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"There is a strong, undeniable correlation between the number of emails you send and the amount of money you make." — Olly Richards

In this episode, Chenell & Dylan chat with Olly Richards — the founder of Storylearning.com and now a fast-growing personal brand — about exactly how he grew his personal brand from $0 and 0 audience to $1.2m and over 18,000 subscribers in 18 months. 

From his early days as a broke jazz musician to building a multi-million dollar language learning business, Olly walks us through the evolution of his business brain, the intentional pivot into mentorship, and the role of his newsletter in scaling it all.

We go deep into his email strategy, the content philosophies behind his newsletter, and how he leveraged high-leverage, low-effort marketing techniques to build a loyal audience — and then turn that audience into over $1.2m in revenue. If you’re building a business around your newsletter or thinking about launching a premium offer, you’ll want to hear how Olly layered mentorship, digital products, and events to create a flywheel that fuels itself.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Olly’s transformation from language teacher to seven-figure business mentor
• The origin and impact of his now-famous 118-page Google Doc
• How that doc helped him attract 18,000 subscribers and generate $1.2M+
• Why brand is the ultimate “cheat code” in an AI-driven world
• His email newsletter philosophy — from long-form essays to raw, daily thoughts
• The tools and cadence he uses to stay consistent (and inspired)
• How he structures mentorship, masterminds, and digital products into a scalable business
• The 60/20/20 revenue breakdown that funds his growth flywheel
• Why most creators are missing the fundamentals of internet marketing
• The one skill Olly believes every creator must learn to build a sustainable business

LINKS MENTIONED

• Get 30 proven strategies to grow and optimize your email list FREE >>
• OllyRichards.co
• Olly's Newsletter
• Olly's 118-page Case Study (Google Doc)
• Olly's Courses (incl. 7 Figure Marketing Stack)
• Chenell's Growth Lever featuring Olly 
• StoryLearning.com
• Want your newsletter roasted? Submit it here. 
• Growth In Reverse PRO Community
• Check out past Growth In Reverse Deep Dives: https://growthinreverse.com/archive/

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

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

OUR NEWSLETTERS

• growthinreverse.com
• growthcurrency.net

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Thanks to Tim Forkin for editing these episodes.