Newsletter & Email Growth: Growth In Reverse

He spends $1M per month on ads. And makes $50M per year.

Get the FREE Growth Levers Library: growthinreverse.com/growth-levers-library/***“Most people underestimate how long it takes for anything meaningful to happen.” — Matt Paulson, MarketBeat Matt Paulson is the founder of MarketBeat, one of the largest independent financial media brands on the internet. What started as a scrappy side project eventually turned into a multi-newsletter business serving millions of investors, driven primarily by search, disciplined publishing, and long-term thinking.In this episode, Matt walks through how MarketBeat grew over time, why newsletters became a central growth lever, how monetization evolved alongside the audience, and what most creators misunderstand about “overnight success.” This is a grounded, reality-based look at building a newsletter business that lasts.KEY TAKEAWAYSWhy Matt believes most newsletter creators reach for paid growth far too earlyThe channel Matt actively avoided for years, even as others obsessed over itThe two most important metrics Matt pays attention toMarketBeat's sign-up flow that earns back paid growth spend The surprising channel Matt is most bullish on today and why it prints moneyWhat “organic growth” actually looked like when it wasn’t glamorousHow MarketBeat evaluated channels based on profit, not attentionThe point where “more traffic” stopped being the goalWhat Matt would double down on today if starting from zeroLINKS MENTIONEDMarketBeat.comMattPaulson.comMarketBeat YouTube ChannelNewMediaSummit.com (use GIR20 for 20% off your ticket)Take your newsletter to the next level with Chenell & Dylan — join GIR Pro todayAll of Chenell's Free Content → FOLLOW ON SOCIALChenell: Twitter | LinkedInDylan: LinkedIn | Substack | InstagramOUR NEWSLETTERSgrowthinreverse.comgrowthcurrency.netSubscribe & Leave a Review:Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform.

He Made $50K Launching a Paid Substack Newsletter (Here’s How)

This is a clip from the FULL GIR episode with Tom Orbach: SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3LiScMzoSsoyASlymH8vC6YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD-xde5kQ4Q***How do you launch a paid Substack newsletter earning $50,000—without a long pre-launch, teaser campaign, or complicated funnel?And all this while working a full-time job?In this Growth In Reverse podcast clip, Tom Orbach breaks down exactly how he launched the paid version of his Substack newsletter after nearly two years of publishing for free—and why simply announcing it to his list worked so well.You’ll hear how Tom:→ Designed a paid Substack offer people couldn’t price per email→ Ran a surprise-style launch without warming up his audience→ Used multiple emails (not just one) to drive conversions→ Signed up 500+ paid subscribers before publishing his first paywalled postLINKS MENTIONEDTom's 3 Big Growth Levers & Launch PlanThe Full GIR Episode with Tom OrbachTom's newsletter — MarketingIdeas.comTom's 3 Big Growth Levers & Launch PlanNewMediaSummit.com (use GIR20 for 20% off your ticket)Take your newsletter to the next level with Chenell & Dylan — join GIR Pro todayAll of Chenell's Free Content → FOLLOW ON SOCIALChenell: Twitter | LinkedInDylan: LinkedIn | Substack | InstagramOUR NEWSLETTERSgrowthinreverse.comgrowthcurrency.netSubscribe & Leave a Review:Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform

The Newsletter Growth Playbook for 2026 with Matt McGarry

Get Matt's 1,000 Email Subscriber Formula: https://growthinreverse.com/matt-yt-download/***"The way to monetize a small, niche audience is not sponsorships — it’s higher-ticket services." — Matt McGarry, GrowLetter Matt McGarry has helped grow some of the largest newsletters in the world — including The Hustle, Milk Road, and 1440 — to millions of subscribers. But in this conversation, he makes a contrarian case: you don’t need a massive email list to build a highly profitable newsletter business.We dig into why sponsorships are a weak monetization strategy for most creators, how Matt generates $76+ per subscriber from LinkedIn, why short-form video is the most underutilized growth channel for newsletters right now, and how to think about business models before chasing scale.Matt also shares how he’s evolved his own newsletter past 50,000 subscribers, what growth channels are actually working in 2025, and why events, services, and higher-touch offers often beat low-ticket products — especially early on.KEY TAKEAWAYSWhy sponsorships are one of the weakest newsletter monetization pathsHow Matt earns $76 per LinkedIn subscriber (and why lead quality matters more than volume)How one YouTube video drove 1,000+ email subscribers with a simple lead magnetWhen not to start paid growth — and the exact criteria Matt uses before spending a dollarWhy newsletters should often monetize with services and consulting before productsThe biggest newsletter opportunity most creators are ignoring in 2026LINKS MENTIONEDMatt's 1k Email Formula BreakdownGrowletter.coNewMediaSummit.com (use GIR20 for 20% off your ticket)Matt's newsletter — The Newsletter OperatorChenell's on Matt's podcast Take your newsletter to the next level with Chenell & Dylan — join GIR Pro todayAll of Chenell's Free Content → FOLLOW ON SOCIALChenell: Twitter | LinkedInDylan: Twitter | LinkedIn | BlueskyOUR NEWSLETTERSgrowthinreverse.comgrowthcurrency.netSubscribe & Leave a Review:Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform!

Live Creator Q&A: Real Strategies for Newsletters in 2026

The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.--------------------------------------“Creators overinvest in subscriber count and under-invest in content quality.” — Chenell Basilio We went live on YouTube for the first time and opened up the floor for a full creator Q&A session! In this session, we answered audience questions about newsletters, growth, ROI, lead magnets, AI in email, overcoming writing fears, and building creator businesses that last.QUESTIONS WE ANSWERED These are the questions we tackled during the livestream:Do newsletter writers need to have a podcast and/or YouTube channel to succeed?Should creators focus on one platform first, or spread across multiple?What’s was our ROI and ROF (Return on Fun) of running a podcast for a year?What were the biggest benefits of podcasting this year?What would we do differently if we were starting the podcast in 2026?Which part of our podcast workflow will we stop doing (or want to stop)?How do subject lines affect open rates for new vs. long-time subscribers?What’s one thing newsletter creators over-invest in?What’s one thing newsletter creators under-invest in?What is the most important metric you track in your ESP? What metrics matter more than open rate?How are AI features in Apple Mail and Gmail changing how people interact with newsletters?...and more!LINKS MENTIONEDGrowthInReverse.comGrowthCurrency.netJoin a community for newsletter creators: Growth In Reverse Pro Get The Growth Vault — newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.Want your newsletter roasted? Submit it here. Ask us a question or submit a podcast topic idea: growthinreverse.com/questionsCheck out past Growth In Reverse Deep Dives: https://growthinreverse.com/archive/FOLLOW ON SOCIALChenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | SubstackDylan: LinkedIn | Substack | InstagramOUR NEWSLETTERSgrowthinreverse.comgrowthcurrency.netSubscribe & Leave a Review:If you found this episode valuable, take a second to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! It helps more newsletter creators find the show. Plus, if you submit a review, you’ll get priority for your own newsletter roast!Music from #Uppbeat:https://uppbeat.io/t/21-on-the-block/i-knowLicense code: 1XP9IRXHPZSBPGMM

The Wildest Newsletter Growth Strategies From 3,000 Hours of Research (Greatest Hits)

Get 30 proven strategies to grow and optimize your email list FREE >>This week, we're playin' the hits! Let's rewind the clock to December 2024. This episode was the very first episode we published—and it's been our most popular episode to date! In this very first episode, we dig into the 3,000+ hours of research Chenell has done into creators and uncovered some of the wildest ways successful newsletter creators have grown their newsletters. Get the full list and 75+ newsletter growth tactics here: https://growthinreverse.com/wildStart collecting testimonials for free with Senja: https://growthinreverse.com/senjaKEY TAKEAWAYSCodie Sanchez’s Playbook: How buying and growing newsletters helped her build a massive audience.Yossi Levi (Car Dealership Guy): Building a powerful brand—100% anonymously.Ali from First 1000: Breaking down intentional, daily growth strategies.Tom Alder’s Prelaunch Strategy: Using social media to validate your newsletter idea to the tune of 5k subscribers.Justin Welsh’s Content OS: A behind-the-scenes look at the system that powers Justin’s consistent content creation—and how it's earned him over 7 figures.Cross-Promotion Tactics: How creators like Alex Garcia used newsletter-video swaps to grow their lists by thousands.LINKS MENTIONEDCodie Sanchez Grew Her Newsletter to 250k+ Subscribers in Just 3 Years (deep dive)Yossi Levi Built The Car Dealership Guy to 550k+ Followers (deep dive)First1000.co Grew to 60k Subscribers in 32 Months (deep dive)How Justin Welsh turned his sawdust into $2 million (deep dive)"Car Dealership Guy" Yossi Levi's "Who the f*** is Car Dealership Guy" videoJustin Welsh's Content System: https://youtu.be/0tjGORsL2QI?si=LRUt9hOqRAJHNdaW&t=1012 Justin's ContentOS course https://growthinreverse.com/contentos (aff link)Check out all these growth levers here: https://growthinreverse.com/wildFOLLOW ON SOCIALChenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | BlueskyDylan: Twitter | LinkedIn | BlueskyOUR NEWSLETTERSgrowthinreverse.comgrowthcurrency.netSubscribe & Leave a Review:Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform!