Learn how to start and level up your newsletter business from successful creators and insightful articles.

Hey everyone,

Welcome back to another issue. This week, I interviewed Chris Cerra, a digital nomad and newsletter operator with over 5,000 subscribers.

I share the key insights here, but, the entire interview is available on our website. Visit there to dive deep into detailed insights and level up your newsletter business.

👋 MEET THE CREATOR

Chris Cerra has been a digital nomad since 2018, traveling and working full-time. This lifestyle became a catalyst for his entry into the newsletter world.

While he was traveling as a nomad, he struggled to find updated lists of long-stay Airbnb deals. So, he decided to create a newsletter, called RemoteBase, for other digital nomads to fill this gap.

Since 2019, he has collected Airbnb deals and has over 5,000 subscribers, though the topic is very niche! His newsletter is his full-time job.

In this interview, Chris shared valuable insights on:

• how he reached over 5,000 subscribers with a very niche topic

• detailed growth strategies he used with milestones

• his sponsorship strategies

• his learnings on paid subscription

• his half-automated content curation system

Enjoy!

🏷 NEWSLETTER IDENTITY CARD

TOOL STACK

• ESP: Beehiiv

• Writing: Beehiiv Drafts, Google Sheets, Google Docs

• Task Management: Trello

• Growth: LinkedIn, Instagram

• Social Media Tools: Canva, Shield Analytics for Linkedin

• Affiliate: Impact, Awin, various direct platforms

• Payments: Stripe

• Sponsorships: Google Forms

KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM TODAY’S INTERVIEW

STEP-BY-STEP GROWTH STRATEGIES TO REACH 5,000+ SUBSCRIBERS

Chris divided his growth strategies into three milestones, as every milestone has its unique way of growing.

0 - 500 subscribers

First, he targeted 500 subscribers.

To reach that number, he started posting and promoting his newsletter in online forums and Slack groups.

It was easier for him since he had already built some social trust capital with the members and crucially the admins on those platforms.

He also used the power of word of mouth in co-working spaces he was visiting around the world.

500 - 2,000 subscribers

In this step, Chris’ newsletter was mostly fueled by bloggers and other ‘borrowed’ SEO.

He was reaching out to and making connections with bloggers he admired, asking if they liked this newsletter he wrote and if they’d share it or add it to their site as a resource for their readers.

Since his audience was small at this time, it worked for him. The people he reached out to knew what it was like to try and get something off the ground, so most of them wanted to help him get out of the gate.

Reaching from 112 to 1,000 subscribers was long and slow for Chris.

It took 27 months - 18 months when excluding the 9 months of break during the pandemic - for Chris to reach 1,000 subscribers.

At first, he didn’t care as he saw it as a side project. This also made it difficult to grow between 900 and 1,000.

At 971 subscribers, Chris received a sponsorship offer from a boutique hotel. He didn’t have practical experience in sales, but they came to an agreement!

This was the first time that Chris earned money from his newsletter. He made $65 with less than 1,000 subscribers.

2,000 subscribers - today (5,000+)

At this point, Chris mainly focused on social media.

He started with Instagram, then expanded to LinkedIn, where he surprisingly found a strong community of digital nomads.

On both LinkedIn and Instagram, he put effort into building a personal brand, connecting not only with subscribers but also with potential sponsors.

👉 Do you want to reach 2,800 newsletter operators & enthusiasts?

Thanks for reading, and don’t hesitate to reply if you want to contact me.

Ciler