Pivot in public (the END of my newsletter case study experiement)

In April 23 I launched a build-in-public case study newsletter and started talking about it here on 2nd Mountain.

That case study newsletter now has 12k+ subs…

A 5-part automated welcome sequence…

A digital product…

And it recently had its first profitable month (after the $2k/mo ad spend)

But despite all this i’m closing up shop and pivoting.

That’s what today’s email is about:

• 🤔 Why I’m pivoting…

• 🧱 How I’m pivoting…

• 🤷 There is no 3rd bullet point but I think you’ll agree a list of 3 is more soothing on the eye

But first here’s little recap on the project for context…

🧞‍♂️ Be Like Shiva

The “newsletter” I’m talking about is called Be Like Shiva and you can read more about the genesis of it here.

Its a weekly email for 25-50 year old men who never had strong role models to teach them about healthy masculinity.

Since launching I’ve

• Published 47 emails (all written by me)

• Spent $20,831 on Facebook ads

• Earned $10,182 with Sparkloop newsletter referrals

• Earned $897 on course sales (I’ve hardly promoted this)

Things have only started getting interesting but I’m confident pivoting is the right decision…

Why I’m pivoting?

Two reasons:

1) The “niche” is too broad…

The niche of masculinity is really just “personal development for men”

…and as a niche this is way too broad.

I’d rather go deeper on a sub-category of this niche than try to cover all the categories in the space.

After 9 months of publishing the data is telling me where to focus.

Data from myself (what I LIKE writing about) and the data from the audience (what is resonating)

2) I don’t actually have a newsletter…

This one is so obvious in hindsight

I don’t have a newsletter…I have an email list.

Masculinity isn’t a “newsletter” niche because there isn’t a stream of new things happening to cover each week.

Which means writing a weekly curation email makes no sense (this is what most newsletters are - curation)

This means I should be focusing on education and deep dives instead.

Which means the whole darn strategy changes:

Less broadcasts….more automations.

How I’m pivoting…

First up I’m changing the name of the newsletter and rebranding.

I never loved the name “Be Like Shiva”.

It’s too religious and I chose while under time pressure (launched in a week).

So I’ve chosen a more “normal name” - Burning Anchor.

I don’t know about you but I can’t fully commit to a project unless I LOVE the name and the branding.

Stupid? Maybe.

But at least I know what I need to make myself go all in.

Now for the second and more strategic pivot decision:

I’m niching down.

I’ll be distilling this email business down a few categories:

Masculinity > Health > Natural Testosterone optimisation.

Yes. I’m becoming a testosterone-bro.

Random, right?

Well not so much when you consider I’m a male in his mid-30’s who’s obsessed with health and performance.

Thats what mid-30’s males do:

Obsess over testosterone optimisation.

It’s way more aligned with who I am.

⚙️ Tools Powering My Newsletter Projects

I personally use and recommend the following products for newsletter operators like you:

💌 ConvertKit - the ESP behind Be Like Shiva. I love the automation's, but to be honest, price wise they only make sense up to 3k subs. After that, I suggest…

🐝 BeeHiiv - the email tool that this newsletter is built on. The automations are not as powerful as with ConvertKit, but every other feature makes life easier as a newsletter builder

📝 The newsletter blueprint lab - This is community full of active newsletter builders. A tribe of mentors. Check it out for newsletter alpha, jobs and cross promo opportunities. Well worth the investment.

📈 Copyhour - what do the 7 figure newsletters like The Hustle & The Milk Road have that you don’t? A founder with dangerous copywriting skills. CopyHour will change that and you’ll learn the art of persuasion with the “secret” that legendary copywriters like Gary Halbert & Dan Kennedy built empires upon. I’ve done this course 3 times & its incredible.

That’s all for today.

You won’t hear from me until the new year so Merry Xmas and a happy new year to you.

If you’ve read this far….any advice for me on the pivot?