How to Build and Grow a Newsletter as a Business Model

[leonft]

Hi all,

I've really enjoyed reading through this thread and it's definitely given me some ideas.
One of my main side hustles the last few years has been sneaker reselling and I've gained quite a substantial amount of knowledge on the business model. I was potentially thinking of creating a paid newsletter on the basis of this business, as it's a large, global market and since it's helping people make money if advertised well, I could see it growing.

My main problem is that there are plenty sneaker discord groups which essentially give insights to new releases and have monitors which track when shoes drop etc. So I don't think it would be the best idea to put similar information in a newsletter style, as this kind of information requires your immediate attention.
I've realised, however, that there are almost 0 sneaker newsletters. I might be wrong, but the competition looks incredibly weak for this market. The only newsletters which are running just post about upcoming releases (stuff you can lookup pretty easily).

I want my newsletter to be about sneaker investments. Especially with the volatility in crypto and nfts at the moment, sneakers are becoming a great investment and with my experience in the field I have knowledge on what sneakers go up in time and are worth buying into and what sneakers you should sell.

I have a few issues with it, however.

Is the market for this too niche?
Is my information limited enough to be worth paying for ($5/month to start with)?
Could this be marketed to people who aren't in the sneaker space, but are just looking for a money-making method?

Leo

 

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[Aarni]

Thank you MTF for this captivating thread ! This discussion convinced me to join this forum. And Andy's "Don't lurk" thread convinced to participate

I'm going to give another try at building a business around a newsletter. I've already launched newsletters these past 10 years (and managed several ones for clients). What didn't work out for me was : the lack of consistency (because I changed my interests quite fast) and the trap of "shadow paths" (for example : getting distracted by my IG following).

So I want to start quickly. I thought about naming the newsletter after me. That way I can still explore which topics get traction without losing my energy (in brand names, logo, etc).

The part I can't decide is whether I'll write in English or in French. I have listed pros and cons, but haven't settled it yet. What do you guys think ?

Happy to join the adventure ! I hope I can bring something interesting in this thread !

 

[Andy Black]

Hi all,

I've really enjoyed reading through this thread and it's definitely given me some ideas.
One of my main side hustles the last few years has been sneaker reselling and I've gained quite a substantial amount of knowledge on the business model. I was potentially thinking of creating a paid newsletter on the basis of this business, as it's a large, global market and since it's helping people make money if advertised well, I could see it growing.

My main problem is that there are plenty sneaker discord groups which essentially give insights to new releases and have monitors which track when shoes drop etc. So I don't think it would be the best idea to put similar information in a newsletter style, as this kind of information requires your immediate attention.
I've realised, however, that there are almost 0 sneaker newsletters. I might be wrong, but the competition looks incredibly weak for this market. The only newsletters which are running just post about upcoming releases (stuff you can lookup pretty easily).

I want my newsletter to be about sneaker investments. Especially with the volatility in crypto and nfts at the moment, sneakers are becoming a great investment and with my experience in the field I have knowledge on what sneakers go up in time and are worth buying into and what sneakers you should sell.

I have a few issues with it, however.

Is the market for this too niche?
Is my information limited enough to be worth paying for ($5/month to start with)?
Could this be marketed to people who aren't in the sneaker space, but are just looking for a money-making method?

Leo

If there’s busy Discord groups then there’s people interested. Are any of the groups paid?

 

[leonft]

If there’s busy Discord groups then there’s people interested. Are any of the groups paid?

Yes, almost all are paid. I've been in a few ranging from $30-$70/month and some have over 3k members. They're called "cook" groups

 

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[Andy Black]

Yes, almost all are paid. I've been in a few ranging from $30-$70/month and some have over 3k members. They're called "cook" groups

Your market is the people already spending money to solve the problem your product can solve.

Sounds like there might be plenty of people who’d pay $5/mth or more to get email alerts/news to their inbox instead of getting sucked into a community for hours?

 

[MTF]

Is the market for this too niche?
Is my information limited enough to be worth paying for ($5/month to start with)?
Could this be marketed to people who aren't in the sneaker space, but are just looking for a money-making method?

The industry of alternative investments has been growing rapidly. I think it's niche but it's in a potentially very lucrative market. If your newsletter could help people make more money you could easily charge more than $5/month.

The part I can't decide is whether I'll write in English or in French. I have listed pros and cons, but haven't settled it yet. What do you guys think ?

Depends how much English you use every day. If you mostly write/read in French then I'd write in French. If it's mostly English, then English.

 

[leonft]

Thanks @MTF and @Andy Black , appreciate your advice.
I'm currently deciding whether to use ghost.org or substack for my paid newsletter.
I'm leaning towards ghost, as I can customise a landing page whereas substack looks far more limited with this.

 

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[MTF]

Thanks @MTF and @Andy Black , appreciate your advice.
I'm currently deciding whether to use ghost.org or substack for my paid newsletter.
I'm leaning towards ghost, as I can customise a landing page whereas substack looks far more limited with this.

Long-term both offer very little customization.

 

[leonft]

Long-term both offer very little customization.

Would it be better to create a landing page using squarespace and then use MailCheat(Chimp) or a similar service for the actual newsletter. Or do you think it would be better to just start out with ghost (or substack)?

 

[Andy Black]

Would it be better to create a landing page using squarespace and then use MailCheat(Chimp) or a similar service for the actual newsletter. Or do you think it would be better to just start out with ghost (or substack)?

I tried Substack, Revue, Ghost, MailCheat(Chimp), ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit and others I don’t recall.

Carrd.co is nice for setting up simple landing pages connected to MailCheat(Chimp) (and maybe ConvertKit, I can’t remember).

Personally, I’m using New Zenler which I love for sending emails. It also hosts courses, and can do all the paid membership / subscription stuff.

My thinking is:

My newsletters are better because there’s bonus courses.

My courses are better because there’s a bonus newsletter.

 

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[chazwazzer]

My biggest weakness is finding stuff to write about. My mind goes blank when I try to come up with topics. I've tried to implement systems I found online (including those in Nicolas Cole's book) to no avail.

I'm trying to write about stuff I know quite a lot about.

I don't know if my brain is trying to sabotage me, or if I'm just approaching it from the wrong perspective. Probably a mix of both.

Any ideas?

a content matrix will solve your problem. The basic idea is you have topics you are trying to rank for down the left of a spreadsheet and content types across the top. Set aside two good hours when you are primed for making content and start picking intersections of topics and content types.

*** note ***
I watch this video, they talk about creating content in the context of LinkedIn but I imagine it is a similar tactic for news letters.

*** also note ***
I am new here, if the links are a problem please don't ban me, I have no affiliation with this guy, I thought it might help @Madame Peccato

Video explains it better, the guy did some free training on youtube for teachable and shared the methodology. Here is the official source | youtube link | content matrix template

The YouTube video I linked there is queued up to the timestamp about 33 minutes in so you can skip a bunch of other crap. also here is a picture if you don't want to watch the video segment

hope that helps you a little

 

[MTF]

Would it be better to create a landing page using squarespace and then use MailCheat(Chimp) or a similar service for the actual newsletter. Or do you think it would be better to just start out with ghost (or substack)?

I started with Ghost and ended up hating it because it was impossible to customize it. I now use WordPress + MailerLite and it's a way better option.

 

[Andy Black]

I started with Ghost and ended up hating it because it was impossible to customize it. I now use WordPress + MailerLite and it's a way better option.

What’s the theme you’re using again @MTF?

 

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[MTF]

What’s the theme you’re using again @MTF?

Kadence.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Hi all,

I've really enjoyed reading through this thread and it's definitely given me some ideas.
One of my main side hustles the last few years has been sneaker reselling and I've gained quite a substantial amount of knowledge on the business model. I was potentially thinking of creating a paid newsletter on the basis of this business, as it's a large, global market and since it's helping people make money if advertised well, I could see it growing.

My main problem is that there are plenty sneaker discord groups which essentially give insights to new releases and have monitors which track when shoes drop etc. So I don't think it would be the best idea to put similar information in a newsletter style, as this kind of information requires your immediate attention.
I've realised, however, that there are almost 0 sneaker newsletters. I might be wrong, but the competition looks incredibly weak for this market. The only newsletters which are running just post about upcoming releases (stuff you can lookup pretty easily).

I want my newsletter to be about sneaker investments. Especially with the volatility in crypto and nfts at the moment, sneakers are becoming a great investment and with my experience in the field I have knowledge on what sneakers go up in time and are worth buying into and what sneakers you should sell.

I have a few issues with it, however.

Is the market for this too niche?
Is my information limited enough to be worth paying for ($5/month to start with)?
Could this be marketed to people who aren't in the sneaker space, but are just looking for a money-making method?

Leo

I know nothing about the sneaker space, but it sounds promising as you describe.

 

[MTF]

Finally reached 500 subscribers. I started the newsletter on February 2 so it's been growing slowly.

Granted, I don't pay as much attention to marketing as I should and generally let it grow more organically, particularly now in the summer when I'd rather be outside than work.

 

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[Andy Black]

a content matrix will solve your problem. The basic idea is you have topics you are trying to rank for down the left of a spreadsheet and content types across the top. Set aside two good hours when you are primed for making content and start picking intersections of topics and content types.

*** note ***
I watch this video, they talk about creating content in the context of LinkedIn but I imagine it is a similar tactic for news letters.

*** also note ***
I am new here, if the links are a problem please don't ban me, I have no affiliation with this guy, I thought it might help @Madame Peccato

Video explains it better, the guy did some free training on youtube for teachable and shared the methodology. Here is the official source | youtube link | content matrix template

The YouTube video I linked there is queued up to the timestamp about 33 minutes in so you can skip a bunch of other crap. also here is a picture if you don't want to watch the video segment

hope that helps you a little

View attachment 44169

Thanks for sharing. I'll watch this one evening.

 

[leonft]

I've setup my newsleter and website and looking forward to getting started. I'm pricing it at $5/month.
I need to figure out what advertising methods to use, was thinking contacting other newsletters in the business field for an advertisement and also developing a presence on tiktok and instagram (especially since I would say sneaker reselling is geared towards a younger audience).

 

[MTF]

Roughly 6 months after starting this thread, I'm starting to think that newsletters only make sense for a few big popular niches (finance, news, business, tech) and mostly if you're targeting people over 30-35.

The newsletter format is too obscure today. Particularly if you're targeting younger people who have grown up with social media and only use email for boring stuff (work, transactions, etc.), you'll struggle to make it work.

 

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[leonft]

Roughly 6 months after starting this thread, I'm starting to think that newsletters only make sense for a few big popular niches (finance, news, business, tech) and mostly if you're targeting people over 30-35.

The newsletter format is too obscure today. Particularly if you're targeting younger people who have grown up with social media and only use email for boring stuff (work, transactions, etc.), you'll struggle to make it work.

I agree with this unless you have a paid newsletter. Any age group is going to check their email if they've actually gone and paid for the newsletter.
I doubt there are many people who are going to pay for a newsletter, but not actually read it.

 

[MTF]

I agree with this unless you have a paid newsletter. Any age group is going to check their email if they've actually gone and paid for the newsletter.
I doubt there are many people who are going to pay for a newsletter, but not actually read it.

Even if they don't read it, who cares. They're paying anyway.

 

[Andy Black]

Smart:

• The Saturday Solopreneur | Turn Social Media Impressions Into Dollars

 

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[Andy Black]

Roughly 6 months after starting this thread, I'm starting to think that newsletters only make sense for a few big popular niches (finance, news, business, tech) and mostly if you're targeting people over 30-35.

The newsletter format is too obscure today. Particularly if you're targeting younger people who have grown up with social media and only use email for boring stuff (work, transactions, etc.), you'll struggle to make it work.

Do you mean emails or nicely formatted “newsletters”?

 

[MTF]

Do you mean emails or nicely formatted “newsletters”?

Newsletters first and foremost but also emails. I tested some social media recently and was surprised how people preferred to use DMs on Instagram instead of email. Made me feel like an old man as I prefer email.

Smart:

• The Saturday Solopreneur | Turn Social Media Impressions Into Dollars

What's so smart about it? Reusing content?

 

[alord]

The business model is fantastic (especially under the Control perspective)

However, I think its main weakness is the low entry barrier, especially when it's something more generalist like Morning Brew. Everyone can create a newsletter these days; the only moat would be building a brand over time.

What do you think would be the best way to differentiate a newsletter in this case?

 

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[Andy Black]

The business model is fantastic (especially under the Control perspective)

However, I think its main weakness is the low entry barrier, especially when it's something more generalist like Morning Brew. Everyone can create a newsletter these days; the only moat would be building a brand over time.

What do you think would be the best way to differentiate a newsletter in this case?

Everyone can create a newsletter, blog, or YouTube channel. Not everyone can grow them though.

I don’t think the barrier to entry is low. Especially if it’s super easy to set something up and get started. That just makes “noise” one of the barriers to entry.

Just my 2c.

 

[maximusharrison]

Would it be better to create a landing page using squarespace and then use MailCheat(Chimp) or a similar service for the actual newsletter. Or do you think it would be better to just start out with ghost (or substack)?

My thought exactly, I would vote for the MailCheat(Chimp) option, for many reasons. Not to mention that I find it user friendly, easy to navigate, and with bunch of options that can make your life easier (a free plan that includes pretty much everything one might need, an option to create a dynamic QR code for your newsletter, reasonable prices for extra features etc.)

 

[alord]

Would it be better to create a landing page using squarespace and then use MailCheat(Chimp) or a similar service for the actual newsletter. Or do you think it would be better to just start out with ghost (or substack)?

I noticed Sendfox (lifetime deal on Appsumo) has a landing page feature integrated, might be useful!

 

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[alord]

Everyone can create a newsletter, blog, or YouTube channel. Not everyone can grow them though.

I don’t think the barrier to entry is low. Especially if it’s super easy to set something up and get started. That just makes “noise” one of the barriers to entry.

Just my 2c.

Interesting point, I tend to agree but differently from a blog (where you can always improve upon other similar blog posts around that topic by making them more throughout or better written) with a B2C newsletter like Morning Brew it's harder to improve on content because the daily news to report are the same for everyone... Yeah there is room for improvement, but I don't think it's so much.

Still, I do think there's a lot of opportunity there, I'm just curious to hear other opinions around how to differentiate and avoid new entrants from taking market share

 

[Andy Black]

I'm just curious to hear other opinions around how to differentiate and avoid new entrants from taking market share

You can differentiate by giving your take, opinions, and stories.

I noticed Sendfox (lifetime deal on Appsumo) has a landing page feature integrated, might be useful!

Carrd.Co plus MailCheat(Chimp) is fine to start with. So is Substack or Revue. People have made it work with any of the above.