The Debrief: Interesting Facts Newsletter Side Hustle

Welcome to The Debrief. This week we interviewed Dan, a newsletter writer who shares interesting facts to his readers every day. If you didn’t catch it, feel free to check it out here before diving into this edition.

In this mid-week newsletter, we are going to investigate what we covered in our interview and breakdown the key takeaways and share some actionable advice for you to work on in your business venture.

Each debrief is designed to give you something to work on each week based off the advice given by our featured entrepreneur.

Let’s get into it!

Now I Know

Key takeaways:

1. Starting a newsletter side hustle requires a specific niche which appeals to an interested audience. Building a newsletter in a saturated market will make it a lot harder to stand out from amongst the crowd, so to increase your chances of success, make sure you pick something that isn’t already everywhere. For example, if you’re interested in gardening, write a newsletter about gardening in a small space or growing plants in an apartment. Once your topic is chosen, consistency is really important to ensure your newsletter subscriber base grows to be able to eventually monetise the content through ads or other premium products.

2. Maintaining a balance between a full-time job and a side hustle is difficult but it’s possible if you create some systems to allow you dedicate the required amount of time to put towards your side hustle. Staying organised is very important when it comes to balancing the two jobs. If you don’t, you’ll risk burning out, missing deadlines, and neglecting your friends and family. However, sticking to a strict schedule isn’t always possible so you need to be prepared to stay flexible and roll with whatever life throws at you.

3. Like most media-oriented jobs, success doesn’t happen overnight. Consistency is key and you should commit to spending at least 6 months working on your newsletter before deciding if it’s a success or not. As you publish more articles and your audience grows, there will be opportunities which open to you, make sure you say yes to these. You never know which one will be your break.

My thoughts:

Now this may be a little biased since I also write a newsletter, but Dan’s business model is an absolutely fantastic way to build and fulfil that ultimate side hustle. While Dan still works on this as a side-gig, there are many newsletters out there which have turned into a full-time business, Morning Brew, for example, sold for $75m in 2020.

The time requirements to start this side hustle are relatively low. You can set up and post your first newsletter in a matter of minutes. However, like with most things, a better-quality product will require a larger time investment.

FYI, you can start your own newsletter for free with beehiiv. They have made it super easy to help you get started and scale your newsletter.

The entry requirements are also pretty low. You don’t need to be an expert in any field to get started, all it really takes is to be interested in a topic and be willing to be consistent with your posting.

Demand is varied depending on the type of content you write about. If you begin a newsletter in a saturated market such as AI, crypto, finance etc. you will have a hard time standing out. However, if you do your research and pick something that is not flooded with existing newsletters, you’ll have no problem meeting the demand.

Now, when it comes to scaling a newsletter, this is where things get tricky. Your first 1000 subscribers will be the hardest, but things will compound, and your audience will grow exponentially if you market it right. Growing organically will also be slower (assuming you don’t already have an existing audience elsewhere) than paid acquisition and growing through ads is not easy either if you’re not experienced (or unwilling to learn).

That said, Dan is a great example of finding a niche, posting consistently, growing gradually, and monetising his audience. This has taken him many years, but it is very much possible if you’re willing to put in that work. If you’re looking for a side hustle with instant returns, this one isn’t for you, but if you can afford to work on something over a few months (or years), you’ll be rewarded for your efforts.

Do you agree with me? I’d love to know your thoughts, just reply to this email!

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👇️ Now it’s your turn to answer a question:

If you’d like to read last week’s debrief, covering an interview with West, a coffee roasting side hustler. Check it out here.

Thank you all,

See you on Sunday! 👋