Journalists Pay Themselves

Journalists Pay Themselves is a newsletter and community project about how journalists get more paying readers.

Independent and worker-owned newsrooms show impressive organic growth—what if we could pick up reader subscribers even faster? I'm testing surface areas and levers to do just that in partnership with publications. Then, sharing our insights with the industry so we can make this a more sustainable business model for more publications.

Follow along at journalistspaythemselves.com and come to an event!

Creator | For reader-funded journalists

Low Energy Leads

Low Energy Leads is a newsletter, community and YouTube show for creatives booking clients. We're here to make your pipeline more predictable without spinning your wheels on stuff that won't work.

You've been getting sold a big company marketing playbook that's way too much work for a small business owner. Instead, we'll look at more high value, low effort strategies that leverage the power of your relationships.

Join the list to get tips on finding clients on your terms weekly plus trainings, tools, get togethers and more!

Creator | For creatives who want to find their buyers

Lex Roman Inc

Audience growth and monetization for creative entrepreneurs look to find more buyers. My focus is on converting more of your current audience into buyers and leveraging your current audience to reach more right fit people.

How to work with me:
1) Invite me to speak to your program or group
2) Get my help on a fractional revenue growth project

Read more and get in touch at: https://lexroman.com

Independent Growth Marketer 

Atlanta Solopreneurs

Organizing events and building a local small business network with the Atlanta Solopreneurs. Join us at atlantasolopreneurs.com

Organizer | Atlanta Solopreneurs Co-op

Growthtrackers

Growthtrackers is a community of practice for creative entrepreneurs cracking their sustainable lead gen so they can scale. We leverage experimentation to make smarter marketing bets, generate more interest and close better fit clients. Growthtrackers are creatives, coaches and consultants who ditch copycat marketing to make their own proven playbook custom to their business.

Check us out by tuning into Growthtrackers Live! every Friday at 12pm Eastern on LinkedIn and YouTube

Creator | Make smarter marketing bets with Growthtrackers

GrowthDesigners.co

GrowthDesigners.co is a community of over 2000 designers practicing business-oriented design. We operate a Slack group, educational programs, a newsletter, a website and host events. I started the group in 2016 after a couple years of not being able to find many designers in the growth space.

With Growth Designers, I created the Growth Design Study Group which was a 6 week program for experienced designers to ramp up on growth, experimentation and analytics, held in the Fall of 2020.

I co-ran the Growth Design Fellows program with Molly Norris Walker which was a membership for growth designers leveling up their skills together with guest experts, workshops and small peer groups.

Growth Designers continues but I stepped down from leadership in 2021.

Founder and Community Facilitator

The Black Tux

The Black Tux makes high quality suits and tuxedos available for rent. It’s a carefully crafted end-to-end experience from finding your perfect ensemble to feeling confident the day of your special event.

I worked on growth initiatives there through the lens of customer experience. During my time there, I led a team to overhaul the checkout experience resulting in a 20% increase to purchase conversion.

Lead Product Designer and Product Manager, Growth

InVision

InVision was a design prototyping and collaboration platform. I worked as the lead designer for Conversations (aka commenting) and as the interim lead designer for Prototyping.

Lead Product Designer, Conversations and Prototyping

Burner (Ad Hoc Labs)

At Burner, I designed the iOS, Android and web apps. As inputs to user experience design, I spent a lot of time talking with customers, unpacking product analytics and running experiments. I helped launch new subscription products and increased revenue by designing thoughtful upsells.

Burner is a virtual phone number app that hides your main number. You can use Burner to run businesses or side projects, sell things, for online dating or anytime you don't want someone to have your cell number.

Lead Product and Growth Designer

Carbon Five

Clients included: Nissan, Prosper and Joyable (now AbleTo)

I served as a Design Lead on my projects, partnering with a Tech Lead and collaborating with other designers.

Carbon Five is a software design and development firm that prioritizes a highly collaborative, iterative workflow.  We value adaptive processes, launching early and shipping quality products.

Lead Product Designer, Innovation and Growth Projects

*Follow me instead of sending connection pretty please :)*

THE QUICK INTRO
Lex is a marketing creator and subscription marketer who helps people find their buyers. 

Right now she's building Journalists Pay Themselves for reader-funded journalists. Previously, she helped creative entrepreneurs book clients and before that, tech companies convert customers at scale.

CURRENTLY
📍Newsletter about reader-funded journalists
📍Speaking and teaching on media subscription businesses
📍Community events for indie journalists growing subscriptions

BACKGROUND
🏁5+ years independent (tech consulting, growth marketing, running a membership)
🏁11+ years speaking and teaching growth design
🏁10+ years in tech (SaaS, fintech, design tools, automotive tech, health tech, analytics)
🏁5 years in TV production

WAYS TO WORK WITH ME
🎢 Share your subscription story for a newsletter (journalists)
🎢 Come to my free events (journalists)
🎢 Book me for a speaking gig
🎢 Book me for a guest teaching gig

WAYS TO ACCESS AND SUPPORT MY WORK
🏆 Become a Legend and get all access to my content and events ($9/mo)
🍵 Buy me a coffee to say thanks ($5-whatever you want)
🛠️ Grab my tools on finding buyers lexroman.gumroad.com ($29 and up)
🤝 Become a featured partner I promote through my work (Get in touch!)

❎ Not accepting new clients—but I'm happy to refer you to someone!

Visit lexroman.com for more on my newsletters, speaking, events and products.

We’ve come to the end of Journalists Pay Themselves. Tomorrow is the LAST ISSUE: everything I know about running a paid newsletter.

After interviewing 20+ publishers and running my own paid newsletters for 5 years on and off, I’ve learned how to:
- Raise money before launch
- Price subscriptions
- Grow paid subscribers
- Keep paid subscribers
- Use a tip jar
- Deliver perks
- Raise prices
- Run subscriber drives
And more!

I’m running down how I’d do it all over again tomorrow in the final issue of Journalists Pay Themselves. 

Then, JPT will be only available to paid subscribers at paidnewsletterplaybook.com and I will start writing different stuff (more stories, less how to) over at Project C.

Get this issue before it’s paywalled by joining the list: https://lnkd.in/ezG9cWYE

Lex Roman

Writer covering monetization and indie revenue stories. Build your internet business with me at revenuerulebreaker.com

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Here’s why I don’t worry about unsubscribes EVEN as someone who is sponsor-backed.

🗑️ I don’t want people to be here who don’t want to be here.

🗑️ Sometimes people just don’t want emails but it doesn’t mean they don’t want to hear from me elsewhere.

🗑️ Sponsors care about results not disengaged email addresses. 

Email still reigns supreme in the marketing channel set and I will send one anytime I have something to say or something to ask. I don’t sweat at all that what I’m saying or asking makes a few people go “you know what this isn’t for me.”

Because I’m for who I’m for and I am here to hang with the people who get it enthusiastically.

The formula for paid newsletters is clear: solid upsell paths and big promotions a few times a year.

Your paid newsletter won't sell itself—even if you just quit CNN–you have to sell it and I've got everything you need.

- Recipes for those upsells
- Promo plans for subscriber drives
- How tos for your automations
- Calculators for projections
- Examples of newsletters doing it well

I've been studying paid newsletters for two years now. I've been running my own on and off for five. You can wait months to learn what I've learned or you can have it now!

Meet The Paid Newsletter Playbook. Only available for my paid subscribers:
https://lnkd.in/erVGyG8h

Writer covering monetization and indie revenue stories for creatives who want to diversify their income. Build your internet business with me at revenuerulebreaker.com

Screenshot of the Paid Newsletter Playbook

I'm losing interest in "just" newsletters. That's why I launched a blog this year. I'm making a shift from newsletter to media company. And you're coming with!

Revenue Rulebreaker started as a secret solo newsletter about how I was going to become a full time content creator. But it was funded by people who liked the project that came before it: Low Energy Leads.

I've been going on and on about how we need to read, back and become indie media so I'm doing that too. 

The new direction for Revenue Rulebreaker includes 🎲 
- A wider range of revenue stream coverage: digital products, books, events, licensing, services, subscriptions and more
- More wacky internet lifestyles and working styles beyond just my traveling dirtbag life 
- A richer network of creatives who practice all of the above
- Guest contributors and guest event hosts so it's not just me all the time

If you liked Low Energy Leads or you were part of Growthtrackers, I think you're really gonna like this. And if you joined us during this latest chapter, you'll still find it relevant for you.

Check out Maliha M's story on how the first year of their membership went: https://lnkd.in/eEqgrW6w

Read about this new direction: https://lnkd.in/erm3ZKhN

Become a Legend and be part of this project: https://lnkd.in/eA32gxps

Revenue Rulebreaker with Lex in front of it

Have you ever wanted to write a book? I was told you don't write books for money. You do it for other opportunities. But what if there is *money* in books?

I'm working on a story for Revenue Rulebreaker about books as moneymakers.

I want to know:
- Can you make money from books? (4 figs or 5 figs even)
- Do books help you make more with another revenue stream? (like speaking)
- Where are authors making money selling their books? (platforms)

I've reached out to a few authors for their wisdom but I'd love to hear from you too. Do you have a book? Thinking about writing one? Sound off!

Everyone's FAVORITE question. I'm doing a whole issue on it tomorrow. What platform should I use?

Newsletters
Memberships
Payments
Tip Jars
Landing Pages
and more!

Get it at https://lnkd.in/ezG9cWYE

Ever wish your blogs, podcasts and videos had a longer life? You know about content repurposing but that sounds HARD. What's EASY? Content recycling.

Most people haven't seen that first post. It's new to them. Why do you need to rewrite it? Or make new graphics? Or create new clips?

YOU DON'T.

It just needs to get posted again. And it's hard to find a tool that does that! But I found one. It's called Publer.

Publer is rad. It's easy to add to your workflow. It hooks up to Threads, Bluesky, LinkedIn and more. Post once. Have Publer post again and again. 

Does this replace writing interesting and timely social media posts? No. 

But it augments your social strategy by reusing your posts in the background. Your feed stays super active while you work on the next great story.

Check out my brand new video on how this works: https://lnkd.in/exxyCuvF

Try Publer with my link and get 10% off forever: https://lnkd.in/ei4ihexM

Do you need a membership? It could feel like the obvious next step. But what might you be missing??? Tomorrow: Maliha M tells you exactly that. 

I'm absolutely delighted that Maliha is contributing the FIRST EVER guest post to Revenue Rulebreaker and it sets a high bar for future contributions. A must read for anyone considering a membership.

Maliha has been running The Side Blogger for 7+ years super successfully, and then last year, they decided to launch a membership. For the first time.

Tomorrow, you get the story behind this membership and 6 important lessons that will save you time and money if you're thinking you need a membership too.

Join the ranks of rulebreakers to read Maliha's membership story tomorrow: https://lnkd.in/eyKpkXNH

Coming tomorrow: one year's worth of lessons from running a membership

This could be a book. But who has time to read? I wrote you a cheatsheet to running a paid newsletter.

The catch is...it's only for my subscribers.

So if you didn't get it in your inbox this morning, the only way to read it is at https://lnkd.in/eA3DagMG

ALL my paid subscribers have access (if you don't, ping me!)

Become a paid subscriber at https://lnkd.in/e2ZiwuXW

everything you need to know about running a paid newsletter

So you want to offer a paid subscription? Here's what you're gonna do before you launch.

EDITORIAL
[ ] Create your editorial calendar for the first month or two (I use Notion for this!)

REVENUE
[ ] Set a first revenue goal (enough to make 3 months of work worth it!)
[ ] Make a Stripe account (if you don’t have one) and turn on daily payouts
[ ] Set up subscriptions so people can purchase them
[ ] Launch a reader raise or founding member drive to hit your first revenue goal
[ ] Find one launch sponsor (if you want)
[ ] Turn on failed payment smart retries in Stripe
[ ] Send at least 20 personal outreach notes to get your founding members and first subscribers on your channel(s)

COMMUNICATIONS
[ ] Write and configure your automated free welcome email
[ ] Write and configure your automated paid welcome email (when someone upgrades)

NICE TO HAVES
[ ] Secure your handles on social media
[ ] Set up your sender email (the email address your newsletter comes from)
[ ] Make your square icon (used for the favicon/channel icon/newsletter icon)
[ ] Create a dedicated newsletter sign up page (at /newsletter)
[ ] Make the newsletter or your primary channel your CTA in every bio/every channel
[ ] Make a social media template which you can use to promote stories, quotes, testimonials and launch metrics (square or 1080px x 1350px)

Want the read the rest? I mapped out your first 90 days as a media entrepreneur from pre-launch through 3 months in (only for my paid subscribers)

👇👇👇
https://lnkd.in/e4Bce3gR

(Not a paid subscriber? Become a Legend for $99/year and get all access to everything I write)

Download this "Your first 90 days" checklist

I have an ambitious goal to bring us to 200 Legends this month. Why might you want to get in on this?

Legends started as a way to fund my newsletter and blog. A regular paid subscription.

But it's turned into a creative network all its own: The Legends Network  

The kind of people who make a bet on someone like me, they bet on themselves and they bet on others too. 

Legends WANT to know other Legends. Legends refer each other, amplify each other, co-produce content together, hire each other, and more. None of this is promised and I don't even really orchestrate it. I'm here to convene and connect people. What you do with that is up to you!

When we hit 200 Legends, I'm starting a Legends Directory so it's easier to find the Legend you're looking for.

I'm serious about us getting there so I'm sweetening the pot with discounts for current Legends AND limited edition prizes for new Legends.

Find the discounts, prizes and more in this post: https://lnkd.in/emJtMaMq

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