anatomy of a cash-flowing email newsletter

The holy grail of email newsletters:

Being able to acquire subscribers for free.

Because if you’re able to grow your newsletter for $0, then everything you sell on the backend (books, courses, sponsorships, physical products, etc) is pure profit.

This is what I refer to as a cash-flowing email newsletter.

To achieve this, you need 3 things:

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1) Lead magnet

This is what initially draws people to your newsletter.

A valuable freebie.

It should be short, tactical, and easy to consume.

The goal is to fully solve a single problem that opens the door to new problems.

For example:

My free Newsletter Blueprint guide shows you how to launch a profitable email newsletter from scratch in 2 hours less.

I don’t hold anything back.

But launching is just Step 1.

Once you’ve launched, then you have to figure out how to grow & monetize it.

That’s where my other offers come in.

2) Recommendations

Immediately after someone opts in, you recommend a handful of other newsletters you endorse.

I use Beehiiv’s native Boosts feature for this.

Substack has a similar feature.

So does ConvertKit.

No matter your weapon of choice, publishers will pay you a referral fee for each engaged subscriber you send them.

This typically varies from $1 to $4.

And the reason it works so well is because when someone takes action to get a thing…

(whether it’s joining a free newsletter or buying a supplement)

What they want most is more of that thing.

Plain and simple.

3) Thank You Page offer

The final piece is a low-ticket offer you present on the Thank You Page.

It can be anywhere from $7 to $97.

Now, this is a delicate needle to thread…

Because, the offer needs to be highly congruent with your lead magnet, but without contradicting it or making it feel less valuable.

And you need more copywriting skill to execute this transition.

But once you’ve got one that converts…

This liquidates the rest of your ad costs…

So you’re essentially paying $0 to grow your newsletter.

Not to mention generating buyers who are more likely to ascend to your higher-ticket offerings.

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That’s it.

I hope this little breakdown made sense to you.

It’s what I’ve been working on for the last month or so.

There’s still a few optimizations to be made…

But I’ll be going full gas come September.

Anyway, if you’re interested in getting my help to set this up for yourself…

Hit reply and let me know.

I won’t be taking on any new 1-on-1 clients till the fall, but I’m happy to put your name down on the wait list so you get first crack once I do.

Jim Hamilton