Interview Date: April 14, 2024
Table of Content
CREATOR INTERVIEW
There are numerous reasons why running a newsletter is a great idea, and one of my all-time favorites is its power to fuel the growth of a one-person business.
Then, you might assume you need a huge list to achieve that.
Not necessarily!
Ellen Donnelly demonstrates that all you need is high-quality & relevant content and a targeted & engaged list.
She launched her newsletter, The Ask, during the pandemic, reached over 3,400 subscribers and transformed her list into the growth engine for her six-figure coaching business.
In her own words:
“My newsletter has been how clients either first learn about me or deepen their understanding of what I offer and who I am, so that by the time we meet on a discovery call they are often fully bought into the idea of coaching with me, which is great.“
Today, she shared behind-the-scene insights about:
- Step-by-step growth strategies
- How she added over 1,000 subscribers in a few months
- How she leverages her list for her coaching business
- The launch of a paid membership
- The importance of doing proactive outreach
Now, I’m passing the mic to Ellen Donnelly.
Let’s dive in!
NEWSLETTER IDENTITY CARD
TOOL STACK
- ESP → Mailerlite
- Writing → Notion
- Task management → Notion
- Curation & Note-taking → Notion
- Digital products → Notion
- Sponsorship → Passionfroot
- Affiliates → Gumroad
- Design of visuals → Canva
- Team communication → Slack
- Interviews (recording, editing, transcription) → Descript, Vizard
- Payment → Stripe
MEET THE CREATOR
Welcome Ellen. Let’s start with getting to know you.
I started The Ask in 2020 because, after a decade as a startup talent expert, I wanted to provide a destination for entrepreneurial people to make better decisions about their future. The world of work is changing so fast and there is more options than ever, we need to ask better questions.
“I trained as a coach, built a website and marketed myself and I have not looked back since as I get to do projects I love, helping people who are changing the world, and carving my own path!”
START
You’ve built a six-figure coaching and content business in three years. Did you have the newsletter from the beginning, or did you add it to your content funnel later?
Yes right from the start – I discovered the book ‘Content Inc’ by Joe Pulluzi at the start of my entrepreneurial journey which expressed the importance of an owned audience and committing to a platform.
That really shaped my decisions, and at the same time, Substack had just launched. I saw newsletters as a great medium to explore my ideas and took people like James Clear as inspiration.
GROWTH
Which growth strategies did you utilize to reach over 3,000 subscribers?
0 – 1,00 subscribers
Friends and other coaches I knew
100 – 500 subscribers
Organic growth and word of mouth – literally asking people to sign up!
500 – 1,000 subscribers
This is where I really made a concerted effort to hit the 1k milestone in a short space of time: creating lead magnets, doing cross-promotions, and just really focusing on high-quality, shareable content.
1,000 – 2,500 subscribers
I ran an online summit in 2022 called Talent To Money, where I paid for amazing speakers and ran the event for free, so I added loads more people to the list.
2,500 subscribers – present
The Substack referral network helped to grow my list to 3.5k ish.
Then, in 2023, I left Substack to move to Mailerlite, and since then, the growth has slowed and I’ve focused more on the growth of my coaching practice than the content side of the business.
How did organizing an online summit contribute to the growth?
“The best, most rewarding strategy had to be running the Talent to Money summit and adding 1k people in a couple of months.“
Whilst it was a high-lift from an operational perspective, it also created a lot of ‘goodwill’ in the online space.
So I would always consider what efforts will grow your list, but also, be a win to you as a business owner in other ways (learning, network, growth, clout and prestige etc.)
In terms of growth efforts, what would you do differently if you had a chance to start over?
I feel I have learned a lot at each stage of the newsletter growth cycle.
I’d probably change more about what I’m doing right NOW than in the early days. Instead, I would say that at this very moment in time, I don’t feel I am capitalizing on the opportunities that are available for a newsletter like mine as fully as I’d like to be (as I am so focused on coaching clients).
However, I know from doing this work with my clients that everything brings an energy trade-off.
MONETIZATION
What is the role of your newsletter to grow a six-figure coaching & content business in three years?
My newsletter has been the engine of my business growth: it has been how clients either first learn about me or deepen their understanding of what I offer and who I am, so that by the time we meet on a discovery call they are often fully bought into the idea of coaching with me, which is great.
I have also monetized the newsletter through the odd sponsor and affiliate, but in comparison to the coaching, that is a very small percentage of my overall revenue and not something I’ve tried too hard to grow.
You’ve recently launched The Authority Club, which is a private membership combining cohort-based learning and a community.
How did you leverage your subscriber list and newsletter content during the launch? What are your key learnings?
I would say leverage your list for any launch but also be prepared that a large percentage of your list WON’T be interested in your launch. This is one of the reasons I left Substack: segmentation and personalization.
For the launch of Authority Club I created a waitlist for those who were interested to signal their intent to purchase, and was able to create a sales email campaign to those people, without overwhelming the main list with repeated CTAs if they were not interested in the Authority Club proposition.
“The main learning I took was to create that hype and early door excitement, and in hindsight, I wish I’d sent a few more sales emails towards the end of the launch when people make last-minute decisions. “
That said, I still hit the target I had set out to.
IMPACT & LEARNINGS
How did building The Ask contribute to your life professionally and personally?
“It’s been such a huge staple of my business-building journey, to the point that I almost don’t distinguish between ‘the newsletter’ and ‘the rest of my business’. “
I have loved working for myself, choosing my own clients, seeing my income increase and building a reputation as a trusted advisor in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The questions I am having now are about leverage: what is the best use of the assets I have created, the skills and learnings I have, and the opportunities of the market… and could I be doing more? The answer is yes! Lots of changes to come soon.
If you had a chance to start over, what would you do differently while building The Ask?
“I would go bigger with networking, cross-promotions and interviews. Whilst they don’t always ‘convert’ subscribers, they build connections that one day turn out to be super valuable.“
A good example for me was Femstreet, the Substack newsletter/community run by Sarah Noeckel which I did some collaborations with in my first 6 months or so, and created a really strong pipeline of clients for me down the line. I didn’t do enough proactive outreach to other Sarahs…but plan to be better at this going forward!
What would it be if you had the right to give one piece of advice to aspiring newsletter creators?
I would say do it, but hold it lightly.
I benefited from starting when no one knew who I was, what Substack was, or really what the opportunity might be for newsletters/creators. That feeling gave me creative freedom to experiment because the bar felt low … and ultimately gave me permission to find my groove and what worked/didn’t work.
“For anyone starting now the competition and quality is so high I can imagine it must be easy to feel like it has to be perfect. Perfection is the enemy of progress!
So don’t churn out rubbish content but also, don’t hold it too tightly you squeeze the joy out of the creation… its supposed to be fun!”
FINAL WORDS
Consider what business model you are running.
I’ve been told MANY times that I should have paywalled The Ask content because it’s so valuable, but I chose not to because my revenue has come from coaching clients instead.
A lot of the hype around business models these days is to earn ‘passive income’ or create ‘time freedom’ and this can lead to chasing revenue models that aren’t the best fit, either for your skills/experience or what will work best in the long run.
So think deeply about your business path and align choices to what works for you – not your competitor! This is something I am really passionate about, and forms a big part of my mission running The Ask!
