How I got 25,000 email subscribers (and why I deleted thousands)

It’s my anniversary!

I started my daily newsletter a year ago.

Writing these emails is more enjoyable than churning out SEO optimized blog posts week after week. After dropping the kids at school, I spent 20 minutes writing an email every. Then, I move on with my day.

I like writing daily emails because I get replies from subscribers like one guy who wrote in from prison about a crime he didn’t commit. They also trigger some fun Stripe notifications when someone buys a product or an offer. And I can also quickly and easily take ideas from my emails and turn them into content for social media.

Let’s be honest:

I wouldn’t have spent a year writing daily emails if I knew nobody was on the other side or if the ROI didn’t exist.

Writing a daily newsletter isn’t the right approach for every creator, but an email list is the cornerstone of an online business. Don’t let any of those like-chasing gurus on Insta or TikTok tell you otherwise!

For years, I grew my list using simple but straightforward lead magnets, including a spreadsheet for counting my daily word count and my book Yes You Can Write!

I pitched these lead magnets at beginners, each taking about a day to create. They helped me grow my email list to over 25,000 subscribers.

Beginner content is great for SEO but not so much for selling offers. It’s not the right approach for my business today. They’re far less likely to buy or invest in their business. And post ChatGPT, the ideas inside of these lead magnets are painfully out of date.

I still put off updating my lead magnets for a few months. Then, an Irish Spring rolled around. So, I culled many cold subscribers and retired my older lead magnets.

I created a Claude Project called Lead Magnet Generator and spent an hour refining my prompt and training data. Then, using this custom project, I generated five lead magnets in 10 minutes. I edited the output and added a personal take.

You might worry that AI-generated lead magnets lack personality—I did too, until I discovered that the right prompts can transform Claude into a creative partner. I devise an idea, and Claude wrangles into something I can work with.

Now, I’m testing these lead magnets across a few channels, including LinkedIn, YouTube, Substack, and an outreach campaign—two of my lead magnet are already attracting higher quality subscribers onto my list compared to SEO.

I’m sorry I didn’t take action sooner!

In a few days, I can help you create lead magnets using AI and grow your list. I’ll show you how to craft the perfect lead magnet with Claude or ChatGPT and give you the exact AI prompts and growth strategies you need. You’ll leave the workshop with a clear formula for creating high-converting lead magnets in under ten minutes.

This live workshop is on Wednesday, 19th March at 15:30 GMT / 10:30 EST. It’s for ticket holders only, but I will send you a recording if you can’t make it.

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