Ethan Brooks @damn_ethan Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Ethan Brooks

@damn_ethan

6,398

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43

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497

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2,402

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I write a weekly newsletter for business owners in Austin, TX | Prev. stories + community @HamptonFounders and @TheHustle .

Austin, TX

https://t.co/wick2xHGdN

Joined March 2019

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

1/ How 7-Figure Newsletters Work Stoked to get back to writing about newsletters here. For easy reference, you can find all the threads below (will keep this updated). Based on months of dedicated research and dozens of interviews with operators across the industry. Enjoy!

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

"How 7-Figure Newsletters Make Money" For the last few weeks, I've been doing this talk, based on 6+ months of dedicated research. Time to see if it translates well to Twitter. For your viewing pleasure...🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

The term "Community" is thrown around a lot today, especially in creator circles. Let's be clear about one thing -- if you're not fostering connections between your readers, you don't have a community, you have an audience.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

This is really cool... In the image below, a figure stands beneath a roof. The roof is supported by just 1 corner. The problem: How would you strengthen the roof so you could rest a brick on top of it? To make it a little more interesting, assume each brick you add costs $0.10

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Katy Huff sold millions of dollars in ads at The Hustle. During several interviews together, she unpacked 3 key parts to the ad sale process: 🔍 Lead Prospecting 📣 Initial Outreach ☎️ Sales Calls So much expertise. Maybe too much for tweets. But here are some key insights..🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

. @alexgarcia_atx is a growth wizard. Examples: 🐦 Twitter from ~2k to 40k in <2months ✉️ Personal newsletter from 0-7k w/ 44% open 🔉 Helped My First Million hit Top 12 on Apple Podcasts Last night we co-hosted an event on growing newsletters. Some notes I took from him.. 🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

One of the coolest tools for finding your audience. It shows a mind-map of related subreddits to help you find new niches.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

A well-curated twitter feed offers all the benefits of insider trading, without the jail time.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

If you've ever wondered how many hours @TrungTPhan works... This is the playlist he keeps on repeat at his desk.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

"How do I do paid growth for newsletters?" This is one of the most popular questions we heard while researching the Newsletter Guide. So we interviewed our growth team @theHustle , plus experts from all over. Let me break down what we found...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Okay, this is gonna be controversial... But as-promised -- recommendations on the best tools for your newsletter stack. These are based on my opinion as a developer and newsletter operator + research into what's being used at The Hustle, Morning Brew, NYT, and others... 🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Have you heard of the Inverted Pyramid? Once you know it, you'll see it everywhere. It's a framework you can use to make ads in your newsletter better. Better Ads >> More Clicks >> More 💰 Here's how it works...🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Elon is a master of spin. Everyone's talking about his poll. But here's why it's even smarter than most people think...👇

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Planning to use paid ads to grow your newsletter audience? You'd better know your Target CPA (cost per acquisition). Target CPA is THE critical factor in running paid ad campaigns. It's how you know if you can grow profitably. Here's a step-by-step guide to calculating that.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

I hate the term "community building." It used to mean something, before it was popular. Now it's just a buzzword. It's also poorly defined. So here's a framework that takes the mystery out of it. I call it the "pyramid of priority" (PoP). It works like this...🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

1 year

Thinking a lot about email capture these days. Specifically, how to optimize a blog to convert well. Last week, I spent a few hours going through some major newsletter sites. Here are 5 common e-cap form placements I noticed between them:

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

1 year

Well, it's official. Today in our @HamptonFounders team call, @thesamparr said he was pretty sure we could grow the blog to 1m visits by EoY. Excited/nervous - this is a whole new challenge for me. But I'll be sharing how we do it as we go. Who should I interview about this?

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 months

People really should be watching how Sahil Bloom's building his Youtube channel. Great example of what it means to be a pro in the Steven Pressfield sense of the term. Couple of things that strike me... 1. Back to Basics: Dude's got 1M+ Twitter followers, and hundreds of…

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Thinking of investing in the newsletter space? Here's your executive summary -- everything you need to know in 3 mins or less, including: -How the media industry is changing -How the business model works -Major funding & acquisition deals -etc Based on 6+ months research 🧵...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Let's talk about how to price newsletter ads. Most people don't feel like they get good answers on this. Partly because it depends on a lot of factors. I'm going to show you the factors. And also give some concrete numbers... 🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

A new research paper in Nature highlights some fascinating findings. For example, when a university asked for ideas to better serve students/community, only 11% of responses involved removing existing rules or initiatives.

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Adding is favoured over subtracting in problem solving

Nature - People tend to solve problems by adding features.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

If you run a newsletter -- any email newsletter -- iOS 15 is a big deal. Apple's releasing new privacy tools that can: 📈 Throw off your analytics 🛀🏽 Impact list hygiene 💰 Undermine your business model Here are my personal notes

iOS 15: Notes for Newsletter Operators

iOS 15: Notes for Newsletter Operators Compiled by: Ethan Brooks Senior Analyst @ Trends Background: In June, Apple gave newsletter operators everywhere a heart attack by announcing new email privacy...

docs.google.com

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

People argue over what qualifies as an owned audience. Here's what I think... You never own an audience. You can own a list of data, but that's not the same thing. Contact information is worthless without people's trust and attention, and at best, you can only ever borrow that.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

During a gold rush, you don't want to mine gold... You want to sell the shovels. Best example of this? Ames Shovel Shop -- started in 1774, AMES is now the 3rd oldest consumer brand in America, supplied every major expansion since the revolution, and generated $1.1B last year.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

If you're like most (including me) you opted to add more support somewhere. But there's a simpler way. Remove the existing support in the corner and let the roof rest on the structure. Most of us solve by adding rather than subtracting, even if the latter is more efficient.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Ads don't sell themselves. If you run a newsletter you know that. It can be hard to figure out where to begin though. So here's a breakdown on the ad-selling process from start to finish...🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

I worked with Trung for 2 years. Most people don't know this, but for a time he wrote the entire Hustle newsletter, 5 days a week (while keeping up his Twitter acct + other projects). Just an unbelievable level of output -- both in terms of quantity and quality.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Wow... You people are way too nice! I tried to share a thread today, and didn't realize it got cut off 2 tweets in. To everyone nice enough to like it anyways, here's the FULL scoop on the newsletter engine (a model we developed to explain the newsletter business) 🧵...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

The most common newsletter Q's: 1️⃣ Should I build free or paid? 2️⃣ What should I focus on early on? 3️⃣ How/when to monetize a free newsletter? 4️⃣ How do you sell ads? 5️⃣ How paid newsletters work? We answered each in 6 mins...🧵 ..and yes @joshcolter I'm wearing a hat in all 😜

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

6 months

Heading into my last week here at @HamptonFounders It's been an incredible ride. Last summer, we were just a small crew working in stealth with a few dozen members. Today the team has more than quadrupled, and the community has grown to reach hundreds of the most generous,…

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

3) "How do I scale my audience?" Short answer: Focus on growing trust, rather than growing your audience. @Codie_Sanchez grew Contrarian Thinkers newsletter to ~10k in 30 days. You can hear more from her on that here:

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Newsletter Guide Deck

Trends: An Inside Look at How 7-Figure Newsletters Make Money. Presented by: Ethan Brooks Senior Analyst, and Lead Researcher for Guides

docs.google.com

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

1 year

Hah! I wrote the article he's talking about here. I'm a big fan of Justin's work, so this was really cool to hear. He's right too -- you can study anyone like this! Here's exactly how I reverse-engineered Sahil's growth, and how you can do it for your favorite creators 👇

@heydannymiranda

Danny Miranda

@heydannymiranda

1 year

How Justin Welsh went from 0 to 300k on Twitter:

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Affiliate deals can be big money for newsletters. Nerdwallet and BankRate both make $150m+/yr on an affiliate model. You also don't need a huge audience to start (unlike other ads). Here's an overview, with insider tips from operators at Motley Fool, Morning Brew, and more...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

I've spent the last 2 years writing for a multi-million dollar paid newsletter. Also interviewed founders/operators of several more. They're tricky to pull off. Here's an inside look at: 🤷 Why build one 💰 How to price 🗓️ When to launch Etc...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Hacker News gets ~11m visitors per month. That's close to what gets (~13m) but HN does it with no ad budget, no fancy design, one editor, and a social media following 1/10 the size. Some other cool stuff you might not know about them...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

There are 2 types of risk -- actual, and perceived. In the end... "The worst risk that you can take is wasting time." Live recording of the My First Million Podcast here in Austin with @theSamParr @ShaanVP and @noahkagan

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

1) "How niche should it be?" Short answer: The nicher, the better. There are riches in niches and a small audience can offer serious cashflow. Examples below 👇 Click here for more thoughts on this from @danoshinsky :

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Everyone says to build a successful newsletter you need an authentic voice. But how do you ACTUALLY DO that? After talking with some of my favorite newsletter writers, here are a few concrete tips...🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

You shouldn't READ negotiation books 👀 You should listen to them (read by the author) so you can hear their delivery. Same goes for sales advice. Katy from @MadRevATX has sold millions in newsletter ads. Here's audio on how she handles sales calls and overcomes objections🪡

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Copywriting is a superpower. @BobbyDurben wrote ads for hundreds of @TheHustle clients, driving millions in sales 💰 Here's a look at his real-life playbook for writing newsletter ads that convert.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

The key to really interesting competitive insights...using common tools in an uncommon way. If you know where to look, you can learn a lot. Today's example: Job listings Here are a few ways you can benefit from studying competitors' job listings... 🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

Question: How big does your newsletter need to be to charge for ads? Answer: Much smaller than you probably think. One of my favorite recent startups is @alexisgrant 's company @TheyGotAcquired She's a boss, and landed ~$5k ads on a ~1k person list. Here's how...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

This episode is a masterclass in how to build a podcast. Insights from @thesamparr @BenWilsonTweets and @bar5hop Sooo good!

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Behind The Scenes Of The Pod

Listen to this episode from My First Million on Spotify. Episode 368: Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) and Producer Ben (@BenWilsonTweets) go behind the scenes of My First Million talking about how the pod...

open.spotify.com

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

How to Sell Paid Newsletters: Below is a near-universal model for selling paid newsletters. At first glance, it seems complex. But you can break it into 3 key parts: ✉️ Email Capture 💧 Drip Campaigns 💰 Conversion Let me show you how this works...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

@Codie_Sanchez Non-profits. Just learned that the LSAC -- the non-profit that administers the LSAT -- generates ~$67m per year in program revenue. Their president makes ~$865k/yr.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

If this was helpful, go ahead and follow me ( @damn_ethan ). I have 300+ pages of distilled research to share, and my next major presentation is all about how to figure out your budget for paid growth. DM if you have questions or want me on your podcast. Happy to share more!

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Let's talk about newsletter tech. Most people ask, "What ESP should I use?" But that's only the beginning. There are actually 5 key tools that power a newsletter biz. Here's a quick overview for beginners...🧵

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

There are other possible reasons too. People may... 1️⃣ Want to avoid seeming uncreative (group think) 2️⃣ Assume certain features exist for a reason (innertia) 3️⃣ Try to avoid wasting past efforts (sunk costs)

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

If you run a newsletter, reader interviews are insanely valuable. No survey can beat 15 minutes face-to-face with a real person -- especially for paid newsletters. We use 'em all the time at @TheHustle & Trends. BUT you have to ask good questions. Here are my 3 favorites...👇

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

4 years

@elenacsalazar @mkobach I think @patagonia is doing very cool things. @harleydavidson 's paid community actually grew in revenue during the first months of the pandemic. And @creativemorning is crushing it. @thehundreds too. Wrote more here if you like:

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

Business Nerds: Ever wish you could get your hands on a magic guide that told you how different businesses work? Like the numbers, models, etc... Well, here are 15+ sources that will give you the inside scoop (including a bunch I'll bet you've never heard of)

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

5 months

Interesting data from Beehiiv's 2024 State of Newsletters report. Good to see where you stand. Based on data from 4.5B email sends last year. Here are a few other surprising things and some thoughts... 1. What Day Should You Send? They got a good look at open rates by day. I'm…

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

It's not that we don't see the value in subtracting. Researchers found we literally don't even consider it. Especially when we're: 1️⃣ Not actively encouraged to think about subtraction *as well as* addition 2️⃣ Under heavy cognitive load.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

1 year

For the last few months, I've been helping @thesamparr with this project while it was in stealth. So stoked to see it live! This week on the pod, @TimStodz and I talked all about community-building, newsletters, and how we're thinking about these at Hampton 👇👇👇

@thesamparr

Sam Parr

1 year

ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm back. Last July I founded a new startup. Today I'm sharing it with the world. It's called Hampton: a highly vetted membership community for entrepreneurs, founders and CEOs. Why launch a community? I'll explain + why it'll be huge biz.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

This is the Newsletter Engine. It shows how money/attention flow through a newsletter business. What's really cool - when you understand how it works, you can use it to deconstruct any newsletter biz, diagnose problems, and find new opportunities. Let me break it down for you.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

I have a secret theory that @thejustinwelsh and @thesamparr are secretly the same person. Seriously... Has anyone seen these two in the same room at once?

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

Once you know how newsletters make money, you can transfer the model to other domains. For example... Travel influencers This is Jack Morris. He's got 2m+ followers on Insta. No huge email list, but his biz still thrives. Let me show you how 👇

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

I've worked with @stephsmithio for years across multiple startups. She... -Has a killer blog -Led the content team at Toptal -Helped launch/grow Trends This is hands down the best resource you'll find on content strategy. Worth many times this price.

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Doing Content Right - Product Information, Latest Updates, and Reviews 2024 | Product Hunt

Doing Content Right is a resource that covers everything you need to know about publishing online. In a sea of competition, this guide teaches you how to create, write, and scale successful blogs and...

www.producthunt.com

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

2) "What tech should I use?" Short answer: Until you're sending ~100k emails/day, your tech stack doesn't really matter. Pick what looks easiest / most affordable and focus on publishing a kick-ASS newsletter. MailChimp is most popular at that stage.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

@mattyglesias Fetterman is the hilarious. I'm not even from PA, but I've been following his antics against Oz. Media mastery. Personal favs include the sky banner over the Jersey Shore, and having Snookie cameo Oz

@JohnFetterman

John Fetterman

2 years

Hey @DrOz 👋 JERSEY loves you + will not forget you!!! 🥰

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

There are 3 main ways to make money from a newsletter: 1️⃣ Free subscriptions (monetized via ads) 2️⃣ Low-price subscriptions 3️⃣ High-price subscriptions Alone, each can be a multi-million dollar biz. But together they're better...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Do you know what this is? It's a meat slicer, but it's also something else... Turns out it's also the beginning of a little company known as IBM

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

Building a newsletter? Here's a new visual model I've been tinkering with. I call it "The Bullseye Model" and if you understand it, you'll understand how newsletters make money, design new products, and think about audience. Let me break it down for you...👇

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

8 months

I've been thinking a lot about the different ways to get paid as a writer these days. If you understand this, you can pick your shots better. I think it all boils down to these four: 1) Entertainment 2) Writing as a Service 3) Utility 4) Reach You can chart these in terms of…

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

So, generally speaking, you are ready to monetize a free newsletter when you have at least 2 of the following: 1️⃣ Large audience (~80k+) 2️⃣ High unique opens (20%+) 3️⃣ Readers willing to spend $$$ I'll show you why these numbers in a sec...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

10 months

Content is dead. AI killed it Storytelling is the only thing that matters now Over the next few years, I predict you'll see the term "content" completely phased out of business jargon (e.g. "content creator," "content marketing," "content management," etc) It's all story now

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

You can read the full write-up here: h/t to Tom Meyvis & Heeyoung Yoon for the great summary and added insights.

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Adding is favoured over subtracting in problem solving

Nature - People tend to solve problems by adding features.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

4 months

This year, I'm trying to get to know ATX better, so I started a local newsletter for business owners. Only a couple weeks in, but it's been a blast so far, and it turns out there's a bunch of cool stuff going on If you run a biz in Austin, a few events you may like 👇 🗓️ Feb…

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

9 months

I've got exciting news: I'm hiring a content lead to come join us at @HamptonFounders If you want the chance to meet hundreds of incredible founders, tell cool stories, and work with ppl from The Hustle, Motley Fool, and more, apply! Deadline is Fri👇

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joinhampton.com

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Early on, you don't need a fancy approach to sell ads for your newsletter. You can literally read the step-by-step emails @theSamParr used to sell some of the first Hustle ads here:

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

I'm fascinated by decision making. A $10k bet on Tesla in 2010 would be worth ~$2.2m today -- BUT only if you left it in. Meanwhile, your money would have doubled over, and over -- almost 8 times. Would you have stayed? For any investment, how do you decide if/when to get out?

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Question: When is it time to launch a newsletter? Answer: When not doing it becomes more painful than doing it. This holds true for other creative projects too.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

Oh, you run a community? Which of your members did you introduce to each other this week?

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

One of my favorite case studies recently: A $164m media biz disguised as an ecomm biz -Broke all the rules of ecomm... Still wildly successful -Owner sold to Amazon... Then built 3 competitors -Hilarious community building tactics Let me tell you the story of Woot and Meh

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Literally every day... This is what it's like working with @TrungTPhan 🤣🤣

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Want to know how 7-figure newsletters make money? @bradwolverton and I are dishing this week. We spent the last 6 months interviewing insiders at Morning Brew, AppSumo, Buzzfeed and more, plus solo legends like @KevinVanTrump , @Codie_Sanchez and @jaltucher . Ask us anything

@bradwolverton

Brad Wolverton

3 years

To everyone who wants to start or grow an email newsletter: This week @damn_ethan and I are teaching a mini course on the subject, tweeting daily insights we’ve learned from 6 months of researching the business. Follow us for advice on how to grow and monetize your list. 🧵...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

To sell ads in a newsletter, and make it worth your time, you'll need a bigger audience. Often ~75k-80k readers is where it starts to make sense. For more on that, check out the detailed sample pricing tables here: So how do you actually sell ads?...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

8 months

What about a "Vacation Mode" AI that's trained on your email, Slack, and G-drive. Switch it on when you leave, and your colleagues can ask it simple questions about the projects you're working on. Make it easier to stay offline. Next-level out of office responder

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

Today, I'm hosting a Q&A with @thesamparr and @zzcrockett all about how they built @TheHustle in the early days. What do you want to know?!

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

To find ad clients, she always monitored: -Advertisers in competing newsletters -Recent funding reports in @TechCrunch , @crunchbase , or @danprimack Axios Pro-Rata newsletter. When startups raise money, they get new growth goals (i.e. great time to advertise)

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

1 year

@patriciamou_ My absolute favorite way to travel. Also, train stations are stunning, almost as a rule.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

First a little background: Newsletters are having a moment. People want to know how they work. At The Hustle, we set out to write the definitive industry guide, and found that people have a lot of questions...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

Starting or growing a newsletter in 2022? Here are 20+ threads to help. More on the way too, so be sure to follow along 😉

@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

"How 7-Figure Newsletters Make Money" For the last few weeks, I've been doing this talk, based on 6+ months of dedicated research. Time to see if it translates well to Twitter. For your viewing pleasure...🧵

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Ethan Brooks

1 year

Damn, @JMatthewMcGarry 's newsletter on how to grow newsletters is so good. This dude is out for blood – revealing everything you wish you knew about how legit growth teams grow huge newsletters. So good.

The Best Newsletter Ads Of All Time

PLUS: 3 growth case studies, 2 ways to increase open rates, and more

www.newsletteroperator.com

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

This is an old rate-card from Morning Brew. Look at the Daily Brew. If a client hesitates over the primary ad, MB can: -Down-sell to the secondary ad, or... -Offer a free Brews Bets ($10k in value) along with the primary. That's just 1 example of how the 3 tiers work together.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

🧐 Newsletter writers - I built this calculator to help you figure out: 1. The value of your readers over time. 2. How much you can pay to acquire them. 3. Your estimated profit. Snag a copy here:

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

11 months

If you're not reading @JMatthewMcGarry 's newsletter on newsletters yet, you should be. Matt's behind the scenes at some of the best newsletters out there right now, and the weekly breakdowns are 🔥

10 Newsletters That Do $1M+ Per Year With Small or 1-Person Teams

PLUS: MorningBrew & The Hustle’s email design, Apple's war on newsletters, and more

www.newsletteroperator.com

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

1 year

Okay, here it is... Maybe my favorite thing on newsletters so far. 5k+ words all about how to sell ads, including: -info on pricing -scripts for overcoming objections -video of The Hustle's top seller showing exactly how she finds leads, and more...

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Trends by HubSpot

Dive into the latest trends, insights, and opportunities for business builders in marketing, sales, service, and tech.

blog.hubspot.com

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

When you (eventually) build all 3, you diversify your income which protects you from market changes. You also grow the lifetime value of readers, pulling them deeper into your eco-system. You start by building your free list...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Our top ad slinger at The Hustle sold millions in ads. She used the BANT framework to vet clients, making sure they had: -Budget to afford us -Authority to make a decisions -Need to reach our audience -Timing - needed us now Where did she find them?...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

I'm going to do some more newsletter case studies. Deep dives, including: -Their launch strategy -How they grow -How they make money I have a list of 30+ I'm curious about. What's one company you'd like to see covered?

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Ever wondered what the hiring roadmap looks like while building a multi-million dollar newsletter like Morning Brew? Over the weekend I spent a few hours sifting through LinkedIn titles and hire dates of the Brew's team going way back. Couple of interesting insights...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

I keep seeing the same formula for success online: 💸 Cashflow first (typically from a job or service biz) 📣 Then grow trust/influence (via twitter, podcast, or other free outlets) 📈 Finally -- products (paid course, community, newsletter, etc) Literally tons of examples...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

Man, living in 1928 must have felt like the absolute future: -Planes crossing oceans -TV, sound film, and Mickey Mouse first appear -Indy 500 created -Women's athletics join Olympics -Penicillin harnessed -A blimp crashed at the north pole -Sliced bread officially hit the market

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

Very briefly, there seem to be 3 things that trip people up when *starting* a free newsletter. They ask: -How niche should it be? -What tech stack should I use? -How do I scale my audience? After speaking to many media leaders, here are the no BS answers to each of those...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

According to their 2020 Annual Report, the NYT Cooking subscription has ~726k readers. Starting at $5/mo. that's a ~$43m/yr+ product. Not sure what the team behind the community looked like, but this shows why it's crucial to invest real money there. It's a big effort.

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

One of the coolest things you can do as a newsletter operator is sit down and chat with your readers. We do this all the time at Trends, and it's never boring. Here are the 4 questions I find solicit the most interesting responses 👇...

@joshcolter

Josh Colter

3 years

Today: Me after a Hustle feedback zoom with people I read stuff from everyday like @stephsmithio @zzcrockett and @damn_ethan

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Ethan Brooks

3 years

There are 2 popular ways to monetize a free newsletter: -Affiliate Deals -Ads Affiliate deals are easier to start with because you can do it with a smaller audience and many programs are self-serve. The pro's say check out @shareasale @CJNetwork and @Rakuten

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

2 years

I recently celebrated 2 years as a full-time writer. Know what that means? By college standards, I'm barely halfway into a "bachelor's" in my field. Still have lots to learn. Here are 3 short books I'm constantly re-reading to get better...

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@damn_ethan

Ethan Brooks

3 years

This tendency to solve-by-adding is a problem in business. It leads to over-stretched team resources, lots of rules and bureaucratic red tape, and (inevitably) products that suck.

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