If you’re itching to learn about a bankable, stable business model with the potential to rake in thousands after a couple of months. You may be in for a treat — and a game changer — in this post.

1. It made this gentleman right here a million dollars in his first six months. And he started last year in 2022.
2. A 25-year-old whizkid managed to amass a mind-boggling $75 million in just five short years.

Yeah, these are ridiculous amounts of money.

But this business model isn’t about quick greenbacks. It is a very stable endeavor — one that plays it smart in any market, come rain or shine. We’re talking about something that will last a long time.

So, what is this business model I’m talking about here?

Some people call it “email blogging”. But I prefer to call it like we used to back in the day: Newsletters.

When you think of newsletters, what comes to mind? Bland? Not exactly the pinnacle of sophistication? Far from being “sexy”, isn’t that right?

If you thought the above, you would be right in one particular way: Newsletters are “ancient”. They have been around since prehistoric times (well, internet-wise, of course). And as a result, they may not impress.

However, newsletters are still used today. And in much more sophisticated and discreet manners. To such a degree that in the last few years they have seen a resurgence, and most people have not even noticed it!

Admittedly, newsletters aren’t your run-of-the-mill “cash cow”, unstable and uncertain. No! Newsletters are a safe, long-lasting bet you can place in any market condition. Assuming you implement them right.

“Conditions? Implementing them, right? Wait, what? Aren’t newsletters a great addition to any business?” Yes, newsletters are great. But their greatness only shines if they make a good fit for both you and your niche.

There are some unique quirks to this form of marketing that may not make it suitable for everyone…

• Newsletters aren’t implementable in all niches.
• Newsletters aren’t compatible with all business models.

This all means that this activity may not be for you, as there are a few catches to this entire process. HOWEVER, if newsletters happen to be the right fit for you, then you will have found gold!

In this article, I am going to discuss the possibilities offered by newsletters and whether you can know whether newsletters are a good fit for you or not! I will show you how you can start your own newsletter today, even if you have zero audience. Later in the article, I’ll list several ways in which you can monetize newsletters, so you can get started right away.

If you and your niche fit the bill, then I promise you: There’s nothing quite like newsletters.

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Decoding Newsletters

Let’s break it down, then!

So, I’m certain you have a basic idea of what Newsletter are. But in any case, let’s get the definitions out of the way first.

What is a Newsletter

Newsletters are a marketing model that consists of 2 complementary halves:

1. A nifty little list of folks: These are people who will have subscribed to you, whose email address will have been given to you. And they will be all ears, eagerly waiting to hear from you.
2. The email correspondence you will send to them: This is the heart of this marketing model: Sending emails to these people.

“And why…”, you might ask, “…would those people want to hear what I have to say?”

Well, for 1 big reason, mostly:

Obviously, this word of mouth can be spread via social media, and several other hacks I will cover further down the line in this post.

Why you should care about Newsletters

Now you know what a newsletter is. And you’re now wondering why you should care about them. Well, because you can monetize Newsletters, and that’s what you’re here for!

“Yeah, okay, but everyone is on Instagram and Twitter these days!” the disbelievers will say. “How can you even monetize something nobody uses!?”

Consider how people use the internet, for example. Everyone and their dog are knee-deep into the whole Social Media craze nowadays. For some poor souls, it makes up an existential obsession… And now, the corporations behind these behemoths have become institutions in their own right!

But look at Social Media from a business perspective. Is social media really the holy grail for every niche and for every scenario?

Well, the internet is a vast world which predates the social media frenzy. Before the Social-everything trend took off, people had other browsing habits. There were other website types that people would use as their go-to headquarters.

And today, there are also other go-to headquarters besides Social Media. We’re still not at the point of Terminal Social Media.

So, we can agree that marketing on these headquarters-type websites would be a good move…

But here’s another newsflash for you: Turns out that ==one of these headquarters is actually email.==

If you’re on the hunt for great conversion rates (who isn’t!), your golden ticket could be in none other than good ol’ email newsletters.

In the following chapters, I’m going to describe in a bit more detail why newsletters – and email marketing – have a lot of potential. And how and why this form of marketing has seen a resurgence recently.

Email is a staple in most people’s routine

One of the first things people check when they wake up is their phone.

Often to turn off the snooze button… but they will eventually also check other things on their phone. Those “other things” may be Social Media, YouTube, some DMs they may have received… These things would be the personal stuff, which people prioritize in their lives.

But throughout the day, people will check other items. Remember: People are on their phones all day, and as such, they will have developed a few browsing routines. These routines will include touching base in a few “Internet Headquarters”. And as we’ve seen, email corresponds to one of those headquarters.

There’s a lot of stuff in an email’s inbox. These days, there’s less personal correspondence in one’s inbox, but there’s a lot of one’s interests in there. There’s email from work, college, various organizations and clubs one may be a part of. And there’s also email notifications from authors on SubStack and other and websites. These would be the so-called Newsletters.

People trust their email inboxes

Today, most email services have anti-spam safety mechanisms protecting emails from unwanted correspondence. That is why you cannot “acquire” an email list (via black hat means) and expect the messages you send en masse to hit the target inboxes. Anti-spam software will filter those emails.

The normal emails that do reach inboxes all over the world everyday, however, do so for a few reasons.

• They are normal user-to-user email correspondence that naturally bypasses anti-spam filters…
• Users had already subscribed to that specific email correspondence.

This green light email services attribute to legitimate correspondence mirrors real life. In legitimate correspondence, there exists implied trust between the recipient and the receiver. The people receiving the newsletters in their inbox are thus “warmed up” to the sender.

If you have explicit permission to land messages in someone’s inbox, you also have a VIP spot in their lives.

The people who subscribe to your correspondence do trust and value your message. And they have given you a symbolic badge of trustworthiness.

Newsletter authors have a privileged relationship with their Audience

When you are on someone’s email list, you are a VIP guest at their party. You’ll have a golden ticket because they’ve given you their blessing to land in their inbox.

Most people treat their email inbox similarly to the way they treat their real mailbox:

• Most people are not going to let just about anyone have easy access to their mailbox.
• Only their best buddies could ever get to check their mail for them (if someone was very sick, for example).
• Most people are not going to hand their real mailbox address to everyone who asks for it.

An email is not too different from a real mailbox. You’re not going to give your email password to some literally-who. Likewise, you’re not going to subscribe to every dubious opt-in you see online.

A general rule of thumb is that people hate spam in their inbox. Likewise, they’ll subscribe only to stuff they consider essential.

Whoever manages to become a resident in one’s inbox, will have a VIP placement in that person’s life.

… And because of how newsletters have a VIP placement in people’s lives, ==under the right circumstances, they can actually outperform Social Media!==

This superior performance of Newsletters is illustrated perfectly when we take a closer look at their conversion rates…

• Conversions: In the context of Social Media and Internet Marketing, a conversion corresponds to the act of having a user take a specific desired action that is beneficial to your business. That action could be buying a product or leaving a lead (like an email).
• Conversion Rates: The Conversion Rate corresponds to the number of conversions divided by the number of visitors to your Website or Social Media.

Let me hit you with a few cool facts about that. A while ago, the consulting firm McKinsey dished out a peculiar study:

• They found that newsletters pull in 40 times more customers than your run-of-the-mill social media platforms.
• Newsletters strutted their stuff with 174% more conversions compared to Facebook and Instagram.

Amazing numbers, right? But that’s not all. According to that study, by sending an email, many more people will see your message. And sending that same message via Social Media brings inferior results.

The numbers do not lie:

• When you toss a post onto Facebook, you’re lucky if it winks at 6% of your audience…
• But when you shoot out an email newsletter, you’re looking at an average open rate of around 25%!

Now, let us let the math do the talking, shall we?

• 10,000 email subscribers: Your email would reach a solid 2,500 peeps.
• 10,000 loyal Facebook followers: Your Facebook post would reach 600 people.

According to this, your Facebook post might as well be whispering in the wind, hitting 600 folks on a good day. While an email would reach more than 4 times that number of people!

Obviously, there’s an entire art to monetizing Newsletters. Something which we will discuss further down the line in this post.

Newsletters have no startup costs

Newsletters are absolutely free to start.

If you start a YouTube channel, you will need:

• Camera
• Lighting setup
• Hard Drives
• A beefy PC

But if you’re to start a newsletter, you need nothing of this. All you need is the device you’re using to access the internet. Heck, if you were very desperate and tight on budget, you could make do with the smartphone you already have. Just get onto Google Docs and type away the content you’re going to put on the Newsletter.

And what’s more, you’re not going to lose money doing a newsletter.

Because of this, Newsletters are easy to scale for those of us starting out. And even moreso if investing in equipment or technological infrastructure is an impossibility.

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So, now we know that kickstarting a Newsletter requires no money whatsoever.

But there’s even more things you can do without: You also do NOT need much effort to start, either.

We could also refer to this effortless start as frictionless. There’s just not much resistance. If you want to start a newsletter you can do so right now. Sure, chances are you will not see money tomorrow straight away. But still, you can start working towards the end goal (of making money) straight away.

Starting a TikTok or YouTube channel is hard. And there’s quite a bit of obstacles one will have to jump over:

• Some people are shy in front of the camera.
• There’s a lot of body language and facial expressions to fine tune.
• You have to write the script. And do so while trying to maintain a conversational tone.
• You have to shoot the video; manage the room lighting and audio setup.
• You have to edit the video afterward. Do reshoots of some parts. Add special effects.

It’s a lot of work. It’s a big commitment.

With a newsletter, there’s only one step: Writing.

And while there’s some time and energy to spend in writing, it is a much more focused activity. Whether it is on Social Media (via posts; to put your name on the map) or on your Newsletter proper, you can start writing today.

With Newsletters, you ultimately “own” your audience

And number three, you “own” your audience.

And this is huge. Whether you’re grinding it out on YouTube, swaying to the TikTok beat, or striking poses on Instagram: It doesn’t matter. You’re basically building your digital empire on borrowed land.

Yep, it’s like you’ve rented a castle, but you don’t even own the keys to the kingdom. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got one million or ten million subscribers.

And here’s another thing to keep in mind: What’s hot today might just be old news tomorrow. Social Media websites come and go. Remember MySpace? Snapchat? Heck, who knows what’ll go down with TikTok down the line? And you know what else is a yearly tradition? The “email-is-dead” choir singing their tune.

Every year, those platforms we pour our blood, sweat and tears into, make our lives more difficult. They just keep build walls between creators and followers.

And get this: Now they’re even making us pay (yeah, ads!) to reach our very own audience. Crazy, right? When you’re playing in someone else’s sandbox, they get to make the rules.

We must also be mindful that these platforms ultimately own our business. It’s their turf.

They can demonetize, shadowban and even ban you at their own for whatever reason. Whatever they feel is convenient for them, can be retroactively transformed into a rule. And in the age of big profile “cancels”, this is something to keep in mind and actually take very seriously. On these platforms, your entire livelihood can be taken away from you overnight.

Now, picture this: You and your very own newsletter.

You own the whole shebang! It’s like having insurance for a rainy day in case something funky happens to the social media world. It’s your safety net; your ace in the hole; the last bastion of total and complete control you have.

Your kingdom; your turf; your rules.

Ultimately, a newsletter is a treasure trove waiting to be mined in a million different ways. Like a good website, it’s an asset with a world of monetizing potential!

So, how to Make Money with Newsletters?

Now we’re at the juicy part: How do you make money from newsletters?

The approach to making money with newsletters is multilayered. You cannot just create a Newsletter today, and expect great results (subscribers and/or money) tomorrow.

This is a process that can be tackled from different angles, but things can be summarized in the following 2 parts:

1. Grow an Audience: A successful Newsletter will need time to brew. You may need to put your name on the map before deploying the actual newsletter.
2. Know how to communicate with that audience: When the newsletter is deployed, you cannot just send low-quality emails and expect success. People aren’t going to let go of their hard-earned money and subscribe to every affiliate partner you send their way.

In the next 2 chapters, we’re going to look into each of these 2 halves of newsletter monetization.

Start by Growing an Audience

Now I know what you’re thinking. “I don’t have any audience, how do I even start?”

Well, most people have social media. And this is a great advantage: We have a conduit with which to reach out to the masses.

I’m going to list a few ways in which you can create some “buzz” around your name online, but these are not fully featured and ready-to-implement “methods”. You will have to amplify these ideas, explore unconventional solutions, and bring your own twists depending on your niche and website.

Whatever the case, you can use this buzz both to create a name for yourself before launching the newsletter, and get more subscribers once the newsletter is launched.

It’s all a matter of putting your name (or your alias) on the map. The more people know you, the more chances you have of getting subscribers.

Facebook

Once you do that, another great way is by going to Facebook groups. So if you’re in the parenting niche, you can search for parenting in Facebook and you can check if there’s any audience for the topic that you want to write about.

Instagram

Instagram has recently incorporated “reels” – which is basically mobile-first video content attempting to compete against the likes of TikTok – and there’s an opportunity here. As we’ve seen in %% in here we will link one of our Instagram methods… %%

So once you find these groups, you can join them, you can provide some value and eventually get the audience to your newsletter.

Remember to bring value first and people will naturally follow you.

Twitter

Twitter is another great way to grow a following for a newsletter. However, it has many peculiarities, namely the chaotic nature of it.

Monetize the Audience

Newsletters can be monetized by including relevant links to products, services, and other places of interest you’re affiliated with, which will pay for the attention you bring in to them.

• Every new newsletter you send to your subscribers can mean a sweet payday for you.
• Each payday will be sweeter that all the more people are in your subscriber list…

1. Brand Sponsorships

Alright, folks, let’s dive right into the nitty-gritty. Number 1 on the money-making list: Brand Sponsorships.

This is an easy one to conceptualize: Once you’ve got a solid crew of subscribers, you can start flexing those negotiation muscles and reach out to brands for some sponsorship deals.

And here’s the real deal, I’ve got this acquaintance on Twitter who’s all about gardening and terrariums. He runs a newsletter, and he’s got 50,000 subscribers in his green-loving club.

Well, 50k subscribers isn’t all that impressive for, say, YouTube or Facebook standards, right? At least talking from a monetary standpoint, most people would not think of huge amounts of money when hearing about those numbers. But brace yourself for this one: He’s raking in between $3,000 and $5,000 for each email that struts a brand’s stuff. Yeah, per email!

And since he’s sending out newsletters every week, that’s four times a month. Quick math, folks, that’s a solid $12,000 to $20,000, just from brand sponsorships.

And the icing on the cake? Once you get the ball rolling, these brands will function like a recurring gig. Which means you could be cashing in every single week or month.

That’s some predictability we could get behind!

2. Affiliate Marketing

Alright, buckle up, because we’re not through yet. Here’s another ace in the newsletter-monetization playbook: Affiliate Marketing.

Imagine this: you’re the proud owner of a newsletter all about our furry canine friends. Well, you can sprinkle those affiliate links like confetti in your newsletter, and every time someone gives them a click and makes a purchase, cha-ching! You’re counting those sweet commissions.

You cannot just fill each email you’re about to send with links and call it a day. People would just unsubscribe from you in droves, and you’d be back to square one. You need to avoid this, and you’ll do that by being smart with your affiliate link efforts: Use these links very sparingly, and only promote high-quality content, which you know it is of interest to your subscribers.

You would rather not underestimate the power of Affiliate Marketing. Let’s say you’re deep into the gardening scene. And someone goes all out and splurges on a fancy lawn mower through your link. Those commissions, my pals, can stack up quicker than a house of cards in a hurricane!

3. Ad Networks

And another way you can monetize is by running an ad network on your newsletter. So if you go to any cooking blog, you’ll probably see that these websites are covered with ads. Well, did you know that you can run the same types of ads as well on your newsletters?

Apps like {Beehive} have started to integrate this on the system. Therefore, if you use them to send your newsletters, you have access to these tools as well.

4. Premium Newsletter

And another way to line those pockets is by rolling out a Premium Newsletter.

The way this is usually done is by starting with a “warm-up”; a freebie newsletter. And once you’ve got your subscribers hooked, you unleash the premium version.

It might seem a bit convoluted, but it isn’t rocket science. These “tiered” newsletters are actually pretty common in investment niches.

Confused? Let’s say you’re known as an amateur Markets Analyst of sorts. And you also have a decent track record predicting market movements, among your followers. For that reason, you have people who are eager to know more. Some may be even willing to pay for privileged early access to your insights. After all, both time and information ARE money. So you decide to go with the flow… And eventually, you have folks shelling out around 15 to 20 bucks a month to hop on board your premium newsletter.

What would they get? Well, they could get:

• A backstage pass to your investment portfolio
• Your top picks
• You Buy & Sell positions
• Maybe some private Q&A action.

And guess what? This isn’t just for the investment gurus; you can apply this to many niches. ::So long as you’re dishing out extra value, you can put a price tag on it, and people will pony up!::

So, let’s do some quick math: Say you’ve got a modest 1000 subscribers signing up for your $10-a-month newsletter. Boom! You’re looking at a sweet $10,000 every month. And it’s not just the fact that it is very decent money, but also the fact that — if you play your cards right — those are recurring payments. Which are a gift that will keep on giving!

Collabs

Now once you’ve grown to about 500 subscribers, then you can do something more sophisticated like collaborations. Usually referred to as Collabs.

So this is one of the hacks I use as well to bring massive results. So you can browse websites like SubStack and find other newsletters with similar size as you and basically ask them to do a subscribers swap.

You can simply write an email saying:

“Hey, I have a newsletter with 500 subscribers, and I wonder if you’d like to cross-promote and grow our list together. Here’s what I have in mind to put on yours:

And you can tell me what you want to put on my newsletter.”

You make it stupid simple. And since it’s the win-win for both parties, I can guarantee you that nine out of ten, they’ll say yes. There’s no money involved, there’s no friction. So do this over and over again until you make millions of dollars. All right, so I’m going to give you a bonus tip to get more sign-ups faster. So the trick is you got to give people a reason to subscribe.

Freemium

Nobody wakes up in the morning and say “Oh my god, I can’t wait to subscribe to your email list!” Or “Ooh, email. I want more email!”

Generally, people do not want any more emails. You need to let them know why they should subscribe. So you’re going to have what I call an Irresistible Freemium.

Or as some people call them: “Ethical bribes”.

You’ve got to have an offer that’s so good that people want to join your newsletter and your offer has to contain three things. Number one, it needs to solve a problem. Number two, has to be high value. And number three, it has to have one quick win. So something that should help them achieve something quickly. So for example, if you’re in the travel and points niche, you can probably say something like, how I flew to Japan in business class for $53.

Or if you’re in the parenting niche, you share a quick hack on how to stop your baby from crying in five seconds. Like, who doesn’t want that? And Hermoses said in his book, make your offer so good, people will feel stupid for saying no. All right, I’ll make it super easy for you guys. If you want a guide that gives you examples of the best ethical bribes, you can download it for free down below. You see what I did there?

But seriously, it’s a guide that you can really download for free down below. %% This is yet another thing he is promoting. First it was Beehiive and now it’s this guide. We need to go check it out!!!%% All right, if you guys are interested in a deep dive on ::how to make money with newsletters::, comment down below. And if enough people comment, I’ll make another video, and I’ll teach you how to reach out to brands for sponsorship deals and how to run the business on autopilot. Look, guys, we’re in a war for attention. Once you can get someone’s attention and build a strong community for them, there are millions of ways you can make money. It will blow your mind. So I think you’re crazy for not starting a newsletter.

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What to Write About

People always say: “I don’t know what to write about”. This isn’t surprising, even less so when coming from capable people. When you’re trying to start something new, Impostor Syndrome tends to kick in. The more capable you are, the more aware you’ll be of the inherent complexities of the subjects your writings are delving into… And it all flashes through your head, and you think to yourself: “Me!? I could never do that!”

And I’m here to tell you that YES, you could do that. So long as the niche is right.

Writing is more a

How to Choose a Niche

Alright, let’s dive into the prerequisites.

You can’t dish out run-of-the-mill chatter about the weather and expect folks to throw their email addresses at you like confetti – this is a given. Nope, that is not going to cut it.

You’ve got the freedom to write about whatever tickles your fancy… So long as you abide by 2 primary pre-conditions:

1. You have to go for a niche that lights a fire in your belly. It’s not too different from to picking your favorite ice cream flavor; you already know you love it and that you’re going to enjoy it all the way through.
2. It has to be something that incites inquisitiveness from the reader. Different niches have different vibes. Some topics – and the solutions and answers you provide – are like catnip for inquisitive minds. And that making them more willing to share their email address, and subscribe to your newsletter.

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Requirements to Thrive

Hold your horses, though: Just because you found a passion, that doesn’t mean your newsletter is going to turn into a money-making machine just yet.

Here’s a lowdown on what it takes to rock the Newsletter Business:

• You have to be headstrong about your chosen niche and topics. Consistency is your middle name here. You need to post content frequently.
• Expertise. You betcha. You need to know your stuff inside and out, and have personal investment in it. Bringing added value is a must.
• Show ’em the proof, buddy. It’s not like you need your entire C.V. on full display… But you have to signal you’re an insider that you’ve been in the trenches and know your onions.
• Dish out info that is in high demand. Your words should be a treasure trove of insights you won’t find in a quick Google search. Think unique perspectives, inside scoops, hard-to-find news, and deep thoughts.
• Do you have first-hand experience? Use it to your advantage. Even if you’re not an industry insider, you can still dish out your personal tales. More on this in the following chapter.

“But I don’t have in-depth knowledge about anything….”

But if you really have no idea what to write about, you can even curate from other quality sources and create a newsletter.

For example, this one guy, Sean Puri, gathers crypto news from other sources, and then put them into his newsletter. He called it [Milk Road].

[Milkroad] doesn’t do market predictions, there are no deep dives. It’s just a curation of crypto news, and he delivered it in a fun and casual way. And the way he delivers that curation is like a conversation you’ll have with a friend over a beer.

And he grew his audience from zero to 250,000 in just one year, and he later sold the newsletter for a million dollars. This was after the crypto crash by the way.

Even Mundane Stuff might work!

With all this talk about expertise and newsletters, you might be inclined to believe this form of email marketing can only be done if you’re to talk about highly technical topics. Well, allow me to tell you you’re dead wrong about that.

There’s room in Newsletters for the banal and the mundane. In fact, it is some of these more mundane and banal topics that have the most demand.

Take moms, for example. There are countless newsletters where moms talk about all manners of child-raising hacks, tips, and tricks. They share recipes, ideas for interior decoration, nutrition facts and data about different foods and more. And these are things anyone can research for themselves. But the fact there’s someone with a personal stake on the matter (being an actual mom) gathering all that information, digesting in and delivering it means a lot of value for thousands of different people!

All in all, you do not have to be an expert. You just have to be a curious and diligent person. The consistency will carry you in your journey.

Tools to deliver the Newsletters

All right, now once you’ve picked a topic you want to write about, you’ll have to use a kind of tool that can deliver the newsletters.

You would rather not be writing every week, 52 times a year.

You need to use an automation tool. That way you can batch produce your newsletters and schedule them to be sent every week.

There are 2 tools you should consider for your newsletter:

1. Substack
2. Beehiiv
3. Revue

So if you’re just getting started, I would recommend using [Beehiiv]. I use it personally and it’s so easy to use, and it’s completely free. And it also allows you to sell premium subscriptions.

And it’s also used by the [Milk Road], so the big guys are using it.

You can put ads on your newsletters, and everything I just said earlier you can do with Beehiiv.

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And you can upgrade once you get some traction, you can get the premium plan, which gives you a custom domain, and you can use it without the Beehive branding. So I’m not confident how long the free account will be available for . So just to be safe, just sign up first and think later. It’s free anyway.