Four Surprising Ways I Grew My Email List From 0 to 4.3k In Less Than 12 Months.
The most boring and powerful business asset
I took so long to realize the power of email.
After 4.5 years of writing, I had 0 email list subs.
I felt like I had nothing to show for my writing.
I’d heard big creators telling me about an email list, but I didn’t do anything about it. After almost crashing my one-person business last year, I realized how important having an email list is.
I dedicated the next 12 months to building.
I managed to grow my list to 4,300+ subscribers.
Here’s what I did to fast-track my growth.
#1: Pick a platform that suits your style
I love writing.
So, I naturally gravitated to writing-based platforms.
Medium.
Substack.
LinkedIn.
While I created all three, I started with one.
Once you’ve got a platform:
Provide free upfront value.
Solve people’s problems.
Respond to comments
You want people to feel as if they ripped you off.
People will naturally want to give back to you somehow. I’ve made over $1,000 on free products.
Why? People paid for them because I’d given so much value.
Become so valuable people can’t ignore (even if they want to).
#2: Promote a free 5-day educational email course
I taught myself how to make $25,000+ per month online.
This is a solution I can now productize.
I didn’t realize how valuable my knowledge and skillset was.
I kept getting emails asking:
Where do I start?
What idea should I pursue?
How do I make my first $1, $100 or $1,000?
I thought this was common knowledge.
Clearly, it wasn’t. People struggled with this the most.
So, I:
Mapped out steps 1–5 of how I solved my problem.
Added my own unique story and experience.
Promoted it as my lead magnet.
The benefits of an email course are that your audience:
Associate your emails with value.
Are trained to open your emails.
Positions you as an authority.
Deepens your expertise.
I have 40%+ open rates, and my email list grows by 30–50 new subs per day. The industry average for email open rates is 20%.
If you’ve solved a problem in your life, you’re an expert.
Now help others solve it through a 5-day free email course.
#3: Teamwork makes your (email list) dream work.
Writing is a solo pursuit.
But that doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. The unspoken hack of big creators is how much they collaborate behind the scenes. They provide each other testimonials, feedback, and support during their launches.
I’ve spent the last year expanding my creator network.
Success as a creator happens in the shadows:
The group WhatsApp.
The closed Slack channels.
The exclusive masterminds you don’t hear about.
I’m a member of all of these.
But they aren’t publicly available to join or even see.
The result? I’ve skyrocketed not only my email list growth but my writing and other parts of my creator business.
How? I get:
Access to information faster
Referrals, introductions, and clients.
Unfair? Yep. But that’s the game.
Exploit your unfair advantages. We all have them.
#4: Ask for referrals
I’m writing this in a cafe in Bali
After every visit, they ask for feedback, review, or referral.
They provide a biz card and a link.
Admittedly, after a few times, it can get a bit annoying.
I don’t want to be giving reviews all day.
You need to do this for your email list subscribers.
But, add in:
Incentives.
Rewards.
To your subscribers who refer others. Gamify it. Provide unique privileges and access to you. Give them an identity and status within your community.
Word of mouth is the most powerful growth engine.
My email list now prints Durians (money) for me while I sleep.
I make $1–2k in digital product sales every month.
All of it is through my email list.
Plus, through email automation, I can:
Attract new subscribers.
Nurture them with an automated sequence.
Convert them to buy my products and services.
The best part?
I can’t be:
Cancelled
Banned
Blocked
From my email list
My email list is an asset I own 100%.
The folks inside my Modern Leverage community are email list pros.
We don’t rely on algorithms to make our money.
We build our email list and then do whatever we want.
👉 I’ve previously sold a one-person business and I’m in the process of scaling another one to $20k per month. If you want my one-person business growth system, I’ve created a FREE email course for you to get started
"Success as a creator happens in the shadows:
- The group WhatsApp.
- The closed Slack channels.
- The exclusive masterminds you don’t hear about."
No one realizes this ^^ and once they do few are willing to put in the effort to open those doors.
Interesting. I've known about email lists and social media for ages, but I've only started realizing the value of a community since I joined one in June. You are right. My community group substackers and I share our tips, review each other's home pages and comment/like each other's posts. I remember listening to a podcast and someone asked the creator how you find a community. And she rightly said, you buy one. You pay to join one.