📦 products

Newsletter + ad sponsor model

Build a niche newsletter to 5-50K subs. Sell sponsor slots at $500-5K each. Free for readers, ads pay you.

🟡 mediumfirst dollar in months$0 to start

🧾 receipts

Morning Brew / The Hustle / Milk Road / Codie SanchezMorning Brew sold to Insider for $75M+. Milk Road sold mid-9-figures. Niche AI/crypto/biz newsletters routinely $20K-200K/mo within 18-30 months.
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Justin Welsh + Sahil Bloom + indie creator-newsletter operatorsSolo creator newsletters in 5-50K range commonly $5-50K/mo on direct sponsor sales (no ad networks). Sponsor CPM is $30-100 in niches like AI, fintech, real estate, marketing.
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01Pick a niche w/ B2B advertisers w/ real budgets. AI tools, fintech, marketing-ops, real-estate-tech, healthcare-ops. Avoid 'lifestyle' newsletters — sponsors won't pay enough.
02Daily or weekly cadence (NOT monthly — too sparse for the algorithm). Use beehiiv or Substack to start, switch to ConvertKit when revenue justifies. Build to 1,000 subs before pitching ads.
03Standard 'one-issue sponsorship' format: 3-line ad block + product image + CTA link. Charge $500-1K at 1-5K subs, $1-5K at 5-25K, $5-15K at 25-100K. Never run ad networks (Carbon / Buysellads) — they cap your CPM hard.
04Distribution: cross-post each issue as Twitter thread + LinkedIn carousel. Treat each issue like a 3-channel content piece. Posts on social drive newsletter signups (and impress sponsors when they audit your reach).
05Direct outbound to 5-10 potential sponsors monthly when you cross 5K subs. Specific ask: '$X for a slot on 2026-MM-DD. Click-rate avg Y%, last 5 sponsors here.' Specificity > brand reputation in early days.

Modules you'll want under your belt before you fire this move.

Helpful but not required — the polish-tier add-ons.