Easily acquire your first 100 subscribers

Hello to 1,412 newsletter creators!

This is Fatherpreneur, the newsletter about newsletters that's written by a dad with a mustache who's been writing newsletters for 10 years.

Today's issue will take 2 minutes to read. Clock starts now.

Today’s newsletter is short and sweet because I’m out of town with my family.

Every Saturday I write and publish my newsletter. I write it blazingly fast and then ship it to all of you to read and enjoy, all in about 1-2 hours on my Saturdays.

However, right now I’m out of town in Asheville, NC with my wife’s side of the family. As much as I love work, writing about newsletters, talking about newsletters, and helping other people grow their own newsletters, family first is something I take seriously. Luckily beehiiv also takes family and work-life balance seriously and empowers me to make family a top priority.

Enjoy today’s newsletter while I enjoy the weekend with my family. 😁 

I recently launched a beehiiv subscribe flow survey form to ask new Fatherpreneur subscribers three questions after they join my newsletter.

1. First name

2. If they have a newsletter

3. What about newsletters I can help to answer for them

Since launching the survey 10 days ago, I’ve received 45 survey submissions. I’m using these submissions to understand my audience better and to build topic ideas for my newsletter. If you’re a regular reader of Fatherpreneur, please fill out my survey.

One of the most common questions I receive:

If you’re reading this newsletter and are wondering the same thing, have no fear – Fatherpreneur is here.

The easiest way to get your first 10-20 subscribers:

Ask your immediate family and close friends to subscribe to your newsletter. Seriously. Text them, ask them to subscribe, and ask them for feedback: "How can this be better?"

Guaranteed several subscribers in just a few minutes, and really helpful feedback to hone your craft and grow.

Starting a newsletter can be tough, especially if you’re in the Twitter newsletter bubble where everyone is posting their growth graphs left and right, seemingly growing beyond comprehension.

Now, the above suggestion is low-hanging fruit, and you might not acquire your first 100 subscribers just by asking your friends and family, so here are three other ways to acquire your first 100 newsletter subscribers.

1. Partner with Similar Creators

Find a publication within your niche that's one or two steps ahead of you, and ask to write a snippet in an upcoming issue of theirs (for free).

This is a great way to practice your writing to an audience that might not be familiar with your work, and it’s also a chance to learn from the partnering creator about the do’s and don’ts for writing an awesome newsletter. Ask them for feedback and be a sponge.

2. Interview Creators in Your Niche

Ask to hop on a short call with a creator in your niche, record it (with consent), and turn the recording into a newsletter. Tag them across socials when you publish, and ask them to share the final product on their socials and in their newsletter (they probably will without you asking, but still good to ask).

Plug your newsletter, but make the posts and the newsletter all about them, not you. Praising other creators will build a strong foundation for you, and having a great network will pay dividends for you and your newsletter in the long run.

3. Give Away Something Awesome In Exchange for a Subscription

If you are an expert at something, and your newsletter is about that thing you’re an expert at, then create something super valuable and give it away for free in exchange for a subscription to your newsletter.

e.g. A video course for how to get your first 100 newsletter subscribers.

After proof of subscribe, give it away in DM or in an auto welcome email.

Newsletter Growth Community

The newsletter growth community is now open to everybody!

Who is it for?

Join 350 other newsletter operators who are eager to network – for free! The community has newsletter creators with lists anywhere between 1 - 100,000+ subscribers. There is a mixture of people just beginning as well as newsletter veterans. If you think the community might be for you, it probably is.

Where do I join?

Telegram: Jump on over to our Telegram group chat, where there are over 230 newsletter creators. Introduce yourself, and begin to network with other newsletter operators.

Newsletter Growth Twitter Community: Launched last week with almost 135 members already. Keep your eye on this community for newsletter insights and growth tips.

Me taking note of everyone who receives this newsletter but doesn’t open it.

That’s it for today. Thanks so much for reading.

1. For daily newsletter tweets and insights, follow me @danielcberk on Twitter.

2. Get your brand in front of 1,400+ newsletter creators by sponsoring Fatherpreneur.