Hey Reader, Remember that fantasy that has been circulating in plagued solo businesses for years — “stop trading time for money; escape services. CLICK HERE to learn how to build passive income!!” I mean, it’s the dream, right? Spend a few hours recording a course, then escape to a remote beach and watch your Stripe notifications come in while you’re sipping Mai Tais. While this approach looks great on Instagram, it collapses under basic math and upon contact with reality. The State of...
12 days ago • 7 min read
Is there a book living rent-free in your brain? There’s one living in mine, so I’m doing something about it. On March 17, Lee Densmer, author of "Content, Simplified", will lead a session about writing a business book from scratch. We’ll unpack positioning, publishing mechanics, revenue pathways, and your toughest questions live. Join us here! Hey Reader, I’m sure you’ve heard this before: “You pay with time or money, whichever you value less”. The gurus love to tell you how time is the most...
19 days ago • 9 min read
Hey Reader, “I need a roadmap, something I can follow to grow my business”. “I’m doing all the right things but I’m not making (enough) sales”. “I need to diversify; what product can I add?” — these are the top three challenges my 1:1 clients bring to me. They all have different solutions, of course. In fact, even when I hear the same challenge from multiple clients, I never offer the same solution to all of them. How could I? They’re different people with different businesses and different...
26 days ago • 8 min read
You’ve still got time to join The Newsletter Growth Bootcamp. We start on Monday and go for 4 weeks of live calls, async support, and actual implementation. So you don’t just leave with a bunch of theoretical advice but with real gains and with a real plan you can follow. Hey Reader, In the past year, I’ve heard some variation of “selling feels harder” so often that it deserves its own entry in the Strategic AF glossary. My clients and my friends say it after they’ve done aaalll the “right...
about 1 month ago • 9 min read
At this price, you won’t believe it’s live and hands-on. I’ve been told that the pricing for The Newsletter Growth Bootcamp is far too low. I agree, it’s low for 4 weeks of live learning BUT I do have a reason for pricing it this way, and it’s not (just) my generosity. I’ll tell you what it is later on, but in the meantime, join us if you want to grow your newsletter. Hey Reader, Throughout 2025, “it feels like screaming into a void” (and variations of it) was the phrase I heard from my 1:1...
about 1 month ago • 8 min read
Pre.S: Want to grow your newsletter or email list? We’re doing a month-long bootcamp in February in The Council. The goal is to get shit done, so this bootcamp will be very hands-on. You can join us as a Council guest here. Hey Reader, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. About how most people still design their growth around first contact. How someone finds them.Which channel brings reach.What converts a stranger into a follower, subscriber, or buyer. That framing made sense when...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
PreS.: I’ve been talking a lot about The Council recently but I never told you exactly how I see it and why it exists. I wrote this to answer the most frequently asked questions I get. Hey Reader, Thinking about launching something soon? Many of my clients are, so I’ve been talking a lot about the right way to announce that new awesome thing you’re building. Traditionally, there are two popular ways to put a new offer into the world. Option one sounds like this: “I’m thinking about building...
about 2 months ago • 7 min read
Hey Reader, I’ve never done this before; I’ve never shared my year-long strategy before I’ve had the chance to implement even 5% of it. But I’ve gotten so many questions about what I’ll sell this year and where I’ll show up that I decided to answer in an in-depth, unfiltered way. So today’s email is a bit self-centered. Before we dig in, I want to add an important caveat: this is my strategy, based on my goals, and on my history. It’s not translatable 1:1 to another business. I’ll do my best...
2 months ago • 7 min read
Hey Reader, Quick question: aren’t launches great? The adrenaline, the dopamine, the rush when someone trusts you enough to buy a brand-new product or offer? Personally, I like them. I’ve spoken before about how often you should launch something new. BUT you can’t run on launches only. If your business only feels “stable” during a launch window, you have built a machine that runs on adrenaline and attention. It works. It also burns you out, because every revenue spike demands another spike,...
2 months ago • 9 min read