In partnership with

Good morning Launch Key 🚀 community!

Are you a one-off? Or do you think you can find like-minded co-conspirators?

Based on your poll requests, this week we dig into just one of the possible ways to leverage your unique content: newsletters.

Let's get into it.

I was in Charlotte last week when a friend suggested a Launch Key event. Others have commented that they’d like more from the community.

This week’s poll asks the question: would you attend a Launch Key meetup?

Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

• Modern Tools

• Free Knowledge

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

Newsletters are really nothing more than the 2.0 version of Blogs, which have been around since the 90’s.

I tried blogging back then, but just didn’t have the time to create long form entries while I was running the web development firm. And I didn’t feel like I had enough audience or topics. But nothing published on the internet ever dies, so you too can laugh at Rob v1.0 in this December 1999 post. Who knew Common Sense had such a shelf life?

Flash forward a quarter of a century, and email newsletters have exploded.

Individuals, businesses and brands all realized that despite not being the sexy new medium (ie Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, X) email is used everyday by more than 4 billion humans. Statista projects 392.5 billion daily e-mails will be sent and received by 2026.

Strategically, controlling your own email list gives you far more ability to know how well your message is hitting. You can’t control the algorithm for YouTube or LinkedIn or Google search results. But you can can see exactly how many people opened or engaged with emails that you send.

And there have been meteoric successes.

With over 4 million subscribers, the Morning Brew is the established leader in the business clubhouse.

But individuals have done extremely well too. Entrepreneur Sam Paar started a conference, that later turned into the Hustle newsletter which he eventually sold to Hubspot for $27 million.

Hubspot shares Hustle newsletter best practices. ⬇️ 

Closer to my old home was Ted Williams who built the Charlotte Agenda newsletter on the premise of hyper-local content.

Every day they sent out info on Charlotte food, events, dating - all aimed at next generation Charlotte folks. It had organic growth, excellent writers and great word-of-mouth. When he got to 55,000 subscribers, he was generating about $2 million a year in revenue from ads and events. Ultimately it sold to Axios for $5 million.

Am I saying you can get a $5 million payday? No. But these examples are real and email was the delivery mechanism.

More realistic newsletter math might be using an email list to help your main business.

It can lend credibility to your consulting practice. Or help sell your book. Or give more clout to your speaking engagements or help build your personal brand. Launch Key has a number of excellent examples in our own subscriber base:

• George Pillari - 7 Deadly Stupidities

• Walker McKay - No BS Sales

• Dean Otto - 2% Chance

• Patrick McLean - Creative Director, Writer

• Brooks Lockett - AI Copywriting Pro

Why did I start one?

First off, I had just enough friends tell me they agreed with my thoughts on older entrepreneurs. Peers – all over 50, tired of corporate crap, thinking about a side hustle. Second, I had a son creating his own newsletter (Confluence Venture Capital) and I was able to steal many good ideas from him. Third, I believed I had one more startup idea worth doing. Don’t we all?

Looking back, the first issues were pretty weak sauce, but friends told me how bad it was and improvements continue apace. This issue marks the 75th straight week for Launch Key.

Polls and surveys have given me some answers to what the audience wants. Engagement has given me insight into good or bad links and partners. It’s not totally interactive but you have made this better. Thank you.

Do you have an audience who thinks your perspective is different/interesting?

Can you find or build a tribe of like minded people?

Carpe diem.

Now go launch something 🚀 

The future of presentations, powered by AI

Gamma is a modern alternative to slides, powered by AI. Create beautiful and engaging presentations in minutes. Try it free today.

Modern Tools

I’ve used many different email platforms over the past 20+ years, both enterprise and personal solutions. I never really loved any of them, until Beehiiv 🐝.

If your new business will send newsletters, I can’t recommend it strongly enough.

• They’ve made it drag-and-drop easy and free to start

• They have built-in design tools

• They have a very good recommendation engine for other newsletters

• Their Advertiser network is robust and growing

Each week I get suggestions of companies who want to boost or sponsor my newsletter. I simply choose the ones I think will make the most sense for this audience.

Everything is automated: scheduling, distribution, payments, sponsorships, recommendation engine - all integrated with easy-to-use tools.

Ready to get started?

Click on the link below to save 20% off your first 3 months of a paid plan after a complimentary 30-day trial.

There’s a reason 400,000 professionals read this daily.

Join The AI Report, trusted by 400,000+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Get daily insights, tools, and strategies to master practical AI skills that drive results.

Sign up now for free and work smarter, not harder.

Free Knowledge

The newsletter business is so good that an entire cottage industry is being built around helping you grow your own. And there are some fantastic resources.

One of my favorite guru’s is Matt McGarry. Not only does he give away a ton of free info, he has classes, events and even an agency of done-for-you newsletter solutions.

Full disclosure: I really like Matt, but Launch Key is 100% written by this old guy. 😉 

Recommendations

📕 MGMT Playbook : Practical management insights straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

💡 Product-Led Geek : Get your FREE GROWTH TOOLKIT and join over 7600 founders and leaders learning how to scale their B2B software companies with product-led growth and product-led sales.

🗃️ Dealroom Business Success Uncovered : Learn directly from billionaire entrepreneurs on how to grow a business. Join a community of 2,000+ innovators.

Visual Crapshoot