Happy hikers at the top of the beautiful Rax mountain in the Viennese Alps.
Bold Types: conversations with creators on courage, craft, and creative living.
Today’s guest is Philip, a passion-driven entrepreneur from Vienna who helps online writers make more money through their expertise.
Philip created his first online course on Skillshare in 2015 and has been serving students since. He loves to explore digital business models and is passionate about community-building – creating cosy spaces where people stay.
Community is the future of learning. People seek connection, accountability, and support, so investing in a community now is one of the smartest long-term moves you can make.
During the lockdown, he and his fiancée and business partner, Sinem Günel, started two digital projects that have since grown into multiple six-figure businesses annually.
Their latest venture is the Write • Build • Scale Mastermind, where he, Sinem & Jari support writers through actionable resources, weekly live coaching and a private community.
We chatted about growing your list and community, his income and influences, and what ‘success’ means to him.
At 33, I’m super impressed with what he’s achieved and how he and Sinem play to their strengths. “She’s the typewriter in our relationship, and I’m the calculator.” I like this sensible approach to the ‘creator economy’, that your ‘creator business should be boring’. 💯 Save the drama for life!
Congrats to you both on your engagement! They’re getting married in 10 months.
Enjoy our chat!
Cheers, Nika 🥂
This is an excerpt from my business and creativity newsletter The Shift. For the full experience, sign up here.
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I did a masterclass in newsletter growth this week (want to get mine to 10k members this year).
An overview of the top six channels you’ll need to use from Sparkloop – their tools, of course – Upscribe recommendations and their Partner Network. Louis shared some helpful growth tips too (he’s working on newsletter growth all day, every day so knows his stuff!) You can watch it here.
Interesting to hear him say the old tools and techniques for email marketing don’t work anymore – what are these?
Masterclass #2: Roadmap to 1M+ Subscribers is on Weds 25 Jan – you can register here.
Overall, a productive hour (great questions, love this community). I’m excited to try some new things this year.
My goals for ‘23 – getting to 10k subscribers (+ £10k monthly income overall) and I want to develop my paid product and promote it better – haven’t pushed it. I’ve struggled with time (client work) and differentiation. Nobody wants more of the same, so it needs to be an entirely different product, not apaid newsletter.
Names and positioning are important in terms of perceived value.
Josh Spector sent me some helpful tips, and I’ve bought his newsletter course. Questions coming over for your podcast – thanks, Josh!
So I’ve called the paid product Do One Thing – a behind-the-scenes look at how I do something specific to grow my newsletter and business. A deep dive into my creative process and my first solopreneur six-figure year.
It’s about doing one thing well and doing less – newsletters are a huge time commitment, and if you bring in something new, you need to let something go, so part of my strategy is saying no to things. Focus and consistency.
You can sign up for Do One Thing here. I hope to build this into a helpful resource and community.
I’ll also invite you to set up a free 1-1 call with me to find out what you’re working on and how I can help. This will help shape my strategy and any products I create.
Cool tools for newsletters
Swapstack – drive growth with newsletter sponsorship at scale. Collect tips, run affiliate deals, or sell ads
Growth groups on Facebook, ugh, but they’re really good. And everyone’s there. Bookmark them, then you don’t have to use Facebook – Newsletter Nerds (1.9k), Newsletter Creators (4.7k), Substack Writers (3.6k)
If you’re writing a newsletter, send me the link so I can check it out and share it. Substack’s new Recommendations tool is awesome – I’m getting daily subscribers.
I’d also love your recommended reads on creativity, culture and tech – making a list.
The other thing that’s really helped me is having an accountability buddy – thank you, Marianne Lehnis for reaching out. We’re at a similar stage with our businesses and she’s local so we can co-work and go for walks (Wealth Walks are something else I want to get going!)
Writing a newsletter can be a lonely venture, and our little chats have kept me sane. It’s worth reaching out to someone in a similar niche to see how you can help each other.
Why I Create Annual Themes | Trevor McKendrick on the benefits of doing brand advertising for the values you want to live. My theme for 2023 is ‘Keep moving!’ hence the sign off.
Makers + Mavericks Off Grid 2023 – a one-day event from the gods of content creation | Hiut Denim. 100 people max (it’s a small barn). Love their newsletter and it’s built their community. See the M+M 2022 list here.
The House of Beautiful Business – a global platform that connects over 25k members who want to get more out of business and out of life. You can now join for FREE! Next Open House is tomorrow, Mon 23 Jan – Dispatch from Davos | WEF.
Playlist of the week
Corsage the movie
Best film I’ve seen lately and very of the moment. Imagine being told you’re officially old at 40 and it’s all downhill from here.
Mesmerising.
Feedback, questions, ideas? Hit reply or email me: nika@nikatalbot.io
Nika Talbot 