Q&A: Newsletter vs. Email ?

Long-time subscriber and client Portia asks: --------------------------------------------------------------- I would love for Luisa to write on a topic. There is a rise of creators who are building their email lists. And then they monetize with sponsorships. They usually send only one email to their newsletter [per week]. Their style of emails is of course very different than Luisa is teaching us – her gorgeous way of storytelling and then selling on a daily basis. Anyways, I didn’t go down the creator route. I am going down the LZ route, but I keep getting distracted and have all sorts of fears that maybe I should have done the creator way. Can Luisa put an email out to bust out these fears and why her approach is better giving us faith to keep going? I just need a bit of booster here, but I appreciate Luisa giving [the] bigger picture. --------------------------------------------------------------- I love this question! Because it allows us to address an important principle I try to teach throughout all my content. That if you master the fundamentals, you can customize the specifics to work for YOU. In this case, the fundamental principle being: Build your email list. And as you do, sell things you feel will be helpful to your subscribers. That’s why the way I see it, sponsored newsletters and emails are actually NOT mutually exclusive. Both are just slightly different forms of “selling” something you feel will be helpful. And in fact, I would recommend playing with both forms to see what you like doing best. We’ll talk more about how to do both in just a second. But first, let’s talk quick pros and cons: The biggest one being that with a sponsored newsletter, you’ve got to build your audience to a decent size before a sponsor will pay you. To give you an idea: There’s a newsletter I’ve been thinking of sponsoring myself, and the current going rate is $3,000 for a short blurb to a list of about 180,000. (As a side note: Think about the flip side for yourself too. Sponsoring the right newsletter could be a great way to grow your own audience.) Not a bad deal as a creator… if you have 180,000 subscribers . But what if you don’t? Not to mention, if you do have 180,000 subscribers and are selling your own products the way I teach you, you’ll likely be making a lot more than $3,000 per email. But there is also an upside to consider: You don’t have to worry about delivering on a product. And it’s another revenue stream. Alright, so how would I do both then? Here’s how I would do it. And I’ve thought about actually implementing this myself, so you may or may not see this in the future. But either way, you’re welcome to take this and run with it yourself: I would continue doing my daily weekday emails, and then add a sponsored weekend newsletter. So you don’t have to choose just one or be afraid of missing out. :) You can even take the idea further and create a subscription where you send a weekly newsletter just for paying members. And then add a sponsored spot on that newsletter too. Also ideas I’ve played with and may or may not roll out. There are just so many opportunities when you get your fundamentals right! So focus on getting these right: Building your email list with people who resonate with you. Figuring out what strategies work best for you. And systematizing what you do so you grow consistently. Aside from that, have fun with it! It’s YOUR business after all. :) 
 Hope this helps, Luisa Zhou PS - Do you have a question you’d like for me to talk about? Hit reply and let us know! My team handles customer support but I personally read every response. And you never know, my next Q&A email might be for you. :) If you no longer wish to receive these emails, click here to [unsubscribe]( Zhou Ventures, Inc. 459 Columbus Ave #4049 New York, NY 10024