How to make $10k per month (Through Newsletters)

💰 Learn how to make $10k+ per month by starting a newsletter

Welcome to NEW HUSTLES, a newsletter grounded in my experience working with thousands of founders during my time in venture capital. Our mission is simple: to help you earn more money through side hustles. We’ll guide you every step of the way—sharing proven tactics, strategies, and blueprints to help you reach your goals.

Our work is primarily reader-supported, with additional support from select sponsors. Stay on top of the latest side hustle ideas and help sustain our work by subscribing—free or paid. Your money goes directly towards reporting costs.

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🔍 WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS EDITION

After growing NEW ECONOMIES from 0 to 75,000 subscribers in just over a year—generating over $100,000 in revenue—we are excited to share everything we’ve learned along the way and how you can start your own newsletter.

This edition is packed with proven tactics, strategies, and step-by-step blueprints to help you achieve similar results.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• How to get started.

• How to price your paid subscriptions.

• How to write welcome emails.

• How to land your first sponsors.

• How to scale from 0 to 75,000 subscribers in one year.

Let’s get you on track to earning $10,000 per month.

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🚀 HOW TO START A NEWSLETTER AND MAKE $10K A MONTH

Starting a newsletter takes serious commitment. In the early days, you’ll be writing 1–3 pieces per week, often with little immediate reward. But once you build momentum, it becomes incredibly exciting—the growth, the feedback, the impact.

Why is now the perfect time to start a newsletter?

We’re witnessing a major shift in media. Legacy brands are fading, and independent voices are rising. There’s never been a better time to carve out your space and build direct relationships with readers.

When choosing a newsletter topic, aim for a hyper-niche—but one that’s big enough to grow into something meaningful. The goal is to become the go-to source in your category.

Here are a few untapped areas full of opportunity for inspiration:

• AI in China

• Startups in LATAM

• Becoming a digital nomad

• Leveling up as a product manager

• The Future of Health

And the list goes on.

The key? Start now. There’s never been a better time to build your own media platform.

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🗓️ FREQUENCY

Figuring out the right publishing frequency can feel uncertain—there’s no one-size-fits-all formula. But here’s what to keep in mind:

• Every edition you send will likely bring in new subscribers.

• At the same time, each one may also trigger some unsubscribes.

For example, if you're gaining 100 new subscribers per week but losing 20 per edition, you can start to gauge the ideal cadence for your audience.

A solid starting point is to publish once or twice per week. Try to schedule your posts a few days in advance to stay consistent and reduce stress.

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🤝 HOW TO CREATE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

As your newsletter grows, engaging with your community shows not only that you care, but that you value their voices and want to hear from them.

An easy way to boost community engagement is to include a simple message like the one below at the end of each newsletter edition:

Are you enjoying learning about the latest ideas through NEW HUSTLES? If so, help this edition reach more readers by clicking ❤️ and 🔄 at the top of this post.

We’ve done this in the past and it’s proved to work, helping us gain new subscribers—both free and paid.

On top of this, you can also create a community within Substack for both free and paid subscribers. It’s a good way to keep your subscribers informed on your latest posts and offers.

Finally, you should personalize welcome emails to both free and paid subscribers. More on this below!

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👋 WELCOME EMAILS

Having a well-polished welcome email to both free and paid subscribers can automatically set yourself apart. Many writers do not do this so they are missing an opportunity.

What to include in your welcome emails to free subscribers:

• A genuine thank you for subscribing.

• A clear explanation of what to expect from your newsletter.

• A gentle prompt to upgrade, e.g., “Upgrade now and get 10% off your first month.”

What to include in your welcome emails to paid subscribers:

• A warm and personal thank you for supporting your work.

• An invite to join a private community group (if you’re launching one).

• A preview of the exclusive content they’ll now receive.

• A quick ask for feedback—especially valuable early on as you shape your offering.

Access our free welcome email templates once you subscribe to NEW HUSTLES as a paid subscriber.

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👀 HOW TO STRUCTURE SUBSCRIPTION PRICING

There are typically two main ways how you can generate revenue on newsletters: Either through paid subscriptions or ads/brand deals. We’ll cover both of them.

When you’re just starting out, it’s tough to know how much to charge. But as you create more content and grow your audience, pricing becomes clearer—especially with some smart A/B testing.

Here’s how we approach newsletter pricing for subscriptions:

• Offer something that clearly saves people time and effort—for example, hundreds of hours of curated research.

• Add tangible value, like exclusive discounts with top-tier tech tools.

• Keep most of your content free, but gate high-value insights or proprietary data behind a paywall.

• You can offer free trials however, we’ve typically found they are not very effective.

Tip: Start with a low-friction offer—something like $40/year for the first 100 subscribers if they subscribe today. This creates urgency and gives you an early read on demand.

Pricing is hard at the beginning, but the sooner you start testing, the faster you’ll find the sweet spot. For both of our newsletters, we turned on paid subscriptions from day one—you never know who’s out there and willing to support you.

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🤝 HOW TO LAND YOUR FIRST SPONSORS

Securing your first sponsors early can be a game-changer. It gives you momentum, credibility, and valuable leverage for future deals.

Here are a few smart tactics to land those initial partnerships:

• Use platforms like Passionfroot. Brands actively search for creators there, and you can also pitch yourself to those looking to sponsor niche newsletters.

• Leverage funding news. If you're building a tech-focused newsletter, track which startups have recently raised capital (using sites like TechCrunch or Crunchbase). If your audience aligns, reach out to their Head of Marketing—they’re often looking for new ways to get in front of relevant audiences.

• Be proactive. A lot of early sponsorships come from cold outreach. Focus on alignment: if your readers are the right fit, brands will be open to talking.

Once you’ve secured a couple of sponsors, each new deal becomes easier to land—your track record builds trust.

Here are some examples on how you can price your newsletter ads.

SOURCE: NEW ECONOMIES

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📈 HOW TO GROW YOUR FIRST SUBSCRIBERS & SAVE THE DATE

Learn how to grow from 0 to 75,000+ subscribers in your first year. All new paid subscribers are invited to an exclusive LIVE masterclass this Saturday at 10AM ET (June 14th) on building and scaling a high-impact newsletter. Don't miss it—we’ll only be hosting it once.

What are the hacks?

1. Substack has a powerful feature called “Recommendations,” which allows fellow writers to endorse your publication. It’s one of the most effective—and low-effort—ways to grow once you’ve defined your niche.

2. A smart strategy is to build genuine relationships with other writers. If your audiences align, consider recommending each other or even collaborating on a guest post for each other’s newsletters.

3. Leverage social platforms: We’ve found LinkedIn particularly effective for growing our audience. If you already have a solid following, that can give you a strong head start—but even a small audience can be amplified.

4. Write great content. If you write great content, your fans will subscribe.

Regardless of your current reach, joining engagement groups can also help.

These groups coordinate mutual support by regularly engaging with each other’s content, which can significantly boost visibility and traction.

P.S. As a thank you for becoming a paid subscriber, send us an email—ollie@neweconomies.co and we’ll add you to our various engagement groups!

Hope this has been useful!