You might believe that starting a newsletter is the best way to become known as an expert and gain a big following.
The problem is that people focus on the potential outcomes of starting a newsletter: building an audience, a business, authority.
But this is not the reason you should start a newsletter.
If these external factors are driving you to start a newsletter, you will fail. You will quickly burn-out.
I have subscribed to many newsletters which looked promising, but after a while they stopped coming. And to be honest …
I had the same problem with my own newsletter.
On a cold Sunday in early 2015, I sent out my first email newsletter. After doing this for 15 weeks and growing the newsletter to 126 subscribers, including me and my wife, I went off track. And only picked up again the next year. I was trying to find content that would resonate with these 100+ people, but I quickly lost the fun in doing that.
Starting a newsletter for external reasons like building an audience or gaining authority, will quickly run you down. It’s simply not sustainable.
Do it for yourself.
I see my email newsletter now as a forcing function to keep up with industry trends and opinions. It stimulates me to read what is happening out there and to form my opinion on it.
Focus on collecting articles, reading them and writing your newsletter. And who knows, in a couple of years you might have a following and be known as the industry expert.
But don’t make that your goal. Focus on the process.