How You Can Send Out a Mini Newsletter In Under 10 Minutes
I got mine created, tested, and scheduled during my first sips of coffee this morning.
I woke up late this morning, and it felt so good to sleep in! But it also caused a problem…
I was only a couple of short hours from my daily newsletter going out, and I had no idea what to put in it.
If I had to create a long story-based email, this would have caused me to panic. But, since I have a Mini Newsletter, I didn’t even sweat it!
It took me less than 10 minutes to gather my links, set it up, test it, and schedule it for 8:55 am this morning.
I put it together during my first cup of coffee and had plenty of time for a nice walk. (And an article too!)
Ah.
The Mini Newsletter.
It’s perfect.
I can’t take credit for the genius of the Mini Newsletter. I was introduced to it by Jamie Northrup - Minimalist Hustler (his is a Minimalist Newsletter) and Evan Kelly (his is the Atomic Newsletter).
And there were those that came before them such as Josh Spector.
A newsletter is a great thing to have, and I’m going to try to persuade you to start one. I can’t think of one downside to starting your own Mini Newsletter. (You can even start it for free with ConvertKit.)
When people sign up for your newsletter, it’s like a handshake. “I’ll give you my email, and you send me the good stuff!” They are trusting you with something precious.
In a world full of noise, this is an incredible opportunity to speak directly to the people who want to hear from you.
But don’t just start a newsletter all willy-nilly.
I’ve done that, and it was a mistake.
You want to first think about:
- The theme of your newsletter (what’s it all about?)
- How many times you’ll send it in a week
- Who you want to send it to
- How long it will be
If you already have a newsletter, but you’re still unclear on some of these, it’s OK. It’s just a newsletter. You’re not solving world peace. Keep honing in on your theme, and these issues will work themselves out.
My Newsletter Problems
I started a newsletter several years ago when I solely focused on affiliate marketing. It started off OK, but I had some issues.
- I didn’t know what I wanted to write about.
- I didn’t send it out consistently.
- I didn’t send it out consistently because I didn’t know what to write about.
Because I would send it out sporadically, a couple of things would happen:
- My click-through rates would be low
- My unsubscribes would be high
Have you ever signed up for a newsletter and then forgot about it? Then 6 months or a year later they finally send you an email and you think, “What in the world? I never signed up for this! Unsubscribe!”
Yeah, that’s what happened with my newsletter, and that’s not good. I don’t recommend doing that.
Instead, you want to set a schedule that your readers will get used to.
I send mine out daily, but you don’t need to do the same thing. (Even though it’s easy because of the content I’m including.)
The Mini Newsletter Content
You might be thinking, “OK. A mini newsletter sounds like a good idea. It’s quick and easy, and I can handle it even with my full schedule. But what should I include in it?”
Unfortunately, that’s not something I can answer for you because I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve. However, I can show you what I do, and you can go from there.
Because I am targeting people who want to make some extra money online but don’t have a lot of time, I need my newsletters to be super short.
I include 2–5 links, and (usually) 1 promo link at the bottom.
This is what my newsletter looked like this morning:
You can see I don’t have anything fancy.
Each link goes to either a Medium article, Twitter/X post, or YouTube video. You can also curate information from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, blogs, news websites, or anywhere else you can find helpful stuff for your audience.
Because there’s a lot out there, curating only takes a few short minutes.
It’s so simple!
Final Thoughts
I highly recommend starting a Mini Newsletter. It’s a chance to talk directly to the people who want to hear from you.
But keep it simple!
A mini newsletter allows you to:
- get it set up and sent out quickly
- curate content (From yourself, too! My top link is almost always my own article from Medium.)
- send it out frequently
And you don’t need to:
- come up with long stories
- worry about it taking up too much of your day
- stress about not having content to include (you can always find it)
I’m a busy mom and housewife. I don’t have all day to spend typing away on my computer.
Plus, my life is pretty boring, so story newsletters are out for me. (Unless you’re interested in hearing how well I cleaned the toilets this morning…)
I need simple. I need easy. I need quick.
A Mini Newsletter hits all of those buckets and earns me some money too!
Doesn’t that sound perfect?
You Might Also Be Interested In…
- Why Mini Newsletters Are All The Rage (And Why You Should Start One)
- How to Start Your Own Mini Newsletter (A Step-by-Step Guide)
- 7 Super Simple Steps to Create a Template in ConvertKit
Affiliate Disclaimer
This article contains an affiliate link for ConvertKit, my favorite email service provider for small businesses. You can sign up and use it free for up to 1,000 subscribers. If you purchase a premium subscription, I’ll get a small commission at no additional cost to you.
About the Author
Hey! I’m Christina, an introverted book nerd on the outside, and a raging metalhead on the inside. 🤘 I’m a married mom to two teenagers (and 3 cats and a dog). I love Vegas 🎰, the band Chevelle 🎸, and murder mysteries 📖.
I also love creating short, daily lists of resources and ideas to help you boost your online income. 👈 Click that astonishingly long link to sign up for free.