This week on Creator Spotlight, Francis is joined by Geoff Sharpe, founder of Lookout Media — a network of local newsletters collectively generating almost $500K a year. Geoff shares how he built a profitable, subscription-first media business, why trust and real journalism still win, and the systems he’s using to scale local news across Canada.
Read the newsletter: https://www.creatorspotlight.com/p/geoff-sharpe
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Geoff Sharpe
Lookout Media: https://lookoutmediaco.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffsharpe
Twitter/X: https://x.com/geoff_sharpe
Francis Zierer
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francis-zierer/
Twitter/X: https://x.com/FZierer
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Timestamps
00:00 Introducing Geoff Sharpe
01:40 Making $500k+ with paid subscriptions
07:16 Don't listen to your audience
12:00 The merging of editorial and business
16:20 Running a media company sustainably
21:01 Building trust through food
27:06 How to get people to pay for your content
37:43 What do people not pay for?
40:44 Don't scale too quickly
43:41 The difficulties of local newsletter ad sales
49:11 How to grow a local newsletter
52:40 A bullish and bearish take on local media
57:50 Best advice for entrepreneurs
