“I waited to launch my paid newsletter until I had a solid strategy and felt like I’d earned it.”  — Tom Orbach, Marketing Ideas

Tom Orbach of MarketingIdeas.com — which recently crossed 44,000 free subscribers and over 500 paid subscribers in just the first few days after launching his paid tier — joins Chenell & Dylan to share the exact playbook he used to grow his newsletter and launch the paid version. He became a Substack bestseller within a day of his paid launch! And he did this all while working a full-time job.

You'll learn how he engineered a wildly successful Product Hunt launch, and why he delayed monetization for nearly two years. We also dive into the tools he uses, the psychology behind his launch strategy, and how Substack's built-in network helped supercharge his growth after turning on his paid tier. Whether you're at 500 subscribers or 50,000, this episode is a tactical goldmine.

PS - Tom is not only smart marketer & newsletter creator, he's also a member of the GIR Pro community 🔥

→ Take your newsletter to the next level with GIR Pro >>

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Tom shares how he started the newsletter and bought the domain marketingideas.com after selling a viral tool.
• He explains why he invested in a ".com" domain instead of going with a cheaper option
• What publishing his first newsletter edition to a waitlist of 1,000+ felt like—and why publishing early and often matters.
• Balancing a full-time job with weekly publishing.
• How his job fuels his content.
• His top growth levers (including one that helped him gain over 7,000 subscribers).
• Why he waited nearly two years to launch a paid tier.
• How he designed the offer to feel premium and "non-calculable."
• Behind the scenes of Tom’s nine-day email launch strategy that brought in 500+ paid subscribers.
• How Tom reinvests revenue into experiments, gear, and ads to continue scaling.
• The emotional pressure of going paid—and how he maintains quality content and subscriber trust.
• Building community and micro-launches as the next phase of his newsletter growth.

LINKS MENTIONED

• MarketingIdeas.com
• Tom on LinkedIn
• Ask us a question or submit a podcast topic idea: growthinreverse.com/questions
• Check out the 30 Days of Growth FREE >>
• Get Chenell's brand-new course: The Growth Vault — newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
• Growth In Reverse PRO Community
• Want your newsletter roasted? Submit it here. 
• Check out past Growth In Reverse Deep Dives: https://growthinreverse.com/archive/

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

• Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | Substack
• Dylan: LinkedIn | Bluesky

OUR NEWSLETTERS

• growthinreverse.com
• growthcurrency.net

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Thanks to Tim Forkin for editing these episodes.