Where the energy is

I want to share my perspective with you.

This won't look like my typical newsletter on growth and monetization. If you're looking for that stuff, go to my blog or YouTube channel.

Over the past few weeks, I've been reflecting on:

We're living through strange times.

I think we're at the peak of an AI bubble.

And because of that…

Everything's getting turned on its head.

Publishers, coaches, course creators, non-fiction authors — nearly every successful business owner I talk to in this space feels like AI is impacting them negatively.

Well, unless they're selling something related to AI.

The media brands and creators covering AI and selling AI info and education are growing…

While everyone else seems to have plateaud.

That's my opinion.

It's not universally true.

I don't have some mass survey or unique data to back it up.

But I bet a lot of you feel the same way.

I don't think it will be like this forever.

Sure, AI is going to change everything. Just like the internet did.

But in the long run.

What I'm feeling and seeing right now looks a lot like the crypto bubble of 2022.

Yeah, AI is not crypto. It's not going away.

But the AI hysteria happening now is insane.

It feels like every founder is rushing to launch an new AI-related project.

Or flat out leaving society and buying a farm.

That means a lot of the energy in the newsletter and media space has left.

Less people are starting newsletters.

Less people care about growing and monetizing them.

And that's definitely negatively impacted my business in the past 6 months.

If you've been following me for a while, you know…

Newsletters are where I got my start.

Email is my bread and butter.

Since then, I have expanded and now cover many topics within media.

But email is still at the core.

Here's the funny thing about this:

Newsletters and email marketing aren't any less effective now than they were 2 years ago. Email is still the best way to sell things.

That's not changing.

Yeah, Gmail and other inbox providers will evolve.

But if you have great content, you’ll be fine.

Especially after the bubble pops and the AI area slows down.

Your list is still your most valuable asset.

Plus, growing your email list is the best way to grow other distribution channels like:

SMS, WhatsApp, private communities, and more.

Regardless, the energy and excitement in our space has moved away from email.

Maybe that's a good thing.

Less competition.

But this also forces me to rethink my strategy.

More on that later.

Anyways…

Where IS the energy in media moving too?

Here's what I see from my conversations with founders and observing the marketplace:

1) In the media and publishing space, events are hot.

They feel like the one thing AI can't disrupt. (I personally think there's a lot more things AI can't disrupt, but that's for another issue).

I've seen multiple founders and creators launch events from scratch in the past 2 years that have hit 500+ attendees and 6 figures+ in revenue.

I've also launched my own event, New Media Summit.

Which has also reached 500+ attendees and 6-figures in revenue.

2) In the creator and personal branding world, YouTube is hot.

I've even seen a few venture-backed media startups launch with the plan to be YouTube first and only — and do it pretty successfully so far.

YouTube recently surpassed Netflix in TV watch time. YouTube is the new TV. People spend more time viewing YouTube on TV than every streaming service.

It’s the greatest discovery platform ever created.

3) In the info product and course space, founders are pivoting to DFY services.

Because of AI and all the amazing free tutorials on YouTube, consumers are buying less courses and educational products..

A few years back, there were a ton of $10M+ course businesses.

That's not the case anymore.

Because courses sales are down, businesses are pivoting to just doing the thing for customers.

Services are a lot easier to sell. But they have their own unique challenges.

My take on this:

There's no silver bullet

Events are a great model. They can compound. They can get acquired.

But the cash conversion cycle is rough, and most people don't make meaningful money from events until year 3 to 5.

YouTube is the best place to have an audience outside of email.

Ideally, you have both. But the bar is high. To grow on YouTube, your content needs to be exceptional. It's also challenging to build a business exclusively through YouTube brand deals and Ad Sense.

Services are what businesses want.

But everyone knows the challenges with agencies: Hard to scale, require big teams, and run at lower margins than media.

So what's my point?

Well, I'm not sure if I have one yet.

I always try and share my honest perspective with you.

This is what I'm seeing in our space now, and I want you to be aware of it too.

I’m not saying to abandon your newsletter and email list.

I'm definitely not saying to jump on these trends everyone else is chasing.

Like I said, there's no silver bullet.

I encourage you to do what I'm planning to do a better job of doing myself:

That's where I'm at too.

I'm taking the next week off to spend time with family and reflect on that.

So you won't see a newsletter from me next Saturday.

What I'm likely going to do is go back to my roots.

Which is serving businesses through content, events, services.

When newsletters were hot, a ton of people started following me who wanted to start one. Let's call them beginners.

And quickly, my audience grew to where the majority of people who followed me or read this newsletter didn't have an email list yet and wanted to launch one.

The market of beginners is a lot bigger then establish businesses and advanced founders.

So I created content and products to help them. And it worked.

But frankly, now that market doesn't care as much about media and newsletters anymore.

They're on to the next hot thing.

And continuing to serve that audience doesn't bring energy to me.

It's not what I want to do long term.

So over the next few weeks and months, I'll be changing things.

The goal is to serve the people who I can help best. That’s always been 7-8 figure businesses who understand and care about email and media.

If that's you, awesome. I'd love to hear about what you need help with.

If that's not you, it won't hurt my feelings if you unsubscribe. My content and offers may still be helpful to you, but they're not designed for you.

That’s it.

I don't plan on publishing more long ramblings about my perspective and “feelings”.

But if this resonated with you, hit reply and let me know.

I'm excited to share the new things I'm working on with you soon. Stay tuned.