When a lot of people talk about hiring, they focus often on skills, culture fit, experience etc.
One thing I think businesses and entrepreneurs should focus more on is adaptability.
beehiiv just crossed $2M MRR
but most founders are still stuck trying to generate their first $100K
to celebrate the milestone I’m going to try something new…
I’m sharing the exact playbook we used in the early days (10 simple tactics)
hope this helps someone:
Lionsgate is holding a screening of ‘THE LONG WALK’ where you need to walk on a treadmill faster than 3MPH for the whole movie
If you stop, you’ll be escorted out of the theater and you can’t watch the rest of the film
substack just rug pulled all of their customers
the creator economy’s promise is taking power from institutions and giving it to individuals
but substack has now become the institution
they're extracting value from creators and trying to lock them into their platform for good
This painter makes $100,000+/month with his newsletter. His process is dead simple:
(This person’s paintings are great, which are important for the rest of this post).
Aside from being a good artist, he’s also a smart marketer.
We started working with him as a client recently, so I got a behind-the-scenes look at his process.
Here’s his $100K/mo newsletter playbook in 5 steps:
(1) Short-form video
He’s really good at short-form video. His posts have gone viral, and he has north of a million Instagram followers.
The format is constant a 10-30-second video showing the process + result. This increases watch time on the video, making it get pushed out further.
(2) DM automation
He automates Instagram DMs. He tells people: “Comment [word] and I’ll send you [lead magnet] when you join my email list.”
In his case, it’s a phone wallpaper of one of his pieces, delivered in the welcome email.
(3) Email
He uses beehiiv to build his email list. At first, all he sent was the occasional sales email. But then, he started a simple weekly newsletter — behind-the-scenes looks, announcements, the philosophy behind his work…
The newsletter is short and straightforward. Sometimes, it’s no longer than 300 words.
(4) Drop strategy
You usually see this with clothing and merch, but he does it with art.
Instead of having all his paintings available at all times, he does limited, one-time drops. Each painting gets a set of high-quality prints, available for only 7 to 48 hours. After that, you can never buy it again.
He sells the prints via Shopify for $100-$200 each, and his average order volume is $200+ (because people buy multiple prints at once).
Each drop brings in $100k-$300k, and he does one probably every other month.
It’s working so well that his prints are now reselling on eBay for 3x their original price, turning them into collector’s items — almost like a Rolex.
(5) Paid ads
Now that we’re working with him, we’re using paid ads to target his Instagram followers (1M+) and turn them into newsletter subscribers (50k+).
Once we double his email audience, we’ll double his sales, because that’s where the vast majority of them come from.
And that’s it.
If you’re reading this and thinking ‘wait, that’s actually pretty simple,’ you’re right.
This isn’t rocket science.
It’s just a combination of:
1. Using social for discovery.
2. Using email for sales.
That’s why you should focus on your newsletter.
Converting people on email is way easier than on social. Personally, I don’t even bother with CTAs to buy on social anymore. The posts never get the same reach or retention.
So build a following on social by posting engaging content.
Convert your followers into subscribers. Then sell them on email.
tired of your email company talking about their logo for 6 months?
disappointed they ship updates slower than LA traffic?
wish the platform didn't look like it was built in the 90s?
don't worry — we @beehiiv are here to help 🤝
In this episode of Media Empires, @future_boye, co-founder of @thefutureparty, a community-based media brand with a daily newsletter reaching 200K subscribers, joins @eriktorenberg to share insights on transitioning from community events to a comprehensive media company, the power of specialized newsletters, and the necessity of diversifying revenue streams.
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Intro
(00:29) Evolution and strategy of The Future Party
(04:35) Navigating the newsletter ecosystem
(08:44) Niche targeting
(10:27) Future aspirations and media diversification
(12:06) Power of events in media growth
(14:47) Sponsors: Beehiiv and Metaview
(16:54) Exploring different mediums
(19:57) Role of events and activations
(24:11) Monetization strategies and subscriber engagement
(27:16) Importance of value creation
(29:10) Wrap
we’re 3 days away from closing out applications for the @beehiiv creator accelerator ⭐️
if you’re a creator or know a creator who wants to start a killer newsletter submit your application before the deadline this friday ‼️
learn and apply here 👇
https://t.co/wfSTK8jndx
paving the way for the next generation of newsletter creators ⭐️
read all about how we’re helping creators take advantage of email here ➡️ https://t.co/wfSTK8jndx
we're co-hosting Newsletter 101 with @cgaunited 🤝
panelists @AviGandhi, @denk_tweets, @future_boye, & @eldenmirz discuss the future of newsletters, their popularity in the creator economy, plus inside tips and tricks for creators
join us Wednesday, May 22 at 12p PST / 3p EST
I love how… normal this setup is (other than the thousands of dollars in storage).
This is way less OP than a lot of creator setups to edit YouTube videos.