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THIS WEEK’S LESSON

When Different Beats Better: The Category Design Advantage

“That will never work,” another founder said. “And I just thought, watch me.”

In six short months, Better Leaders Better Schools will turn the ripe old age of ten. Pinch me. I can’t believe it’s been a decade.

You might be reading this newsletter because you’re aware of the brand. Maybe you were a Ruckus Maker newsletter reader, a podcast listener, joined one of my courses, or even a member of the mastermind.

What started out as “scratching my own itch” has turned into a movement.

I’ve spoken to crowds as small as ten in Laramie, Wyoming and as large as 1000 in Mombasa, Kenya. All because of the podcast.

But a podcast is not a business.

It might be a signal — and a very important one at that. But it’s not a business.

Back then, I had an idea of supporting school leaders through the mastermind format. It had never been done. In education.

Masterminds are common in business, but in 2016, NO ONE had ever facilitated a mastermind in education. Until me.

In 2016, I’m living in Chicago. Attending an event for start up founders, I thought I’d go and see what I could learn. Most people were full of sh—💩 pretending to be much more than they were. Lots of ego. Lots of chest thumping.

“You know masterminds?” I said to one founder, and continued to explain my plan to bringing it to education. But I was cut off before getting to far into my plan.

“That will never work.” the founder said.

For a moment, Better Leaders Better Schools was dead. Before it even began. One foot in the grave.

But then the inner Ruckus Maker rose inside me. “Just watch me.” I thought as a I walked away.

So here we are ten years later. I’ve not made millions in a single year (yet), but millions over consecutive years. Life is good.

And I’ll tell you this: Your newsletter is the foundation of your business.

Back in the early days I grew my list by spamming content, links, and CTAs to sign up multiple times a day on the old-Twitter. Don’t do that. I was a big douche — like the kind that rents a yacht or Lambo + models to pretend being douche.

Okay, I wasn’t that bad, but you get the point.

The first 100 or so followers came that way.

Here’s how I grew from 100 to 1000:

• Created lead magnets

• Wrote SEO optimized posts

• Shipped podcasts each week (talking about the above)

• Made guest appearances on other pods

Signing up for a newsletter is not enticing. It can be if you make it super clear WHO it is for and HOW you help. For example, I like to say:

I write about how to start reimagining education, even within a traditional system. So that you create a campus experience worth showing up for.

But lead magnets are an even better way to go. The landing pages can be short and simple. Ruckus Makers have downloaded my principal checklist over 2000 times. It’s my most popular lead magnet.

The next jump was from 1000 to about 3,500. Here’s the secret:

I co-hosted two online summits with Jethro Jones. They were both a week long and had 3 speakers or so per day. I’m sure you’ve seen the model: free to attend, but the recording if you want. It worked well. It still works today.

And then I got super lazy. For years.

Until I realized I operate a media company …

That just happens to sell courses, coaching, consulting.

I deliver great value to my sponsor partners. My audience loves to hear about new opportunities that will help them Do School Different (my Category Designed POV).

And sponsor deals are the easiest and most profitable sale I make each year.

So in the last 6-months, that has been my obsession. Growing my audience. Serving up killer content. Landing lucrative sponsor deals. It’s a triple-win.

Ruckus Makers grow. Partners grow. My business grows.

To jump from 3500 to 5700 I used Meta ads + an affiliate partnership.

I wrote about the affiliate stuff here.

And like it or not. EVERYONE is on Facebook and Instagram (even some on Threads too).

I was able to jump up 1100 subs by using some static images with compelling copy. Maybe you even saw a few of these:

TL;DR

• You can get to 100 subs fast by tapping into your network — family, friends, colleagues.

• To grow 100-1000 subs start focusing on SEO optimized blog posts, social content, and creating great lead magnets.

• Growing 1000-3500 you can try things like webinars, 5-day challenges, and summits.

• Anything over 1000 you can experiment with paid ads as well

I didn’t mention this in the stories above, but always link to your newsletter. There’s an art form to this on social and in emails. Your job is to invite people to join. All the time. Even better if you can invite, while you are asleep (evergreen content).

And BTW … you don’t need a massive list to have a great life. Fulfilling work and enough money in the bank. Especially if you design a category.