newsletter profits

Happy Wednesday!

It’s been a couple weeks! Sorry to keep you waiting, but you’re gonna like this one.

I write this from my desk after a wild conversation that literally changed how I think about newsletters forever. I spent an hour talking with Tyler Denk, the founder of Beehiiv, and my mind is still spinning from the gold we uncovered.

Before I get into that, I am going to have a live call next week where I share my screen and show all the cool ideas and growth hacks I’m working on lately that I never post about. Join us here.

Look, I always thought newsletters were simple: grow a massive list, sell some ads, and boom, you've got a business. Basic math, right? But what I discovered is there's an entire universe of newsletter operators making crazy money with smaller audiences using tactics nobody's talking about.

(And yes, one guy literally parlayed his local newsletter into a luxury bathroom trailer rental business that's printing cash (inspired from this tweet). More on that insanity in a bit.)

Small Lists, Big Money

Here's what blew my mind first: Tyler told me about newsletter operators with just 10,000-15,000 subscribers who are bringing in more revenue than newsletters 10X their size.

Let that sink in.

And before you get discouraged, it does not take or cost much to acquire 10-15k newsletter subscribers.

While everyone's obsessed with hitting 100K subscribers like Morning Brew or The Hustle, there are smart operators quietly making bank with hyper-focused, smaller audiences.

Example: Design Buddies. It's a design community newsletter with maybe 15,000 subscribers total. But instead of just selling ads, they run design cohorts four times a year. These two-week programs bring in six-figure revenue. They also make serious cash connecting companies with designers from their community, charging $20,000-$30,000 placement fees.

From one small newsletter. That's it.

The playbook is clear: niche down hard on a specific customer profile, understand their exact needs, and create multiple revenue streams beyond just sponsorships.

Beyond Ads: The Money Is Elsewhere

We've been thinking about newsletters all wrong. The ads are just the beginning. The real money is hiding in plain sight.

Tyler shared another mind-blowing example: a guy with a 100,000 subscriber YouTube channel about surfing. Instead of just plastering ads everywhere, someone advised him to host in-person surf schools twice a year. Fifty people, $5,000 each.

That's $250,000-$500,000 annually from just TWO EVENTS.

Think about it. When people consume your content regularly, they build trust with you. They hear your voice, see your face, read your words. That trust makes selling high-ticket items surprisingly easy.

The pattern is clear:

1. Build an audience around a specific interest

2. Understand their problems deeply

3. Create high-value solutions they can't get elsewhere

4. Price accordingly

This works whether you're teaching design, sharing surf tips, or covering local news. The audience trusts you, which means they'll pay for your premium offerings.

Starting From Zero (The Smart Way)

Most of you reading this don't have a newsletter yet. So how do you get started? Here's the tactical breakdown:

First, you don't need $50,000 in ad spend. You need passion and expertise in your chosen area. If you're not genuinely into the topic, stop now. It won't work.

If you already exist in a community (whether it's designers, surfers, or real estate investors), start there. Get your first 50-75 subscribers from friends and colleagues. If your content genuinely provides value, they'll share it.

But here's the growth hack that blew my mind: co-registration.

Co registration lets newsletter operators recommend other newsletters. If your subscriber signs up for a recommended newsletter, you get paid about $2 per subscriber. This means if you're spending $2 to acquire a subscriber through Facebook ads, but they sign up for one of your recommended newsletters, you've already broken even.

Get them to sign up for two, and you're actually MAKING money while growing your list. That's a self-funding growth machine.

But the key lesson: not all subscribers are created equal. Subscribers from other newsletters consistently outperform those from other acquisition channels. This makes perfect sense – they're already in the habit of opening and reading newsletters.

The Local Newsletter Gold Rush

Now this is where it gets really interesting. Tyler said every time he logged onto Twitter in December/January, he saw 10 new local newsletters popping up – all crushing it with business models that make perfect sense.

Here's why local newsletters are such a gold mine:

1. Cheaper acquisition: You can acquire local subscribers for about 1/3 the cost of other niches (50 cents vs. $1.50+)

2. Higher ad rates: Local businesses will pay premium rates to reach confirmed local residents

3. Clear value proposition: "What's happening in your community" is an easy sell to both readers and advertisers

4. Limited competition: With hundreds of thousands of cities and neighborhoods, there's room for everyone

The tactics get even more creative. You could use direct mail to jumpstart growth – sending postcards to every household in target zip codes. Or partner with local pizza places to hand out cards promoting your newsletter in exchange for featuring them.

And the monetization is straightforward: local businesses are desperate to reach local customers. You're providing exactly that.

Which brings me to the craziest pivot I've ever heard...

The Bathroom Trailer Mastermind

I tweeted about luxury bathroom rentals as a business idea a while back and it got a ton of views. Well, a guy named Ryan who ran a newsletter called Naptown Scoop in Annapolis read it and thought, "That's amazing. I could find events and people to rent these out through my newsletter."

So what did he do? Bought a $20,000 luxury bathroom trailer and started renting it out for weddings and events. Almost ALL his bookings came through his newsletter. Isn’t that insane?

Let that sink in. A TEXT EMAIL about local Annapolis news turned into a physical business renting fancy bathrooms. And it worked.

This is the kind of crazy opportunity that exists when you have a direct line to a specific audience. The newsletter isn't the end goal – it's the channel that opens up infinite possibilities.

Corporate Email List = Gold Mine

Here's another opportunity hiding in plain sight: businesses are sitting on hundreds of thousands of emails they only use for sending occasional promotions.

Tyler called it perfectly: "These businesses are sitting on a gold mine."

Imagine: a company with 150,000 customer emails could transform that into a content-focused daily newsletter. Beyond just sending offers, they could create genuine value around related topics. For a Texas snack company, maybe it's Texas food recipes or local culture.

At a decent CPM in the business niche, that could be a $60,000/month revenue stream totally separate from their core business.

The opportunity works both ways: either businesses can do this themselves, or smart operators (like you?) could approach companies and offer to turn their dormant email lists into new revenue streams.

The 80/20 Rule of Killer Referral Programs

Finally, let's talk referrals. After running one of the most successful referral programs ever at Morning Brew, Tyler shared the simplest but most powerful insight:

Focus on getting people from zero to ONE referral.

That's it. The barrier to get someone to refer just one person is dramatically lower than getting them to refer five or ten. Yet most referral programs put all the good rewards at higher tiers that few people ever reach.

Morning Brew succeeded because of genuine fandom – people loved the brand enough to share it. But for everyone else, the key is making that first referral incredibly easy and immediately rewarding.

Example: Milk Road (a crypto newsletter) offered exclusive market predictions from 15 experts if you referred just one person. The barrier was low, the reward was valuable and instant, and it cost them nothing to deliver (just a PDF).

The Game Has Changed

Look, newsletters aren't just about building audience and selling ads anymore. The smartest operators are creating multi-channel businesses with their newsletter as just the trust-building engine.

Whether it's high-ticket cohorts, recruiting fees, in-person events, physical products, or even luxury bathroom trailers – the possibilities are endless once you have an engaged, trusting audience.

The key ingredients remain the same:

1. Genuine expertise and passion for your topic

2. Consistent value delivery to your audience

3. Deep understanding of their specific needs

4. Multiple monetization channels beyond just ads

The newsletter business is evolving fast, but one thing remains constant: quality content that genuinely helps people will always win. All the growth hacks in the world won't save a newsletter that doesn't provide real value.

So what newsletter could YOU start? What's the weird, specific niche where you have genuine expertise? What high-ticket offering could you eventually create once you've built trust?

Let's get after it,

Chris

P.S. If you're thinking about starting a newsletter on Beehiiv, Tyler gave me this affiliate link that gets you 20% off your first three months. I'll get a small kickback too. No pressure – but if you're going that route anyway, might as well save some cash. I’ve used every email platform known to man and Beehiiv is by far the best I’ve ever used. That’s why I use it for this newsletter and have since (almost) day 1!

Chris

You can watch/listen to the actual interview with my wife here: YouTube - Apple Podcasts - Spotify - Other Podcasts

PS: A very small % of my newsletter subscribers also watch/listen to my podcast. Sometimes I take my best performing podcasts and convert them to newsletters, like this one.

I don’t want my overlapping subscribers to get content that’s stale to them, so with 1 click below you can tell me what camp you’re in. If you consume both, I’ll try and send you only fresh stuff every week.