The Mistake
Recently I talked to a bunch of "beginner" newsletter operators, all facing the same problem: They're "stuck" on their journey from 1 to 10k subscribers.
So I looked at how they were approaching newsletter growth — and how that compared to more successful, fast-growing newsletter operators.
And one thing stood out in particular...
These "struggling" newsletter operators are all relying on linear growth activities.
Things like:
- cross-promotions
- posting to social media
- sponsoring other newsletters
This seems like a great idea when you're just starting out: You can run a newsletter cross-promotion and get 200 new subscribers for free.
That feels like a pretty great deal if you only have 200 subscribers to begin with. You just doubled your audience with only a few hours work!
But, as you go from 200 to 400 to 1000+ subscribers, spending time on linear growth becomes a curse.
Every week, you're starting again from zero.
You have to invest the same amount of time (or more), to get the same linear results.
No compounding growth. No scale. It takes just as long to go from 9k → 10k subscribers as it did to go from 0 → 1k.
So what are "successful" fast-growing newsletter operators doing differently?
Scalable growth channels
The smartest newsletter operators I know don't waste any time on linear growth activities.
They create growth loops and flywheels: Where, over time, they get more and more growth with less and less work.
Let's break down the difference:
Take our "stuck" newsletter operator from before, scrambling to find different cross-promotion partners each week.
How would a "smart" operator in their situation turn that linear growth activity into something scalable that pays off long-term with diminishing work?
Turns out, there's a bunch of things they could do!
For example:
- use a tool like Upscribe to recommend each other for free to new subscribers
- add a new email in their welcome sequences, recommending each other
- agree to each feature an article from the other's newsletter once per month
These are all pretty small tweaks on the original cross-promotion idea. And they take hardly any extra work
But the difference in growth is huge.
After 12 months...
- ... the "stuck" operator will have gained +200 subscribers
- ... but the "smart" operator will have added +3'000 to 4'000 subscribers
That's a 15-20x better return on (time) investment!
Mindset shift: From linear to scalable
So how do you go from being "stuck" — wasting your time on linear growth — to being "smart" and investing your time into scalable growth?
Luckily, (like with most newsletter growth stuff) it's a pretty simple mindset shift.
Next time you work on growing your newsletter, pause for a second and ask yourself two questions:
- "Am I trading my time for a one-off result that won't scale?"
- And — if the answer to question #1 is yes — ask yourself "how could I change what I'm doing to make it more scalable. So the next time I do it, I get more growth with less work?"
This works for almost any linear growth activity.
For example, in 2025 there's no reason to spend hours every week manually picking newsletters to sponsor anymore. Just copy the big guys and set up a partner program and let thousands of relevant newsletters recommend you to their audience with no ongoing work.
Make a consistent effort to shift your mindset from linear to scalable and — in a few short weeks — you'll be unstuck and scaling your newsletter faster every day.
