The 12 TENETS

DEEP DIVE

There’s one simple thing that separates the top 1% of founders with audiences from the 99% of founders who never generate real, long-term profits.

It’s because the top 1%...

Build Media Brands NOT Newsletters, Email Lists, and Followings

Instead of obsessing over newsletter subscribers and followers, they build…

Sustainable, self-operating media brands with enterprise value.

When you build a brand with enterprise value, you create an asset.

An asset works for you while you sleep.

A media asset can…

• Be acquired successfully for a life-changing amount

• Provide monthly cashflow without you running the day-to-day operations

If you’re NOT building an asset, you’re simply building a high-paying job that you can never escape.

A prison of your own creation.

If you want to escape this trap and transform your “business” into an asset that works for you instead of you working for it, keep reading…

How To Build A Cashflowing Media Asset That Can Run Without You and Exit For 7-9 Figures

Every successful media brand focuses on the 12 TENETS.

Following the TENETS is the only way to build an asset that can be acquired successfully and provide millions of cashflow without your day-to-day involvement.

Here they are:

1) Scalable Audience Acquisition 

You don’t have a media brand without an audience. You must master 1-3 scalable and consistent audience acquisition channels to grow.

You should be able to:

• Add 100-300+ engaged email subscribers to your list every day.

• Build a social or video audience of 50k-100k+ subscribers or followers.

• And/or drive 1000+ unique visitors per day to your website from search engines.

This does NOT mean you have a massive following on multiple platforms. 

This also does NOT mean you need 5-10+ paid acquisition sources to grow your list.

Instead, you should master:

• One organic audience acquisition channel (this could be Instagram, YouTube, Google search, LinkedIn, partnerships, etc) 

• One paid acquisition channel (Meta ads, in-newsletter ads, Google ads, etc)

That’s it. 

All platforms are distinct. Focus is the key to successful audience growth. 

2) Content Market Fit

Is your content insanely valuable, unique, and solving a real problem? 

If so, everything else in your business will be easier.

With content market fit, it’s easier to:

• Grow your audience

• Sell sponsorships and products

• Position yourself as #1 in your niche

Without it, it's impossible to win.

You must dominate the attention of your niche or industry by publishing indispensable content that your audience has a habit of consuming. 

How do you identify content market fit?

You’ll know it when you have it because people will tell you how amazing your content is.

Then, aim for these metrics:

• 50%+ unique open rate

• 5%+ unique CTR (click to open rate)

• 1+ total opens / unique opens ratio (this shows when your newsletter is shared and revisited by subscribers)

3) Sponsor Content Fit

If you want to sell and keep advertisers, you need to drive results. 

Aim for these targets:

• B2C unique ad CTR: 1%+

• B2B unique ad CTR: 0.75%+

• Sponsorship renewal rate: 50%+ 

• Percentage of sponsorship revenue from long-term partnerships (3-12 month commitments): 50%+

If you can’t do this, find sponsors that are a better fit for your audience and follow this advice to increase CTR.

4) Product Market Fit

You'll never unlock your audience's true revenue potential without a product to sell them directly.

Your media business should have the ability to:

• Monetize 100% of your audience with sponsorships.

• Monetize 1%-10% of your audience to a higher degree by selling a digital product.

Having one without the other is a risk. Even with direct sponsorships, you have little control over ad budgets and ad performance after the initial click.

Aim to:

• Convert 1-2% of your email audience to a $1k to $10k product

• Or convert 3-5% to a $100-$500 product 

5) First-Party Data on 50%+ of Your Audience (1P data)

Great media companies collect first-party data and talk with their audience.

Bad media companies see impressions, followers, and traffic. But not the real people – and their demographics, professional role, industry, interests, and needs.

You must collect 1P data after a user joins your newsletter via a post-signup survey. 

We see 80%+ opt-in rates for 1P data during signup vs. 2-3% if you ask later.

With this data, you can see who the decision-makers are, what they want, and how sponsored content can fit in.

You’ll also see how to send more relevant emails to sell your product. 

With 1P data, the possibilities are endless. 

What’s important is that you collect 1P data ASAP. 

Subscribers who “register” by completing your survey are worth 10X more than subscribers you only have an email address for.

Aim for:

• 1P data from 50%+ of your email subscribers

6) LTV:CAC Ratio of 5X-10X

10X LTV don’t 1/10th CAC.

Whoever can spend the most to acquire a customer (or subscriber) wins.

Spend more time increasing the lifetime value of your audience, subscribers, and customers than you do working to decrease your subscriber acquisition cost.

Acquisition cost will always go up over time. The only way to build a sustainable business is to make more money per subscriber, customer, or client.

Aim for:

• LTV:CAC Ratio of 5-10X (or more)

7) 50%+ EBITDA Margin – The Percentage of Money You Keep

The more, the better. 

Media brands that sell sponsorships, digital products, and acquire 25-50% of their audience organically should have 50-70%+ EBITDA Margins.

Aim for:

• EBITDA Margin: 50-70%+

8) 50%+ Annual Revenue Retention 

This is the percentage of revenue retained from existing customers over a one-year period.

How many customers or clients continue to buy from you year after year? If it’s zero, you’ll struggle to grow because you must constantly fight to acquire new buyers. 

It’s easier to keep a customer than to get a new one.  

Aim for:

• 50%+ Annual Revenue Retention

This means: Over 50% of your sponsors or customers buy again next year. 

You need repeat purchases. 

You don’t need recurring revenue via a subscription, but it’s a plus. 

9) Avoid Single-Channel Risk

If the vast majority of your audience, leads, and revenue come from one platform or channel, that creates risks.

By channel, I mean…

• Rented platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, Search, etc

• Or owned platforms like Email, Podcasts, or SMS

Do you get 70% or more of your customers or revenue from one channel? 

If it went away, would your business decline by 20%+?

If so, you have channel risk.

Aim for: 

• No single channel accounting for 70% or more of your revenue.

To fix this, build a 4-legged stool:

• Leg 1: Organic discovery channel (LinkedIn, YT, Search, IG, etc – pick one!) 

• Leg 2: Paid acquisition channel (Meta ads, Google ads, etc – pick one!)

• Leg 3 Owned audience channel (Email, podcast, SMS, community, etc)

• Leg 4 Owned audience channel (SMS, podcast, community, email etc)

1 and 2-legged stools don’t hold up.

3-legged stools are better, but never as stable as a 4-legged stool. 

Again, this does NOT mean you should juggle 5 to 10 different channels. 

It means you should only focus on the 4 that meet the four-legged stool criteria. 

That could be:

• Leg 1: LinkedIn

• Leg 2: Meta ads

• Leg 3: Email newsletter

• Leg 4 SMS list

Or something else! Pick the best channels for you and your audience. 

10) Remove Key Man Risk

If someone bought your business tomorrow, would it shrink in the next year if the “key man” leaves?

If so, you have key man risk.

Most likely, the “key man or woman” is you, the founder. The business can't operate without you creating content, delivering the product, doing the marketing, sales, etc. 

The solution is simple but not easy:

Build a leadership team (and use AI and automation) so that all the business operations can be done without the founder (or any key employee)

11) Reduce Key Face Risk

Can you grow the audience and acquire customers without the “key face” and their name, image, video, voice, or likeness?

If you can’t, you have Key Face Risk.

Your brand, content, and marketing depend on this “key face”... Which is probably you, the founder.

To fix, build a brand, not a just personal brand.

Start putting your brand first, and your personal brand second. 

• Build your brand's website

• Send emails from a company name

• Grow your company social accounts

It takes time, but everything worth doing does. 

12) Have Zero Key Client Risk

If a client left tomorrow, would your revenue drop by 20% or more?

If so, you have client risk.

And this doesn't just apply to “traditional” clients and customers.

If 20% or more of your revenue comes from one programmatic ad network (like YouTube ads, Google AdSense, or the beehiiv ad network)...

You still have client risk!

The solution? 

• Sell a product to your audience to create hundreds or thousands of customers

• Build a direct sponsorship and partnership business that doesn't rely on ad networks or one big advertiser.

Those are The 12 TENETS.

Follow them and you’ll build a media asset, not just a newsletter or following. 

Is it easy? No. It takes hard work, patience, and a bit of luck

But it’s better to understand the system than to try and build a business without it

That said…

Don’t Try To Master All 12 TENETS At Once 

The 12 TENETS are in operational order.

That means you should focus on TENETS 1, 2, 3, ,4, etc — in that order!

Don’t skip to the end and try to remove key face risk or client risk if you haven’t mastered audience acquisition, content market fit, and the others FIRST.

What I’m saying is… Don’t get ahead of yourself. 

All TENETS are important. But you must build your asset one step at a time!

Think about this:

If you want to build an asset that can generate near-passive cash flow while you sleep and be acquired for 7-9 figures…

Do you think that’s going to happen overnight?

Of course not.

Building a money machine takes time. When you started a business, that’s what you signed up for (whether you realize it or not). 

So if you’re still working to figure out TENETS 1 or 2, that’s okay!

What’s important is that you follow the TENETS and understand how the system works.