If you’re new here, we (used to) turn $1 into thousands building weird but simple side hustles. Now this is the story of building a local newsletter business
TLDR;
Quit job July 2025 to start a local niche newsletter (kidfriendlyseattle.com)
Goal is to get to 28,000 subs in by July 2026 (currently at 7k - Instagram 8k)
Target $10k/mo (currently ~$5k)
The New Revenue
I saw a job/contract listing for newsletter management at a local chamber of commerce and took them up on it. I write their emails a couple times a week and help manage some of their social content. All of this is run through the business as I will likley help manage/consult other businesses on building their newsletters.
I have been getting pretty decent at newsletter stuff so I updated the homepage for Ghost Business: https://www.theghostbusiness.com/home
This alone has brought up the mix of revenue from the chamber, sponsors, events, and punch cards to $5k/mo (half way to my $10k goal)
Quick poll: It's 5:47pm on a Tuesday. Dinner plan?
p.s I also learned adding polls is a great way to learn about you, increase click data and have more data to share with advertisers 😎
Current updates:
~7,000 subscribers
~8,000 followers on Instagram
In person events Dad, Beers and Lego & Crochet Cafe have been good so far, they don’t generate too much money but adds a significant community layer that my audience is asking for.
Another newsletter? Launched Kid Friendly Eastside in March to try to double the subscribers and revenue potential, ended up folding this back into
Punch card (launched 👉 check it out) I added the punch card in the final sign up flow to reduce CAC (customer acquisition cost) It’s reduced it by about 20% which isn’t bad! I sell about 5 a week at the reduced cost so it’s not a bad little trickle of money
Paid event calendar I started working on this but decided not to.
DNNR club. I thought about doing this but also decided not to.
I read all of the replies, let me know your thoughts!
Stay tuned for more local newsletter side hustle updates
It’s a great day to be great!
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