The Easiest $200K Business to Start Today

Happy Thursday!

In case you forgot, I’m that guy (@thekoerneroffice) that you probably found in a short form video talking about random business ideas.

Who am I? I’m Chris Koerner: Dad of 4, husband of 16 years and proud Texan. I’ve started 75+ business (3 worth over $10m) and give away all of my learnings for free in a once/week email. No fluff, all tactics!

You’re getting this email because I gave you a free business plan and toolkit («-bookmark this!)

Let’s get to it, shall we?

A year and a half ago, this guy from Canada named Jas called into my podcast with a business idea. I gave him some advice on launching a local newsletter. He took that advice and ran with it.

Just 17 months later, he has built a $200K business with his Winnipeg Digest newsletter. A city with a population of 800,000.

If you want to watch us dive into this cash machine in more detail, or listen as audio, here are the Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube links.

This is a reminder of what happens when you actually execute on research… instead of just collecting it. So keep reading. Because this newsletter will explain exactly how you do just that.

Why Local Newsletters Are Money Machines

Every aspiring entrepreneur knows having an audience is powerful. But 95% of them won't get in front of a camera because it sucks. (I do it constantly and it still feels weird.)

Here's a loophole: 35,000 people in your city is more powerful than a million TikTok followers worldwide. 

Jas proved this with his local digest. His subscribers are worth $8-9 per year each. His customer acquisition cost? Fifteen cents Canadian. That's a $1 invested returning $40-50 over five years. Show me a stock that does that.

And anyone can do it. You don’t have to reinvent anything. You use AI, you use the tools that are available within the newsletter platform, you copy what works, and then you execute relentlessly. You're not competing with the New York Times. You're replacing the local paper that went out of business three years ago.

First step: find your market sweet spot.

It’ll be a lot easier to choose a city that doesn’t already have multiple newsletters. But if you do choose a larger market- niche down.

If you're in Austin, don't compete with 100 other newsletters. Do "Young Dads in East Austin" or "Freelancers in South Austin." Each audience is massive but infinitely more valuable to specific advertisers.

But an even better play would be to find a surrounding suburb or smaller city around Austin with zero competition.

You want 150,000 to 1 million people. Under 150K, you go county-wide. Over 1 million, you split the city demographically. It’s a science.

Second step: Choose your newsletter platform.

You can create a newsletter using any platform, of course. There are some cool ones out there. But both Jas and I found beehiiv to be the best fit and value.

The first reason to choose beehiiv is their survey feature. (The initial survey Jas sends out gets an 87% completion on an eight-question subscriber survey.)

Ask about city area, homeownership status, household income, and shopping intentions, etc. You can just use the native tools to create this. Super easy.

This data becomes your weapon for knowing what will keep the readers hooked, yes, but even more-so important when pitching sponsors.

When sponsors ask "who reads your newsletter," and you just say "entrepreneurs" or "business owners," you probably just lost the deal. But because of the survey, instead of telling potential sponsors "I have 5,000 subscribers," You can say "I have 3,750 homeowners making over $75K annually who spend $200+ monthly on home improvement."

Another huge reason beehiiv is my go-to: It let’s you run constant polls through beehiiv: (like the one I run at the end of this weekly newsletter) For a local newsletter you can pose the questions: "Best new restaurant?" "Most exciting city project?" This drives engagement through the roof and gives you endless content ideas.

Your Content Strategy:

Make your mantra: “everything except crime and politics”. Write about events, community updates, city bylaws, restaurant guides... And write at a fifth-grade reading level with a conversational tone. Don’t make your reader have to think too hard. Aim for 400-2,600 words per newsletter.

Start weekly. When you realize there's too much content to cover, you move to two or three times weekly.

Use Claude or ChatGPT for first drafts. You start out editing yourself, then hire a couple virtual assistants on Upwork: one for events, one for writing. You spend one hour nightly on final edits. This shouldn’t be a huge time-suck. Find ways to bring this to life without spending your days searching for content.

Don't: Start in a saturated market without first-mover advantage
Don't: Sell one-off sponsorships instead of annual exclusivity deals
Don't: Clean your email list too aggressively
Don't: Focus on national-level content
Don't: Ignore social media (Instagram drives warm leads)

Do: Partner with someone local if you're not from the area
Do: Survey your subscribers immediately after signup
Do: Build relationships with sponsors, not transactions
Do: Plan your vertical integration from day one
Do: Keep content positive and community-focused

Your Revenue System:

-Months 1-6 will be pure growth mode. Aim for 4,000-5,000 new subscribers monthly. You don't sell anything yet.

-Month 6 and beyond, you start selling annual exclusivity deals. Not one-off sponsorships. Make the value irrefutable: If you work with one HVAC company, you don't work with any others all year.

Target event venues. (Jas has one paying $40,000 annually.) Then dentists, where customers are worth $5,000+ lifetime. Then HVAC and plumbing companies with high-ticket, emergency services. Real estate agents work because they're transaction-based and location-dependent.

Your pitch script: "Your average customer is worth $5,000. I just need to get you 4 customers for you to double your return.”

Imagine how possible it would be to get a minimum of 4 out of 35,000 people! You sell them on lifetime value, not impressions.

Data is vital for growth:

The more info you’ve got, the more you can charge. Jas maintains 56-60% open rates. That's unheard of in most niches but the more I looked into it, it is normal for local newsletters because the content is personally relevant.

You know I love data. If you go with beehiiv, it’ll give you detailed analytics on open rates by time and day, click-through rates on specific content, geographic data within your city, and subscriber growth patterns.

It’ll inform how you write, and then you take this data to the sponsors and show them exactly when their ads will be seen, by whom, and how engaged those people are.

The Revenue Multiplication Strategy:

This is where Jas's approach gets brilliant. He doesn't just sell ads to other people's businesses. He uses his newsletter to promote his own ventures.

You build to 35,000 local subscribers, then you have instant access to customers for any new business you want to test. No Facebook ads. No cold outreach. No expensive marketing campaigns. You can run simple giveaways in your newsletter, get hundreds of entries, and turn those into paying customers before your new business even officially launches!

He launched a Christmas lights business using his newsletter for free marketing and booked five jobs at $1,400 each before the season started. One newsletter giveaway, 300 entries, converted multiple paying customers before the season started. He's already booked five jobs at $1,400 average with 85% margins.

Your ads in your own newsletter don't feel like ads. They feel like community support. "Get your service booked before October 7th and save $150. We're extending our season just for newsletter readers."

Already a business owner? Now you’ll have an unfair advantage:

If you already run a local business, and you start a local newsletter, you’re not only double dipping, you're sitting on a goldmine. You understand your community's buying patterns. You know which businesses are thriving and struggling. You have relationships with other business owners who become your first sponsors.

You already have credibility. When "Mike from Mike's Auto Repair" starts a local newsletter, people trust it more than when some random person does it.

You can immediately cross-promote. Your existing customers become your first subscribers. Your newsletter becomes a lead generation machine for your main business while also generating sponsorship revenue.

It’s genius.

Start your local newsletter. Today:

Local media is dying everywhere. People still want local information, but they want it in their inbox, on their phone, written for humans. The opportunity window is closing. First-mover advantage matters. In 18 months, every decent-sized city will have someone doing this.

1. Go to beehiiv and set up your newsletter today. Again, it’s totally free if you’re just getting started. And if you’re transferring over a larger list of emails, you can use my link to automatically get 30% off your first 3 months.

2. Research your local market size and competition. You create your subscriber survey using beehiiv's tools. You write your first three newsletters before you send anything.

3. You start a social media account for your city and begin posting local content. As your social media grows, you build credibility and can funnel more subscribers to your newsletter.

4. Set up Facebook ads targeting local events and activities. You start thinking about what businesses you could launch once you have an audience.

Jas went from zero to multiple six figures in 17 months. You can (and should!) do this in your market. 

Don't wait. Don't overthink it. Just start.

Again, we go into more depth in the actual podcast. If you actually want to do this in your own market, watch or listen as audio! Here are the Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube links.

Also- I'm building a private community called TKOwners for people who want to turn these insights into real businesses. We have a slack channel where we drop insane AI tools and possibilities everyday. If you're serious about staying ahead of this AI revolution, check it out at tkowners.com. It's where the 400+ action-takers hang out.

Let's get after it!

Chris

P.S. I share deep dives on business ideas and complete playbooks three times a week on YouTube and every podcast platform.