​

​
This email found its way into your inbox because you are awesome and subscribed here OR here or maybe here. This email may contain affiliate links where I receive a small commission for recommending products I use & love at no extra cost to you.
​

​
​[#Sponsor] The free tool to turn your website into a lead-generating machine

You don’t need to spend thousands on advertising or countless hours on social media to generate growth.

As long as you have a performing website.

Plezi One is a new free tool that helps you turn your website into a lead machine. Create and automate forms, track and understand your leads and analyze your website and SEO performance with Plezi One.
​
​Create your free account >>​
​

This is Growth Currency⚡ #54 — your weekly dose of Part Time Creator inspo ✨

A special welcome to the 22 newest members of the Growth Currency⚡ newsletter community! Welcome here Ben, Martin, Espree, Jonathan, Rahul, Paul, Nick and Becky—to name a few!

Thank you for giving me a little bit of space in you inbox. 🙏
​

​
GROWTH INSIGHTS | Start a blog newsletter.

[I hadn't planned to write about this—but when the signal is so strong, you lean in]

I love Twitter.

Why?

I saw someone tweet about starting a blog and thought "They should just start a newsletter instead."

So I tweeted it out.

⚡ Dylan is Writing a Newsletter for Creators 🚢 @growthcurrency Don't start a blog. Start a newsletter. February 6th 2022 2 Retweets 114 Likes

The tweet went mini-viral with some excellent engagement (take a scroll through the replies).

There was a lot of support, but also a lot of detractors suggesting this isn't ideal. But here's the thing...

What most detractors missed was one word: "START"

Look—I get the purpose and value of a blog. It is a proven method to build a business. Don't here what I'm not saying. I didn't say "NEVER start a blog" — that's not it at all.

BUT I hardcore believe if you are at the starting line and deciding what to do: START A NEWSLETTER FIRST.

Here's why.

WHY STARTING A NEWSLETTER > STARTING A BLOG

REASON #1: Collecting emails is the point

I want to start here because this is key. If you read no other points below—please read this one: starting a newsletter leapfrogs whatever you will do with a blog at the beginning:

→ →→ Collecting email addresses is [quite often, almost always] the point.

Everyone starts with zero newsletter subscribers. But you publish, you promote, you get a few subscribers. You're off to the races.

Your blog will also start with zero readers. You will publish, promote, and get a few eyeballs. But then what? They poke around and bounce. They're gone and you may never get them back. Wouldn't it have been awesome to get their email address so you could nurture that relationship with a newsletter—oh.

Worth repeating: Collecting email addresses is [quite often, almost always] the point.

REASON #2 - A newsletter IS a blog

Most email newsletter platforms offer a blog-style content feed. Your past newsletter editions become your blog. If you're concerned about SEO, migrate your newsletter content to a hosted domain. But start with a newsletter.

REASON #3 - Starting a newsletter is free & frictionless

You can sign up + write + publish your first newsletter in less than an hour. Platforms like ConvertKit, Substack, and Revue make this possible. Starting a blog can be costly if you want to buy a domain, get hosting, pay for a theme etc etc. Again, I'm not saying "don't do this," but I am saying don't START here.

Related: I created a 20-page guide to help you set up a Substack account and get publishing quickly. Check it out here.

REASON #4 - Being proactive > being passive

A blog is passive. Think of it like opening a coffee shop. You flick on the "Now Open" sign and crickets (I've done this—it sucks.)

A newsletter is like Uber Eats. People intentionally sign up to get your words delivered to them (I've done this—it's awesome.) They signed up for that inbox delivery. Hell, if it's good enough, they'll pay you for it. If that's not signal, I don't know what is 🤷‍♂️

REASON #5 - Newsletter Ads > Blog ads

How's that blog Adsense revenue coming along? Those $3.77 Adsense checks aren't quite covering your hosting costs, hey? With ConvertKit or Substack, you don't even need to pay for hosting. You can—but you don't have to. Win.

AND, once you hit a few hundred subscribers, you can attract sponsors or advertisers on platforms like Swapstack, Paved, or Letterwell.

The more niche your newsletter, the more you can charge for ads relevant to your reader demographic. It will take you a lot longer to get there with blog traffic ad revenue.

REASON #6 - Affiliates

Affiliate blogs are great. Tons have made $$$ there. But again—takes a lot of time, effort, visitors.. But curating relevant links in your newsletter is going to get you traction a lot faster. ESPECIALLY if you've built up credibility and trust with your readers.

Sure, if you're flogging any affiliate link you get your hands on, trust evaporates and the unsubscribes will follow. But if you're strategic with your affiliates and they are products *you actually use and love*, you will see traction a lot faster

CONVINCED?

You might not be. That's totally okay. But I'm standing firm: I'm a strong believer in this strategy for those of us just starting out. I'm also a firm believer you can crush a blog if done properly.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Reply to that tweet above or reply to this email with your thoughts and/or questions. Let's build some newsletters!
​

​
YOUR GROWTH CURRENCY ⚡ THIS WEEK

"Knowledge is the currency of growth."
​
​​
⚡ Duuce — Buy & Sell Newsletters
​Building a newsletter from scratch is equally rewarding AND time consuming (trust me). So buy (or sell) an email newsletter instead on Druuce: the marketplace for newsletters.

​

⚡"Reply with a 👋 — I'll DM you the link!" [Twitter hack]
Run a viral giveaway like the one below—with ease—with Hypefury's auto-DM feature.

⚡ Dylan is Writing a Newsletter for Creators 🚢 @growthcurrency Scared to tweet this↓ "Reply with a 👋 — I'll DM you with a link!" b/c of too many replies? @hypefury let's you auto-DM anyone who replies. How it works—saving you HOURS ↓↓↓ pic.twitter.com/82jkMNMTAt January 28th 2022 2 Retweets 20 Likes

​
⚡ You Don't Need To Quit Your Job To Make by Steph Smith
​Steph lays out the perfect case study for part time creators. This is—as they say—an oldie but a goodie.

​

⚡ How To Become A Better Writer by Josh Spector
​Learn how to generate ideas, prepare an outline, write a rough draft, and how to edit—all this from someone who makes a living writing.

​

⚡ Launch 30 Podcast Episodes in 30 Days with Espree Devora
​I've had the pleasure of chatting with Espree and I know this is going to be an epic ride for a limited group of people. This will fill up fast. Fill out the application form if you're interested and willing to commit!

​

⚡ Whimsical — a FREE tool to help you build + manage flowcharts, mind maps, wireframes and projects. It's kind of like a slimmed down version of Notion but with some distinct features. Pretty slick.

(Found this thanks to 100DaysofNocode)

​
​​
​

GC⚡ Classifieds

🎯 Would you love to learn the secrets of indie hackers or marketers turned authors? Read the Coffee & Pens interviews with Arvid Kahl, Rob Fitzpatrick, Andrew Warner and many more.
​

Get featured at the end of this newsletter for the price of lunch? ​Reach out if you're interested.
​

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this edition?
​
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Best edition yet 🤩
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Really solid 💪
⭐⭐⭐ - Pretty average 🤷‍♂️
⭐⭐ - might unsubscribe 😬
⭐ - definitely unsubscribing ✌️

And in case you missed it, here are last week's most popular links:

#1: ​​How to generate 100 ideas to write about in 30 minutes by Dickie Bush (🧵)
​#2: ​​​​​​My Favorite Copywriting Resources For Every Skill Level by Annie Maguire

If you'd like to support me and this newsletter, you can leave me a tip here:

Peace and platonic love,

Dylan

PS: The best time to start a newsletter was 10 years ago. The second best time is now.