The Creator Spotlight Podcast Ep. 81: Building a $500k+ local newsletter business ft. Geoff Sharpe
22 snips
Oct 21, 2025 Geoff Sharpe, founder of Lookout Media, discusses his journey in creating a network of local newsletters across Canada that generate nearly $500K annually. He emphasizes the importance of quality journalism in driving paid memberships over simple event listings. Geoff shares insights on maintaining trust through genuine content, the challenges of ad sales, and his team's structure. He also reveals strategies for pricing, sustainable growth, and effectively engaging local communities to retain loyal subscribers.
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Low Barriers Create Many Copycats
- Launching a newsletter is cheap and easy, so barriers to entry are very low. Competitors often prioritize events curation over journalism because it's simpler to scale fast.
Don’t Let Surveys Dictate Your Editorial Roadmap
- Don't only follow explicit audience requests; use data and editorial judgment to choose coverage that people will actually pay for. Push readers toward topics they didn't know they cared about rather than becoming a pure events feed.
Put Business Systems In Place Early
- Use a clear operating system (like EOS) to split business and editorial roles so journalists can focus on reporting. Define guardrails, quarterly goals, and responsibilities to scale reliably.
