Most Freebies Suck. Here’s How to Create One That Actually Helps You Grow Your Email List.

More subscribers equals more money.

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I’ve been a digital entrepreneur and content creator for six years, and if I had to choose one lesson to pass on to new creators, it’d be this: Build your email list.

I made a lot of mistakes on this journey.

It took me more than two years to figure out how to properly monetize my work.

I created hundreds of pieces of content that flopped. And I sold myself short more times than I could count.

But one mistake I didn’t make was to wait too long before I started my email list. In fact, I started it way before I felt ready or understood why it really mattered.

Frankly, it wasn’t my own intelligence that prompted me to start my newsletter early on. My partner Philip has been creating digital courses since 2015 and was one of Skillshare’s most successful instructors in the early days. He was making five figures on the platform when they decided to shift their earnings model — to his disadvantage, of course.

Well, guess what he didn’t have? An email list to contact his existing customers.