When Should You Sell to Your List
Some tough talk
Events
Tomorrow-Friday, May 16, 2025 Paying subscriber Office Hours at 10:00 am MTN/12:00 pm EST. The Zoom details are included at the bottom of the newsletter.
Some Thoughts
When I first started creating content online I had no plans to sell anything. In fact, the goal was to share my painful personal finance story with the goal of having at least one other person who’d lived a similar experience feel “seen” As time moved on and I evolved, I realized that making money online was “real” and that people were making part-time, full-time and life changing money (depending on their project and timing).
One question that I would hear often was “When should I begin selling?” The longer I build my brand and income the more I believe that once you begin asking that question-that’s when you should begin selling.
You have to sell to somebody.
If you’re new to Creators Getting Paid then it’s likely that you haven’t heard me fuss about the following topic: list building. I’m especially invested in getting content creators serving communities that otherwise wouldn’t be served to build their lists. I also realize that there are people building lists who get stuck on taking action once their list has been built. They find themselves asking “And then what?” What should I say, what should I do and how to optimize this resource that I’ve built for my business and brand?
I’ve recorded a podcast episode about what content you should share in your newsletter or email-listen to it below.
Listen to the Podcast
Wondering what you should put in your emails? I talk about that in the podcast below.
Affiliate Disclosure
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What Types of Lists Are You Building
List building in 2025 happens in a number of different ways. Ultimately, you should be able to communicate based on a schedule or systems that you’ve designed. Lists building can happen in the following ways:
Via an app subscription
Regular email subscriptions
Event attendee lists
ManyChat or ChatBot integrations
AI as a way to identify the types of prospects you’re trying to work with
When Should You Sell to Your List
I’m going to tell you the honest answer. You should sell to your list starting on Day #1. There are some important points that I do want to make before you begin selling to your list.
Selling Should NEVER Be
Hard Sales-Your selling process should be natural, easy and make sense in terms of context. When you’re selling it should feel like a seamless process vs. a jarring experience.
Confusing-Does what you’re selling or sharing make sense to your audience? Are you sharing something that is a complete mismatch from the purpose, mission or content that you’ve shared previously.
Annoying-I’m lucky because having a project named “Creators Getting Paid” makes it clear to my community/audience that I will be selling products and sharing how to sell products/services/etc. If you’re in a niche, etc. where you’re nervous about sales, don’t be. It’s 2025 and everyone at this point has likely had a good, bad, or meh sales experience as a part of being on a list.
Selling Starting on Day #1
How to prepare for the ales process so that you can achieve better results (make more money)
Create a content and sales calendar-Don’t leave things to the last minute. The more time I give myself to plan out a sales push or initiative the better it goes.
What is your suite of products-Take this time to make a list of the following:
Services you provide
Products that you sell
Affiliates that you love
If you don’t have a suite of products
Don’t overthink it-I’ve come across a lot of brand builders/content entrepreneurs who have products or services but are afraid to sell their products or services. They will say that they are:
Waiting for the right time
Waiting for the right number of followers
Waiting for a specific number of subscribers
Stop waiting for the right time. The discomfort that you’re feeling will take time to work through your fears.
Sales Examples
I thought it would be helpful to share some tips on how to share sales “pitches” to your list.
Launch Strategy
You build out content that supports the launch: Videos, podcasts, guest appearances and more. Ideally this is starting weeks, maybe even months before your launch. People are distracted and have a lot going on. Creators who do a great job with a long launch:
Rachel Rogers
Amy Porterfield
Stu McClaren
Affiliate Share
Here’s an example of how that could work.
“I was getting really frustrated with how much time it took for me to edit my podcast audio, create brand collateral and I also needed transcripts. A friend of mine told me about CASTMAGIC and it has been a game changer. I’m not 100% on board with AI-but I love that CASTMAGIC eases me into the use of the technology”
How Many Products Should You Sell
I don’t think there’s a limit to the number of products you could sell to your audience. Just make it make sense within the content and selling moments that you’re in. Examples below.
Launches
Affiliates
On-Demand
Courses
Workshops (live or on-demand)
Ultimately you should have a cohesive suite of offerings but I would avoid pitching multiple products in the same conversation or content.