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Today: Peak revenue hit $1,153/month in November. Current baseline sits at $585-1,085/month depending on seasonal advertiser demand.
Here's the complete breakdown with real numbers, what worked, what didn't, and where this is going in 2026.
The Revenue Reality
Week 1 (Early October):
200 subscribers
$100/month total revenue
Week 12 (End December):
704 active subscribers (765 total signups minus 61 unsubscribes)
$585-1,085/month revenue baseline
3.5x subscriber growth in 12 weeks
Where the money comes from:
Ads: $500-1,000/month (85-92% of revenue)
Completely automated through Beehiiv Ad Network
November peak: $1,081 (Black Friday/Cyber Monday advertiser surge)
December baseline: ~$500 (post-holiday normalization)
No ad sales required, fully passive
Affiliates: $129/month (10-12% of revenue)
2 Beehiiv affiliate signups at $25/month each
1 Beehiiv Max Affiliate at $79/month
Added 2 new affiliates during 12 weeks
Recurring for 12 months
Legacy subscribers: $40/month (2-4% of revenue)
8 subscribers from earlier Founder offer
Consistent baseline
The growth story is simple: subscribers grew 3.5x, ad revenue scaled with them. Everything else stayed relatively flat.
What Actually Worked
1. Publishing Consistency Beat Everything
68 articles in 12 weeks. Never missed a publishing day.
The metrics prove it:
25.73% open rate (industry average: 15-25%)
7.21% click-through rate (industry average: 2-5%)
0.12% unsubscribe rate (industry average: 0.2-0.5%)
Consistency built trust. Trust drove engagement. Engagement generated revenue.
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2. Specific Content Outperformed Generic
Top 5 articles by engagement:
"Your Network Action" - 31.41% open, 9.18% CTR
"The Visibility Shortcut" - 31.82% open, 8.04% CTR
"How to Dominate One Social Media Platform" - 21.36% open, 15.15% CTR
"Why Your Testimonials Are Weak" - 21.24% open, 16.92% CTR
"The Unique Positioning Protocol" - 28.35% open, 8.18% CTR
Pattern: Specific, tactical titles with clear outcomes performed best. Vague topics flopped.
3. Strategic Growth Through Multiple Channels
Growth came from:
Newsletter recommendations (largest source by far Kevin Szabo The Writing Chronicles)
Beehiiv Boosts ($100-200/month reinvestment)
Organic social referrals
Website signups
Reinvesting 15-20% of ad revenue into growth accelerated subscriber acquisition without requiring more content creation.
4. Low Friction Retention
Only 61 unsubscribes out of 765 total signups over 12 weeks.
High retention meant compounding growth. Every new subscriber stayed, building a foundation for scaling revenue.
What Didn't Work
1. Paid Subscription Conversion
Current Pro Tier: $9/month for exclusive content.
Conversions in 12 weeks: Zero.
The positioning wasn't differentiated enough from free content. Value proposition remained unclear. This is the biggest gap to fix in 2026.
2. Revenue Volatility From Ad Dependency
85-92% of revenue comes from ads, creating exposure to:
Seasonal advertiser spending (November spike, December drop)
Platform policy changes
Single point of failure
November: $1,081 (Black Friday/Cyber Monday surge) December: ~$500 (post-holiday drop)
Need to diversify revenue streams to reduce volatility.
3. Product Validation Saved Time
Week 5: Almost built a $27 workbook without validation.
Ran a poll first. Only 3 people interested out of 500 subscribers (0.6%).
Didn't build it. Saved 30 hours of wasted work.
The lesson: Never build products without 10-15% interest minimum.
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The 2026 Revenue Plan: $585-1,085 → $5,000/Month
Subscriber Growth: 704 → 3,000
Target: 200-250 new subscribers monthly by Q3
Method: Reinvest $200-300/month in Boosts as revenue grows
Ad Revenue: $500-1,000 → $2,000-2,500
Ads scale with subscribers (CPC/CPM model)
3,000 subscribers = $2,000-2,500/month baseline
Affiliates: $129 → $300-500
Strategic partnerships aligned with audience
Beehiiv setup service offering
Natural integration in content
Products: $0 → $1,000-1,500
Launch 3-5 validated products in 2026
Price range: $17-97
Only build what 50-70+ people signal interest in first
Paid Subscriptions: $40 → $500-1,000
Fix positioning around transformation content
Target: 50-100 paid subscribers at $9-15/month
Better exclusive value differentiation
Conservative timeline: 12 months to $5,000/month
What's Changing in 2026
What stays:
5-6 articles weekly (proven system)
Revenue transparency (real numbers monthly)
All-in on Beehiiv (one platform for everything)
Building in public (showing work, not just wins)
What evolves:
Deeper focus on transformation over tactics
Teaching skills that transfer (pattern recognition, decision-making, relationships, long-term thinking)
Less platform-specific advice (tactics expire, skills last)
Product creation only after validation
Monthly themes starting January 6:
Month 4: Pattern Recognition
Month 5: Decision-Making
Month 6: Relationships
Month 7: Long-Term Thinking + Transparency Report
Same consistency. Going deeper on what lasts.
Tomorrow we will look into:
Built on Beehiiv
One platform handles everything:
Infrastructure: Email hosting, subscriber management, analytics Monetization: Ads ($500-1,000/month), affiliates ($45/month), products (0% commission) Growth: Boosts, recommendations, referrals
Cost: Free for first 2,500 subscribers Revenue: $585-1,085/month Commission: $0 (keep 100% of everything)
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Need setup help? Reply "SETUP HELP" with the email you signed up to Beehiiv with.
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