Chenell Basilio - How to grow a newsletter empire(50K+ subscribers) on the Internet!

Dec 14, 2023

Discover the journey of Chenell Basilio growing a newsletter empire with 50k+ subscribers. From researching top creators to sharing insights on strategy, marketing, and growth. Learn about transitioning from a travel department to marketing, the power of newsletters, strategies for content creation, and reverse engineering growth tactics like Justin Welsh and Jack Butcher. Embrace starting small, growing slow, and building relationships for success.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

From Geography Major To Paid Ads Owner

Chenell moved from working on SEO to running paid ads after a colleague left and learned on the job.
She left AAA in 2017 to run paid-ad clients and later launched Growth In Reverse in December 2023.

INSIGHT

Email Remains The Most Direct Channel

Email is a powerful distribution and monetization channel that creators often underuse.
Newsletters let creators promote podcasts, courses, and services directly to an engaged audience.

INSIGHT

Research By Listening For Patterns

Deep research involves pulling every interview and public appearance to find recurring patterns and unique tactics.
Listening to creators' interviews on long walks reveals repeated phrases and hidden growth signals.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

👉🏼 About the Guest:

Chenell Basilio is not just a name, but a powerhouse of knowledge and strategic thinking that fuels the growth of leading creators. With her incredible ability to reverse engineer the growth strategies of top creators, she uncovers the blueprint of creators who amassed over 50k+ subscribers via her Growth In Reverse newsletter. By investing over 20 hours each week in research, she presents a wealth of insights on strategy, marketing, and growth.

Chenell has done deep dives on Kat Norton(Miss Excel), Dan Koe, Justin Welsh, Codie Sanchez, Lenny Rachitsky, Harry Dry, and many more. Growth In Reverse now has more than 27k+ creators and readers! Beyond this, she actively shares her journey on X/LinkedIn platforms authentically.

👉🏼 About the Host:

Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generated $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 22,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is the Head of Community + Brand at Threado, building a side project called GuestLab, and runs a newsletter called YC Founder Stories alongside hosting this podcast.

👉🏼 Sponsor Corner:

Shoutout to Acquire.com for being the first sponsor of The Undefeated Underdogs podcast! They’re the best online marketplace to buy/sell startups and I know many founders who have sold their businesses there. If you're looking to wind down your business and cash in some of your founder chips, check them out - https://try.acquire.com/sharath/

👉🏼 Description:

Tune in as Sharath interviews Chenell, the creator of the Growth in Reverse newsletter. In this conversation, Chenell Basilio discusses her approach to choosing newsletters for deep dives and the criteria she uses. She also shares her insights on growth strategies and the importance of unique and valuable content. The conversation delves into the topic of friction in newsletters and the impact it can have on engagement.

👉🏼 Timestamps:

00:00: Episode Highlight
00:46: Shoutout to Acquire.com
03:12: Introduction to Chenell, the creator of the Growth in Reverse newsletter (28K+ subs!)
05:38: The journey from being a 9-5 business analyst to a content creator
08:54: The story of creating Growth in Reverse
11:18: Choosing newsletter as a medium
12:30: Overcoming doubt as a writer
14:24: Challenging parts of doing research
16:34: Patterns among good newsletter creators
19:00: Definition of good content
21:14: What changes would Chenell make if she had to start again?
22:38: Growth strategies for 50,000+ subscribers
23:58: Tips for newsletter creators
24:53: Note-taking process and composing notes
27:13: Utilizing unused material
30:28: All-time favorite scoops and profiles on Growth in Reverse
33:51: Insights from the process of reverse-engineering
36:12: The most surprising lesson from reverse-engineering
40:07: Initial expectations when starting Growth in Reverse
41:15: Moments of doubt and pointlessness
42:10: Selection criteria for deep-dive profiles in 'Growth in Reverse'
43:26: Why Chenell only profiles creators with 50K+ subscribers
44:29: 0 to 1 growth strategies for newsletter creators
46:36: Building products with intentional points of friction
52:02: Measuring newsletter success with metrics
53:53: Chenell's plans for 2024
56:04: Closing thoughts

👉🏼 Resources:

Have your product acquired: https://try.acquire.com/sharath/
Sahil Bloom: https://twitter.com/SahilBloom
Billy Oppenheimer: https://billyoppenheimer.com/
Ryan Holiday: https://ryanholiday.net/
Jack Butcher: https://undefeatedunderdogs.com/1
Justin Welsh: https://undefeatedunderdogs.com/16
Ali Abdaal: https://aliabdaal.com/
Kat Norton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-norton-7187aa58

👉🏼 Where to find Chenell:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chenellco
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHxdl9oXfWpxTeuB7G-kTeA
Growth in Reverse newsletter: growthinreverse.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chenellco
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chenellco/

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/5harath
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@5harath
Website: https://5harath.com/
Newsletter: https://5harath.substack.com/