Nathan Barry Archive

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is the founder of Ness Labs, which applies neuroscience research to productivity and creativity. In addition to writing articles and running a growing community, Anne-Laure also writes a newsletter subscribed to by over 25,000 “mindful makers”. In this conversation, we talk about building up a newsletter audience from zero. Anne-Laure tells us why newsletters grow differently from other platforms, like YouTube channels, and why you shouldn’t get discouraged when your subscriber numbers hit a plateau—often, if you just keep writing and sending great emails, the next wave of growth is right around the corner.We discuss the difference between Twitter and SEO as channels for gaining new subscribers, and the importance of saying “no” to all the things your business shouldn’t focus on right now.Anne-Laure also explains why she’s not pursuing brand awareness for her newsletter, and why she’s focused on maintaining the contract with her readers first and foremost.Links & ResourcesChris GuillebeauTropical MBA PodcastProduct HuntHacker NewsQuick Chat with Anne-Laure Le Cunff of Ness Labs - The Indie Hackers PodcastSparkLoop & ConvertKitThe Nathan Barry Show e017: David Perell – Mastering Twitter to Grow Your Newsletter and Make Money - Nathan BarryAnne-Laure’s LinksWebsite: Ness Labs - Make the most of your mindTwitter: @anthilemoonSubscribe to Anne-Laure’s NewsletterEpisode TranscriptAnne: [00:00:00] Saying no. And always asking yourself, why am I doing this? And is it the right thing to do? That’s the most important thing I thinkNathan: [00:00:13] In this episode of Art of Newsletters, I’m joined by Anne-Laure, talks about her journey from a product marketer at Google to running a very popular fast-growing newsletter. We talk about how she’s earning a living her fresh products and so much more. So let’s dive in. Anne-Laure, thanks for joining me today.Anne: [00:00:30] Thanks for having me, Nathan. Nathan: [00:00:31] So I would love to start with just why you started a newsletter. You’ve got a newsletter that’s quite popular now, you know, you’re, well-respected in, uh, all of our friend groups and all of that got a course that came out a ton of things. But going back to the beginning when you’re like, all right, I’m going to create a MailChimp account.When I get going, like, what was the impetus behind that? Anne: [00:00:54] Initially that was more of a personal challenge. I went back to university a couple of years ago to study neuroscience and I wanted to have a forcing mechanism to write about it. And I’m someone who actually feels quite uncomfortable with disappointing people.So publicly committing to sending a weekly newsletter about the topics I was studying at school was a way to force myself. To keep on doing it. I didn’t want people to be like, where’s the newsletter. I should say she would have it. Right. So that’s like, that’s where I was just, I just told people, Hey, every Thursday you can expect an email about when you were a science for me.Nathan: [00:01:35] Yeah. So were you able to hit the every Thursday? Did you stay on that? Anne: [00:01:40] Actually pretty much. So I only missed three newsletters. In one year, two of them were planned. The other one is when was when I lost my grandmother and that was on the day I was supposed to send a newsletter. And what’s crazy is that I almost went like, okay, I don’t want to think about it.I’m going to keep on writing. And then I was like, that’s like, no, that’s not healthy. Are you doing stuff? Writing? This is okay. And, um, the two other times, I actually announced it in the, the edition before, because I read it out about mental health and balance and mindful mindfulness. And this is part of it too, knowing when it’s better to just skip one newsletter so you can stick to it over the long run.Rather than burning out because you’re trying to be overly sustainable to a point where you’re hurting your own mental health. So I did skip a few ones, but I’m okay with it. I think what’s more important is to be able to stick with it over the long run. Nathan: [00:02:37] Yeah, I think that makes perfect sense. And I like your point about being intentional about it and saying.I’m not missing a newsletter, I’m taking a break. And I think that’s something that, um, Paul Jarvis has done really well where, you know, he’s had his newsletter going for many, many years, and then he’ll say like, okay, I’m taking December off or I’m taking the summer off, you know, something like that. And it’s just, uh, a good way to give yourself that break so that you can, you know, have the consistency and then, you know, readers know what to expect.We are consistent with newsletters, so that. Readers can check in and know, uh, you know, really consistently what to pay attention to. I remember one of the, the first people that I followed is Chris Guillebeau. Uh, he wrote the a hundred dollars startup and a bunch of other great books. And he would post every Monday and every Thursday at like 10:00 AM or 9:00 AM on the dot.And I, for whatever reason, I wasn’t on his email list. I don’t know why. But I would actually just be like, Oh, it’s Monday at 10. Like, and I would go and like, look for the poster. And if it was there on nursery day, it would go read it. And it’s just interesting how like, well, you can get trained to, you know, go to the place where the good content is.If the creator sticks to the schedule. Anne: [00:03:51] Absolutely. And you see that in lots of areas of content creation, right? Some of the most successful YouTubers are also following a pretty strict schedule where they tell people they’re very similar to what you just mentioned. Two videos a week one on Monday at this time one on Thursday at this time, same for newsletters, uh, same for blogs in general, any kind of.And they’re very worried. The person is trying to build an audience. You need to have some sort of contract with your audience where you tell them, Hey, you’re giving me your email address. You’re giving me access to the most intimate part of the internet for you. You’re giving me that that’s precious in exchange what I’m giving youthe contract is going to be—is that you’re going to receive. One or two newsletters a week from me on these days and I’m not going to break that contract. So I think it’s quite important to be consistent if you want to build that loyalty with your audience. Nathan: [00:04:50] Yeah. It reminds me of, um, one other podcasts that I listened to a lot, uh, called the tropical MBA.And I’m ev...

David Perell is known as “The Writing Guy” on Twitter, but did you know his email newsletter has over 40,000 subscribers? Not only that, but he sends THREE newsletters a week… every week! In this in-depth conversation, David shares exactly how he uses Twitter to grow his audience, how he maintains consistency with such a high rate of output, and how he’s built an amazingly profitable business by monetizing his newsletters with his breakthrough writing course.We discuss the top 3 ways for a writer to make money from their work and reputation. Should you: • Become a consultant?• Sell courses?• Start a company?David breaks down when each model makes sense, and whether people like Ben Thompson of Stratechery would be better off starting companies instead of selling paid newsletters. David explains why new writers should focus on quantity over quality—and when to flip that around. He also covers the small tweaks that turn your articles from flash-in-the-pan to evergreen. You’ll learn what to focus on when you’re just starting your newsletter, and the language to use on subscription forms to get people to sign up (hint: it’s not, “Sign up for my newsletter!”) Plus, how David sends 3 newsletters every week with less than 2 hours of work!Links & ResourcesConvertKit - Email Marketing for Online CreatorsThe ladders of wealth creation: a step-by-step roadmap to building wealth - Nathan BarryThe Billion Dollar Blog - Nathan BarryPat FlynnJames ClearPaul Graham - EssaysTim Urban - Wait But WhyAli Abdaal - Part-Time YouTuber AcademyStratechery by Ben Thompson – On the business, strategy, and impact of technology.David Perell’s LinksWebsite: perell.comTwitter: @david_perellYouTube: David PerellSubscribe to David’s NewsletterCheck out David’s course, Write of PassageEpisode TranscriptDavid: [00:00:00] This is one of the things I think a lot of people get wrong about getting more email subscribers is they’ll say something like sign up for my newsletter. No one cares. I say something like you will learn how to take ideas and then turn them into structured writing. Then you will learn how to distribute that structured writing.And then you will learn how to build a system to do this. It’s very specific and it’s very useful to the reader in so far as you have those three things, your conversion rates will go way up.Nathan: [00:00:34] Today on Art of Newsletters, I’m joined by David Perell, who has an incredible newsletter that he’s grown to over 40,000 subscribers. We dive into how he uses Twitter to grow his audience. He blows my mind with what he does on Twitter. we had a new, his research processes, how he sends out three newsletters a week really consistently.And then the biggest thing is how he monetizes list. he just makes an incredible amount of money off of the courses that he puts out there really, really high quality. And I think it’s a great model for anyone looking to build their audience and earn a living from their audience in particular. So with that, let’s dive in.All right, David, welcome to the show. David: [00:01:14] Thank you, Nathan. I’m a huge fan of both you and the company that you’ve built. I ConvertKits one of the most important platforms in my life. And thank you very much for all that you do. Nathan: [00:01:26] Oh, that’s great to hear. Well, I’m excited to share a lot of your story. We’ve known each other.What? Only a year or two. Maybe not, not that long, but I dunno, we both admire each other on Twitter and you know, I see you post stuff and I’m like, Oh, That’s an idea that I had, but phrased way better. So I’m excited to tell your story and to share a lot of the tips and tricks for building a billion newsletter.Why don’t we start just tell people about the Write of Passage, your newsletter, you know, kind of like give the high level view of the newsletter and your business and how it all works. David: [00:02:03] Yeah. So the way that I think about newsletters is that I guess I would segment it into two buckets. The first is the weekly newsletters that I send, which are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Monday is Monday musing, sort of a update of my life.And just the coolest things I’m learning. Wednesday is a email that comes out with every podcast that I publish. And that is quotes from the podcast links to YouTube videos. And then Friday. Is four or five links that I find every single week and that those are really the weekly ones. And then there’s a whole other thing or element to how I think about newsletters.And I run a writing course called Write of Passage. And whenever we open for enrollment, which is twice a year, we have 10 days to basically take emails and. People who have signed up and said, Hey, I’m really interested in this. And then other people have just been following along. We might be able to tip over the edge and we have two enrollment periods to get them in the course.And so for that, we use more advanced tactics like lead scoring, which we hadn’t had as native integration, which you have now in ConvertKit. And then also just sending out a very. Detailed and rigorous series of emails, mostly through the sequences tab. And then just through daily emails that we send to people who are interested in taking the course.So that’s how I really think of it. It’s the weekly emails. And then when things get really crazy leaning on ConvertKit, to make sure that we get our emails sent out to prospective students. Nathan: [00:03:46] Nice. So if we go and actually, if you wouldn’t mind sharing some numbers, what’s the, like how many subscribers do you have on the newsletter now?And, and if there’s any revenue numbers, you’re okay with sharing. David: [00:03:58] Yes. So we have 43,000 subscribers on the newsletter. And then for students, what we do is about 600 to 700 students a year, then the course. Is $3,000 as of now for the premium or for the standard edition and then about $5,000 for lifetime access.But we also give about six figures in scholarships every single year. And so you can do the math there and it’s also growing so fast that any revenue number I gave now would basically not be valid in six months. Nathan: [00:04:34] Yeah. That’s a good problem to have. I like that. That’s set up. So let’s go back and. You know, when you’re looking at first starting an email list or first starting a newsletter, what made you go down this road?What was the spark that said, like, this is a good way to spend my time. David: [00:04:51] Yeah. Everybody, who I spoke to and trusted, basically said something along the lines of at the end of the day, when it comes to selling products online, everything is in consequential except for the number of email subscribers that you have.And I took that to heart. I started off on Twitter. Been trying to grow my YouTube channel, but e...

In this episode I sit down with Tim Soulo, the CMO at Ahrefs. He shares behind-the-scenes on how they've built a company to over $1M in revenue per team member.

 Trying to avoid center stage? You can get all the benefits of building an audience without putting yourself in the spotlight. In fact, you don’t even have to be the center of attention to connect with your peers and build relationships with your clients. Allowing your brand to take center stage can bring your business the returns you’re looking for and the email list you want.Ruben Gamez is here to tell us how you can stand back and let your work and your products speak for your brand. He is the creator and lead marketer for his website BidSketch.com, but you’d never know it. He and his team put together professional business proposal templates for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to find work and build a business online, but you won’t see him speaking at conferences or selling on tv spots. That’s because he prefers for his business – his tool – to speak for itself. Find out how he built his audience through his own specially designed content marketing campaign, and how he designed a product that practically sells itself.Topics DiscussedCreating and using drip campaigns to your advantageUsing your email list to your advantage for pre-sales and promotionsHow to build an efficient contract teamDeveloping your skills and uncovering your skillsetHow you can do content marketing for your blogFind out why we don’t always trust GoogleResourcesCheck out ConvertKit.com/blog for conversion tips and tricksGet a proposal template from Ruben at bidsketch.comFollow along with all of the great things Ruben is putting together @bidsketch and follow him personally @earthlingworks on Twitter.

 If you’ve ever felt like your blog posts are a shot in the dark, this episode of the Nathan Barry Show is for you. Working to build an audience never has immediate results, but don’t be discouraged by your lack of response! My guest today will tell you how to produce valuable content over time in order to generate the right kind of response you need to see your business succeed. As a professional freelancer, Brennan Dunn knows the ins and outs of creating an audience and a viable client list. His style of content creation and content marketing has been a huge influence on my own business style. He first started by writing a business blog about the conversations he was having with his own customers as an ingenious way to get new customers and build his email list. This pro-active approach to business, including writing and publishing an e-book, creating his own content, and using paid acquisition through Facebook, is what he’s talking about with us today. You can apply his insight to your own marketing plans to develop something that works for you.Brennan has probably had a bigger on impact on the way I do online business more than anyone else.Brennan has built an audience by communicating with them regularly: regular emails promoting new/regular blogs, direct conversations, free advice, promotionals – Brennan pre-sold his e-book to his Planscope emailing list.  He also offers a range of products to better serve your clients that results in more income for you.Topics We DiscussWhat the very early days of audience building look likeHow consistency converts your early subscribers into customersPaid acquisition and why you should be using it alreadyHow to use Facebook’s Target to promote and communicate with clientsWhat to do for a product or book launchPros and cons of payment plans for customers (spoiler alert: it’s worth it!)ContactSubscribe to Brennan’s list at www.freepricingcourse.comLearn more about Brennan and his insights on freelancing doubleyourfreelancing.comIf you have a minute, I would really appreciate if you would write a review on iTunes about today’s episode. Whether it’s good or bad, let us know what you think by posting a review in iTunes.This season of The Nathan Barry show is sponsored by Kajabi.  Check out how you can create, market, and sell your own digital products through the power of the platform at Kajabi.  And let them know that The Nathan Barry show sent you.

Paul Jarvis, a successful writer, shares his biggest mistakes in his writing career, the success behind his vegan cookbook, and why personal branding is important. He discusses the importance of creating valuable content for the target audience, attracting clients through a vegan cookbook and online business book, and the benefits of building an audience. They also discuss challenges with URLs, pricing and distribution strategies for an audio book, and the power of having a unique voice.

Wracking your brain trying to develop the best marketing campaign? When you think about it, marketing is really just big companies competing for attention. But I’m here to tell you about one of the biggest cheats these companies are missing out on. While they’re too busy fighting each other over a few seconds of everyone’s time, you can be working toward building an audience. That’s right, an audience. When you have an audience, you already have a group of people who want to pay attention to you!I’ve created this podcast to help those of us running our own businesses online build our audiences and our success. I’m talking about personal experiences, I’m bringing on guests who have used social media in unique and interesting ways, and I’m going to teach you how to build yourself an audience that goes beyond creating a simple email list. On today’s episode, I’ve invited Jason Zook to talk about how his audience helped build his brand and helped him succeed as an entrepreneur.“Building a really great audience that you have a conversation with is only going benefit everything that you’re doing tenfold,” Jason says on today’s show. And he offers advice on email marketing and building an online community that you can start using today in order to start that conversation. Along with his insights, this podcast is chock full of tips for:Getting your customers excited about your brandLearning the difference between hard work and luckBuilding an online community that’s dedicated to your brand and your productsJason’s peculiar insight on what it’s like to auction off your own last nameListen in and let us know what you think! Share your audience building tips, let me know what topics you want to hear about, and leave us a review on iTunes.This season of The Nathan Barry show is sponsored by Kajabi.  Check out how you can create, market, and sell your own digital products through the power of the platform at Kajabi.  And let them know that The Nathan Barry show sent you.

Nothing I do is completely original. In fact, so many ideas that people credit to me are originally from someone else.In this episode I want to give credit to the people who’ve provided some truly impactful ideas to the world. This is not a complete list by any means; I’m sure I’ve missed someone, so I plan to add to this list over time. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to leave a comment if you have something to add!Show Notes1. Slow, consistent progressLifehacker article on “Don’t break the chain”(Seinfeld said he didn’t come up with this, but I’m still going to believe he did :)2. Writing 1,000 words per dayChris Guillebeau first introduced me to the idea of making consistent progress in order to actually finish a book. Here’s his post on the topic: How to Write 300,000 Words In 1 Year.3. Writing to a painAmy Hoy and Alex Hillman gave me a solid introduction to copywriting. Through plenty of direct feedback on my sales pages I learned all about writing to a particular pain in my headlines and copy. Amy and Alex go on to talk about the pain, dream, fix model of writing sales pages.You can find Amy & Alex here.I haven’t taken their course 30×500, but I’ve heard wonderful things about it.4. Multiple packagesAn offhand comment by Chris Guillebeau has made me tens of thousands of dollars. 5. Selling digital productsTim Ferriss talks about drug dealers in 4HWW.6. Making a living from self-publishing to a small audienceSacha Greif and Jarrod Drysdale showed me how it’s done.7. Travel hackingChris Guillebeau is the master of this hard-to-believe travel methodology. 8. Focusing on a few core productsJeff Goins, Laura Roeder, & Sacha Greif are excellent examples of this.9. Syndicating content instead of guest postingJames Clear taught me that your best content should appear on your own site.10. Webinars to grow an audienceBrennan Dunn, Danny Iny, Jeff Goins, & Brad Fallon taught me everything I know about how to run profitable webinars and joint ventures. 11. Email marketingConvertKit Academy is something I built for authors who want to learn how to connect better with their audiences and apply email marketing best-practices so they can sell more books.  

In the previous part of this episode we met three talented people – Brandon, Samuel, & Jason. We chatted a bit about their successes with self-publishing and learned how they used my book Authority as a roadmap for creating and publishing their work. In this episode, we dig deeper into how each of these fine gentlemen came up with the topics for their books, dealt with technical challenges, and got the word out. They also share several ways in which their lifestyles improved as a result of their successes; you definitely don’t want to miss that section.Hope you enjoy!Show NotesBuild a Ruby Gem – the book Brandon Hilkert launched after reading Authority Professional Email Design – the latest project by Jason Rodriguez following the success of his first book The Elements of User Onboarding – author Samuel Hulick claims to have botched his book launch, but still managed to land some lucrative consulting gigs (and over $37,000 in revenue) ConvertKit – a tool I built to help creative people get a landing page up faster so they can build their email lists, launch products, and get more sales.Real people have used the information in Authority to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars selling educational products to their enthusiastic audiences. Get your copy of Authority to find out how you can too.Or you can check out what a few people have said about Authority on Amazon. 

Have you ever wondered if it would be possible to make an independent living selling your expertise? In my book Authority I lay down an end-to-end plan for how to research, write, and publish a book to an excited and profitable audience so you can do just that. As it turns out, the methods I outline in Authority work extremely well for many people. Luckily I was able to get a few people who’ve had amazing success on a hangout; we talked for a while about their experiences publishing their first books (and earning very impressive revenues from them). Keep in mind that none of these talented folks had big audiences when they started.This is part 1 of a two part episode showcasing some of our most successful Authority customers. Hope you enjoy!Show NotesBuild a Ruby Gem – the book Brandon Hilkert launched after reading Authority Professional Email Design – the latest project by Jason Rodriguez following the success of his first book The Elements of User Onboarding – this breakthrough book by Samuel Hulick landed him some sweet consulting gigs (and over $37,000 in revenue) How to make a full-time salary from one book – an article I wrote since this recording outlining what I’ve learned from multiple book launches.Real people have used the information in Authority to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars selling educational products to their enthusiastic audiences. Get your copy of Authority to find out how you can too.Or you can check out what a few people have said about Authority on Amazon.