Lessons From Selling Morning Brew For $75 Million At 28 - Alex Lieberman
Jul 14, 2022
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Alex Lieberman, co-founder of Morning Brew, shares his inspiring journey from a college newsletter to selling the company for $75 million at just 28. He discusses the importance of storytelling in sales and how authentic communication drives success. Lieberman also explores navigating career transitions, emphasizing passion over stability. He reflects on the emotional aftermath of financial success and the quest for purpose beyond wealth, reminding us to embrace our true selves amid life's challenges.
Prioritizing pursuing one's passion over a traditional job can lead to a more fulfilling life.
Creating a high-quality newsletter requires involving multiple writers, an editor, and a unique voice.
Implementing a college ambassador program and targeting specific hubs can effectively grow a newsletter's subscriber base.
Allowing oneself to fully experience and acknowledge emotions is essential for personal growth and well-being.
Deep dives
Personal Transformation and Prioritizing Time
The speaker shares a personal experience of losing his father and how it shifted his perspective on life. He emphasizes the importance of realizing that many things we worry about in daily life are unimportant and highlights the unpredictability of life's timeline. He prompts listeners to consider how they would spend their time if they knew it was limited. He shares his own decision to prioritize pursuing his passion over a traditional job after contemplating the worst-case scenarios.
Building a Strong Newsletter
To create a high-quality newsletter, the speaker outlines their approach of involving multiple writers, an editor, and a witty voice editor to ensure engaging and conversational content. They stress the importance of providing value to readers and making the newsletter enjoyable to read. The speaker also discusses the challenge of finding a unique voice and style for their newsletter that differentiated it from traditional business news sources.
Growing the Newsletter and College Ambassador Program
The speaker describes their efforts to grow the newsletter's subscriber base and engage with their audience. They implemented a college ambassador program, initially focusing on high-quality applicants but eventually shifting to a more automated and quantity-based approach. The speaker also explains the strategy of targeting specific hubs, such as teachers and club presidents, to reach a larger audience of students in universities across the country.
Emotional Journey and Decision Making
The speaker shares a personal experience of dealing with emotional challenges after the sudden loss of his father. He reflects on how his coping mechanisms and upbringing influenced his ability to process emotions. The speaker explains his ongoing journey to allow himself to fully experience and access his emotions, seeking guidance from a therapist. They discuss visualization techniques and discussing past experiences to work towards fully feeling and acknowledging emotions.
The value of sitting with emotions
The speaker emphasizes the importance of sitting with emotions as a way to retrain oneself to recognize and acknowledge feelings. By taking just 30 seconds to sit in a feeling without intellectualizing or distracting oneself, it becomes natural to process emotions.
The usefulness of therapy and finding the right therapist
The speaker discusses the value of therapy and finding a therapist who specializes in the specific challenges one is facing. They highlight the importance of reassessing whether a therapist is still serving their purpose as personal challenges and needs evolve.
Managing distractions and focus in therapy sessions
The speaker shares their strategies for managing distractions and maintaining focus during therapy sessions conducted via Zoom. They emphasize the importance of closing all unnecessary applications and solely engaging with the therapy session to fully benefit from the experience.
Procrastination and self-doubt
The speaker opens up about their struggles with procrastination and self-doubt. They discuss the negative impact of procrastination on self-belief and the constant battle to overcome it. They explore the relationship between self-doubt, fear, and the need to prove oneself capable of tackling hard tasks.
In this episode I sit down for a conversation with Alex Lieberman. Alex has a pretty amazing story, he started a newsletter during his studies at University which evolved into Morning Brew, one of the world's fastest-growing media brands, and he later sold that business for $75 million dollars at just 28 years old. In the conversation, Alex shares what he learned from his journey, we talk about the most valuable skills you can develop in business, how to know when to quit and what it means to find purpose in life beyond such a windfall.
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