🚨 Today, I’m switching things up.

We talk a lot about businesses.

Every week we give you insights into business models, strategies, and marketing tips.

But for today’s edition, I want to talk to you about about a business that I think has been overlooked for years.

The business?

Newsletters.

For those of you who are new here, this newsletter used to be an A.I newsletter named Synthetic Mind.

Now we’ve rebranded to Profit Snack.

That was cool for a while. But after a while, it got real f*ckin boring. 

So we switched it up. Now we talk about what WE find interesting.

And lucky for me, you guys are loving it.

Today, I want to show you a behind-the-scenes look at Profit Snack and how we’ve spent $140,000 building it since January.

So if you’re thinking about starting a newsletter, here’s everything you need and more.

Here’s what’s goin’ on:

• 📝 Should You Start A Newsletter?
  

• 🤫 The Truth Behind Profit Snack
  

• 💰 The Secret Ingredient

PS - Stick around till the end. I created a step-by-step newsletter growth plan for you.

📝 Should You Start A Newsletter?

Every entrepreneur faces what I call the “Entrepreneur Death Trap.”

This is the idea that when you split your attention between multiple businesses, you sacrifice growth everywhere.

It’s best to go all in on one company and grow fast.

So, when I started Profit Snack, it was not a simple decision. I weighed every pro and con. Obviously, I decided to give it a shot.

Here’s why:

#1 - Easy to scale. It’s the same output no matter how many readers I have. I can use the same small team for 1 subscriber all the way to 500K.

#2 - I own my audience. With social media, your success depends on an algorithm. With newsletters, my content will reach your inbox every time.

#3 - It’s a unique business model. I’ve never owned a business where my product is free.

It helped that I was watching big newsletters like Morning Brew and The Milk Road sell for millions. For context:

• The Hustle sold for 20 million at 6 years old
  

• The Morning Brew sold for 75 million at 5 years old
  

• The Milk Road sold for 8 figures at 10 MONTHS old

In short, the newsletter business was starting to look super sexy.

But does this mean YOU should start a newsletter?

I say yes if you’re willing to dedicate at least 20 hours a week and $300 a month.

Keep in mind, it’s a long-term play. It’s not a get-rich-quick business and it takes a lot of work.

But as with The Hustle and The Morning Brew, the benefits are there.

Now, let’s get into the numbers.

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 🤫 The Truth Behind Profit Snack

It’s true.

We’ve spent $140,000 dollars to keep this newsletter going.

First, I’ll show you where all that money was spent. Then, we’ll talk about how you can do the same thing for MUCH cheaper.

Our two major costs have been growing our list and paying our team.

• $3,000 in affiliates with micro-influencers

• $12,000 Twitter ads
  

• $20,000 advertising in similar newsletters
  

• $70,000 with Sparkloop (a software that automates subscriber outreach)

• $25,000 in team expenses.

We didn’t have a mentor or any strong resources, so a lot of this was trial and error. Lucky for you, we learned the hard way so you don’t have to.

PS - Here’s a YouTube video where I go deeper into our finances, team structure, and mistakes. You can watch it HERE.

💰 The Secret Ingredient

The beauty of a newsletter business is that it’s free to readers.

But that begs the question… Where does the money come from?

Most of you expect me to say sponsors. And that’s mostly true.

But before you can even THINK about sponsors, you have to nail one thing first: Engagement.

Engagement is the fuel to your business. It’s the gold at the end of the rainbow. The air we breathe as a newsletter.

(In fact, we remove subscribers if they stop engaging. That’s right. You’re kicked out of the cool kids club if you aren’t opening our emails.)

When companies look to sponsor you they look at your engagement rates.

The higher your engagement the more you can charge.

So, in order to grow your newsletter and make money, you must keep your readers engaged.

Follow the golden rule of newsletters: Make your readers as happy as possible. 

Here’s how:

#1 - No half-baked content. I’m busy. You’re busy. We’re all busy. No one has time to read an article that isn’t a home run.

#2 - No spammy sponsors. Every sponsor must be legitimate and relevant to your niche.

#3 - Pick your pond wisely. The sea is big, but not every fish is for you. We made this mistake early on.

At one point, we were growing by 1K subs a day. However, these were low-cost subs who didn’t engage with our content.

After we spent the extra money to market to our desired audience, we boosted engagement and created a close community that we love.

The happier readers are, the better community you have, and the more engagement you’ll get.

If you want a step-by-step newsletter growth plan starting at ground 0, click HERE for a free guide. I include how I did it and how I would do it all over again for a lower cost.

See you next week,

The Profit Snack Team