5to9: Creating a Paid Newsletter Subscription
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Vision > a single idea
- Validate a vision, not an idea
- ==Don’t get fixated on a single idea. That can hold you back. Know where you want to go.==
Add something different for paying subscribers
- ==Add something different, not just more of the same==
- ==Added Notion database of research materials==
- Added exclusive meetups
- Paying customers keeps you accountable
- Plan ahead to keep the pressure off (guest posts, etc)
Newsletters thrive on the snowball effect
- Took 3 months to get to 100 subscribers
- ==Consistency is what counts, even if you’re not promoting heavily--
- 750+ subscribers —> 42 paid subscribers —> $7.000 annual revenue
- Plugs what is happening for pro subscribers at the top of each newsletter
There's more to newsletters than subscribers, money, and content
- ==Newsletters are like icebergs, and most people only see the tip.==
- Newsletters are not easy
- Consider:
- All the tool choices
- Credibility
- Balancing responsibilities
- Building relationships
- Showing up every week
- Research
- etc.
- ==Newsletters are communities, not just articles==
- They add value by being a community
- ==“Community is really all about connection, so think about how you can create connections between yourself, then also between others.”==
- An online meet up for paying subscribers
- Or just a talk where they can listen and chat on the side
- A community slack/FB/whatever
- A newsletter post like a forum post. Encourage comments and discussion.
- An introduce yourself thread in whatever community platform you’re using
- Ask a question as part of the onboarding flow
- ==“Everything is and feels automated these days, try to be less automated and more human and people will probably respond.”==
Set a personal vision
- ==Rosie’s personal goal: “When someone mentions community building, I want to be that name that comes up”==
- Ask: How does the newsletter further that vision?
Misc
- Uses Substack because Ghost was too fiddly