Growth In Reverse: Newsletter & Email Growth

We're launching 30 Days of Growth on April 20th! Sign up at 30daysofgrowth.co for free. 
Get 30 ways to grow and optimize your email list, from creators who have successfully done it. 

[This is a replay from our conversation with Sam Vander Wielen from September 2025]
“All roads point to the email list." — Sam Vander Wielen, Sam's Sidebar

In this episode, we interview Sam Vander Wielen—a lawyer-turned-creator who has sold over $9M in legal templates with a 50k-subscriber newsletter. 
Sam shares how her motto of "All roads point to the email list" has helped her earn over $9M in total revenue since starting her business in 2017. And she's done it with a small team and a replicable funnel strategy most creators could copy. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS
Why she decided to walk away from strategies that “should” work — and what happened after
The $100k turning point that reshaped how she runs her business
How she blends storytelling with practical education to keep readers engaged
How her newsletter fuels her entire content ecosystem
What creators misunderstand about legal protections (and how to fix it)
Why she believes the boring stuff is actually the growth engine
The platform she almost abandoned — and why she came back stronger
Her advice for creators chasing growth but ignoring long-term sustainability
LINKS MENTIONED
Sam's website
Sam's book: When I Start My Business I'll Be Happy
Sam's Socials: LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube
Ask us a question or submit a podcast topic idea: growthinreverse.com/questions
Get Chenell's brand-new course: The Growth Vault — newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
Growth In Reverse PRO Community
Want your newsletter roasted? Submit it here. 
Check out past Growth In Reverse Deep Dives: https://growthinreverse.com/archive/
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | Substack
Dylan: LinkedIn | Bluesky
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
If you found this episode valuable, take a second to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! It helps more newsletter creators find the show. Plus, if you submit a review, you’ll get priority for your own newsletter roast!

We're launching 30 Days of Growth on April 20th! Sign up at 30daysofgrowth.co for free. 
Get 30 ways to grow and optimize your email list, from creators who have successfully done it. 

If 30 top creators handed you their best newsletter growth tactic, for free, would you take it? Of course you would!
I'm excited to share that we are launching 30 Days of Growth (Part 2!) on April 20th. If you missed last year's event, you don't want to miss it again. Each day I'll be sending you 1 tip you can use to improve or grow your newsletter.
In this episode, I break down why cross-promotions are one of the most underrated newsletter growth strategies, share the real numbers from last year's 30 Days of Growth (3,714 signups, 1,757 new subscribers, 77% open rates), and announce what's coming for year 2 - including the creators, the prizes, and how to get in.
Sign up for free at 30daysofgrowth.co
Creators featured this year include Dave Gerhardt, Katelyn Bourgoin, Justin Welsh, Sam Vander Wielen, Daniel Bustamante, and many more.
Sign up: 30daysofgrowth.co
Growth In Reverse newsletter: growthinreverse.com
Growth In Reverse Pro community: growthinreverse.com/pro/

We're launching 30 Days of Growth on April 20th! Sign up at 30daysofgrowth.co for free. 
Get 30 ways to grow and optimize your email list, from creators who have successfully done it. 

NOTE: This is a rerun of an episode we published in September 2025. But just because it's a rerun doesn't mean it ain't still a banger 💥
--------------------------------------
“One of the worst things you can do is send new subscribers to a dead-end thank you page. That kills engagement immediately." — Chenell
We're breaking down the most overlooked (yet critical) part of growing a newsletter: onboarding new subscribers.
We'll take you through Chenell's 3-step onboarding process every newsletter creator should have in place—and show how to optimize each for higher engagement, deliverability, and long-term retention. 
We also tease an advanced 5-step version and share examples from top creators like Katelyn Bourgoin, Tom Alder, and Eddie Shleyner. Whether you’re just starting out or already running a large newsletter, you’ll learn how to avoid common pitfalls and set up onboarding that actually works.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
The 3 Cs of a high-converting landing page
Why default Thank-you pages kill engagement (and what to do instead)
How "sniper links" can push new subscribers directly into their inbox to find your email
The #1 mistake welcome emails make
The most important job your welcome email has
A simple incentive trick to encourage replies
The difference between a “true” and “false” double opt-in
How (and why) to include surveys in your onboarding
What top creators do with their “almost there” pages to hook new subscribers
LINKS MENTIONED
The Growth Vault →
Katelyn Bourgoin's Why We Buy landing page →
Eddie Shleyner's 'Social Proof Avalanche' →
Tom Alder's Strategy Breakdowns → 
Growth.Design →
Senja →
RightMessage →
Growth In Reverse PRO Community →
Want your newsletter roasted? Submit it here. 
Ask us a question or submit a podcast topic idea: growthinreverse.com/questions
Check out past Growth In Reverse Deep Dives: https://growthinreverse.com/archive/
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | Substack
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Bluesky 
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
If you found this episode valuable, take a second to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify! It helps more newsletter creators find the show. Plus, if you submit a review, you’ll get priority for your own newsletter roast!

We're launching 30 Days of Growth on April 20th! Sign up at 30daysofgrowth.co for free. 
Get 30 ways to grow and optimize your email list, from creators who have successfully done it. 

Get the Growth Levers Library FREE >> growthinreverse.com/growth-levers-library

We're launching 30 Days of Growth on April 20th! Sign up at 30daysofgrowth.co for free. 
Get 30 ways to grow and optimize your email list, from creators who have successfully done it. 

Get Chenell's step-by-step breakdown of Jonathan Goodman's Lead Magnet Strategy: https://growthinreverse.com/jon-content-loops/
We start the next round of 30 Days of Growth on April 20th, you can join to get access when it's live here: https://30daysofgrowth.co/?source=youtube
***
Lead Magnet Episode (Part 1) >>