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Letters From the Desk of Bryan Collins

Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.

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Featured Post

The podcast agent who took my money and ran

Hi Reader, I ran a podcast for a few years, interviewing best-selling authors about their books. I wanted to grow my show, so I was happy to listen when a podcast booking agency reached out with an interesting pitch. “Guest podcasting is a good strategy for expanding an audience,” he explained over Zoom. I listened to his elaborate pitch, dreaming of appearing on The Tim Ferriss Show or The Diary of a CEO. He sent me an expensive contract, which I happily signed. Then, he handed me over to...

Hi Reader, Do you find writing content hard? Figuring out what to post online takes time. And that’s before factoring in writing the post and turning followers into email subscribers or, gasp, clients! I get it. Lurking online is easier than writing and pressing publish. Sometimes, I fool myself into thinking it’s “market research”. But I know if I don't press publish, I won’t grow my brand. I almost always feel better when I write a post and press publish. If you’re feeling stuck like me,...

Hi Reader, This week, I launched a private Telegram community for readers of this email list. My goal is to share insider content about how I run my six-figure content business and help you add $3k to yours by 2025. I also want to explore other distribution channels that don't rely on an algo. Then, I can share the results with you so you can do the same. After I launched my Telegram community, a few subscribers emailed me to ask, "Why not WhatsApp?" Well, I picked Telegram because of its...

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Hi Reader, For a few years, I was a content strategist for a Fintech. One of my projects was improving a newsletter for small business owners. The newsletter enjoyed a lousy 5% open rate. The back of a cereal box was more engaging than the boring product content inside the newsletter that a developer banged out between coding sessions. So, we stripped out the boring product content and started sending customer stories and how-to guides. And open rates slowly climbed towards 20%. My open rates...

Count down to 2024-12-02T23:49:00.000Z

Hi Reader, My email list is the center of my business. When I write an article and want someone to read it…I email my list. When I publish a YouTube video and want someone to watch it …I email my list. When I’ve a new offer and I want someone to buy it…I email my list. When I’m launching a book and I want someone to order it…I email my list. When I’ve simply something to say, write about or share… I email my list! My email list is more valuable than my social media accounts and even my...

man in black crew neck t-shirt sitting on white plastic chair

Hi Reader, For a few years, I loved slapping a few Irish sausages inside some toasted white bread… particularly if I was hungover. Now, I’d rather rub lemons in my eyeballs than stuff one of those monstrosities down my gullet. I watched a YouTube video showing how sausage makers put their artery-clogging meat bags together. A sausage maker grinds up the, yes, intestines of cows, chickens and pigs. Then, they douse the mix with salt to hide the taste. Lots of salt. (Fun fact: the word sausage...

man walking inside mall collage

Hi Reader, You know you’re running a creator business when you collect SaaS subscriptions like they’re going out of stock. That said, I use this time of the year to buy anything I’ll use for the next 12 months. If that’s you, I’ve compiled a list of Cyber Monday deals and courses for writers and content creators. Grammarly 50% off all plans. I use Grammarly to edit my content. I also sometimes use its AI writing assistant. I’m a big fan of its ability to rewrite multiple sentences at a click....

A cappuccino is sitting on a napkin holder

Hi Reader, A Scottish dairy farmer is selling the UK’s most expensive cup of coffee. You can buy a flat white from him for a whopping $344. That’s over 80 times the price of a regular cup of coffee in the UK. Why would anyone spend this much on their morning beverage? Well, you’re not just investing in a morning pick-me-up. Bruce Cunningham is selling shares in a crowdfunding Mossgiel Organic Dairy campaign to produce more milk. He wants to expand his operation out of Scotland to sell organic...

A large crocodile laying on top of a lush green field

Hi Reader, The world's largest captive crocodile, Cassius, died in Greenland, Australia, earlier this month. Croc experts say Cassius lived for a whopping 120 years. That’s a good inning for anyone, never mind a hungry croc. Now, I’ve always had an odd fear of crocodiles. I love open-water swimming, and the idea of wading into a lake only to be pulled under by an 18-foot saltwater monster terrifies me. Am I irrational? Certainly. I live In a leafy Irish town 1000s of miles from the nearest...

black nikon dslr camera on black stand

Hi Reader, I ran a 60-minute live webinar on Zoom yesterday morning, The Minimalist CEO’s Guide to LinkedIn. In the webinar, I explained how to write organic content for LinkedIn and other platforms with a group of creators, entrepreneurs, and business owners. A few writers who provide ghostwriting services had questions, too. I also showed you should and shouldn’t use AI for your business. Now, some US readers of this newsletter wrote in from the United States to say: A. It’s Thanksgiving...