00:56] Yeah. Tell me, what's a newsletter for those that are not familiar with it?

[00:00:59] I should have looked for like the official, you know, definition of a newsletter.

[00:01:04] What's your definition?

[00:01:05] But for me personally, a newsletter is kind of like a curated amount of information in a very specific topic or niche that you subscribe to and you get delivered with a specific frequency.

[00:01:18] So there's newsletters are like once a day. There's some newsletters are once a week and some once a month.

[00:01:23] And usually they revolve around the same topics. Right.

[00:01:27] For example, you got the guy that wrote Atomic Habits, James Clear.

[00:01:32] He has his 321 newsletter, which every week you can expect, you know, his newsletter that talks about three of his thoughts, two quotes and one engaging question.

[00:01:43] Right. So that's more on the personal development side of things.

[00:01:46] Now you have Taylor Welch newsletter that he just created that he sends on a daily basis.

[00:01:52] And he's more he's more of a curation of news.

[00:01:56] So kind of like the state of the world and economy.

[00:01:59] And he shares that with you.

[00:02:00] But he also has his personal newsletter that I think he sends once a week in which he just talks about the challenges that he's going through and more on the consulting side of business.

[00:02:10] So, again, there are newsletters literally for everything you can find very niche, like local newsletters.

[00:02:18] I wouldn't be surprised if there's like, I don't know, agriculture in Jacksonville newsletter.

[00:02:23] And you can find random things like that.

[00:02:26] Yeah, I love newsletters because it's a source of content that is vetted.

[00:02:31] Right.

[00:02:31] Like depends.

[00:02:32] Obviously, it depends on the organization that publishes it.

[00:02:35] But normally, if it's a paid newsletter that goes out regularly, it's been out there for years and years.

[00:02:41] It's probably a very good source.

[00:02:42] Some examples that I like.

[00:02:44] I like the Published Press with Colin and Samir.

[00:02:46] Pretty good.

[00:02:46] They're amazing content creators that create content for creators and educate them on the business side.

[00:02:52] So, more like the opposite of us.

[00:02:54] We're like on the business side, teaching about the creation side to those businesses.

[00:02:58] They're on the creation side, teaching business to the creators.

[00:03:01] Awesome.

[00:03:01] I know.

[00:03:01] Colin and Samir, if you tune in, you're more than invited to a show.

[00:03:04] Hashtag special partnership coming through.

[00:03:07] Yeah.

[00:03:08] I like Morning Brew and The Hustle.

[00:03:10] Shout out to The Hustle because they're part of our network, the Hospital Podcast Network.

[00:03:14] There's a lot of interesting facts in there that they share every single day in your industry.

[00:03:21] Dave Gerhardt also, right?

[00:03:22] With, I think his newsletter is a little bit more on the community side of things.

[00:03:27] And marketing.

[00:03:27] And this is what I find interesting about newsletters that I find at the same time very exciting.

[00:03:32] You have newsletters that might have, you know, very big numbers.

[00:03:36] And just for the sake of it, let's say a very big number is a million subscribers.

[00:03:41] And they might be making less money than a newsletter that might have just 10% of that, 100,000 subscribers, right?

[00:03:48] So there's definitely different ways to run these newsletters, monetize them, right?

[00:03:53] Leverage them inside of your business.

[00:03:55] And I think that's what makes it so interesting, right?

[00:03:59] And like my brother mentioned, just tune in to the end because we're going to kind of share with you who's going to be coming that's going to be, you know, debunking all the myths and just teaching us everything we need to know about newsletters here on Contents Profits.

[00:04:11] It's a really good, juicy source.

[00:04:13] Ah, can't wait.

[00:04:14] Juicy source.

[00:04:14] Juicy source.

[00:04:16] Okay, cool.

[00:04:17] Is it as juicy as that stash?

[00:04:20] My gosh, you on the stash, stop.

[00:04:23] I'm blushing.

[00:04:26] Okay, so there's obviously a few types of newsletter, right?

[00:04:30] We have the free newsletters.

[00:04:32] We have paid newsletters.

[00:04:33] We have online and physical newsletters.

[00:04:36] So...

[00:04:36] All right, I've got to step in here.

[00:04:38] I love physical newsletters.

[00:04:40] Describe what a physical newsletter is.

[00:04:42] So physical newsletter is literally the same concept, but you just get it in your mail, right?

[00:04:46] And I just, the fact that just comes physical and you can pick it up, grab it with your hands, right?

[00:04:54] Write down on it.

[00:04:56] I feel it adds so much value.

[00:04:58] It can literally be the same information as it is in digital, but you can potentially charge way more for the physical copy.

[00:05:07] Yeah.

[00:05:08] Just because, again, people attribute physical stuff, they attribute more value to physical stuff rather than just an online product.

[00:05:17] And, you know, kind of like going back to early education in the direct response marketing world, I don't know if you remember when they said that when they're selling the digital products,

[00:05:26] that's why you see all the boxes inside of the sales pages, right?

[00:05:30] Kind of like a physical representation of the products is so people can attach more value.

[00:05:36] Because if it was just letters and telling you, like, yeah, sure, we're going to send you an email with, you know, your login and you get access to the course,

[00:05:43] it's more difficult to visualize it rather than seeing a physical product.

[00:05:47] Yeah.

[00:05:47] So for me personally, I like writing down and making notes or whatever, but just the sense that you get it in your hand is more valuable.

[00:05:54] And you probably have that same experience with Kindle and books, right?

[00:05:58] If you buy a Kindle, you got it delivered immediately into your phone, whatever, into your Kindle app.

[00:06:04] And it might not be, it's still valuable, but it's not as exciting because there's not that buildup of when is my book going to get home.

[00:06:12] But when you buy the physical copy, you know, now on Amazon Prime, you just got to wait like a day or two, but you still got to wait a little bit.

[00:06:18] And it's the excitement, right?

[00:06:19] And then you get the email like, oh, your order is being processed.

[00:06:23] Your order has been delivered and you're outside the house.

[00:06:25] You're all excited to pick it up.

[00:06:27] And I think it's the same thing with the newsletters.

[00:06:29] It can be the same exact information, but you get that feeling of, oh, this is for real.

[00:06:35] That's good.

[00:06:35] Yeah.

[00:06:36] So let us know.

[00:06:37] Like, let us know on social media in the comments, like, which type of newsletter do you like?

[00:06:41] Do you like online?

[00:06:41] Do you like physical?

[00:06:42] Are you subscribed to any free ones?

[00:06:44] Are you subscribed to any paid ones?

[00:06:45] We are subscribed to a couple of free ones.

[00:06:47] We're subscribed to some of the paid ones as well.

[00:06:49] Some of the things that I really like about the newsletters is as soon as you find that one that really resonates with you, it's an amazing source of content because it's filtered by the niche or the things that you're trying to research.

[00:07:05] Right.

[00:07:05] So, for example, we use a lot of those newsletters to grab content, whether that is for the show or to connect with people or to learn about the industry, source ideas.

[00:07:16] We're like, oh, my gosh, this is a great idea that was presented in this way.

[00:07:19] What about we present in a different way?

[00:07:21] So I highly encourage, obviously, if you're listening, you either are publishing right now or you have a business, right?

[00:07:27] You're thinking about publishing.

[00:07:28] You're trying to build those frameworks.

[00:07:29] Go and subscribe to a few of these newsletters, right?

[00:07:32] Consume them.

[00:07:33] Maybe on a weekly basis.

[00:07:35] Be like, okay, Wednesday afternoon is when I check my newsletters.

[00:07:38] For example, Fonzie.

[00:07:39] I feel like it was Sundays that you will go in and read your newsletters.

[00:07:42] I have a very specific email just for newsletters.

[00:07:46] And I try to keep it – that I will say.

[00:07:48] I try to keep it to a minimum instead of signing up for, like, 20 newsletters.

[00:07:53] I'm like, okay, I'm only going to be signing up to five newsletters at a time.

[00:07:56] And then when a new one calls my attention, I kind of, like, give it a test run whether I like it or not.

[00:08:01] And if I really enjoy it, then I have to unsubscribe from something else.

[00:08:05] Just so I, you know, stay sane and don't go crazy with all the amount of information.

[00:08:10] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:08:11] And, you know, I like short ones, right?

[00:08:13] They're ones that they deliver the information in a very accessible way, like bullet points.

[00:08:18] Or they put the links, right?

[00:08:19] They do backlinks and they share the full-on article that could be on a blog, right?

[00:08:25] That could be a sponsored blog.

[00:08:26] So on that side, on the consumer, that's why I like them.

[00:08:29] I also have been very attracted to the idea of developing the Continent Profit newsletter.

[00:08:34] We have talked about this for a long time.

[00:08:37] Whether that's a newsletter, whether that's a magazine, there's still some capacity that we need to build to be able to produce something like that at the moment.

[00:08:45] But, right, the monetization aspect of it is pretty interesting.

[00:08:48] And that's why we're going to be diving in in the next three to four episodes because we're going to receive the breakdown, the roadmap to this that we can use and you can use at home as well to do yours.

[00:09:00] What I would encourage you to do before we publish the next episode, right?

[00:09:05] The first one on the series with our awesome guests that's coming on is to think about whether you want an expert newsletter or more of a news type of way newsletter.

[00:09:16] And what do I mean?

[00:09:17] Those are kind of like the main two type of newsletters that I've noticed most people that we talk to consume.

[00:09:22] And expert newsletters is, again, somebody that is sharing their expertise, somebody that is sharing their opinions around a topic.

[00:09:29] So a lot of the ones that I consume are like that, right?

[00:09:33] And I think, well, Alex or Mosley doesn't have one, but like Taylor Welch, right, from Traffic and Funnels.

[00:09:38] He has a great newsletter based on expertise.

[00:09:41] There's a guy called Cole Schaefer that for me personally, his newsletter is top notch, but he also writes pretty well.

[00:09:50] And it's expert based newsletter.

[00:09:53] But then you have some incredible ones like The Hustle, right, that are news based newsletters or Morning Brew.

[00:10:00] So just think about it.

[00:10:02] Which one would you like to kind of like create?

[00:10:06] So when we start this conversation with our guest, you can take it from there and say, OK, cool.

[00:10:11] I'm going to put pen to paper and I'm actually going to have a plan.

[00:10:14] I'm going to take action.

[00:10:15] Oh, I love it.

[00:10:16] All right.

[00:10:16] So who's coming in the next few episodes?

[00:10:18] His name is Ethan Brooks.

[00:10:19] I'm so excited.

[00:10:20] I had a conversation with him last week.

[00:10:22] And I was like, can we please keep talking?

[00:10:24] Because this is so good.

[00:10:25] But he spent the last two years talking to experts across the industry.

[00:10:28] He's one of the writers for Trends, which is I think at the moment a multimillion.

[00:10:34] So Trends is the paid newsletter from The Hustle.

[00:10:38] That's how it started.

[00:10:39] It started as a paid newsletter from The Hustle with I don't even I don't know if they have millions of subscribers now, but they have a big amount of subscribers.

[00:10:48] And they were actually acquired by HubSpot, which for more than $30 million.

[00:10:54] Just put that out there.

[00:10:56] Yeah, just put it out there.

[00:10:56] So Ethan has taken over the last few years, he's been talking to industry experts, getting answers about the business models, financial numbers, growth strategies, pricing.

[00:11:06] I'm very similar to what we've been doing here at Contents Profit.

[00:11:09] But he basically just shared a complete roadmap to how a 10 million newsletters actually work.

[00:11:15] $10 million newsletter.

[00:11:17] Does that sound juicy enough?

[00:11:19] Juicy.

[00:11:19] So here are some of the things that we're going to be talking about.

[00:11:22] A complete breakdown of the business model.

[00:11:24] A detailed look at the technology, like what do we use?

[00:11:27] What software?

[00:11:28] How do we do these things?

[00:11:29] Plus, you know, a look at what they don't need for publishing these newsletters, right?

[00:11:34] Shining object syndrome alert, right?

[00:11:36] Winning editorial strategies used by The Hustle to go viral on how to write killer content.

[00:11:41] The three keys to subscriber growth.

[00:11:44] How to monetize an audience no matter how small that is.

[00:11:47] We're big fans of that, obviously.

[00:11:50] Included 1,000 person list doing $100,000 a year and more.

[00:11:55] Wow.

[00:11:57] 1K person list that does six figures.

[00:12:00] That is pretty impressive.

[00:12:02] This is better.

[00:12:03] You want to hear it?

[00:12:03] You want to hear this one?

[00:12:04] Yeah, tell me.

[00:12:05] A 5,000 person list doing...

[00:12:09] Drumroll please.

[00:12:09] 10 million.

[00:12:11] 2 million.

[00:12:12] It's still solid.

[00:12:13] Oh yeah, that was very solid.

[00:12:14] You went crazy over there.

[00:12:16] You went crazy.

[00:12:16] Wow, that's insane.

[00:12:17] That's awesome.

[00:12:18] Anyway, so here's the cool thing.

[00:12:19] We're going to do a live.

[00:12:20] I think we're scheduled for about 90 minutes.

[00:12:22] So if you want to catch the behind the scenes and find out the full conversation, you can

[00:12:26] join it on Wednesday.

[00:12:28] If you cannot join the live on Wednesday at noon, you can listen to the next episodes.

[00:12:33] We're going to break it down to three or four episodes so we can get all the full story

[00:12:36] and all the strategies.

[00:12:37] But they are bringing an amazing gift for all the Contents Profit listeners.

[00:12:42] So you want to be there.

[00:12:44] Absolutely.

[00:12:44] And if you're listening to this after the fact, after we went live, just make sure you

[00:12:49] queue the next episode and keep listening.

[00:12:52] More importantly, keep taking action and then listen to the next one and the next one.

[00:12:57] And after you're done, make sure you go to the previous episodes of Contents Profit

[00:13:01] and just dive into the goodness.

[00:13:02] Learn all the hashtag golden boulders.

[00:13:05] That's right.

[00:13:06] All right, guys.

[00:13:06] With that said, thank you so much for tuning into the Contents Profit.

[00:13:11] Go ahead and follow the show on your favorite podcasting platform and on social media at

[00:13:15] thisbrosco.

[00:13:16] That is right.

[00:13:17] And if you are extremely excited to learn more about newsletters, make sure you subscribe

[00:13:22] and give us a five star review.

[00:13:24] That's right.

[00:13:24] I think I lost it.

[00:13:25] I don't know what I'll say.

[00:13:26] You got it.

[00:13:27] But it's a good.

[00:13:27] It's my master's.

[00:13:28] It's a stash.

[00:13:29] Yeah.

[00:13:29] All right.

[00:13:30] Bye.

[00:13:30] Bye.

[00:13:31] Bye.