I hate building email lists.
What I actually love is sharing ideas and writing emails to people who have already subscribed.
But the actual building part? The hustle to get people to sign up? It requires extrovert skills I just don’t have.
After doing this for over 10 years, here are 3 secrets that will make list-building easier.
Stick to your guns
Here’s what nobody tells you about consistency: You can’t fake enjoying something for very long.
Back in 2020, I decided YouTube was the answer to all my problems.
Everyone was crushing it on video. The “experts” said that YouTube is the place to be.
I created my first YouTube channel in 2014. Back in the days, all this was way too easy. You didn’t have to be very consistent to get a steady amount of traffic.
Now, it’s different. All platforms are saturated and the best way to grow is to actually post daily.
But daily YouTube videos were a pain in the back.
After three months of this torture, I had the enthusiasm of a dead dog.
The breakthrough came when I asked myself a simple question: What do I actually enjoy doing?
The answer was embarrassingly obvious: Writing.
I’d been writing emails, blog posts, and articles for years. I could write for hours without feeling drained. I didn’t need perfect lighting or expensive equipment. I don’t need that energy in my voice.
So I ditched the recorder and went all-in on long-form writing.
I started publishing on Medium, and on my own blog. Then, on Substack. Instead of fighting against my natural preferences, I leaned into them.
The result? My email list started growing organically. People would read my articles. They’d sign up without me having to beg or bribe them.
Consistency isn’t about willpower. It’s about finding a format you genuinely enjoy and can sustain long-term.
The internet rewards consistency. And you can’t be consistent with something you hate.
Become insanely good at this
Most people think growing an email list is about traffic.
Get more visitors, get more subscribers. Simple math, right?
Wrong.
I learned this the hard way when I was getting hundreds of visitors to my landing pages but only converting 10% into subscribers.
The problem wasn’t traffic. The problem was that my offer sucked hard.
I still see a lot of people making the same mistake.
They say “subscribe to my newsletter”.
Why would someone give me their email for “updates”? That’s not a benefit, that’s a threat.
LOL.
What works better? You know it: Lead magnets.
The problem is that most lead magnets are just too generic. They’re just not sexy enough to make me pull the trigger.
So I started treating my lead magnets like real products.
It’s not just “hey, get my note-taking course” but more about “hey, here’s a free course that shows you how to turn your messy notes into content that pays and grows your audience”
Give your lead magnet a sexy promise.
Say it a 1000 times
I used to think every piece of content had to be completely original.
New ideas, fresh angles, groundbreaking insights.
This perfectionist mindset kept me stuck and frustrated.
Then I noticed something interesting: Most people need to hear the same advice over and over and over again.
So what’s your job? Repeating. In different ways, though.
My most popular articles were often variations of the same core ideas I’d been writing about for years.
I regularly revisit my greatest hits. I’ll take a successful email and turn it into a blog post. Or talk about the same ideas from different angles.
Same core message, different packaging.
This approach has two massive benefits:
First, it’s way faster than starting from scratch every time. I already know the idea resonates – I’m just presenting it in a new way.
Second, it reinforces my key messages. The more I talk about certain topics, the more I become known for them. And easier to talk about it, for me.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Find your wheel and make it rounder.
Let’s finish with a kick in the anthill
Growing an email list doesn’t have to feel like pulling teeth:
✅ Find a content format you actually enjoy.
✅ Get obsessively good at creating irresistible offers.
✅ And milk your best ideas until they’re completely dry.
Will this make you an overnight success? Probably not.
But it will make the journey sustainable, enjoyable, and way more profitable.