我在网上写作赚了845,601美元... | 创业故事

如果我告诉你，你能把这份空白的谷歌文档变成数百万美元，你会怎么想？

What if I told you you could turn this blank Google Doc into millions of dollars?

这正是成千上万的人此刻在互联网上做的事，却没人公开讨论。

Well, that's what thousands of people are doing right now on the Internet, but nobody's talking about it.

于是我找到了愿意分享的人——来自德克萨斯州奥斯汀的亚历克斯·加西亚，他通过撰写五份不同的电子报年入80万美元。

So I found someone who would, Alex Garcia, a kid from Austin, Texas who makes $800,000 a year writing five different email newsletters.

他邀请我到他家，详细拆解了整个流程，包括任何人都能按图索骥、从零开始打造六位数收入电子报的步骤蓝图。

He invited me into his house and broke down everything, including a step by step blueprint anyone can use to build a 6 figure newsletter from scratch.

只要具备这四要素，就几乎掌握了运营一份成功电子报的全部所需。

If you have those four things, you have just about everything you need to run a successful newsletter.

我们还分析了如何找准细分领域、如何让广告主支付数千美元费用，以及最快获取前1万名订阅者的方法。

We also broke down how to find the right niche, how to get advertisers to pay you thousands of dollars, and the fastest way to get your first 10,000 subscribers.

而从那个时间段开始，我

And from that time frame, I

的订阅量从2000涨到了大约八九千。

went from 2,000 subs to, like, eight or 9,000 subs.

我认为完全可以通过电子报打造价值九位数的公司。

I think you could build a 9 figure company with newsletters.

最近怎么样，老兄？

What's up, man?

嘿。

Hey.

欢迎来到德克萨斯。

Welcome to Texas.

谢谢。

Thank you.

很高兴见到你。

Good to see you.

是啊。

Yeah.

欢迎进来。

Welcome in.

谢谢。

Thank you.

嗨，Alex。

Hi, Alex.

你拥有互联网上最酷的工作之一。

You have got one of the coolest jobs on the Internet.

能简单介绍一下你自己和你的工作吗？

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do?

我很幸运能够研究各种精彩的营销活动内容，并撰写相关通讯。

I'm lucky enough that I get to honestly research a bunch of dope content about, you know, a bunch of marketing campaigns and get to write newsletters about it.

我们最大的项目是Marketing Examine。

So we have marketing examine, is the biggest one.

还有Content Examine、Social Examine、Landing Page Examine，现在又新增了DTC Examine。

We have content examine, social examine, landing page examine, now DTC examine.

总订阅人数大约在15万到16万之间。

All in all, it's like 150, 160,000 total subscribers.

目前每月广告赞助收入约6.5万到7万美元。

Driving right now roughly in the range of like 65 ks to 70 ks in monthly revenue, all from ad sponsors.

另一方面就是我正在测试的那些产品。

And then on the other end, it's like the products that I'm telling you I'm testing right now.

这些将会发展成能带来1.5到2万美元收入的产品。

It's gonna be spun into a product that's bringing in 15 to 20 k.

但我整个生活和职业生涯都围绕着内容展开。

But my whole life, my whole career revolves around content.

你是怎么想到

How did you come up

要创建新闻简报这个主意的？

with the idea to build newsletters?

我特别欣赏这种创业精神，看到他们正好有职位空缺就申请了，因为我知道自己想进入这个领域。

I was a huge fan of the hustle and I saw that they actually had a job opening, I applied for it because I knew I wanted to be in that space.

我想了解如何发展新闻简报业务，如何扩大媒体公司的规模。

I wanted to to understand how to grow a newsletter, how to scale a media company.

所以我申请了这家创业公司的职位并被录用了。

And so I applied for a position at the hustle and I got in.

入职时我给自己定了一年期限。

And when I got to the hustle, I gave myself one year.

离职前两个月左右，我开始全力运营推特账号，将其作为主要分发渠道，同时不断调整新闻简报内容，尝试各种内容方向的可行性。

Two months probably before I left, I really started going, you could say like hard on Twitter, like making that my primary channel of distribution and started building up the newsletter, kind of tweaking, messing with different ideas of what the content is, what the content isn't.

当我摸清门道后，就想：我很喜欢《哈佛商业评论》的风格，

Once I kind of got that, then the idea was, okay, I love HBR.

我热爱《哈佛商业评论》。

I love Harvard Business Review.

如何把这种理念应用到营销领域？

How do I take that idea and that concept and bring it to marketing?

然后将其扩展成营销领域的专业分析。

And then scale that into marketing examine.

我们来聊聊新闻简报的商机。

Let's talk about the opportunity of newsletters.

有些人可能觉得新闻简报只是小生意，

Some people might see a newsletter and think, that's a small business.

从实际发展潜力来看，新闻简报能做成多大的规模？

What are the numbers here in terms of what you can really build with a newsletter?

对我来说，关键在于你愿意发挥多少创意。

To me, it's how creative you wanna get with it.

Morning Brew扩展到十五、二十种不同出版物，并以7500万美元现金出售了公司部分股权。

Morning Brew expanded into fifteen, twenty different publications and sold for a part of the company for 75,000,000 cash.

他们现在的年收入已超过1亿美元。

They're now doing over 100,000,000 in revenue.

我当时就在现场拼命工作，虽然不知道最终数字，但我估计仅通过一份简报和付费产品就赚了2000万到3000万美元。

The hustle I was even there and I don't know the final number, but I'm guessing in the range of 20 to 30,000,000 off of one newsletter and a paid product.

我认为完全可以通过新闻简报打造一家市值九位数的公司，尤其是在B2B领域。

I think you could build a 9 figure company with newsletters, especially in the b to b space.

关于新闻简报，人们从未谈论过的价值在于：它是你其他所有业务的上游流量入口。

The part that nobody talks about with newsletters is top of funnel for anything else you wanna build.

如果你想创办一家代理公司，它就是代理业务的流量入口。

If you wanna launch an agency, it is top of funnel for your agency.

如果它能与你的新闻简报协同运作，潜力将不可限量。

If it works in congruency with your newsletter, the potential is endless.

可写的话题实在太多了。

There's so many different things you can write about.

是啊。

Yeah.

关于创办新闻简报的话题，你是怎么找到细分领域的？你会建议别人关注哪些方向？

On the topic of starting a newsletter, how did you go about finding your niche, and what would you recommend others to look for?

该写什么主题？

What topic to write about?

所以我

So I

我认为这个问题有两种解决思路。

I think there's two ways to to skin the cat there.

对吧？

Right?

比如，我首先想到的是，如果你想写你热爱的东西，这是找到细分领域的一种方式。

Like, the first one I think about is if you wanna write about something that you love, that's one way to find the niche.

对吧？

Right?

比如，在空闲时间你会自发阅读、想要研究或已经在写些什么内容。

Like, what on your downtime find yourself reading and wanting to do research about or already writing about it.

我认为第二种情况是如果你更受金钱驱动，你只是想要创业并出售它。

I think the second is if you are more money driven, you just like wanna start a business and sell it.

当前什么话题正在爆发？

What is the topic that's exploding right now?

当前人们正在热议什么，你可以从中开创事业？

What is the thing that people are talking about right now that you can start a business in?

对我来说，问题是我喜欢阅读什么？

For me, it was what did I love reading about?

我喜欢谈论什么？

What did I love talking about?

我喜欢研究什么？

What did I love researching about?

这三件事最终都归结为营销、内容创作和产品构建。

Those three things and it all came down to marketing and content and and building things.

对吧？

Right?

这就是我找到写作方向的方式。

That's how I found what I wanted to write about.

嘿，简单说一句。

Hey, real quick.

你想创业的那个项目？

That business you wanna start?

让我教你如何通过案例研究，以10倍速度在线赚到第一桶金。

Let me show you how you can make your first dollar online 10 times faster by using case studies.

想象一下，你能读到某人如何打造百万美元企业的具体步骤，以及他们犯过的错误，这样你就能在创业时避开这些坑。

Imagine you could read the exact steps to how someone built a million dollar business and the mistakes they made so you can avoid them when you launch.

在Starter Story，我们拥有4000多份案例研究和商业创意拆解库，全部基于真实数据支撑。

Well, at Starter Story, we have a library of over 4,000 case studies and business idea breakdowns where you can do this all backed by real data.

例如，Luke加入Starter Story后，深入研究了我们关于年收入2500万美元的新闻简报案例。

For example, Luke joined Starter Story and dove into our case study about a newsletter that makes $25,000,000 a year.

仅仅一个月后，他就推出了自己的新闻简报，三十天内实现了5800美元收入。

Just one month later, he launched his own newsletter and did $5,800 in revenue in thirty days.

这很简单。

It's simple.

他研究了成功经验，付诸实践，并避开了先行者犯过的错误。

He studied what works, implemented it, and avoided the mistakes of people that were just a few steps ahead of him.

如果你认真想创业，请访问

If you're serious about building a business, head to

starterstory.com/allex。

starterstory.com/alex.

只需1美元即可体验七天，我会把链接放在

It's only $1 for seven days, and I'll leave a link in

描述区顶部。

the top of the description.

衷心祝福。

Much love.

希望大家喜欢视频的后续内容。

Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the video.

和平。

Peace.

我们来聊聊如何获得最初的几位订阅者。

Let's talk about how you get your first few subscribers.

怎样才能让新闻简报获得前100或1000名订阅者？

How do you get your first 100 or 1,000 subscribers on a newsletter?

是啊。

Yeah.

所以这是

So this is

这是我从诺亚·卡根那里学到的，叫做'短兵相接'策略。

something I learned from Noah Kagan, and it's this idea of hand to hand combat.

当你试图获取前100或1000名订阅者时，你要做些难以规模化的方法。

When you're trying to get your first 100 subscribers, your first thousand subscribers, you do the things that aren't you can't really scale.

比如主动联系别人，告诉他们你有一份新闻简报。

And so you're reaching out to people, telling them that you that you have a a newsletter.

对吧？

Right?

你在LinkedIn上私信联系，在Twitter、Instagram上私信，让朋友帮忙推广，做些小赠品活动。

You're DMing people on LinkedIn, you're DMing people on Twitter, Instagram, you're getting friends to push it, you're doing little giveaways.

就是寻找那些能增加10个、15个订阅者的小技巧。

Like, you're finding the small things that adds 10 subscribers, 15 subscribers.

对吧？

Right?

第二件事就是采用我们所谓的——

Second thing I would do is what we call it.

自助餐式营销。

It's like buffet marketing.

这个想法就像，你走进一家金科拉尔自助餐厅，看到琳琅满目的食物。

The idea of like, you walk in a Golden Corral and you see all this food.

你会想，天啊，我兜里有20美元，眼前全是美食。

You're like, man, I got $20 and I got all this food right now.

我准备拿上所有餐盘，把这些美味尝个遍。

I'm about to get all these plates, and I'm gonna try all this shit.

遇到特别喜欢的，我还要回去再拿。

And then what I like, I'm gonna go back for.

然后思考：哪些东西有十倍增长的潜力？

And then it's like, what has the potential to 10 x?

找出那些具备十倍潜力的事物，然后专注于其中一两项持续推动增长的关键。

Finding those things that have the 10 x potential and then honing in on, like, the one or two things that always are driving growth.

如果让我从零开始，我会先进行面对面推广，再用自助餐式营销，最后优化、扩展并持续改进。

If I was trying to start from scratch again, I would start first with hand to hand combat, then buffet marketing, then I would optimize, scale, and continue refining it.

嗯。

Yeah.

这种面对面推广具体是指什么？

This hand to hand combat, what specifically does that look like?

就是在你的Facebook主页上操作。

That's going on your Facebook page.

对吧？

Right?

你Facebook上有500到800个好友，他们可能从不互动，但会真正点击链接订阅内容支持你。

You have 500 to 800 friends on Facebook that you'd never go on there, that would actually click a link and subscribe something and support you.

明白吗？

Right?

对我来说，初期做的一件事就是连续五十天撰写营销推文。

For me, you know, one of the things that I did at the beginning was I wrote marketing threads over fifty days.

那时我每天都会发布营销内容，特别是推特上的主题帖。

So every day I was publishing a marketing content, specifically a Twitter thread.

在那段时间里，我的推特粉丝从500人增长到了4万人。

And from that time frame, I went from it was like 500 followers on Twitter to 40,000.

与此同时，我的新闻订阅用户也从大约2000人增长到了8000或9000人左右。

In between that, I grew my newsletter from, I think it was like 2,000 subs to like eight or 9,000 subs.

好的。

Alright.

我们来聊聊如何找到值得写的好内容，以及能让用户持续订阅并反复阅读的内容。

Let's talk about how to find good content to write about and content that will keep people subscribed and coming back for more.

一个方法是使用工具，输入特定主题后，它会给出网络上该主题下分享量最高的文章。

One way you can do it is you can use a tool where you can put in a certain topic and it will give you the most shared articles on the internet about a certain topic.

推特高级搜索是另一个好方法——只要你能掌握筛选技巧，就能用它挖掘出无人问津的宝藏内容，对吧？

Twitter advanced search is another great way if you could understand how to use the filters and use advanced search just to find like hidden gems that nobody talks about, right?

比如你可以用不同关键词在推特搜索，像我这样找到从未被报道过的营销案例。

Like you could put different keywords in Twitter and find, like, in my case, that marketing campaigns no one no one has ever covered.

我们谈谈新闻简报的变现问题。

Let's talk about monetizing a newsletter.

新闻简报如何盈利？你目前的简报是通过什么方式赚钱的？

How do newsletters make money and how are your newsletters making money right now?

新闻简报最简单的变现方式是通过赞助。

The simplest way to monetize a newsletter is via sponsorships.

就是主动寻找想要接触你受众的赞助商。

That is going out and finding somebody that wants to get in front of your audience.

你已经建立了传播渠道，赢得了读者信任，自然会有人想分一杯羹。

You've built distribution, you've created trust with your audience, people want a piece of that.

不妨把你的新闻简报看作脸书广告、Ins广告或TikTok广告——你拥有流量，就具备了广告投资回报的潜力。

So think of your newsletter as Facebook ads, as Instagram ads, as TikTok ads, where you have the reach, you have the potential for a return on ad spend.

那么现在我该如何让人们愿意付费来接触这个群体呢？

So now how do I get people to wanna pay money to get in front of that group?

另一种方式是付费通讯。

The other way is a paid newsletter.

我不知道你是否熟悉Lenny的通讯。

I don't know if you're familiar with Lenny's newsletter.

这是另一种很好的通讯变现方式——他通过免费通讯作为引流渠道，为收费通讯（价格大概是8.99或10.99美元）吸引订阅者，后者提供更独家内容。

That is another great way of monetizing your newsletter where he has the free newsletter that works as top of funnel for his paid newsletter that he charges, I think like $8.99 or like $10.99 for, where it's more exclusive content.

就我个人目前而言，我们主要通过两种方式变现。

Me specifically right now, we monetizing in two ways.

第一种是通过赞助。

The first way is through sponsorships.

第二种是通过服务，这是我们计划在第三季度推出的产品的试验场。

The second way is through services, which is the testing grounds for a product that we're gonna be launching in Q3.

你用什么工具来运营通讯业务？

What tools do you use to run a newsletter business?

好的。

All right.

我主要使用四个核心工具，它们构成了公司运营的基础。

So there's four primary tools that I use and like this is the core of the company.

分别是Zapier、Notion、Slack和ESP（电子邮件服务提供商）。

It's Zapier, it is Notion, it is Slack and it is an ESP.

只要拥有这四样工具，就基本具备了运营成功通讯所需的一切。

If you have those four things, you have just about everything you need to run a successful newsletter.

Zapier负责系统连接，Notion统筹管理，Slack用于团队沟通，ESP则负责向所有人发送邮件。

You have Zapier which connects everything, you have Notion which controls everything, you have Slack to communicate with everyone, and you have your ESP which sends the emails out to everybody.

所以你现在运营着五份通讯？

So you have five newsletters.

你

Do you

所有内容都是你自己写的吗？

write all the content yourself?

所以我现在雇了写手来做营销内容。

So I hired writers now for marketing examine.

每个细分领域都有一个专门的写手。

There's a writer for each niche.

告诉你一个找好写手的小技巧：在谷歌上搜索非常细分的话题，然后翻到第二、第三、第四页，深入谷歌的存档，阅读这些人的内容。

Tell you kind of a tip for finding a good writer, search a very niche topic on Google and then go on to like pages two, three, four, just deep into the archive of Google, read some of these people's content.

那里就是发现优秀写手的宝地。

That is such a place to find great writers.

找到好写手很难，但如果你找到了，就要想尽办法留住他们。

It is a difficult thing to find good writers, but if you find a good writer, do everything you can to keep them and retain them.

你是如何发展你的新闻通讯的？

How have you grown your newsletter?

首先是内容营销。

First one is content marketing.

我一直在用推特来真正推动新闻通讯的增长，并找出哪些是能带来增长的内容。

And it has been using my Twitter to really grow the newsletter and being able to find like what are the growth pieces of content?

哪些内容是算法偏爱并会推送的？

What are the pieces of content that the algorithm favors and will push?

过去一年半以来，推特线程就是这样的内容。

And then the last year and a half that has been Twitter threads.

所以能用推特线程将人们引导到新闻通讯。

So being able to use Twitter threads and segue people to the newsletter.

第二个方式是付费获客。

The second one has been paid acquisition.

所以现在要运营Facebook广告、Instagram广告、TikTok广告、Reddit等各种渠道，测试所有不同的获客方式。

So that's running Facebook ads, Instagram ads, TikTok ads, Reddit, like all, testing all the different acquisition channels.

我会在Twitter的推文里尝试各种不同的行动号召。

I'll try all sorts of different CTAs on Twitter my threads.

任何有效的方法都将成为我在Pace平台上开展多项工作的基础。

Whatever works there is then the basis for a lot of things I'll do on pace.

第三点则是较新的策略。

And then the third is this is newer.

现在ConvertKit上有很多类似SparkLoop、Beehive这样的平台。

It's a lot of platforms like spark loop, a lot of platforms like beehive are now in convert kit.

它们为你提供了可扩展的交叉推广方式。

They give you a scalable way of having cross promotions.

你可以设置每月1万美元的预算，然后借助他人的内容进行推广。

So where you can set a budget of $10,000 a month and then piggybacking off somebody else's content Yeah.

或是借助他人的新闻通讯和增长渠道。

Or somebody else's newsletter and growth.

以上就是三种主要的获客渠道。

So those have been the three main acquisition channels.

我们讨论了如何寻找读者来实现增长，那么如何找到愿意付费赞助你们新闻通讯的广告主呢？

We talked about the growth side of how you find readers, how do you find advertisers who will pay you money to sponsor your newsletters?

你需要从两个方向着手。

There's two ways you wanna develop.

如何让现有读者愿意赞助你，另一个方向则是主动外拓。

How can you get people to wanna sponsor you that are readers and then the other way is outbound.

我想通过内流流量或内流赞助商来实现的方式是：建立新闻通讯，并为有意赞助者提供极其便捷的赞助渠道。

The way I wanna do it with inbound traffic or with inbound sponsors is having the newsletter and having a very easy way for people that wanna sponsor the newsletter to be able to sponsor the newsletter.

第二种方式则是主动外拓流程。

The second way is the outbound process.

找出你所在领域中已有广告主的所有新闻简报，然后联系这些广告主。

All the newsletters in your niche that already have advertisers and find those advertisers and reach out to those advertisers.

这些人已经在新闻简报上花钱了，主要靠发冷邮件来接触。

These are already people spending money on newsletters, primarily comes down to cold emailing.

假设一份新闻简报有1万订阅者，你能卖多少广告位？

Say newsletter has 10,000 subscribers, how much could you sell an ad sub for?

如果你有1万订阅者，广告位卖超过1000美元都有人买单。

If you have 10,000 subs, you could sell anything for over a thousand dollars and people will pay for it.

能让1万人直接看到你的广告，换作是我，也愿意付1000美元。

To get in front of 10,000 people that is your direct audience, I mean, I'd pay a thousand dollars for that.

明白了。

Alright.

你是世界级的营销专家。

You're a world class marketer.

你经营着一家营销业务公司。

You run a business about marketing.

对于如何成为更好的营销者，你有什么建议？

What's your advice on how to become a better marketer?

第一，找到你想成为的那种人并向他们学习。

One, you wanna find somebody that is where you wanna go and you wanna learn from them.

第二是动手实践。

The second thing is build things.

比如捣鼓些东西，真正打造产品，发布作品，想办法让产品赚到1000美元或达成1000美元销售额。

Like tinker, build actual products, launch things, try to figure out how you can get your product to a thousand dollars or drive a thousand dollars in sales or whatever.

第三是不能过于数据驱动，要培养直觉判断力。

The third thing is you have to be not so data driven and like intuition driven.

我知道你对健身非常热衷。

And I know you're super into fitness.

跟我说说你的日常生活，除了市场营销考试外你都做些什么。

Tell me about your daily routine and what you do outside of marketing exam.

我主要做三件事。

There's three things that I basically do.

工作、健身，还有和未婚妻及狗狗们在一起。

I work, I work out and I hang with my fiance and dogs.

这就是我的日常作息。

Like that is that is my routine.

现在我正在为8月19日的奥斯汀健身节进行训练。

And so right now that I'm, you know, I am training for what's called Austin Fit Fest in August 19.

现在距离比赛还有十二周左右。

So we're about twelve weeks out.

我早上6:30前就会起床。

I'm up by by six by 06:30.

训练地点要么在车库的健身区，要么在附近另一家叫Los Campiones的健身房。

I'm training either in the garage at the collective or at another gym over here called Los Campiones.

训练通常在8点到8点半结束，之后冲个澡，接下来四五个小时是深度工作时间，就在办公室工作。

But as soon as I finish that session, that's usually around eight or 08:30 shower and the next four hours, five hours is deep work or just work in the office.

下午2点左右我会进行第二次训练。

Then I'm hitting my second training session, usually around 2PM.

训练完继续在办公室工作。

I'll do more work again in the in the office.

然后进行第三次训练。

And then I hit my third session.

晚上如果没和瓦妮莎约会，我就会回到小办公室——就像我说过的，我想营造那种夜间创作氛围，就待在办公室里。

And then at night, if I'm not hanging out with Vanessa, I'm back in in my little office, like I told you, I'm trying to create that that vibe of, like, nighttime creativity and just being, in the office.

不过基本上这就是我的日常了。

But, I mean, that's essentially my routine.

好的。

Alright.

我们向所有创业者提出的最后一个问题：如果你能回到刚创业或刚进入营销领域的时候，坐在Alex的肩膀上，你会对他说什么？

Our final question that we ask all entrepreneurs, if you could go back to when you were just starting your business or just starting getting into marketing and sit on Alex's shoulder, what would you tell him?

我会构建更多产品，进行更多测试，持续推出一些小项目，从中学习哪些是好的、哪些不好、人们喜欢什么。

I would build more things and I would test more things and just try to to to continuously build little things that I could ship and I could learn what's good, what's not, what do people like.

我会选择那些能作为垫脚石、有意导向目标迈进的工作。

And I would take very intentional jobs that are stepping stones to where I wanna be.

我的建议是：对你投入时间和精力的事情要非常谨慎，因为这些选择将推动你到达想去的地方。

What I would advise is be very intentional in the things that you give your time and energy to because they're gonna those are gonna be the things that then propel you to where you wanna be.

是的，这就是我想告诉别人的话。

So, yeah, those that's that's what I would tell somebody.

谢谢你，Alex。

Thank you, Alex.

太棒了，兄弟。

Awesome, dude.

感谢你举办这次活动。

Appreciate you having it.

精彩。

Amazing.

没错，遵循这个建议，你就能打造一个价值数百万美元的新闻通讯业务。

And, yeah, follow this advice and you'll build a multimillion dollar newsletter business.