Personal Wiki = A $30k+ Side Business (Janel's 'Newsletter OS')
Hola Amigos,
I hope you are all crushing it this week. I’m rooting for ya!
🤗
Ok, should we get into it?
Who’s up -
Janel - Newsletter Operating System
What is it?
A comprehensive Notion dashboard with frameworks, templates, resources, and tools to start + grow a newsletter:
Why do I love this idea?
Janel monetises a tool she had already built for herself:
She runs her own newsletter
She researches best practice for running that newsletter
She keeps a personal Wiki of all that information and creates her own tools
She opens it up to the world - for a fair price
Why does it work?
In a Gold rush - build shovels.
When you have hordes of people hoping to strike it lucky:
Starting newsletters, to be the next Tim Ferris
Creating podcasts, to be the next Joe Rogan,
The real opportunity can be building tools for the on-rushing crowds.
This is an ‘OS’, not another e-book
In a world of PDF guides, unique ways of providing information stand out.
An ‘operating system’ captures the imagination in a way an e-book cannot.
How does it work?
Powered by Notion - the OS is hosted in your personal workspace.
This makes it super easy to use the tools provided.
I can:
Add my own notes
Complete check lists
Start personalising templates
What’s so special about that?
Taking action = Deriving value
Oh sh*t. I actually did something.
Made some progress.
Did a thing:
You’re much more likely to value a product when it makes you take action.
The reviews speak to that:
And they are an endorsement of Janel’s pricing strategy.
Don’t get it?
Product as platform
The OS is a standalone product.
But it’s more than that.
It makes Janel a domain expert: think Newsletters > think OS > think Janel.
It’s a platform she can use to grow her own online audience, her newsletter and launch complimentary products.
The numbers?
As of this week:
Newsletter OS has sold 671 units @ $49 = $32,879
Podcast OS (which is pre-ordering) has sold 115 units @ $30 = $3,452
That’s super impressive for a side project.
And now, by partnering with experts in other domains like Podcasting Janel can build up a suite of Operating Systems.
Questions for you:
What are you already doing, that could easily be turned into a product?
How can you show me you are an expert in your domain?
Ok.
I hope you enjoyed that and made it this far.
If you did, I appreciate you!
Let me know your thoughts? And who I should be looking at next?
Until next time,
Callum
✌️