Learn how to level up your newsletter from successful creators.

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CREATOR INTERVIEW

There are numerous reasons why running a newsletter is a great idea, and one of my all-time favorites is its power to fuel the growth of a one-person business.

Then, you might assume you need a huge list to achieve that.

Not necessarily!

Ellen Donnelly demonstrates that all you need is high-quality & relevant content and a targeted & engaged list.

She launched her newsletter, The Ask, during the pandemic, reached over 3,400 subscribers and transformed her list into the growth engine for her six-figure coaching business.

In her own words:

Today, she shared behind-the-scene insights about:

• Step-by-step growth strategies

• How she added over 1,000 subscribers in a few months

• How she leverages her list for her coaching business

• The launch of a paid membership

• The importance of doing proactive outreach

Now, I’m passing the mic to Ellen Donnelly.

Let’s dive in!

🏷 NEWSLETTER IDENTITY CARD

🛠 TOOL STACK

• ESP → Mailerlite

• Writing → Notion

• Task management → Notion

• Curation & Note-taking → Notion

• Digital products → Notion

• Sponsorship → Passionfroot

• Affiliates → Gumroad

• Design of visuals → Canva

• Team communication → Slack

• Interviews (recording, editing, transcription) → Descript, Vizard

• Payment → Stripe

👋 MEET THE CREATOR

Welcome Ellen. Let’s start with getting to know you.

I started The Ask in 2020 because, after a decade as a startup talent expert, I wanted to provide a destination for entrepreneurial people to make better decisions about their future. The world of work is changing so fast and there is more options than ever, we need to ask better questions.

🥁 START

You’ve built a six-figure coaching and content business in three years. Did you have the newsletter from the beginning, or did you add it to your content funnel later?

Yes right from the start – I discovered the book ‘Content Inc’ by Joe Pulluzi at the start of my entrepreneurial journey which expressed the importance of an owned audience and committing to a platform.

That really shaped my decisions, and at the same time, Substack had just launched. I saw newsletters as a great medium to explore my ideas and took people like James Clear as inspiration.

🚀 GROWTH

Which growth strategies did you utilize to reach over 3,000 subscribers?

0 - 1,00 subscribers 

Friends and other coaches I knew

100 - 500 subscribers

Organic growth and word of mouth - literally asking people to sign up!

500 - 1,000 subscribers

This is where I really made a concerted effort to hit the 1k milestone in a short space of time: creating lead magnets, doing cross-promotions, and just really focusing on high-quality, shareable content.

1,000 - 2,500 subscribers

I ran an online summit in 2022 called Talent To Money, where I paid for amazing speakers and ran the event for free, so I added loads more people to the list.

2,500 subscribers - present

The Substack referral network helped to grow my list to 3.5k ish.

Then, in 2023, I left Substack to move to Mailerlite, and since then, the growth has slowed and I’ve focused more on the growth of my coaching practice than the content side of the business. 

How did organizing an online summit contribute to the growth?

Whilst it was a high-lift from an operational perspective, it also created a lot of ‘goodwill’ in the online space.

So I would always consider what efforts will grow your list, but also, be a win to you as a business owner in other ways (learning, network, growth, clout and prestige etc.)

In terms of growth efforts, what would you do differently if you had a chance to start over?

I feel I have learned a lot at each stage of the newsletter growth cycle.

I’d probably change more about what I’m doing right NOW than in the early days. Instead, I would say that at this very moment in time, I don’t feel I am capitalizing on the opportunities that are available for a newsletter like mine as fully as I’d like to be (as I am so focused on coaching clients).

However, I know from doing this work with my clients that everything brings an energy trade-off.

💸 MONETIZATION

What is the role of your newsletter to grow a six-figure coaching & content business in three years?