First Class Founders: Creators | Solopreneurs | Personal HoldCo

E35: Today, I am sharing my learnings growing my newsletter. I'll tell you five key lessons from my journey to getting 3,000 subscribers in just 5 months for the First Class Founders newsletter so that you don't have make costly mistakes.

I'll lay out specific and actionable tips about what to look for while promoting your newsletter, how to spend your money wisely, where to spend your money wisely, and the one thing you need to have in your branding and messaging.

Let's get down to business!

***
SPONSOR: 

I love using Riverside.fm to record all guest interviews. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.

***
EXCERPTS:

Cross Promotions: "Trying to cross promote your newsletter before reaching 3, 000 subscribers doesn't result in a big uptick in your subscriber numbers."

— Yong-Soo Chung (13:09)

Swapping Recommendations: "Swapping recommendations helps your newsletter grow rapidly because you're no longer constrained by the same constraints that applied when you were doing cross promos."

— Yong-Soo Chung (15:28)

*** 
TOPICS:

[00:05:48] Growing via Twitter ads.
[00:07:19] How to auto-DM your followers.
[00:13:09] Cross-promotions not effective before 3k subscribers.
[00:14:50] Swapping recommendations is magical.
[00:19:24] Beehiiv Boosts: New channel for growth?
[00:24:02] Consistency in voice, branding, and messaging.
[00:29:34] Bonus lesson: Build in public.

*** 

LINKS: 

Episode 22 - Newsletter Success Launch Plan: 4 Effective Strategies to Kickstart Your Newsletter

Episode 23 - Grow Your Newsletter Fast: Secrets to Skyrocketing Your Subscribers

Episode 27 - 10 Powerful Tools to Boost Your Newsletter Growth

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E34: Today's episode is a masterclass in audience building by none other than podcast legend David Hooper. He's worked with big clients including AT&T, RunDMC, Victoria's Secret, and Fedex.

David and I spoke at length about how his career shaped up over the years and discussed several things, such as how living and growing up in the Music City influenced his career, the long journey from a college radio host to podcast marketing consultant, ideas and strategies to grow a big audience, which he picked up from his years in the radio and podcasting business, as well as several anecdotes from his interactions with celebrities in the music business.

Let's get down to business!

***
SPONSOR: 

I love using Riverside.fm to record all guest interviews like this one with David Hooper. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.

***
EXCERPTS:

Building a Smaller But More Engaged Audience: "You can be more successful having a smaller operation. So that's kind of the counterintuitive thing for podcasting that I think people miss."

— David Hooper (27:55)

The Power of Niche Podcasting: "But I will tell you that I've gone with the production that I've done as niched down as a per neighborhood podcast only for this neighborhood. And we have made more money CPM cost per thousand out of any other thing I've ever been involved with."

— David Hooper (28:38)

*** 

TOPICS:

[00:07:03] David Hooper: From American Bandstand Fan to Radio Jock
[00:08:35] People Don't Care About Your Stuff As Much As You Do
[00:11:12] From Radio to Music Conference to Podcasting
[00:15:49] Lessons for Founders: Pivoting for Audience Engagement
[00:17:40] Be Open and Flexible in Your Creative Journey
[00:21:40] Winning by Twinning: Be Relatable, yet Aspirational
[00:27:12] How to Increase Your Sponsorship CPM by Niching Down

*** 

LINKS: 

BigPodcast.com
Justin Gordon's Episode

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E33: Today's guest is Jennifer Phan, Founder & CEO of Passionfroot, a platform which is aiming to become the operating system for creators.

Jennifer has worked with some of the biggest creators including Arvid Kahl, Michael Houck, and Ali Abdaal.

Being at the epicenter of the creator economy, she knows a thing or two about becoming a successful creator.

So, what are the secrets to becoming a successful creator?

Let’s find out.

***
SPONSOR:

I love using Riverside.fm to record all interviews. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.

***
EXCERPTS:

How Being a Creator is like Being an Investor: "As a creator, you can actually apply exactly that kind of investor and portfolio mindset and place a lot of smaller bets, try a lot of different platforms where you create content."

— Jennifer Phan (7:56)

The Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship: "I think we're on a very good track. I think it's this roller coaster, right? Like one day it's like amazing, everything looks great. The other day is when a user churn is like, oh my God, how are we ever going to make it?"

— Jennifer Phan (28:44)

Building Resilience: "You're supposed to feel one third of your time great, one third of your time and one third of your time future. And that shows that you're out of your comfort zone."

— Jennifer Phan (29:34)

***
TOPICS:

How Jen went from VC to creator to founder (4:07)

Similarities between VC investments and creators' small bets (7:56)

How to attract sponsors (12:28)

When to start looking for sponsors (17:39)

Advice for younger entrepreneurs (25:40)

***
LINKS:

E24: Life-Changing Wisdom with Arvid Kahl: From Selling a SaaS Business to Becoming a Creator
E25: How To Turn Your Side Hustle Into a Million Dollar Business
E26: From Training NFL Pros to Joining a Venture Capital Firm: Justin Gordon's Incredible Journey

Jennifer on Twitter
Passionfroot's Website

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E32: Sam Browne is a musician at heart and an entrepreneur by trade. Sam is also the founder of Haro SEO, which is a search engine optimization firm that involves getting backlinks from high quality domains by helping a reporter out.

Sam is also a well known LinkedIn creator who grew from 500 to 50,000 followers in just one year. He's now planning a course for entrepreneurs on LinkedIn.

So how does someone who started off as a musician become an entrepreneur skilled in such diverse industries? What was the journey that took Sam from playing in bands as a high schooler to a serial entrepreneur with multiple successes under his belt?

Let's dig in...

***
SPONSOR:
I love using Riverside.fm to record all interviews. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan. 

***
EXCERPTS:

The Reality of Starting a Business: "I'm 15 years into this now. I had absolutely no clue what the hell I was doing for at least the first five years. No clue."

— Sam Browne (27:38)

Choosing the Right Business: "...think really hard. As much as you want to think about where the money is, and that's an important consideration, too. Think about what you want your day to look like, because whether you're selling vacuum cleaners or you're selling laser jets, ultimately you're probably going to be dealing with you're going to have emails, you're going to have clients coming in, you're going to have complaints, you're going to have fires to put out. So think about the types of fires you want to be putting out."

— Sam Browne (28:06)

***
TOPICS:

Introduction and Background (3:45)

About "Find A Band" (7:41)

Find A Band's 3-Phase Sales Process (8:26)

Starting HARO SEO during lockdown (12:20)

How Sam grew his LinkedIn influence (19:26)

Art of hooks for LinkedIn (21:12)

Leveraging Generative AI tools (PREMIUM)

What content is Sam creating now? (PREMIUM)

Advice for entrepreneurs and founders (27:25)

***
LINKS:

Sam Browne on LinkedIn

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E31: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work FOREVER in the same industry where you got your first-ever job? Well, Matt Giovanisci doesn't need to imagine it. Because that is exactly what he has been doing since he was 13 years old.

Over the years, Matt grew steadily within this industry and eventually ended up launching Swim University in 2006. Swim University caters to a very specific niche - homeowners with pools and hot tubs. According to their 'About' page, "Swim University has made pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners." Matt has mentioned on his website that Swim University makes over $250,000 a year!

You must be very curious about how exactly Matt went from pool store boy to the owner of a niche business that has served more than 10 million homeowners and made several millions of dollars in revenue!

Let's find out!

***
SPONSOR:
I love using Riverside.fm to record all interviews. Try it out 100% free here and when you're ready, use the code FIRSTCLASS to get 20% off any paid plan.

***
EXCERPTS:

Carving Out Your Lane: "It's one of those businesses still to this day where I am trial and erroring my way through a profitable lane that's carved out kind of just for me...this is our lane, and we stick to it."

— Matt Giovanisci (8:44)

Growing Moneylab: "This year is the year where I grow Moneylab and maybe take another 10 to 20% of the revenue share between those two businesses."

— Matt Giovanisci (16:25)

***
TOPICS:

Matt’s introduction and history (0:14)

How Swim University began (0:41)

Matt’s current workload, revenue streams, and future projections  (6:32)

Using the Swim University model to launch RoastyCoffee and Brew Cabin (12:54)

What is Moneylab and Moneylab Pro? (14:42)

Matt's plans for revenue diversification (16:00)

Advice for young entrepreneurs (22:34)

***
LINKS:

Chuck Jones's Rules
Money Lab Rules
Matt's Fake Time Machine Article

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E30: Ever since ChatGPT was released to the public, people have used it for a wide variety of interesting experiments. Today, I'm speaking to Jackson Fall, the man behind the recent success of HustleGPT.

At the time of recording, Jackson's Twitter thread about HustleGPT, his unique entrepreneurial experiment with ChatGPT had nearly 16,000 retweets, 103,000 likes, and well over 22.5 million impressions. It created a sensation among founders and entrepreneurs and got noticed by CNN as well.

I ended up discussing a ton of stuff with Jackson, including:

- Tips and tricks to effective prompt engineering
- The secret sauce to his explosive growth on Twitter
- How he conceived of HustleGPT and how he plans to grow it
- How he built a community around the viral phenomenon of HustleGPT

***
EXCERPTS:

The Fascinating Social Experience of Prompt Engineering: "What is so cool about this whole idea of prompt engineering is it's an incredibly social experience... It feels like I'm finally in Harry Potter or something and I'm like casting spells."

— Jackson Fall (13:26)

ChatGPT as a Life Coach: "I want you to ask me three questions from each of these ten categories that I can fit my life into...And then I want you to take those responses and ask me a bunch of questions about comparing where I am now in my life versus where I want to be in my life."

— Jackson Fall (17:02)

Going Viral on Twitter: "For the first three or four days, every single time I refresh my notifications, it was like 100 new people followed."

— Jackson Fall (26:39)

***
TOPICS:

Introduction to ChatGPT and example use cases (3:38)

Who is Jackson Fall and what does he do? (4:47)

What is HustleGPT? (5:13)

How did HustleGPT reshape the use case of ChatGPT? (5:59)

Some of Jackson's other experiments with ChatGPT (7:50)

Prompt engineering involved with HustleGPT (11:22)

The 3 elements that caused Jackson's tweet to go instantly viral (20:55)

Could THIS be the secret to gaining followers on Twitter? (23:12)

The 4 elements necessary to build a thriving online community (27:42)

***
LINKS:
Build in Public Episode

We Make Shift
Jackson on Twitter

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E29: Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon, is worth $125 Billion.

And, the one thing he is famously known for is his "customer obsession." In fact, Amazon strives to be 'Earth's most customer-centric company.' And yet, my own experience revealed a different side of Amazon.

Today, I want to take a slight detour and talk about an incident that happened to me, which had me re-evaluating my understanding of good customer service. Particularly, since it has to do with my interactions with Amazon, which prides itself as the Earth's most customer-centric company.

My run-in with Amazon taught me five valuable business lessons. I will share with you both the journey that led me to this understanding and the lessons we can all learn from. By the end of this episode, you'll have a firm grasp of a few key principles to help you treat your customers right.

***
TOPICS:

Amazon's Customer Obsession (2:19)

Communicate Issues Properly with Customers (6:15)

Design a User Journey That Makes Sense (8:03)

Who Owns the Customer Journey? (11:51)

Don't Lie To Your Customers (15:58)

Treat Your Loyal Customers Like Royalty, Not Crap (21:44)

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E28: Jeremy is the Founder of Podcast Marketing Academy, which is a podcast growth and marketing company helping scrappy podcast centric brands, networks and creators punch above their weight.

Today, I speak to him about the four key aspects of his excellent EAR$ framework: Exposure, Attraction, Retention, and Monetization. We also dig into how Jeremy implements them for his own content, and how you can implement them for your content.

***
EXCERPTS:

The Power of Newsletters: "I think that's a way easier ask just because of how we treat newsletters like we don't expect an immediate thing. It's almost like I'm going to subscribe now, and I know that I'm going to get the next newsletter."

— Jeremy Enns (9:44)

Optimizing Lead Magnets for Higher Conversion Rates: "I realized, like, I have kind of like a messaging problem and maybe a design problem where it doesn't feel legitimate or hooky or compelling enough. And that needed to change if I wanted to get more people onto the list."

— Jeremy Enns (13:09)

***
TOPICS:

How Jeremy Got Into Podcasting (3:10)

Introduction to the EAR$ Framework (6:11)

How to Get Your Content Exposure (7:04)

Using Newsletter For 'Exposure' to Podcast (8:31)

How to Attract Your Ideal Audience (11:41)

How to Retain Your Audience (15:22)

How to Analyze Retention For a Podcast (18:06)

Why a Big Audience Doesn't Translate to Sales & Monetization (23:34)

How To Apply the EAR$ Framework (26:59)

***
LINKS:

Podcast Marketing Academy
Follow Jeremy on Twitter

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E27: Three months ago, I decided to launch the First Class Founders newsletter.

Problem is, I had no subscribers, no list, and, essentially, no idea what to do or, even, where to begin!

Today, my newsletter has over two thousand subscribers. It has an open rate of 40% and a 10% click-through rate. In case you are wondering, yes, that IS indeed a high number. How did I achieve this? What did I do that was so effective? What's my secret sauce?

Get ready to take notes because I plan to reveal all my secrets to you today!

DISCLAIMER: Twitter just updated their API pricing plans impacting many of the tools mentioned in this episode. This is a fast-changing development so please check the individual websites for updates on how each tool is handling this situation.

***
TOPICS:

Great Content is Not Enough (3:41)

Using Beehiiv to Swap Recommendations (5:42)

When Swapping Recs: Growth Rate > List Size (7:00)

In-Network Recommendation Engines: ConvertKit, SparkLoop, Substack (7:10)

How to Cross Promote Your Newsletter Using Lettergrowth (7:27)

How to Create Beautiful Snapshots Using Xnapper (8:25)

How to Design Your Newsletter Using Canva (9:12)

How to Use Twitter to Repurpose Newsletter Content Using Typefully (11:27)

Track Your Most Important Metrics Using ilo.so  (13:11)

How to Convert Followers on Twitter Using Birdy.so (14:54)

How to Engage with Your Twitter Followers Using Engagement Builder (16:05)

Using Auto-DMs on Twitter to Grow Your Newsletter (18:22)

How to Manage Your Twitter DM Inbox Using Inboxs (19:42)

Summary of Newsletter Tools (21:16)

***
LINKS:

Beehiiv
Lettergrowth
Xnapper
Canva
Typefully
ilo.so
Birdy.so
Engagement Builder
Hivoe
Inboxs

Episode 22
Episode 23

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...

E26: Justin Gordon went from training alongside elite athletes such as LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees to working with an amazing community of entrepreneurs and founders as the Director of Marketing and Communication at a VC firm called Vitalize VC.

He's also the creator of a popular podcast and newsletter called Just Go Grind. I spoke to Justin about his journey from the world of personal fitness to venture capital and came away with a ton of amazing insights such as the similarities between athletics and entrepreneurship, how he applies his learnings as a fitness trainer in the VC world, how he built a network of founders through his content creation, how his podcast got him hired at his current role, and finally what he considers to be the most important quality for an entrepreneur to have.

Also, I'll share some of Justin's thoughts on the Silicon Valley bank fiasco that has been unraveling for the past few weeks and his thoughts on how founders can survive in the current uncertain fundraising climate.

***
TOPICS:

Training Elite NFL Athletes Like Drew Brees & LaDainian Tomlinson (3:51)

Launching a Personal Fitness Business (5:25)

Joining an E-Commerce Company (6:24)

Why Justin Got His MBA in California (7:02)

How Justin Started His Podcast (7:42)

How Justin Got His VC Job Through His Podcast (8:16)

Two Types of Personal Trainers (9:18)

Similarities Between Elite Athletes & Top Entrepreneurs (13:05)

Mailchimp Founder, Ben Chestnut (14:47)

Small Businesses vs. VC-Backed Companies (15:14)

When Fundraising, Narrative Is Just As Important As Traction  (16:28)

How to Navigate Silicon Valley Bank Fiasco (22:05)

Fundraising During Market Turmoil (23:11)

Gobble Founder, Ooshma Garg (24:04)

Knowing What Levers to Pull as an Entrepreneur (26:10)

Making Game Time Adjustments on the Field (27:57)

Calendly Founder, Tope Awotona (30:25)

Paul Graham, Founder at Y Combinator: Relentlessly Resourceful (31:10)

***
LINKS:

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter
JustGoGrind Newsletter
JustGoGrind Podcast

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First Class Founders is a show for indie hackers, bootstrapped founders, CEOs, solopreneurs, content creators, startup entrepreneurs, and SaaS startups covering topics like build in public, audience growth, product marketing, scaling up, side hustles, holding company, etc.

Past guests include Arvid Kahl, Tyler Denk, Noah Kagan, Clint Murphy, Jay Abraham, Andrew Gazdecki, Matt McGarry, Nick Huber, Khe Hy, and more.

Episode you might like:

Future of Newsletters with Tyler Denk, Founder & CEO at Beehiiv

From Zero to 100K Subscribers: How to Grow Your Newsletter like a Pro with Newsletter Growth Expert Matt McGarry

...