How I built a career with a list

Look, I'm gonna be straight with you.

February 2025. I had 1800 people on my email list and zero clue what I was doing.

I'd just quit my job from GUVI HCL as their Head of Brand to "build a newsletter business."

My friends thought I'd lost my mind.

Maybe I had.

But here's the thing nobody tells you about starting over: you don't need to figure out everything at once.

You just need to figure out the next right thing.

For me, that was writing one useful email every single day. Not because I had some grand strategy. Because I was close to being broke and desperate, and it was the only thing I could control.

The first month was brutal.

I'd sit at my laptop at 5 AM, staring at a blank screen, wondering what the hell I was supposed to write about.

Most days I felt like a fraud.

But I shipped anyway.

And something weird happened around week six.

People started replying.

Not just "thanks for the email" replies. Real responses. Problems they were stuck on. Questions about their businesses.

That's when it clicked.

I wasn't writing to 1800 subscribers.

I was writing to one person who needed help right now.

Everything changed after that.

Instead of trying to sound smart, I started trying to be useful. Instead of long-winded explanations, I shared quick wins.

A headline tweak that doubled open rates. A single line that turned browsers into buyers. A simple framework that fixed their positioning overnight.

The kind of stuff they could implement in the next ten minutes and see results.

Because here's what I learned the hard way:

People don't care how much you know until you show them how much you can help.

And the fastest way to help is to save them time or make them money.

Right now.

Today.

Within six months, that tiny list became my first set of paying clients.

Those clients became case studies.

Those case studies became a real business.

All because I stopped trying to impress people and started trying to serve them.

If you're sitting on a small list thinking it's not enough, you're wrong.

You don't need thousands of subscribers. You need the right subscribers.

The ones who have the problem you solve. The ones who are ready to pay for a solution. The ones who will actually read your emails and take action.

1000 engaged subscribers beats 10,000 dead ones every single time.

So here's my challenge for you:

Stop trying to grow your list bigger. Start making it better. Write to one person. Solve one problem.

Ship one useful thing today.

Your future clients are already on your list.

You just need to give them a reason to raise their hand.

If you want help building a newsletter that actually converts subscribers into paying clients, we do exactly that at The Newsletter Company.

We help you identify your ideal reader, craft emails they can't ignore, and turn your list into your best sales channel.

Reply "NEWSLETTER," and let's talk about turning your subscribers into customers.

Talk soon,
— Shashank