Nathan BarryEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

Nathan Barry built ConvertKit (now Kit) into a nine-figure company helping creators earn a living online. His journey reveals how early experiences with money can ignite ambition and how the pursuit of mastery can evolve into a deeper sense of purpose. In this conversation, Nathan shares how a childhood moment of scarcity became the spark for a lifelong pursuit of understanding wealth. He reflects on what it means to treat making money as a skill, and how his definition of wealth has evolved from security to freedom to helping others succeed. We unpack: • What happens when your self-worth is tied to your output • The mindset shift that turned making money into a skill, not luck • The turning point that brought Nathan back from burnout • How shifting from “me” to “we” became his greatest unlock Nathan’s story is a reminder that money can begin as fuel, but it can become something far greater. About Nathan Barry: As the CEO of Kit, Nathan Barry has a front row seat to what’s working in the most successful creator businesses. He's helped tens of thousands of creators earn a living online and is a big believer in teaching everything you know—something he does every week in his newsletter and podcast. In previous careers, Nathan has been a designer, author, and blogger. After learning the power of email marketing, he gave up a successful blogging career to build Kit. Outside of work, Nathan spends his time playing volleyball, soccer, woodworking, and chasing after his three boys. Connect with Nathan: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanbarry/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanbarry/ _________ Did something in this episode resonate with you? Check out Unbreakable Wealth, a private community for conscious entrepreneurs, high performers, and athletes ready to build multidimensional wealth beyond just money. It is the space for the conversations you cannot have anywhere else. If you are ready to live, lead, and build from alignment, you are in the right place. Learn more and apply now: https://go.unbreakablewealth.com/learn-more

When the 2008 financial crisis nearly wiped out his freelance web design business, Nathan Barry began creating and selling digital products in search of more sustainable income. As his audience grew, he became frustrated with email tools that didn’t cater to creators like him. This frustration led to the creation of Kit, an email platform with over $40 million in annual revenue, designed specifically for creator entrepreneurs. In this episode, Nathan reveals the ladders of wealth creation, his proven email marketing strategies, and the secret to scaling a creator-led business. In this episode, Hala and Nathan will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (02:47) His Early Life and Entrepreneurial Roots (10:49) From Freelancing to Building a Startup (16:17) The Birth of Kit: Creating an Email Marketing Platform (21:59) Creator Entrepreneurship and the Flywheel Effect (35:17) The Four Ladders of Wealth Creation (48:16) The Power of Teaching Everything You Know (54:13) Bootstrapping Kit to a $40M+ Business (1:05:16) AI and the Future of the Creator Economy Nathan Barry is the founder and CEO of Kit, an email marketing platform serving over 63,000 creators, bloggers, and entrepreneurs, including Tim Ferriss, James Clear, and Andrew Huberman. He is an author, speaker, designer, and host of The Nathan Barry Show . Known for his transparent approach to entrepreneurship, Nathan is a leading voice in the creator economy. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at Shopify.com/profiting Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit to boost your job's visibility at Indeed.com/PROFITING OpenPhone - Get 20% off your first 6 months at OpenPhone.com/profiting Airbnb - Find a co-host at airbnb.com/host Mercury - Streamline your banking and finances in one place. Learn more at ⁠⁠ mercury.com/profiting⁠⁠ Policy Genius - Secure your family’s future with Policygenius. Head to policygenius.com/profiting Framer - Launch your site for free at Framer.com , and use code PROFITING Resources Mentioned: Nathan's Website: kit.com Nathan's Book, The App Design Handbook : bit.ly/TheAppDesign Nathan's Book, Designing Web Applications : bit.ly/DesigningWeb Nathan's Podcast, The Nathan Barry Show : bit.ly/TNBS-apple The Almanac of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson: bit.ly/AlmanacRavikant Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap YouTube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Social + Podcast Services: yapmedia.com Transc

Leveraging email lists, boosting revenue, and building relationships with Nathan Barry. ----- Welcome to episode 481 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Nathan Barry from ConvertKit, soon-to-be Kit. Maximizing the Impact of Your Email List Nathan Barry started ConvertKit back in 2013 and has grown his company into a multi-million dollar business with over 30,000 creators that use the platform. We are happy to welcome Nathan back to the podcast to chat about how he has grown his business, email marketing strategy, and the transition from ConvertKit to Kit. As algorithms change and search traffic becomes increasingly unpredictable, it's a great time to double down on your email list. Capturing your audience from both site traffic and your social accounts and building an ongoing relationship with that audience is a great way to diversify your income streams and protect the future of your business. This podcast episode dives into the importance of optimizing your emails for the reader, consistency, and driving revenue with your emails. Three episode takeaways: Strategies for Increasing Email List Sign-ups : When something goes viral on social media, how do you make sure you're capturing that audience? Nathan and Bjork discuss the importance of optimizing links in your social media profiles, lead magnets, and other tips for growing your email list. How Your Email List Can Increase Your Revenue : With the (slow) demise of third-party cookies, creators need to be more… creative with providing more relevant ads to their readers. If you're working with an ad network, your email list can be an incredibly valuable resource for serving targeted ads to your users (thereby maximizing your ad revenue). The Magic of Flywheels : Nathan explains how and why to apply the concept of flywheels, which emphasizes attracting, engaging, and delighting your community, to your business. He also makes a case for why you should focus on repeating what is working for your business (rather than chasing the next new thing). Resources: ConvertKit NathanBarry.com Follow Nathan on X Raptive The Elliott Homestead The Flexible Dieting Lifestyle Bonnie Christine Jenna Kutcher's Instagram post Mediavine Clariti Kit Kit Studios Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group This episode is sponsored by Member Kitchens and Raptive. Learn more about our sponsors at foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors. Interested in working with us too? Learn more about our sponsorship opportunities and how to get started at foodbloggerpro.com/work-with-us. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com . Learn more about joining the Food Blogger Pro community at foodbloggerpro.com/membership.

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:05:10) - The decision to live in Idaho (00:08:21) - Nathan’s flying hobby (00:15:09) - Building Flywheels (00:46:07) - Incentive compensation and giving people ownership (01:06:39) - Inflection points in building ConverKit (01:14:16) - How to work on a ton of things (01:23:15) - What are the rules of thumb you use the most in life? Links: Nathan Barry on X ConvertKit Nathan’s website Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson Good to Great by Jim Collins Small Giants by Bo Burlingham To support the costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanack: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Buy a copy of The Anthology of Balaji: https://balajianthology.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun >> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter >> Text the podcast to a friend >> Or at least give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners! Important quotes from Nathan Barry on building audience, wealth, and startups: "If I look back at all the good things that have happened in my career in the last 3 years, they all come from writing. One little habit of writing 1,000 words a day revolutionized my career." — Nathan Barry "ATTENTION IS THE MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE" — Nathan Barry "When you start writing you don’t have to worry about crafting perfect prose. Instead you just need to focus on teaching useful skills." — Nathan Barry Making money is a skill—like playing the drums or piano—that you can get better at over time. I wouldn’t expect to be able to sit down at a piano for the first time and play a concerto. The same is true for making money. This is why most first companies fail. — Nathan Barry, Ladders of Wealth Creation

Nathan Barry, founder of ConvertKit, shares his journey from software designer to content creator to software founder. With ConvertKit now sending 2.5 billion emails per month and generating $40 million in revenue, Nathan discusses the power of building an audience and leveraging it to create long-term enterprise value. He also delves into his passion for flying and the parallels between flying and entrepreneurship. Nathan emphasizes the importance of having goals outside of work and optimizing for the journey rather than just the destination. Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/vuwfio0Uw4Y Don’t forget to help us grow by subscribing and liking on YouTube! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: (00:00) Nathan Barry introduces himself and his journey from software designer to software founder (02:57) Nathan Barry discusses his passion for flying and the process of getting a pilot's license (06:43) Nathan Barry expresses his goal of using flying for both personal and work-related purposes (08:14) Nathan Barry discusses the limitations and considerations of owning a larger plane (09:49) Eric asks Nathan about the payment structure for the pilot. (12:30) Nathan talks about his podcast and the journey of building an audience. (14:02) Nathan shares the story of Mark Sisson and the value of redirecting audience attention to a product. (15:08) Nathan explains the power of an audience in promoting and selling products. (16:03) Nathan discusses the success of Mark Sisson's Primal Kitchen and the value of an audience. (18:19) Nathan talks about the three rules for building an audience and creating enterprise value. (19:46) Nathan shares his experience building ConvertKit and its long-term enterprise value. (20:05) Nathan Barry and Eric Siu discuss the potential of agencies as successful businesses. (21:25) Nathan Barry shares his perspective on monetization options for creators. (25:52) Nathan Barry talks about the current growth and future potential of newsletters. (29:46) Nathan Barry shares a story about how having an audience can shortcut career paths. (31:24) Transitioning from personal brand to building a business (32:22) Using personal brand to drive attention to other businesses (34:21) Debate on the success of creator-led agencies (39:15) Strategies for growing Twitter following (42:09) Repackaging and reposting content for maximum reach (45:47) Nathan Barry is transparent about his financials to inspire others. (52:59) Nathan Barry discusses the flywheel strategy for growing a newsletter. (55:30) Advertising as a loop closer drives new subscribers for sponsorships. (57:54) Growing the newsletter audience leads to book sales and more opportunities. (59:59) Building network effects between creators through the Creator Network. (1:01:36) Convertkit's Creator Network and Spark Loop acquisition. (1:06:09) Nathan suggests using partnerships with other blogs to promote the subscription service and increase email sign-ups. (1:07:38) Eric asks Nathan about his quote "making money is a skill" and Nathan explains that building a successful business requires developing a range of ski

Nathan Barry, founder of ConvertKit, shares his journey from software designer to content creator to software founder. With ConvertKit now sending 2.5 billion emails per month and generating $40 million in revenue, Nathan discusses the power of building an audience and leveraging it to create long-term enterprise value. He also delves into his passion for flying and the parallels between flying and entrepreneurship. Nathan emphasizes the importance of having goals outside of work and optimizing for the journey rather than just the destination. Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/vuwfio0Uw4Y Don’t forget to help us grow by subscribing and liking on YouTube ! Check out more of Eric’s content ( Leveling UP YT ) and Neil’s videos ( Neil Patel YT ) TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: (00:00) Nathan Barry introduces himself and his journey from software designer to software founder (02:57) Nathan Barry discusses his passion for flying and the process of getting a pilot's license (06:43) Nathan Barry expresses his goal of using flying for both personal and work-related purposes (08:14) Nathan Barry discusses the limitations and considerations of owning a larger plane (09:49) Eric asks Nathan about the payment structure for the pilot. (12:30) Nathan talks about his podcast and the journey of building an audience. (14:02) Nathan shares the story of Mark Sisson and the value of redirecting audience attention to a product. (15:08) Nathan explains the power of an audience in promoting and selling products. (16:03) Nathan discusses the success of Mark Sisson's Primal Kitchen and the value of an audience. (18:19) Nathan talks about the three rules for building an audience and creating enterprise value. (19:46) Nathan shares his experience building ConvertKit and its long-term enterprise value. (20:05) Nathan Barry and Eric Siu discuss the potential of agencies as successful businesses. (21:25) Nathan Barry shares his perspective on monetization options for creators. Leave Some Feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with Us: Single Grain NP Digital X @neilpatel X @ericosiu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are loads of people out there who want to be become online creators, but they’re not sure how to get going, or if their business will be a success. It can be a super confusing world to navigate - but once you unlock it you can find financial freedom and a fulfilling career. Today’s guest is Nathan Barry, an online writer and software developer who created Convertkit, a product that helps people with online newsletters reach new audiences. We’re going to be talking all about how to build an online creator business, how to make writing a habit, and you’ll see exactly how Nathan built his ebook empire. Sponsored by Huel - go to https://www.huel.com/deepdive and with your first order you’ll get a free t-shirt and shaker. Sponsored by Trading 212 - download the Trading 212 app https://trading212.com/promocodes/ALI and use the promo code "ALI" after signing up and depositing to receive a random free share worth up to £100. This is not financial advice. Investments can fall and rise. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Other fees may apply*. Capital is at risk. Sponsored by Kajabi - go to https://www.kajabi.com/ali to get FREE access to the keynote. 📚Check out my New York Times Bestselling book Feel-Good Productivity! Amazon Website Season 7 Episode 11 00:00 Intro 02:05 Making money is a skill 10:20 Having a job vs. having a business 17:58 You set the pace 25:39 Do you need to level up your skills? 32:57 Setting big goals 41:55 Nathan's first apps 46:43 Getting into ebooks 58:30 Writing 1000 words a day 1:07:18 Working in public 1:15:56 How to make writing a habit 1:26:17 Publishing and managing your projects 1:31:06 Running a personal blog 1:44:15 Being honest about yourself online 1:58:19 The ladders of wealth 2:11:16 The billion-dollar creator 2:22:54 The three laws of flywheels 2:36:28 Final words of advice 🔗 CONNECT WITH NATHAN 💻 Website 👥 Linkedin 🐦 Twitter 🔗 CONNECT WITH ALI 📲 Join My Telegram Community 🎥 YouTube Channel 🐦 Twitter 📸 Instagram 💻 Website 👥 Linkedin 📚 RESOURCES MENTIONED Nathan Fried David Heinemeier Hansson Authority by Nathan Barry The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau A Brief Guide To World Domination by Chris Guillebeau 279 Days to Overnight Success by Chris Guillebeau Designing Web Applications by Nathan Barry Nick Huber Show Your Work by Austin Kleon Jocko Podcast 394: Lessons from the Stoics. Discipline, Leadership, Life. With Ryan Holiday. <a href="https://blog.asmartbea

Welcome, listeners, to another truly transformative episode of The Dan Go Show! I had the privilege of sitting down with Nathan Barry , the brilliant CEO of ConvertKit , in this episode! Nathan is one of the coolest, most down-to-earth guys I know, and I just know that you're going to love listening to this eye-opening conversation with him! Nathan shares invaluable insights into the world of business, creativity, and genuine connection. His journey, from being a creative entrepreneur to leading a nine-figure company, is nothing short of inspiring, and we explore the core principles that fueled ConvertKit's success, including the art of delegation, prioritizing meaningful connections, and the evolution of a creator's path. His perspective on the future of the creative space is revolutionary, emphasizing the shift towards authenticity and the profound impact of real-life experiences on online content. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur or a seasoned creator, I think that this episode will serve as a goldmine of wisdom for you, so I hope that you will join us as we uncover the secrets to building a thriving business, balancing personal and professional life, and navigating the ever-changing landscape of online content creation. If you find this conversation insightful, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app if you aren’t subscribed already so that you never miss a new episode, and if you would share the podcast with at least one other person you know who might also enjoy it and leave me a five-star review, that really helps me and the show out and would really mean the world to me! Time Stamps 1:04 - Today’s interview is with Nathan Barry of ConvertKit ! 4:11 - Nathan finds fulfillment in empowering creators, fostering creativity, and enabling global impact. 7:45 - Nathan's journey soared from app design to bestselling author. 11:43 - Learn how Nathan leveraged ebook sales and founded ConvertKit. 13:34 - Nathan stresses focus even when having a toddler at home. 16:20 - Nathan advocates focused value, automation, and delegation, highlighting teamwork for efficiency and growth. 19:44 - While content is important, it's your unique perspective and life experiences that drive it. 22:26 - Nathan emphasizes initial content creation, then strategic leverage and maximizing existing material for growth. 24:13 - Respect creators with genuine skills; real-life expertise enriches online teaching authentically. 25:30 - Nathan advises us to focus on living interesting experiences offline in order to be engaging online. 28:23 - Master basics, and stay consistent; daily effort eventually leads to significant online growth. 31:22 - Nathan's wife's unwavering belief in ConvertKit led to its remarkable success. 34:35 - Hear how Nathan personally writes birthday and anniversary cards to ConvertKit team members. 36:56 - Nathan truly values his team, offering competitive salaries and an inclusive environment. 38:56 - What does it mean to build a loyal team? 42:02 - I point out an example of how I have seen Nathan's generosity firsthand. 43:20 - Nathan stresses that in the creator world, trust, fairness, and positive-sum collaborations build lasting connections. 45:50 - Nathan points out how modern technology simplifies online creation. 49:20 - The creative industry will expand with larger audiences and refined success systems, Nathan predicts. 50:54 - Creators leverage audiences, creating mind-blowing potential. 54:37 - I point out how creators face the decision to transition from sponsorships to creating sustainable enterprises. 56:45 - Nathan adds that creators ma

Getting started with ConvertKit's Creator Network, collaborating with other creators to accelerate growth, and monetizing your email list with Nathan Barry. ----- Welcome to episode 430 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Nathan Barry from ConvertKit. Grow Your Email List with ConvertKit's Creator Network Nathan Barry is back on the podcast this week to chat about all things email marketing and strategic business growth. ConvertKit recently started the Creator Network and Nathan is here to explain what it is, as well as how food creators can use it to grow their email lists. Nathan walks listeners through how to get started with the Creator Network and shares compelling case studies about how creators have strategically utilized the Creator Network as part of their business models. This is a great episode for anyone looking to diversify their income streams in a new way. We think you'll leave this episode feeling inspired to try something new and with a fresh perspective on sharing your content. In this episode, you'll learn: How ConvertKit has changed over the years and what it offers to creators. How email should fit into your marketing model. Why ConvertKit started the Creator Network (and more about how it works). How to get started with the Creator Network. Tips for optimizing your profile on the Creator Network. How to use the Creator Network strategically to optimize growth for your email list. How to collaborate with other creators within the Creator Network. More about ConvertKit's acquisition of SparkLoop and how to monetize through SparkLoop. About flywheels and how the concept applies to business. Resources: ConvertKit 140: From $300k in Product Sales to $9m in Software Sales with Nathan Barry Follow Nathan on Twitter James Clear: The 3–2–1 Newsletter Sahil Bloom: Curiosity Chronicle Ryan Holiday: Reading List Susan Cain: The Kindred Letters Lamberts Lately The Perfect Loaf 393: How Passion and Sourdough Feed a 9 Million Pageview Food Blog with Maurizio Leo SparkLoop Morning Brew The Skimm The Hustle ActiveCampaign MailChimp NathanBarry.com Mark's Daily Apple Primal Kitchen The Billion Dollar Creator essay Billion Dollar Creator Podcast Join the Food Blogger Pro Podcast Facebook Group ----- This episode is sponsored by Businessese and Clariti. Learn more about our sponsors by going to <a class= "c-link c-link--focus-visible" href= "http://foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors" target="_blank" rel= "noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link= "http://foodbloggerpro.com/sponsors

Nathan Barry gave away millions of dollars to his family—and says it was the best financial decision he ever made. As CEO of ConvertKit, he'd reached a level of wealth that changed what money could do, not just for him, but for the people he loved most. In this conversation, Nathan walks through the moment he realized his parents could retire immediately if he simply wrote them a check, the calculations that made it possible, and why he believes optimizing for experiences—not net worth—is the real endgame of financial independence. [00:01:23] Introduction to Nathan Barry Nathan founded ConvertKit in 2013, an email service provider now serving thousands of creators. He's been part of the FI community for years, building his company using FI fundamentals while reimagining what wealth can accomplish. [00:03:27] Discovering financial independence Nathan reflects on finding the FI community through figures like Mr. Money Mustache and how those ideas shaped his approach to building a business and living intentionally. [00:05:25] Skill acquisition leads to increased income potential When you focus on learning high-value skills, increasing income becomes far easier than cutting expenses. Nathan shares how this mindset opened doors in his entrepreneurial journey. [00:09:48] Value of experiences over material goods The conversation emphasizes investing in experiences—trips to Disneyland, sailing adventures—rather than accumulating possessions. This aligns with Nathan's philosophy of spending money on what creates lasting memories. [00:11:09] Flying with skills Nathan discusses how developing new capabilities—whether in business, creativity, or life—compounds over time and leads to better financial outcomes and more fulfilling experiences. [00:29:35] Your unique perspective creates a distinct message There are no unique messages, only unique messengers. Nathan explains why finding your voice and sharing your story matters more than trying to say something no one has ever said. [01:00:12] Nathan's impactful family gifts The most moving part of the episode: Nathan walks through his decision to give substantial funds to his family, allowing them to retire comfortably. He breaks down the math, the emotional impact, and why he chose to share wealth now rather than later. [01:06:01] Money can be a powerful tool for positive change With financial resources, you can create meaningful impacts in the lives of those you care about—whether that's funding retirements, enabling experiences, or removing financial stress. [01:07:01] Using money for impactful experiences Examples of spending on experiences that matter: family trips, travel rewards, and investments in relationships that pay dividends in memories and connection. Related Resources: ConvertKit [00:01:30] Die With Zero by Bill Perkins [00:06:25] Support the Show We work hard to keep ChooseFI ad-free for a clean listening experience. The easiest way to support us is to use our Top Recommended Cards page when signing up for your next travel rewards credit card.

ConvertKit CEO Nathan Barry joins us to talk about the power of focus and how it helped save his company. This episode of Focused is sponsored by: Squarespace : Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code FOCUSED. Indeed : Join more than three million businesses worldwide using Indeed to hire great talent fast. Guest Starring: Nathan Barry Links and Show Notes: Deep Focus: Extended episodes with bonus deep dive content. Nathan Barry ConvertKit How Nathan Barry Built a $30 Million Software Company | YouTube Sahil Bloom Anything You Want | Derek Sivers

I had the awesome privilege of sitting down with Nathan Barry, CEO and Founder of ConvertKit while I was at CEX at the beginning of May. We went deep into mindset, values, and how Nathan has grown his business. This is a special Bonus episode of the podcast, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the conversation. Authority by Nathan Barry ConvertkitForCreators.com Join the next workshop

Welcome back to another episode of the Send & Grow podcast. This week, SparkLoop cofounder Louis Nicholls sits down with Nathan Barry, founder & CEO of ConvertKit. Nathan started ConvertKit 10 years ago and has since grown it to one of the largest creator-driven newsletter platforms in the world. On top of running an 8-figure business, Nathan's a consistent creator who writes several newsletters, including a new paid newsletter. In this episode, Nathan talks about the state of creator-driven newsletters today and how creators can build— and are building —massive 6-to-7 figure businesses on the backs of their newsletters. We also discuss: how Nathan thinks about paid newsletters and his publishing strategy (1:09) 3 things he sees the most successful newsletter operators have in common (12:00) what the ConvetKit Creator Network is and how it's helping Creators grow & monetize (20:33) how Nathan believes newsletter operators can grow & monetize most effectively (26:36) ....and much more! You can find Nathan Barry on Twitter , and Louis is at @louisnicholls_ . Other links mentioned: ConvertKit Nathan's Paid Newsletter The ConvertKit Creator Network Upscribe by SparkLoop

You may be familiar with traditional newsletters, but an evergreen newsletter is a smart and automated approach to standard email newsletters. It allows established creators to step off the content hamster wheel, build a personalized journey for new subscribers, and make better versions of future email sequences based on audience feedback. Nathan Barry, CEO of ConvertKit, has made $50K from “a secret newsletter about money.” He noticed that a lot of content existed for new creators, but not for established ones. Nathan’s “Secret Money Newsletter” is a paid $149 email sequence targeting established creators that make at least $200K annually. It currently has 500 subscribers and an impressive 87% open rate. In this episode, Alyssa and Melissa talk to Nathan about the power of transparency and providing context behind success metrics, the advantages of an evergreen newsletter, and connecting with your audience by incorporating their feedback into future email sequences. Key Takeaways [03:03] - What is Nathan’s paid newsletter about? [08:26] - Why Nathan is so transparent about his own finances, and is it worth it? [17:24] - How much revenue has Nathan’s paid newsletter generated? [22:36] - What is the most challenging aspect of an evergreen newsletter? [29:06] - Why evergreen newsletters are a great way to showcase your expertise. [32:30] - How an evergreen newsletter can remove the pressure of wanting it to be “perfect”. [34:21] - How to keep email sequences from overwhelming your subscribers. [36:45] - What are Nathan’s plans for the future of his newsletter? [39:59] - Why asking your audience for specific feedback makes it so much easier to keep writing content. [45:16] - Nathan’s method for coming up with content for future emails. Quotes [14:04] - “By putting advice out there, and real numbers, you show people what’s possible and they can learn from the specifics. It makes a huge difference when people share actual numbers, it gives you real context.” ~ @nathanbarry [20:35] - “I love with email how few barriers there are between your ideas and the reader.” ~ @nathanbarry [32:47] - “If you know this is going to be email #1 for a long time, that puts the pressure on it. But, good news — you can edit it. So 15 people will get that, and you can learn from it and so the version that’s going to go out to 500 people over a period of time is so much better, and a lot of the pressure comes off.” ~ @nathanbarry Links Nathan Barry on Twitter Nathan Barry on LinkedIn Nathan Barry A secret newsletter about money Buy Back Your Time Subscribe to the monthly Deliverability Defined newsletter! Ask Alyssa & Melissa questions or suggest content for our next monthly newsletter! Connect with our hosts Alyssa Dulin Melissa Lambert

We'd appreciate you filling out our audience survey, so we can continuously work on providing relevant content to our listeners. Responses received by 05/11/23 will be entered in a drawing for $500 cash. http://www.thefortpod.com/survey EPISODE #265 In today’s episode, Chris is joined by the founder of ConvertKit, Nathan Barry. Nathan’s journey to helping creators all around the world began when he was doing web design in high school before expanding into freelance blogging and content creation. But after deciding to launch a book to promote his web design service, Nathan racked up more than $19,000 in sales in just the first week, at which point he decided to go all-in on digital products and building an audience. After a friend introduced him to the power of email marketing in the content creation space, Nathan decided he wanted to start his own software business, ConvertKit, in January 2013. In today’s episode, Nathan sits down with Chris to discuss why email is still king, leveraging AI technology for content creators, and what the most successful creators are doing now. Make sure to check it out! Key Takeaways: Intro (00:00) Nathan’s backstory (02:11) Is email making a resurgence? (11:00) Does everyone need a newsletter? (17:04) The limitations of email (23:34) The dark side of newsletters (28:32) Building trust at scale (36:12) What’s ahead for creators? (46:17) Sticking to one platform (59:17) The power of AI (1:15:09) Additional Resources: 👉 See more about ConvertKit 👉 Follow Nathan on Twitter 👉 See Nathan's Books 👉 Nathan's Website 👉 Founder of Basecamp Jason Fried Keynote 👉 Sparkloop 👉 The Billion Dollar Creator by Nathan Barry 👉 Sahil Bloom on Twitter 👉 Lex Website ➡️ Learn more about Relay Human Cloud ➡️ Fort Capital: www.FortCapitalLP.com ➡️ Follow Fort Capital on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fort-capital/ ➡️ Follow Chris on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FortWorthChris ➡️ Follow Chris on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/chrispowersjr/ ➡️ Sign Up for our Newsletter: https://newsletter.thefortpod.com/ ➡️ Subscribe to The FORT on YouTube -- The FORT Podcast with Chris Powers is a place where you can find meaningful conversations about entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and more. Be sure to follow the podcast, so you never miss an episode!

Nathan Barry is a creator, author, speaker, designer, and the founder of ConvertKit. ConvertKit powers the audiences for creators like Gretchen Rubin, Chris Guillebeau, Pat Flynn, Tim Ferriss, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Tim McGraw. Prior to ConvertKit, Nathan made over $150,000 from self-published books in less than one year. His book Authority is still often referenced within the creator community. In this episode, we talk about Nathan’s wild year of selling ebooks, trends he’s seeing among creators today, a crucial business model decision every creator should make, and why his relentlessness helped make his decision to double down on ConvertKit look very smart in retrospect. Learn more about Nathan Barry Follow Nathan Barry on Twitter Subscribe to the Nathan Barry Show Start a trial of ConvertKit (affiliate) ConvertKit metrics Join the Creative Companion Club 🤫 Follow Jay on Twitter Follow Creative Elements on Instagram Full transcript and show notes *** RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE → #151: Nathan Barry of Convertkit *** WHEN YOU'RE READY 📬 Creator Science Newsletter 🚀 Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system) 🧪 Join The Lab (private membership community) 🧞‍♂️ Get a Personalized Offer *** CONNECT 🐦 Connect on Twitter 📸 Connect on Instagram 💼 Connect on LinkedIn 📹 Subscribe on YouTube *** SPONSORS 💼 View all sponsors and offers *** SAY THANKS 💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts 🟢 Leave a rating on Spotify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we chat with Nathan Barry, creator of the wildly popular email marketing platform ConvertKit and host of “The Art of Newsletters” podcast. One of the many reasons we wanted to talk to Nathan is because he’s been an avid podcaster long before it was popular (circa 2014). In addition to hosting his own show, Nathan and his team created a network for ConvertKit where they currently run 3 different podcasts. Nathan is also a veteran of the podcast guesting world, appearing on dozens of shows to spread the word about the brand. Listen in to learn more about how ConvertKit built their network and why, how they think about the ROI of their network, advice for guesting on other shows, and so much more. Guest-at-a-Glance Name: Nathan Barry What he does: Nathan is the creator of ConverKit , an email marketing platform powering 250K creators, including Tim Ferriss, Gretchen Rubin, Tim McGraw, and more. He is also the host of the podcast “ The Art of Newsletters ” where he covers topics like marketing, self-publishing, and building a profitable online business. Connect with Nathan: LinkedIn | Twitter | Podcast | Website Key Takeaways Podcasts allow you to grow your network, educate customers, and generate ideas. Nathan podcasts for three reasons. First, he’s able to meet new people through the guests he has on his show, which allows him to grow his network and, in turn, convert some of those guests into customers. Second, he uses his podcast as an educational content machine for his 250,000 customers where he teaches them how to build and grow a business. And finally, podcasts are a great way to generate content ideas. He can refer back to his library of 50+ episodes to analyze how his guests answered a particular question and then write about it in his own newsletter. Even if your podcast isn’t popular, you can still use it as a powerful content machine. Measure the success of your podcast doesn’t always go back to download numbers. For ConverKit, they use their podcast network as a powerful machine that feeds into their content ecosystem as a whole. Rather than starting from scratch on a specific topic, they can turn to their collection of episodes to pull insights from to build their next piece of content, be it a newsletter, article, case study, video, etc. The biggest mistake you can make is launching new shows without growing the ones you already have. Nathan and his team are really careful about how many shows they add to ConvertKit’s network because too many people make the mistake of launching new podcasts without taking the time to grow the ones they already have. Growing a podcast is a huge challenge that takes a lot of time, dedication, and consistency of output. So think twice before you start a new show if the shows you already have aren’t hitting their growth marks. If you cut a show due to loss of motivation, you’re dead in the water. Many projects in the creative world rise and fall based on the motivation of the person behind them, which is a terrible recipe for success. If you’re running a podcast, you’ll likely lose motivation far before you see results, meaning you need to push through and stay consistent before deciding whether to cut a show or not. ConvertKit uses its podcast network to raise the profiles of the people on the team. While Nathan

ConvertKit’s mission is to help creators reach their audience and make a living doing what they love. That includes musicians – possibly the most mainstream of creators. If you’ve been following along, you may have caught wind that ConvertKit recently acquired FanBridge, an email marketing company geared toward musicians. In today’s episode, Charli, Haley, Miguel, and ConvertKit CEO Nathan Barry discuss the why behind ConvertKit’s acquisition, why emerging musicians need email, and why email is much deeper than Spotify and so much more than simply another marketing tool in your musical belt. “As an artist, you should own the relationship with your fans, just like you should own the masters to your songs, rather than the record label, Spotify, or relying on the algorithms from Instagram, and YouTube, and others. In email, there’s no algorithm. You own that directly.” ~ Nathan Barry Our Favorite Creators [10:01] Musicians are the creators many people admire the most. They also fuel our culture. Adding musicians to ConvertKit’s portfolio takes our message of supporting creators mainstream. [16:35] Email is not a discovery platform, it’s a connection platform. Emerging artists simply aren’t able to connect with fans and new listeners on sites like Spotify. Not to mention, emails can help you earn a living – selling merch, selling tickets – outside of the slice of revenue you earn for every Spotify stream. [18:21] Email is where your superfans live and the email conversion rate is so much higher than the conversion rate on social media. Casual fans follow on social media. Superfans sign up for your email list. [19:29] Owning your audience is hugely important and you can only own your audience via email. You can’t control when Spotify or Instagram will change the algorithm and delete your fanbase. [22:52] Musicians can use email to foster those one-on-one conversations with fans, build stronger connections, and show off their voice. Given that most musicians are strong writers, writing emails is probably an undiscovered strength for musicians. [28:31] Every artist who is excelling or has excelled in email, has had an experience that has pushed them to start email. Don't wait for something to happen. Be proactive and start building your email list today. Connect with our hosts Charli Prangley Miguel Pou Haley Janicek Nathan Barry Links Watch The Future Belongs to Creators on YouTube Behind-The-Scenes Of Our First Acquisition Creator Sessions Mandy Moore Performs on Creator Sessions After a Decade Long Music Hiatus Craft & Commerce Conference Pharrell Williams Masterclass with Students at NYU Clive Davis Institute Among Us CORPSE Taylor Swift Johnnyswim Songs With Strangers <a href="https://www.billboard.com

Nathan Barry shares the secrets of the world's most effective communicators and how you can leverage the power of automation to scale your business development efforts to the moon. Learn how business development professionals can use email and content to grow an audience that is hungry for their expertise, reach more people in a deeper way at scale instead of just 1-to-1, and how the compound gains of consistent action can lead to incredible results. Mo asks Nathan Barry: What's your big idea for growing a book of business, growing relationships, and growing a career? Nathan used to play video games and he likens having an audience and a newsletter to having the cheat codes for business. Having an engaged audience that you can push content to is incredibly powerful. Some platforms have followers, like social and blogging, and others allow you to push content in front of your audience. The push method puts you in control and makes those platforms much more valuable in achieving your business goals. Many professionals don't think of an email list as a relevant tool for building a book of business, but if you have a list of the right people that want to hear from you it can definitely be a powerful asset. Even if you're not selling something through your email list, you can still build the mind share and reputation with your audience that increases your value in their mind. Delivering value is key. When it comes to professional services, a cadence of once a month is more than sufficient and the important thing is quality over quantity when it comes to communication. The best approach is to augment your close relationships with the vital few and combine it with a larger audience where you are delivering content. Those people are your prospective clients and finding a communication method that has leverage is how you can scale relationships considerably. Content allows someone to get to know you on a deeper level, well before you ever talk to them in person or on a phone call. Mo asks Nathan Barry: How can we get more of the meaningful work we want to do? When you think about all the service providers you could hire, you consider all sorts of things like price, location, rapport, but near the top is actual expertise. One of the most effective ways to signal your expertise is to teach what you know. Nathan originally started off designing apps for the iPhone for other people, and in the process of trying to land more freelancing gigs, he had the thought that if he had written the book on iPhone app design it would make landing clients much easier. This led him down the path to creating a newsletter and writing a book. It's hard to remember where you are in every conversation with every prospect you are currently talking to. This is where automation comes in and one of the reasons why email can be such an effective communication tool. You could create an automated sequence that delivers your content and includes the appropriate calls to action at the right time. It's also possible to leverage your content that you're delivering over time and turn that into a book down the road. When you're just getting started with a smaller list it can be discouraging. When you have 0-10 subscribers, the first thing you should do is ask them where they currently go to learn about your topic and what their biggest pain points and struggles are. This gives you very valuable information and lets you know where you can potentially add content and lets you know what your follow up content should be. Whatever the audience is struggling with is exactly what your content should help them with. As your list grows, it's okay to start asking them to share your content with people they think would benefit from it. Once you approach the 100-1000 mark, you can start bundling your content into a free

Nathan Barry shares the secrets of the world's most effective communicators and how you can leverage the power of automation to scale your business development efforts to the moon. Learn how business development professionals can use email and content to grow an audience that is hungry for their expertise, reach more people in a deeper way at scale instead of just 1-to-1, and how the compound gains of consistent action can lead to incredible results. Mo asks Nathan Barry: What's your big idea for growing a book of business, growing relationships, and growing a career? Nathan used to play video games and he likens having an audience and a newsletter to having the cheat codes for business. Having an engaged audience that you can push content to is incredibly powerful. Some platforms have followers, like social and blogging, and others allow you to push content in front of your audience. The push method puts you in control and makes those platforms much more valuable in achieving your business goals. Many professionals don't think of an email list as a relevant tool for building a book of business, but if you have a list of the right people that want to hear from you it can definitely be a powerful asset. Even if you're not selling something through your email list, you can still build the mind share and reputation with your audience that increases your value in their mind. Delivering value is key. When it comes to professional services, a cadence of once a month is more than sufficient and the important thing is quality over quantity when it comes to communication. The best approach is to augment your close relationships with the vital few and combine it with a larger audience where you are delivering content. Those people are your prospective clients and finding a communication method that has leverage is how you can scale relationships considerably. Content allows someone to get to know you on a deeper level, well before you ever talk to them in person or on a phone call. Mo asks Nathan Barry: How can we get more of the meaningful work we want to do? When you think about all the service providers you could hire, you consider all sorts of things like price, location, rapport, but near the top is actual expertise. One of the most effective ways to signal your expertise is to teach what you know. Nathan originally started off designing apps for the iPhone for other people, and in the process of trying to land more freelancing gigs, he had the thought that if he had written the book on iPhone app design it would make landing clients much easier. This led him down the path to creating a newsletter and writing a book. It's hard to remember where you are in every conversation with every prospect you are currently talking to. This is where automation comes in and one of the reasons why email can be such an effective communication tool. You could create an automated sequence that delivers your content and includes the appropriate calls to action at the right time. It's also possible to leverage your content that you're delivering over time and turn that into a book down the road. When you're just getting started with a smaller list it can be discouraging. When you have 0-10 subscribers, the first thing you should do is ask them where they currently go to learn about your topic and what their biggest pain points and struggles are. This gives you very valuable information and lets you know where you can potentially add content and lets you know what your follow up content should be. Whatever the audience is struggling with is exactly what your content should help them with. As your list grows, it's okay to start asking them to share your content with people they think would benefit from it. Once you approach the 100-1000 mark, you can start bundling your content into a free

ConvertKit is one of the biggest success stories of the 2010s online business world. Today we are joined by their founder and CEO Nathan Barry! Nathan started ConvertKit after realizing the value of email marketing and the ways in which companies were missing important parts of the service he envisaged. We get to hear about this part of the story, leading up to the beginnings of the company and then the early successes that they experienced after launching. A completely transparent company, Nathan shares a lot of vital and interesting statistics from ConvertKit before we get into Nathan's strategy for targeting new customers that has served them so well. He also emphasizes the importance of storytelling at ConvertKit, believing that customers do not only buy into the service but also the story. We discuss product-led growth, ConvertKit's recent adoption of the freemium model and public appearances that Nathan makes at the moment, so do not miss it! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:21] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Leveling Up Podcast! [00:44] The full range of services offered by ConvertKit and their company mission. [01:08] Nathan's background in design, blogging, and writing, and how this led to ConvertKit. [02:59] Early days at ConvertKit and the success they experienced from the get-go. [04:02] Nathan's approach to entrepreneurship and why he chooses to focus on one company. [07:29] Growth phases for the company and how long it took to get up to 100k MRR. [10:17] The pricing model at ConvertKit and how they charge. [10:57] Important numbers from the business and their choice to be transparent. [11:53] Smart targeting and the lessons that Nathan learned about zeroing in. [15:01] Nathan's social media strategy and becoming visible to new prospects. [15:57] ConvertKit's choice to make the shift to a freemium model recently. [19:56] Benefits of a great free and product-led growth. [21:10] The role of webinars and podcasts in the trajectory of ConvertKit. [24:50] How many podcast appearances Nathan makes at the moment. [25:53] Nathan's must-read book recommendation! [26:21] A great tool for business growth according to Nathan. [27:32] The founder and company that Nathan is currently following. Resources From The Interview: ConvertKit Nathan Barry Nathan Barry on Twitter Tim Ferriss App Design Handbook MailChimp Pat Flynn Why I Switched from AWeber to Infusionsoft to ConvertKit Gretchen Rubin ConvertKit Baremetrics HubSpot Chris Guillebeau Figma Vlad Magdalin Webflow Must read book: Anything You Want Leave Some Feedback: What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me

Why would you change course from a personal brand that's making $250,000 in annual revenue to build a software-as-a-service business in an incredibly competitive market? Nathan Barry shares the details of how he started selling apps, then ebooks and courses, and then how he broke even with his email marketing software. " Just because something is making money for you doesn't mean you should keep it around, because it's also sucking time and attention. " - Nathan Barry This Week on the Get Paid Podcast What took Nathan from his blossoming career as an independent designer back to working as a full-time employee. His #1 tip for getting the attention of any influencer in any industry, and what my own experience has been with that tactic. Why Nathan sold off a piece of his company that was still bringing in money, and the one question he asked himself to help make that decision. Why negotiation is key to an outcome where the people on both sides of the table walk away happy. (This one completely surprised me, but it makes sense now that I think about it.) Nathan's exact strategy for launching his first ebook that brought in $12,500 in just 24 hours when his list was less than 800-strong. One of the benefits of writing books that he says is as good or possibly better than the revenue. His frustrations with the publishing world that led him to write the book Authority Why Nathan left the launch model behind An email marketing strategy that would make weekly broadcast emails a thing of the past. Mentioned in this episode: NathanBarry.com ConvertKit (affiliate link) Authority Designing Web Apps The App Design Handbook Blog post: Growing ConvertKit to $5,020 in Monthly Recurring Revenue Blog post: Stop Sending Email Broadcasts Blog post: $36,297 in 24 hours: Behind the Scenes of the App Design Handbook Launch (details on a later launch of Nathan's first book) Blog post: An eBook pricing model that resulted in $100,000 in sales Connect with Nathan Barry: Facebook Twitter (@nathanbarry) Step up Your Facebook Ads Game Today's episode is brought to you by our Free Facebook Ads Masterclass. Five ad formulae that sell online courses on autopilot. People tell me all the time that even thinking about getting started with Facebook and Instagram ads feels incredibly overwhelming, and I don't blame them. It isn't easy! That's why I recorded this masterclass to teach you about just 5 ads that you can use to sell more of your online course group program or mastermind. Sign up, watch it, and then I want you to just choo

Today’s co-host is Nathan Barry. Nathan is the founder of ConvertKit . Many of you know ConvertKit as an e-mail marketing platform, but there’s more to the story. Nathan started his career as a blogger and creator before transitioning into building products. He also wrote several books and built a thriving solo business before launching ConvertKit. Much of Nathan’s drive came from watching his parents struggle with money when he was growing up. He sees this as a defining moment in his life because he knew from the time he was 12 that he never wanted to have those same struggles. He learned early on that making money wouldn’t just happen on its own. He had to work for it, and practice, and build the skill of making money. While working his way through college, he began seeing the internet as a way to do something he loved, and make money doing it. Currently, Nathan is working on his hobby farm (and preparing for a new baby!), as well as continuing to grow ConvertKit and launching new features. In this episode, we dive into identifying your ideal client, as well as some exercises that Nathan has used to figure out what types of projects and customers to work with. Also, Nathan goes into some questions you can ask that will help you create the life you want, as well as improve conversations throughout your business. “If you’re earning a lot and I’m earning a little, then it’s because you’ve built skills over time. Just like if you’re incredible at playing this piano piece, it’s because you’ve practiced and you’ve built up to it over years.” In this episode Nathan talks about: How he got into the world of digital marketing, and ultimately ConvertKit. Identifying your ideal client by knowing who they are not. How to define the ideal employee and the questions you need to ask. Main Takeaways Sometimes it’s easier to figure out who you should exclude from your marketing efforts rather than include, as it allows the quality content to rise to the top. When you narrow it down by those criteria, it becomes apparent who you should focus on. Asking the right questions is critical. Ask questions of yourself and others that will help you figure out what your real goals are. Ask yourself: if this employee went to work for the competition tomorrow, how upset would I be? This is a great way to determine your ideal employee. Important Mentions in this Episode ConvertKit The App Design Handbook Designing Web Applications Nathan on Twitter Authority by Nathan Barry Jason Fried on Twitter Good to Great by Jim Collins Flywheel by Jim Collins For full show notes and resources Live In The Feast - Episode 2 of Season 7

What’s up everybody! Joining us in this episode is Nathan Barry, the founder/CEO of ConvertKit, an email marketing company for creators. You might expect that Nathan is a huge proponent of using email to connect, grow, and sell. What you may not know is that BEFORE ConvertKit, he was using email as the main channel to grow his blog. In this episode, Nathan shares his story and how to use email courses to connect with your audience and sell products. I realized the most successful marketing channel was email. Episode Quotes "You go through problems so you can figure out how to solve them and grow" - Janelle "Email would drive 16x engagements than Twitter would." "If you teach and share that's the difference between people who are reading the blog from people writing them." "You're not trying to get the highest number of people, but the most engaged people" "My mission is to both educate and provide all the tools for other creators to be able to do the same thing" Listen to Learn 00:33 Getting to know Nathan Barry, Rapid 5 Questions 06:16 Nathan's email courses journey (ConvertKit) 08:55 Pushing content through email - what makes it so powerful? 12:40 Nathan's core value - "Teach Everything" 15:46 Tips for starters and how to overcome resistance 19:12 Transitioning to email courses 26:05 Why email courses are more effective than a PDF download? 28:35 Tactics to make your emails more actionable and engaged 34:00 How to use email courses to pitch a product? 39:13 Industries where email courses isn't a good fit 40:46 Exciting things coming up from Nathan Barry, links and announcements Want More? Nathan and I recorded a bonus segment just for you. It’s full of practical tips on how to get subscribers and stay consistent with email. Grab it here: https://get.zencourses.co/extra

Nathan Barry (@nathanbarry) knows better than anyone: Sometimes, you're working hard on something, and it's just not happening. How do you decide whether to double down, or shut down? This is what Nathan was asking himself two years after launching his email service, ConvertKit . He was bringing in only $1,500 a month, and he was losing customers every month. It was time to decide: Double down, or shut down. Today, ConvertKit brings in much more than $1,500 a month. They recently had their first million dollar month. Spoiler alert: Instead of shutting down, Nathan did double down. Today, we'll analyze how he made that decision: When Nathan decided to double down, he had no idea if his business would succeed. How did Nathan – and his spouse – mentally prepare for the worst-case scenario? Nathan had to dig into his savings to the tune of $100,000 to double down on ConvertKit. What criteria did he use to know whether or not to quit. What was the one question Nathan asked himself that ultimately got him to double down? This is a super valuable conversation. It's incredibly helpful if you've been working on a project that just isn't taking off. I've used this conversation myself to think about this podcast, how I define success, and how I should divvy up my own resources amongst my various projects. (Note: Since recording this episode, ConvertKit has decided not to rebrand as Seva after all.) Love Your Work is now fully listener-supported! Patreon supporters are now covering ALL production costs for Love Your Work ! Join our wonderful Patreon backers at patreon.com/kadavy . Free Creative Productivity Toolbox I quadrupled my creative productivity. Sign up and I'll send you the tools I count on: kadavy.net/tools Feedback? Questions? Comments? I love to hear anything and everything from you. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Tweet at me @kadavy, or email me david@kadavy.net. Sponsors http://gusto.com/loveyourwork http://earthclassmail.com Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/nathan-barry-podcast/

Nathan Barry is the founder of Seva (formerly ConvertKit). I had heard about ConvertKit's story from Nathan before, and it really stuck with me. ConvertKit is an amazing company. They've had incredible growth recently, and it's easy to look at where they are today and think it was a foregone conclusion. Little did I know that there was a time when Nathan considered giving up on the idea. I sat down with Nathan to ask him about why he didn't give up on the idea, and what it was that helped him turn it around. Takeaways: Are you serious? Nathan had to be confronted with a decision: either shut down the company or go all in and invest in it. Fish or cut bait, as my dad would say. Nathan asked himself hard questions, like: have I really given it a fair shake? And the answer that he came up with was no; he hadn't. Listen to Nathan describe his thought process and why he decided to go "all in". Your niche is probably not narrow enough. ConvertKit was an email marketing tool, but there was no way that statement was going to get any market traction against their competitors. Nathan niched the call to action down to "Email marketing for professional bloggers". But even that was too broad. Eventually, they began targeting incredibly narrow niches like "email marketing for professional paleo recipe bloggers. At first, this may seem unreasonably specific. But this tight niching allowed them to literally make lists with names and addresses of people who they could reach out to individuals to invite them to try the platform. Which, by the way, is code for "direct sales". Direct sales are the most important, and maybe the most overlooked, way to grow a SaaS business. Many SaaS founders are scared of direct sales. Maybe because it's hard, maybe because it doesn't scale. But we're starting to see a pattern here, and that is that direct sales can consistently move the needle for companies that need to grow. It's not enough to do inbound marketing and wait for customers to find you. You do need to do that, but if that's all you do, you may not make it. You also need to actively go out and find prospects and invite them to use your product. As Nathan points out, doing so—talking directly to prospects, listening to them describe their processes and their pain—can help you to better understand your customers and how your product can serve them. Your WHY can (and should) evolve. ConvertKit has changed a lot over the years. In the beginning, the purpose of ConvertKit was to help himself and their employees to take control of their own careers and financial lives. Now that they've accomplished this purpose, it has shifted to be more outwardly focused; to help others achieve this same career and financial freedom through their businesses. Nathan explains how the new name, Seva, does a better job of communicating this sense of service. Full Shownotes: https://thelongcut.fm/nathan-barry Links mentioned in this episode: Seva (formerly <a href= "http

Today's show is not a full episode! Jon and I have been busy with our day jobs, plus Memorial Day, and didn't have time to record a show. But, to be honest, this pricing discussion isn't something we can solve in a 30-minute conversation. We've realized it's going to require more research. We need to talk to folks who know more than us. So that's what we've been doing. This week, I have a call booked with Patrick from Price intelligently , as well as Rob Walling (who just his company Drip). I'm hoping to get some useful insights on pricing from these folks. Mostly so we don't make the same mistakes that other SaaS companies have made. These chats will also benefit you, the listener, because we'll be sharing as much as we can in future episodes. As a teaser, I'm going to share a phone call I had with Nathan Barry. He has one of the fastest growing SaaS products in existence right now: ConvertKit . They just crossed 1 million dollars in MRR. That's an Annual Run Rate of $12.8 million! They've grown fast, and Nathan's had to learn fast. So here are some of his thoughts on the pricing of podcast hosting. Show notes Price intelligently Nathan Barry , founder of ConvertKit ConvertKit's revenue numbers Transistor.fm Transistor.fm on Instagram Transistor.fm on Twitter Jon Buda is back on Twitter: @jonbuda Justin Jackson on Twitter here: @mijustin Give us some love on Breaker , the podcast app for Android and iPhone. ★ Please review us in iTunes – T-shirt contest! Leave a review you’ll be entered to win a limited edition Transistor t-shirt! Thanks to our monthly supporters Rewardful.com Mitchell Davis from sixsides.co Bill Condo (@mavrck) Ward from MemberSpace.com Evandro Sasse Austin Loveless Michael Sitver Dave Giunta ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Got a good one for you today, I’m talking to Nathan Barry , founder of ConvertKit . Nathan runs an impressive self-funded business for a long time now. Nathan started with info-products, books, training and apps. Finally he ended up building ConvertKit, the email marketing SaaS application, which has had a really impressive growth. It’s always great to catch up with Nathan, because, as many of you already know his story especially from the earlier years, I could dive in in to the questions I wanted to ask him. We covered many topics that you probably haven’t heard elsewhere. We dug into some of the tactical outbound sales strategy that he used early on in ConvertKit and how that scaled to today. Also, we talked how he was able to grow the team, and his thoughts on staying profitable and self funded, and when to invest cash into your business. Lot’s of insightful and inspiring stuff with Nathan. Enjoy! Episode Notes [2:26] Early Sales process and niching down. Tactics in building the lists to outreach. Twitter for discovering people. Exact email sequence he used to cold outreach bloggers. “I don’t think you can do cold outreach if don’t have a really specific market, because you are not building up the momentum. The reason you do cold outreach is to get that momentum in a specific area, so it feels like everyone is using your product.” [13:40] What led Nathan to do cold sales email outreach every single day. Scaling the outreach process. Meeting clients in their cities. “Hopefully there will come a time that you desire to make this product a success will out-weight your fears of getting out of your comfort zone.” [23:51] Self-funding. Profitability. 2-questions framework to feeling confident to invest our personal money into the business, or shutdown. “That gave me the confidence to looking back, if it’d failed, I’d have been able to say ‘ yep, I gave my best shot and didn’t work out ‘, rather than always asking ‘ could it have worked? ‘.” [30:48] Keeping costs in check. Embedding frugality in the company’s culture. “Money was not an option to solve problems. We had to do it in a different way.” “I think a lot of bootstrappers use bootstrapping as an excuse for laziness.” [37:17] How marketing looks in 2018 for ConvertKit. Why they are organizing a conference. “Education is a huge thing for us, teaching people how to earn a living online.” “We help creators earn a living.” Links Nathan Barry on Twitter Nathan Barry’s company, ConvertKit Nathan’s Personal Blog Josh Pigford Twitter thread on bad cold emails MailChimp Trello BuiltWith SaaStr Annual Event Traffic Conversion Summit in San Diego TradeCraft, ConvertKit’s Online Magazine Craft + Commerce ConverKit’s Conference People Mentioned Pat Flynn Chris Guillebeau <a href

Nathan and I talk about the early days of ConvertKit, reaching a point where he had to make a decision to invest more significantly in it or walk away. He invested a significant portion of his income from other projects and really doubled down to make it work long before it was obvious things were going to take off. He talks about his sales process and how it simultaneously helped him better understand the needs of potential customers as well as build a relationship and find his first customers. Special Guest: Nathan Barry. Sponsored By: Starting & Sustaining : The second edition of Starting & Sustaining will be out in late 2017. Visit the site to get on the list and be the first to know as well as receive a launch discount. Links: ConvertKit NathanBarry.com Full Transcript

This is part 2 of my conversation with Nathan Barry. In the past four months, he’s taken his burgeoning SaaS company (ConvertKit) from $1 million in annual recurring revenue to $2 million. That sounds exciting, but it wasn’t easy getting there. In this episode Nathan talks about the stress of being a new CEO, running out of money, not being able to get a loan, and finally figuring out a way to succeed. Personally, I completely ran out of money. Wells Fargo wouldn’t give me a loan. Show notes Nathan Barry on Twitter ConvertKit’s public revenue stats Justin’s other podcast: MegaMaker – making 100 things in 1 year Sponsor My friend Peldi (from Balsamiq ) is sponsoring a whole month of MegaMaker podcasts. He’s offering my listeners $10 off Balsamiq Mockups 3 for Desktop (normally $89). USE COUPON CODE MEGAMAKER . Expires May 1st. Win 1 hour with Peldi! Enter the contest at megamaker.co/dreamsmall Note from Justin This interview is a smaller segment of a full-interview with Nathan Barry, available on Product People Club. Go to productpeople.club , and sign up for the waiting list. Screenshots are up now! Want to help the show? If you could go to iTunes leave a nice review that would be superb. Also: if you’re listening on Stitcher , please leave a review on there! Cheers, Justin Jackson @mijustin Music: Lethal Force by Striker, visit them at striker-metal.com 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm . 📺 Learn how to start your own podcast !