Happy Thursday {{first_name | EduCreator}},
Yesterday I hosted a workshop about turning your newsletter into a business using beehiiv's monetization features. The participants spanned from beginners who started with 0 subscribers to social media influencers with over 100k followers across platforms and a few thousand subscribers.
The cool thing about the newsletter business is that it equalizes the playing field. One community member shared her story of monetizing with ad revenue while only having 16 subscribers!
By her 3rd newsletter, beehiiv sent an ad offer. She’s grown to 46 subscribers and has made $120 in ad revenue this month. 🤯
Stories like this make me so excited to share what’s possible because I can’t think of any other way to start monetizing your high-value content and truly build predictable revenue so fast.
I created this quiz inspired by the questions and feedback from yesterday’s workshop. It’ll give you a custom report with recommendations for next steps. Please give it a try and let me know if it was helpful.
Before we go any further, let’s check out these words from today’s sponsors. Thank you so much for supporting the partners of this newsletter.
Privacy-first email. Built for real protection.
Proton Mail offers what others won’t:
End-to-end encryption by default
Zero access to your data
Open-source and independently audited
Based in Switzerland with strong privacy laws
Free to start, no ads
We don’t scan your emails. We don’t sell your data. And we don’t make you dig through settings to find basic security. Proton is built for people who want control, not compromise.
Simple, secure, and free.
AI-native CRM
“When I first opened Attio, I instantly got the feeling this was the next generation of CRM.”
— Margaret Shen, Head of GTM at Modal
Attio is the AI-native CRM for modern teams. With automatic enrichment, call intelligence, AI agents, flexible workflows and more, Attio works for any business and only takes minutes to set up.
Join industry leaders like Granola, Taskrabbit, Flatfile and more.
Go from publishing content to generating assets
Publishing alone does not build a business.
Assets do.
If you have been writing, posting, or sharing content consistently but still feel unclear about revenue, you are probably not fully aware of what’s possible.
The session was designed to replace guesswork with clarity and to show what actually works when you want your newsletter to become a real business asset
The reframe needed to start monetizing
Most newsletters stall because they stop at publishing.
Publishing creates visibility.
Assets create leverage.
The framework we walked through moves through 4 clear stages:
Publish content
Build authority
Create assets
Generate revenue
When founders skip the asset stage, monetization feels forced or premature. When assets are built intentionally, revenue becomes a natural outcome.
This is why so many people feel stuck even with consistent output. They are doing the work but not capturing the value.
The 6 monetization paths every founder should understand
During the workshop, we broke down the 6 core revenue paths available inside beehiiv, ordered from easiest to most advanced:
1. Ad revenue
Your first and simplest stream. Ads are offered weekly and you choose what fits your audience. Consistency compounds here.
2. Boosts
Get paid to recommend other newsletters through email, web placements, or direct links. Alignment matters more than volume.
Recurring revenue through paid tiers. Pricing can be simple and flexible, with room to grow over time.
4. Products and services
Sell guides, templates, downloads, or sessions directly inside your newsletter with 0 percent platform commission.
5. Affiliate commissions
Earn recurring revenue by recommending tools you already use. Small monthly actions can add up quickly.
Your newsletter becomes the primary sales channel for your offers, using segmentation and intent instead of blasting everyone.
The key insight is not to do all 6 at once.
It is to layer them strategically.
Payroll errors cost more than you think
While many businesses are solving problems at lightspeed, their payroll systems seem to stay stuck in the past. Deel's free Payroll Toolkit shows you what's actually changing in payroll this year, which problems hit first, and how to fix them before they cost you. Because new compliance rules, AI automation, and multi-country remote teams are all colliding at once.
Check out the free Deel Payroll Toolkit today and get a step-by-step roadmap to modernize operations, reduce manual work, and build a payroll strategy that scales with confidence.
A simple monetization roadmap
To keep things realistic, we mapped monetization into 3 phases
Phase 1 Foundation
Activate ad revenue and boosts
Goal: baseline income with minimal effort
Phase 2 Expansion
Launch a premium tier
Goal: predictable recurring revenue and deeper engagement
Phase 3 Ownership
Introduce products, affiliates, and direct sales
Goal: maximize value with assets you own
This approach removes overwhelm and replaces it with momentum.
The mistakes that quietly kill progress
We also addressed the 3 most common mistakes founders make when trying to monetize too early or too fast
Monetizing before trust
Fix: focus on value and engagement first
Doing everything at once
Fix: layer strategies intentionally
Neglecting optimization
Fix: test, track, and double down on what works
Revenue is not set and forget. It is built through feedback and iteration.
Why this matters
This work matters because newsletters are not just content channels. They are ownership vehicles.
A newsletter is a direct line to people who trust you.
It is an asset you control.
It compounds over time.
Entrepreneurship should not be gatekept. Founders deserve a clear path from knowledge to income, without complexity or burnout.
What to do next
If you attended the workshop, revisit your notes and pick 1 monetization layer to activate this week.
If you missed it, this newsletter is your invitation to stop publishing in isolation and start building with intention.
Your newsletter does not need to be bigger.
It needs to be structured.
Let’s build assets.
That’s all for now,
Christel
Want to support my work? You can buy me a flower here 🌸
Ready to start your newsletter? Click here to sign up for a free trial and reply to any of my emails to let me know so I can help you set up. Already have an account? Use my coupon code CHRISTEL for a 20% off discount on the upgrade price (for 3 months).




