How I gained 3,000+ subscribers in February

Sharing the results of my February newsletter growth experiment.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Creator Science]( Presented by [What's Our Problem?]() Hello my friend! Happy March! I hope you had a fantastic February. And, if you didn't, let's turn things around this month! February flew by for me. With 47 new members joining [The Lab](=), we hit our 200-member capacity and have officially moved to a waitlist. A small number of spots will open up each month, and those spots will be made available to the waitlist first! So if you're interested in joining The Lab at any point, I recommend you [add your name to the list]() (already dozens of creators waiting)! I also had a massive month of subscriber growth due to my newsletter growth experiment. And in this week's essay, I breakdown exactly how I attracted more than 3,000 new subscribers in February (my best month ever). ​ The full breakdown to those results is below! But first... ​ ​ [Sponsor Image]() PRESENTED BY WHAT'S OUR PROBLEM? Tim Urban presents a new framework for thinking about today’s complex world Get to the bottom of modern society with a groundbreaking new book from Tim Urban, writer of the wildly popular blog Wait But Why. Dive deep into history, evolutionary psychology, political theory, neuroscience and more as you explore an entirely new framework for understanding our complex world. Packed with original concepts, sticky metaphors, and hundreds of drawings, What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies is sure to change the way you see your world. I ordered my copy – I recommend you do too! [Get your copy]() ​ ​ [Featured Image](=) THIS WEEK'S ESSAY Results from my February Email Growth Experiment On January 22, I announced a month-long experiment to grow the Creator Science newsletter. At that time, Creator Science had 17,310 subscribers and a goal to reach 20,000 by the end of February. I'm thrilled to share that February ended with 20,824 subscribers! I added 3,230 total subscribers in February (2,733 net). ​ You can see in the graph above, there was a noticeable acceleration from the end of January through February in Total Subscribers. As promised, I wanted to share a detailed breakdown of where those subscribers came from (to the best of my abilities). [Keep reading (8 min) ↗](=) ​ ​ CLICK WORTHY 🔥 Check these out 🧰 [From my toolbox: Podpage]( – I spoke about this on the podcast this week! Podpage is a beautiful piece of software that I use for the Creative Elements website. Create a dedicated podcast website in minutes (with almost no work). --------------------------------------------------------------- 🎧 [Andrew Bird on The Great Creators]( – I've been bingeing Guy Raz's new show (and I interviewed him this week too)! I loved this episode with musician Andrew Bird. --------------------------------------------------------------- 🐦 [Don't forget to repeat yourself]() – Quick advice for anyone who is worried that they are saying the same thing too many times or too often. ​ LISTEN ON CREATIVE ELEMENTS #139: Brennan Dunn How Brennan Dunn is Designing and Pricing His New Course Product [Creative Elements Cover Art]() Brennan Dunn is a man of many skills and accomplishments – he’s a writer, marketer, developer and even designer. He built [Palladio](, the tool I used to create my email templates. He co-founded [RightMessage](=), an incredible software for segmenting your email subscribers. And these days, he writes a fantastic blog called [Create & Sell](=) where he’s documenting all that he’s learned over the years. We were talking over email recently and he told me he’s actually creating something new under the Create & Sell brand – a platform that pulls in EVERY course lessons he’s ever made and will create custom learning pathways based on a student intake survey. This is what he wants to build as a single product offer over the coming months and I REALLY wanted to dig into it with him. So in this episode, you'll hear a conversation between Brennan and me talking through what that might look like. We talk about positioning, pricing, marketing, and more. [Play episode]() [Apple Podcasts]() [Spotify]( [Stitcher]() [YouTube](=) New to the show? Start with a [curated playlist](). ​ ​ LAST WORD 👋 Want to build your own membership? This week I was a guest speaker at [Circle's](=) Momentum Summit. I spoke about the how important it is to be really thoughtful about the concept of your membership community – and I really can't overstate that. It took me more than two months just to think through how to build [The Lab](=). I had to work through: - Purpose - Pricing - Positioning ...and all of that had to make sense for the creators I served! I find that most creators who start memberships really fail to think this through, and as a result they create a membership that falls flat (or falls apart). I created [Build A Beloved Membership](=) to help people avoid this heartache. The course teaches you: - How to design your membership - How to price your membership - How to get your first members - How to launch your membership - The tools I recommend - ...and a whole lot more More than 100 creators have already enrolled and I know it can help you too. If you're interested in building a membership, this course is a no-brainer. [Enroll in the course](=) Cheers, Jay --------------------------------------------------------------- [Photo of Jay Clouse]( Jay Clouse [Say hi 👋 on Twitter]() or [Instagram]( ☎️ [Book a 1:1 call with me]( Thanks for reading! Reply any time. [Edit your profile]( or [unsubscribe here](. This email was sent with [ConvertKit]() and designed using [Palladio](=). Want to work together? - [Work with me 1:1]( – book a coaching or strategy session. - [Sponsor this newsletter](=) – get in front of 20K+ creators (booking into March). - [Join The Lab](=) – my membership community for creators (Waitlist). - [Courses & Workshops](=) – learn the essential skills to become a professional creator. Send mail to P.O. BOX 797, Worthington, OH 43085