In this week’s episode, I sat down with Luis and Rui Sousa, co-founders of The AI Break, a Substack newsletter that’s grown to more than 90,000 subscribers in under two years.

The two brothers shared how they turned their side-project into a full-time business, combining paid ads, organic growth, and practical AI education.

🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: https://www.writebuildscale.com/podstarterkit/

We also covered:

- Why paid ads became their biggest growth engine - and how they reinvested every dollar to scale (02:41)

- How they monetize their newsletter through 3 powerful income streams (13:00)

- Why the best way to sell your services might be to stop pitching them altogether (19:40)

- The smart paywall strategy that converts free readers into paying subscribers (21:00)

- How to start using AI if you’re feeling overwhelmed or intimidated by it (28:20)

- How you can create high-quality content with AI - that actually sounds and feels like you (37:00)

- Why you should start monetizing your knowledge right now - even if you only have 10 subscribers (01:00:45)

And much, much more…

Connect With Rui & Luis Sousa:

📙 ⁠Follow Rui Sousa on Substack: https://substack.com/@ruisousa11

💼 Follow Luis Sousa on Substack: https://substack.com/@luissousa28

▶️ Subscribe To The AI Break Substack: https://theaibreak.substack.com/