Hey,

Today’s issue is special: Ideas to Power Your Future turns 6 months and, as luck would have it, it’s also my birthday.

So instead of the usual analyses of concepts and growth strategies, today we’re taking a deep dive into this very newsletter.

Before we dig in, a quick note: I’ve always felt extra self-indulgent on my birthday and this year is no exception, so I have something to ask of you: if you ever found anything useful in this newsletter, please use your referral link (grab it at the bottom of the email) to share it with your friends or with your enemies if you really, really hate it 😉.

My goal with this issue is to normalize normalcy and to show you that, despite the fact that massive success stories are prevalent in (social) media, they are not the norm. Quite the opposite: they are outliers and their prevalence is a bit toxic.

I’m sure most of you can relate to my story of moderate success. It’s unfiltered and transparent.

I’ll be covering:

  • Ideas to Power Your Future — the origin story
  • Current stats: subscribers, open rate, click rate, and more.
  • Monetization: strategy and results
  • Biggest f*ck-up I made with newsletter growth
  • Smaller f*ck-ups
  • Biggest wins
  • Best/worst channels and tactics for growth
  • Tools I use
  • Plans for the future
  • A gift 🎁 for you

If I failed to cover anything that you’re interested in, it’s probably not intentional. So reply to this email to let me know and I’ll tell you (almost) anything you’re curious about.

Let’s dig in!

Ideas to Power Your Future — the origin story

As most of you know, for the past eight years I’ve been running Idunn, a digital marketing agency focused on content writing and copywriting. I love my work there, but I’ve also been craving a place of my own, with my name on it and no other brand name.

Plus, three years ago I started doing a bit of work in trend analysis and forecasting and fell in love with these fields. They go really well with my 15+ years in marketing and copywriting, so, voilà, a newsletter idea was born.

This is just to give you a bit of context — it will matter later, for the monetization section. I don’t want to bore you with too many details, you can learn more about me here if you’re curious.

I did a soft launch in October (added the link to a few dormant social media profiles and sent it to my agency’s clients who were gracious enough to give me testimonials). I sent the official launch announcement on November 8th last year to a whopping 10 people, so I consider November 8th the official anniversary.

Current state of affairs

A super-fresh screenshot from my ConvertKit account to set the mood:

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A couple of notes here:

  • Up until a week ago, my open rate was MUCH higher and my click rate much lower (see the screenshot below), so I’ve been deluded for a while. ConvertKit recently went through an update and their support department told me it was a cache error. I’m a bit heartbroken over it (I loved a 70%+ OR!) but 53%+ is still way above industry average, so I’ll take it.

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  • My current unsubscribe rate is around 7% and decreasing rapidly (more on this in the f*ck-ups section).

​Psst, my subscribers read this before you did. Want to be the first to see analyses and roadmaps like this one? Subscribe to Ideas to Power Your Future and get them in your inbox every Thursday.

Monthly growth overview

I’d be lying if I told you that I’m happy with the numbers above. I’m not. But I am very happy with the chart below:

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Look at May go and it’s barely the 11th! It shows a sustained uptrend, so I’m clearly doing something right. I’m not worried about the small slump in April: it was one of my toughest months ever. I dealt with a health scare (almost resolved now) and I was unable to do more than the bare minimum.

I haven’t missed any issues here, though, and I’m super proud of that, although typing in bed isn’t much fun.

Now that we know where we’re sitting, let’s look at the financial side of it:

Show me the money: monetizing a newsletter with a tiny audience

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First, a caveat: monetization wasn’t very high on my list of priorities. My main revenue driver is still my agency and I don’t think that will change very soon.

However, I wanted to test things early on, so I already had a digital product when I launched the newsletter. Things went much better than expected in this respect, especially relative to audience size:

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How to read these charts:

  • I don’t like sharing actual numbers, but think high 4 figures/month, neither too impressive, nor too shabby.
  • I put a lot more effort into growing this newsletter than into growing my agency, so the numbers for the latter have taken a bit of a hit.
  • My first sale happened in November. Someone bought my launch email sequence. I didn’t add it here because it’s barely visible on the chart but I still remember that lovely person’s name and I think I always will.
  • I didn’t do any promos in December, so no sales there.
  • I never promoted my agency too much around here or at all on LinkedIn, but I got a couple of new copywriting and content writing clients as well. The charts include that revenue — it felt like the right thing to do because they happened because of the newsletter.
  • April looks rather bleak because of the same health issues I mentioned above. I stopped promoting my 1:1 strategy session and leaned heavier into the email sequence. Since I’m (almost) fully recuperated, that will change soon.
  • The real outlier here is March. It’s when I launched my strategy session and I did so by public request: I already had a couple of clients who wanted to work with me 1:1, so when I launched, they all grabbed a spot very quickly.

Now about that elephant in the room:

Why so few subscribers? AKA my biggest f*ck-up

I did two stupid things but they’re connected to each other, so I’m merging them into one: audience mismatch.

  1. I didn’t create an audience on social media before launching the newsletter because:
  2. I thought the clout I already had was enough.

Boy, was I wrong!

Until November last year, most of my agency’s new clients came through guest posting (writing content on other websites or media outlets in exchange for a byline and one or more links to your website) and a few through word of mouth.

I had great relationships with some editors, so good in fact that they let me shamelessly self-promote in those articles. I thought that I’d get thousands of subscribers with a single article.

*Pauses for laughter*

Got it out of your system? OK, let’s move on

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I got exactly zero subscribers. To add insult to injury, I got clients for my agency from the very articles I wrote to promote this newsletter.

A similar thing happened with Twitter: I have a fairly large audience there (15.8K now, used to be 18K), but I ditched them back in 2020 when my agency got extra busy (everyone wanted MORE content during the pandemic because everyone was online more than usual). Warming them back up is harder than I thought.

I could blame Elon for this (he’s used to it!) but I know it’s mostly my fault. My audience was accustomed to reading about SEO, content writing, and, to a lesser degree, marketing strategy. They didn’t like it when I switched gears — that goes for both Twitter and guest posting.

Be smarter than I was, build the RIGHT audience first, then build the thingie, OK?

Smaller f*ck-ups

I lost quite a few subscribers (hence the 7% unsubscribe rate) because I decided to do a dangerous word play. To promote my launch email sequence, I used a 3-email sequence. One of those emails had this subject line: “[SUBSCRIBER FIRST NAME], I’ve been thinking about you”.

The email body said something about how I created the sequence to be personable and relatable, thinking of you just as you should be thinking about your subscribers. My wordplay was NOT appreciated.

I thought it was fun and quirky, my audience thought it was gauche.Lesson learned!

Also, three emails werea bit much to promote a $15 product.

If you got that email and hated it, I’m sorry! It’s gone now and I’ve lightened up on the promos as well.

Next minor blunder that I can’t seem to shake off is related to social proof. After 15+ years in marketing, I KNOW it is a game-changer. Have you seen how obnoxious the social proof on my sign-up page is?

It works! Since I added it, my conversion rate soared.

Still, 4 times out of 5 when I promote the newsie on social media I forget to add it. I have hundreds of wonderful quotes from amazing people and I forget to use them. I’m working on a better system for this, though
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OK, on to happier things!

My biggest growth drivers

By far, the biggest growth driver for me has been LinkedIn.

At the end November, already disillusioned by my slow start, I wrote a semi-rant on LinkedIn. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing (on a topic that was unrelated to this newsletter), more of a vent than a tactic. The post got semi-viral. It reached 14K+ people when I had an audience of little over 1K, most of whom were former college buddies and work colleagues.

Something clicked and I began taking LinkedIn seriously. Since then, my audience got to 4.6K and most of my subscribers came from that audience. Thank you!

Here’s what works:

  • The best tactic by far is to tease the newsletter topic a day in advance (if only I remembered the social proof as well!)
  • Posting a link to each issue 1-2 days after publishing it. (I want you to have exclusive access to it for a while, so it’s not immediately available online.)
  • Simply having a link to it on my profile. People are curious!

Other significant growth drivers:

  • I’ve picked up roughly 30 subscribers from cross-promos and partnerships with other newsletter creators. This one is a mixed bag: some cross-promos have worked like magic, while others haven’t worked at all, despite their large audience. Still, I’ll be exploring this further.
  • My referral program is fairly new but starting to pick up some steam. Thank you if you already referred a friend! If not, your link is at the bottom of this email (as is the list of prizes you could win — not a raffle, you get them automatically when you refer friends).

I also tried Twitter and Instagram but with modest results. Truth be told, I didn’t give them a fair chance, so I’m not yet nixing them completely.

What I use to manage all this and how much it costs me

  • Ideas to Power Your Future runs on ConvertKit: $59/month but only because I chose the highest plan. There is a free option as well if you want to test it out.
  • I use Sendible for social media management and scheduling. Rarer these days and the subscription is shared with my agency — we use it for client accounts as well: $50/month — half of the monthly price because I share it with the agency (also, I’m grandfathered at this fee because I’ve been using it for 8 years).
  • My website is hosted with Bluehost, super flexible and affordable: roughly $20/month.
  • ​AuthoredUp is my go-to for LinkedIn post formatting — it’s a free solution (for now).

Grand total: $129/month

I saved the best for (close to) last:

My biggest wins in 6 months of running a newsletter

I knew all along.

I knew that it would be hard to get people to read long, in-depth analyses when quick fixes and growth hacks rule the online world. So I half expected a slow growth.

I also expected that the people who do subscribe would be wicked smart, the kind of people who understand that oversimplifying an issue won’t make its complexity go away. It will just lure you into a fake sense of security. I got this right!

My mammoth win is you, the people who read Ideas to Power Your Future. You are incredibly smart and you challenge me every day. I learn so much from and because of you!

Other wins I cherish are:

  • I get replies to every issue of IPF. You take the time to write back, agree with me, disagree with me, suggest new topics, tell me that I helped you get clarity, or that I sparked new ideas. I love every one of these emails, so THANK YOU!
  • Monetization is going much better than expected. If the audience I previously built wasn’t transferable, the credibility was.
  • I get new subscribers every single day now, even when I don’t actively promote the newsletter. This is a sign of healthy growth.
  • Web traffic is also increasing and, since January, I’ve had hits every single day. Plus, I get a lot more traffic sources, including organic, even though I never focused on SEO. Another sign of healthy growth.

What’s next?

I’ve built a bit of momentum in the last month and I plan to keep it going. Here’s how:

  • LinkedIn has done right by me but it’s time I gave another social media network some more attention. I’m leaning towards Twitter, although… do you happen to have a Bluesky invite code you’d like to share with me?
  • I’ll be leaning into newsletter partnerships more heavily.
  • ​ConvertKit has recently launched The Creator Network (still in beta), where you can recommend other creators. I’ve started building that network as well. No growth yet, but it’s still very early. By the way, if you have newsletter on ConvertKit, let me know! I’d love to recommend you.
  • I’ve never done paid ads but I’m not opposed to them. I know most creators say organic growth is a badge of honor — I get that, it’s how I built my agency. But I may give ads a shot in the last quarter of 2023. I don’t want to do PPC, though. I want to pay to be featured in other newsletters — that’s why I’m currently testing this through partnerships.
  • I’m thinking about creating a new lead magnet. The current one got a lot of good feedback but I think it could be better. However, I’m a bit wary about getting people to subscribe just for the lead magnet and then immediately unsubscribe, so the jury’s still out on that.
  • As for monetization, I’ll keep the email sequence and the 1:1 strategy session and I’ll add two new products by the end of the year. One of them has been suggested by a subscriber here, who’s also quickly become a dear friend, so it will happen soon-ish.
  • I’m also thinking about launching courses/digital products together with other fellow creators but nothing’s set in stone yet.

My conservative goal for this year is to get to $2k subscribers. Do you think I’ll make it?

My gift to you

On my birthday, I like to make gifts, not just receive them. Since my birthday coincides with Ideas to Power Your Future’s anniversary, I thought it fitting to offer you the first discounts ever. I never offered them before and I won’t be doing it for at least another six months.

So, for 24 hours only you can grab both my products with a 25% discount:

  • ​The 1:1 strategy session with me is now $262.5 instead of $350. Please use this link to get the discount! [Link available to subscribers only]​
  • ​The launch email sequence is now $11.24 instead of $14.99. Please use this link to get the discount! [Link available to subscribers only]​​

The discount is valid for 24 hours only and it’s only available to you. It won’t be published anywhere else outside of this list.

Happy shopping!

What you can learn from my mistakes and my wins

Six months in, the best piece of advice I can offer you is to build an audience first. Not just so you can have more people to write to but also to gain some insights into what products to build.

My unfair advantage in all of this is my marketing background. I may have screwed the pooch with my initial assumption of transferability but I was able to pivot quickly and to build a fairly large audience within less than 6 months.

Without this background, you will need to spend more time studying audience patterns, market demand, and trends and waves you can ride. Or hire someone to guide you through all this.

Nonetheless, you surely have your own unfair advantage. Lean in

Lastly, please keep in mind that this is a long game, just like any other business. I said this in a previous issue: think years, not months when you plan. To that end, make sure you have a war chest or a plan B. I have my agency and I don’t plan to ever shut it down, so I never depended on the revenue I got from my newsletter.

There are exactly zero growth hacks that can replace careful planning and grit. I know the hardest thing is to keep at it when everything seems stacked against you but in the end, this is the biggest success driver I know.

That’s it from me today. I hope you enjoyed this meta issue. Next week, we’ll resume our regular topics.​
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Here to make you think,

Adriana

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Adriana’s Picks

  1. I’ve recently discovered Minimalist Hustler, a daily newsletter jam-packed with resources for building a side hustle. Join 2100+ online hustlers in receiving a daily email with 3 quick & valuable resources that will help you make more money online.
  2. These are the 20 leaders shaping the creator economy, according to Rolling Stone. I don’t think it’s a definitive list, if you catch my drift, but it’s a very good start.
  3. ​A radio station that only plays AI-generated music.

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Need me in your corner? There are three ways I can help you:

  1. Get my product launch email templates that sell: 5+1 emails you can send to your list in 45 seconds.
  2. Book a 1:1 strategy session with me. Let’s unlock your growth in 60 mins!
  3. Get content or copy that converts AND ranks. My digital marketing agency is here.

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