hot take on the justin welsh newsletter model

In case you don’t know him:

Justin Welsh is a prominent creator doing somewhere north of $5m per year with 650k+ followers on LinkedIn and 200k+ newsletter subscribers.

He’s basically a celebrity in the solopreneur niche…

With the type of business many other creators envy.

And his newsletter model is super simple:

- Promote it on social media
- Mail it out to subscribers once a week
- Repurpose each edition into 7-10x short social posts
- Rinse and repeat

He monetizes it mainly through sponsorships and digital product sales.

So far, so good, right?

Not quite.

In fact, if you’re a coach, consultant or creator looking to build a profitable newsletter in 2025 and beyond…

I do not recommend following in his footsteps.

3 reasons why:

***

1) It trains subscribers to expect ‘how-to’ for free

Justin publishes an expert-driven newsletter focused on ‘how-to’ info.

Which conditions his audience to expect that for free each week.

It’s the classic goodwill/reciprocity approach.

But the reality is, there’s only so much ‘how-to’ info someone needs to achieve the result.

And if you’ve gotta come up with a new high-quality tutorial each week, eventually you’re gonna end up giving away all your secrets for free or run out of things to say.

2) Requires massive scale to be lucrative

Furthermore:

Because this type of newsletter focuses on value over selling…

Paid offers are dropped unceremoniously in the P.S. section where they don’t get many clicks.

This may be fine for Justin and his 200k+ subscribers.

But for the rest of us peasants?

It’s not a path to meaningful profits until you’ve got 25k, 50k, or 100k+ subscribers.

Ditto for sponsorships…

Where you’ll struggle to command decent rates from brands without some scale.

Which brings me to…

3) Social is “pay to play” too (just in a dress and heels)

Justin doesn’t run ads.

Instead, he’s used social media to build his newsletter.

Except, what most don’t realize is that he and a bunch of other creators first blew up during the pandemic when everyone was online and platforms were juicing reach like never before.

Nowadays, they engage with each other’s content daily to game the algorithm.

(Which is fine by me, FWIW.)

Yet if you’re a less established creator looking to break out…

Often, the only way to get a comment from some of these folks is to pay them for it.

Ironic, ain’t it?

Now, I don’t know whether this is something Justin offers specifically.

But many of the other people you see bragging about spending $0 on ads are indeed selling engagement.

Lol.

It’s just a dressed up form of paid acquisition.

Something that isn’t obvious to a casual observer.

***

Anyway, there you have it.

If you’re looking for a better way to monetize your newsletter without giving everything away or needing to become famous on social media…

Then grab a copy of my new Email Storyselling Playbook below.

It’s 66 pages long and reveals my 4-step formula for turning subscribers into buyers even if you’re not a natural writer or storyteller…

So you can collect daily sales & profits from your newsletter or email list.

The book is highly tactical.

You can breeze through it in an afternoon if you want.

And best part is, you can grab a copy below for just 7 bucks.

Details here:

Get your copy of the Email Storyselling Playbook here

Jim Hamilton

P.S:

This is the same methodology I teach inside my other Email Storyselling and 15-Minute Emails That Sell products. So if you already own one or more of these, you may want to pass on this offer.

Then again, I have added new material. 

So I’m confident you’ll benefit even if you’ve purchased one of the above products.

Plus the book is only 7 bucks.

Your call :)