169: How To Get Your First 10000 Email Subscribers With Bryan Harris

Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:05 — 66.8MB)

The tactic that grows an email list depends entirely on how big that list already is. Bryan Harris sorts every list building strategy into buckets by subscriber count, because applying an advanced tactic too early is how most people fail.

Facebook ads are his example. They work extremely well and require you to already know how to write ads, target audiences, build lead magnets, and write converting sequences.

Bryan runs Video Fruit, where he reverse engineers what successful marketers do and tests it himself. He grew from roughly 100 subscribers to 10,000 between January and October, then made $25,000 in his first product launch week.

This episode covers what to do at each stage, the two tactics that reliably take you from 100 to 1,000, how partnerships drove growth past 10,000, and the two advertising metrics that actually matter.

A note on timing: this is a 2017 conversation. Specific tools and platforms have changed, and the staged approach still applies.

Key takeaways

• Match tactics to your list size, since advanced strategies fail without foundations underneath them.
• Your first 100 subscribers come from people you already know, collected without a website or landing page.
• Podcast interviews and guest posts are the reliable path from 100 to 1,000.
• Pitch a specific downloadable during interviews rather than your homepage.
• Write 250 words a day and publish weekly, which doubles as product validation.
• Analyze which content categories drew the most engagement to choose your first product.
• Donate an entry-level product as a launch bonus for partners, which delivers buyers rather than subscribers.
• Track cost per lead against revenue per lead, and optimize the margin rather than the cost.

Why do email list tactics fail for beginners?

Because most published tactics assume infrastructure you have not built. Bryan sorts strategies into buckets: zero to 100, 100 to 1,000, and 1,000 to 10,000.

Facebook ads illustrate the problem. Writing ads, targeting them, building a lead magnet people want, and writing a sequence that converts are four separate hard skills.

Attempting that first has poor odds. The strategy works and belongs in a later bucket.

Sequencing is what most advice omits. You will hear conflicting recommendations, and sorting them by stage resolves most of the conflict.

How do you get your first 100 email subscribers?

Ask people you already know, one at a time, with no website involved. Bryan’s zero-to-100 phase requires a phone and a piece of paper.

Build the list from your own contacts. Recent texts, calls, sent emails, Facebook groups, and Twitter conversations.

Most people have more than they think. Fifty to 100 people minimum, and frequently over 200 contacted in the past year.

The message is short and specific. You are starting a project on a topic, you thought they might find it interesting, and do they want in.

Roughly 90% say yes because they know you. A message from an old classmate about learning magic tricks reads as interesting rather than promotional.

Collect the address directly. Ask for their best email rather than sending them to a landing page, which removes every barrier.

Treat these people as ambassadors. They are your launch team and your introduction to future buyers rather than your first customers.

How do you use online communities to build a list?

Participate genuinely for a week, then make one soft ask. Bryan suggests joining a few groups in your topic area and spending five minutes daily.

Engagement means three things. Like some posts, comment on some posts, and make a post or two of your own.

Your own posts should be questions. Share something you found and ask whether anyone has experience with it.

The ask comes after seven days. Announce a challenge you are undertaking, ask for support and guidance, and invite people to leave their email address.

Repeat across five or ten groups. That produces 50 to 100 subscribers.

What should you set up between 100 and 1,000 subscribers?

Basic infrastructure and a writing habit. An email service, a blog on a stock theme, and capture forms.

Do not wait on design. Bryan is emphatic that nobody should delay launching a blog for a designer.

Email capture takes about an hour. A welcome mat, a popup, and a sidebar form.

Then write 250 words a day. Fifteen minutes daily, publishing one post every Friday and emailing it to your list.

Weekly publishing beats higher frequency at the start. It forces faster learning on both the topic and the business.

Where do blog post topics come from?

Brainstorm questions you have, then ask your list for theirs. That produces 10 to 20 topics without inventing anything.

Your first email to those 100 people is the ask. Thank them for joining and ask what questions they have about the topic.

Then work one question per week. Monday to research and outline, Tuesday through Thursday to write, Friday to publish and email.

Learning out loud works if you are new to the subject. Teaching forces you to learn it properly.

How do you choose your first product?

Analyze which content categories your audience engaged with most. Ninety days of weekly posts gives you the data.

Sort your posts into categories. Breakdowns, tutorials, tool reviews, or whatever divisions your topic produces.

Then compare engagement across them. Comments, shares, reads, and clicks per category.

Build in the winning category. Bryan’s own first product came from reviewing ten months of content and finding what his audience actually wanted.

That product was three things he already had. A list of contractors he used, his collection of swipe files, and the workflows for briefing freelancers.

It earned $25,000 in launch week. Five or six emails to about 4,000 subscribers, cart open Monday and closed Friday.

How do podcast interviews build an email list?

Know your topic in advance and pitch a specific downloadable during the interview. Both matter, and most guests do neither.

Interviews are easier to book than people assume. A website and a few published posts is enough credibility.

Prepare the topic yourself. Thirty minutes of preparation, arranged over email with the host rather than left to them.

The downloadable is what converts listeners. A specific URL with resources relevant to what you discussed, mentioned more than once without being awkward.

You can invent it during the interview and build it afterward. Bryan did exactly that on this episode.

Results scale with the show. One appearance on a well-known marketing podcast produced around 350 subscribers.

Start with smaller shows. Pitch people one or two levels above you rather than ten.

How do you turn one podcast interview into thousands of subscribers?

Compound it into a guest post, then into a partnership. Bryan turned a single interview into over 3,000 subscribers through follow-ups.

Make the interview perform, then use it as evidence. He drove comments on the episode, then emailed the host citing the response.

The guest post pitch writes itself at that point. You have data showing their audience wanted more on the topic.

That guest post produced around 1,000 subscribers. A second one six months later produced roughly the same.

The same pattern scaled with a larger partner. An interview led to a no-pitch workshop that added about 3,500 subscribers, and those registrants later became affiliate leads generating substantial commission.

What is a no-pitch workshop partnership?

A free training you run for someone else’s audience where you do all the work and sell nothing. Bryan ran about 30 of these and grew from 12,000 to 40,000 subscribers in six months.

The partner’s effort is near zero. One alignment call, then a document containing every email, link, and landing page prepared for them.

They send two emails. You handle registration, reminders, hosting, and replay follow-up.

Selling nothing is what makes it acceptable. The partner is adding value for their list rather than spending goodwill.

The partner gets assets afterward. The recording as a lead magnet, a course bonus, or a written version for their blog.

Repetition is the advantage over guest posting. You deliver the same workshop repeatedly rather than creating new content each time.

How do product donations grow a list?

Give a partner your entry-level product as a bonus in their launch, and receive their buyers. Bryan has done this across multiple launches with the same partner.

The mechanics are simple. The partner sends a list of buyers, and you onboard them into your course.

A launch delivers 400 to 500 people. Those convert at roughly three times the rate of typical subscribers.

They arrive pre-endorsed. Someone they paid money to has vouched for you directly.

It is worth building a product specifically for this. One partnership a month is 6,000 qualified subscribers a year.

Which advertising metrics actually matter?

Cost per lead and revenue per lead, optimized for the margin between them. The cost alone tells you nothing.

A cheap lead that loses money is worse than an expensive one that profits. A $12 lead producing $100 beats a $1 lead producing 50 cents.

Bryan’s leads average $2 to $4. His most profitable leads cost $10 to $12.

The relationship frequently runs opposite to intuition. Cheaper leads generate less revenue, and margins tend to improve as spend increases on a working funnel.

How do you decide where to focus growth?

Maximize what already works before adding channels. Roughly 80% of Bryan’s effort goes to his three proven channels.

Those are SEO, partnerships, and paid advertising. Each was validated before receiving significant investment.

The remaining 20% is experimentation. Testing unusual approaches occasionally produces a fourth channel.

His method throughout has been modeling others. Watch what works for people ahead of you, copy it, then improve on it.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get your first 100 email subscribers?

Message people you already know and ask for their email directly. No website or landing page needed, and roughly 90% say yes because they know you.

Should beginners use Facebook ads to build an email list?

No. Ads require ad writing, targeting, lead magnet creation, and sequence writing all working together, which is why they belong at a later stage.

How do podcast interviews grow an email list?

Know your topic in advance and pitch a specific downloadable URL during the episode. One appearance on a well-known show produced around 350 subscribers.

How often should you publish when starting a blog?

Once a week. Bryan recommends 250 words a day for fifteen minutes, publishing Friday and emailing it to your list.

How do you decide what product to create?

Analyze which content categories drew the most engagement over 90 days. Build in the winning category rather than guessing.

What is a no-pitch workshop?

A free training for a partner’s audience where you handle everything and sell nothing. Bryan ran about 30 and grew from 12,000 to 40,000 subscribers.

How do you get subscribers who actually buy?

Donate an entry-level product as a bonus in a partner’s launch. Their buyers convert at roughly three times the rate of typical subscribers.

What should you optimize in paid advertising?

The margin between cost per lead and revenue per lead. A $12 lead producing $100 beats a $1 lead producing 50 cents.