When I started a newsletter in 2015, I had no expectations. I had just written a book, and I thought it would be a good idea to connect with readers.
I didn’t think I would write weekly articles and build a blog. I had a very basic website with a newsletter sign-up. And initially, the only people who joined my newsletter were friends and family.
I used Mailchimp back then, and I had turned on email notifications for every new subscriber. For the first few weeks, I recognized all the email addresses of the people who joined.
But on September 3, 2015, I received the first notification that included a stranger’s email. Here’s the email (blurred the details for privacy):
I called my newsletter Massive Life Success when I launched it. But I got rid of the title a little while later because I found it cringy. So I just used my name on my blog and newsletter.
One thing that I thought back then was, “There are millions of blogs. Why would I start another one?”
It’s something I often hear from friends and people I talk to. They want to start a business, blog, website, podcast, and they talk themselves out of it. They think that competition is a reason to not do something.
But I challenged myself back then. I looked at the blogs that talked about topics I was interested in and thought: I can create better content.
Why not? I believe that you should always challenge yourself to be great.
If things don’t work out, I can live with that. At least I aimed high. But I don’t like it when I aim low.
As everyone knows, when you aim for low results, you often get exactly that.
So I got started with lofty ambitions. I wanted to build the best personal development blog in the world. That lit a fire under my belly, and I started working at it with energy.
I started publishing 2 quality articles a week. Every week. And I kept that up, no matter what. I would also ask my readers what they wanted to read about. Here’s one of those emails I sent early on:
“Thanks, you’re awesome.” I was trying pretty hard.
Either way, readers were very generous. I received a lot of good input, which helped me to keep writing. Eventually, more people started buying my books and courses, which supported me to do this full-time.
This is something I’ve always appreciated. The fact that someone spends time and energy reading your writing is a special thing. Something to not take lightly.
Introducing Wise & Wealthy
Seven years after I started this newsletter, I’m stepping away from my old model of sending an email every time I have something new to share.
After publishing more than 400 articles on my blog, I feel like doing something different, and not doing more of the same thing.
I believe that change is a good thing.
So for the past year, I’ve been thinking about how I can create a different weekly newsletter with a specific theme.
Instead of sending you articles, I want to create something around the topics I care most about. And topics I know my readers care about.
So I said to myself, my newsletter should include content about:
- Wisdom: I love learning about new ideas, thoughts, techniques, and tips that improve life. Simple things that make us wiser. After all, the word “philosophy” means the love of wisdom.
- Wealth: Growing up, we always had financial struggles. As I grew older, I had this primal drive to earn my own money. When you have just enough to live simply, you can live without anxiety. That’s why I believe everyone should strive for building wealth. Not to get rich and to buy luxurious things, but to have enough for a simple life.
So I combined those two keywords and came up with the Wise & Wealthy newsletter.
And I think that’s the right sequence. You want to get wise first, and then wealthy. That makes you appreciate money so much more. And it will inspire you to do good with your wealth.
Moving forward, I will publish a new edition of Wise & Wealthy every Monday and every other Thursday.
Here’s what you can expect every week:
- One tip that makes you wiser
- One tip that makes you wealthier
- And one bonus tip about any other interesting thing (quotes, books, podcasts, documentaries)
I’m very excited to get started! Thank you for being a part of this.
-Darius
