Audacious Introverts: Build a Newsletter

Chenell Basilio is an audacious introvert.

She started publishing her research in a weekly newsletter analyzing the strategies creators with 50k+ subscribers used to grow from 0 to creator fame (in the process, becoming a famous creator herself)

But before newsletters became the 🔥hype for creators, they had an extremely bad reputation.

Companies created newsletters to sell their products to their customers, often at a discounted price (or on Black Friday).

We all deal with our fair share of spam during weekly email box clean-up:

• Become a Millionaire in 7 days

• My small website made me X Millions, you can too !

• Copy my secret formula to the rich life

Why would anyone want to build a Newsletter??

Newsletters are the best audience-building tools

IF you turn the script around: give away value instead of spam and build your audience.

One year ago, I was subscribed to 2 newsletters (one promotional, one to receive my sports center course updates). Up until today I roughly subscribed (and unsubscribed) to 50+. I have studied the best and the worst. And I took notes.

Here is what I learned:

The best newsletters don’t sell; they gift.

In the world of AI, the loudest not always win anymore. But attention is given to people who have a giving mentality.

Gift your stories, failures, and learnings. They will be gold to the people wanting to follow a similar path as you did.

💡Inform: about daily/weekly occurrences in your field.

💡Teach: your audience exclusive ‚How To‘ knowledge.

💡Share: learnings, lessons, a great podcast recommendation.

💡Create: a community of like-minded people.

Newsletters are the modern blogs.

Don’t waste time making your website pretty (procrastination creeps in when you least need it).

Consider cutting to the chase: start writing.

The Newsletter industry is on fire. And AI hasn’t learned the best hacks to write one autonomously yet. Your advantage is your expertise, your unique recommendations, and your learnings. I really hope you reconsider starting from 0 with a blog.

And to give you a head start, here are the 5 things I would absolutely avoid (and the main reasons I unsubscribed from many newsletters):

• Don’t copy other creators’ format 1:1. I unsubscribed from an author’s newsletter because she used exactly the same format as James Clear’s newsletter. Copy is out. Adapting and experimenting are in. Get inspiration for what works and then twist it for you.

• Don’t send me an email only when you want to sell your online course. Yes, it’s part of the deal when you subscribe. But at least bother to nurture your email list with value.

• Don’t add too many links, sections, buttons, events, or things to read. I unsubscribed from one newsletter because I was completely overwhelmed by the content. Keep it simple.

• Don’t write for everyone: build a community of like-minded people. You cannot resonate with everyone and that’s great. I unsubscribed from one creator’s list because I was not vibing with the community. Great content is a must, but not a unique factor. Dare to be different. Different is better than better.

• Don’t get distracted by what Newsletter platform to choose (a painful experience). Later may as well be never. I can recommend 3: Beehiiv, Converkit and Substack. Choose one, get started, and learn on the go. Audacious introverts figure it out 💥

Keep up the audacity,

Laura