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<p>Creator Cole Bridge started his newsletter <em>Junto</em> as a personal finance how-to, but it quickly morphed into something more.</p>
<p>“When I graduated from college, I had more than $70,000 of student loan debt which I paid off in three years. I learned so much from that experience that I wanted to share it with others,&#8221; says Cole. &#8220;But as I picked up new skills in life and business, I realized I wanted to share those too.&#8221;</p>
<p>He began writing in December 2022, with only 150 Twitter followers, to try and spread the word.</p>
<p>But this strategy went nowhere fast.</p>
<h2>The challenge: Traditional list growth tactics weren’t growing his list fast enough</h2>
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm"><p>When you&#8217;re first starting a newsletter, it&#8217;s difficult to figure out how you can quickly monetize new subscribers while working on the other areas of the business too.</p></blockquote>
<p>Promoting his newsletter from scratch on Twitter and Instagram felt impossible without already being an influencer. Instead, Cole started with paid ads to drive traffic to his newsletter landing page.</p>
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm"><p>Unless you&#8217;re sitting on a stockpile of cash, you need to make money to invest in growth. I had limited growth budget and needed to test free strategies. These are effective, but take up a lot of time.</p></blockquote>
<div id="attachment_49257" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49257" class="size-full wp-image-49257 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1196" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=478&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=816&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=612&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1225&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1633&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=470&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-49257" class="wp-caption-text">Subscribing to Junto is easy with a dedicated landing page powered by ConvertKit.</p></div>
<p>Juggling <em>Junto</em> with his day job meant Cole needed to prove the value of his side-hustle quickly. After struggling with organic social media and feeling like there was never enough time to pursue traditional cross-promotional strategies like giveaways or guest posts, Cole discovered SparkLoop (<a href="https://convertkit.com/news/convertkit-acquires-sparkloop" target="_blank" rel="noopener">now part of ConvertKit</a>) and Paid Recommendations.</p>
<h2>The solution: Setting up Paid Recommendations in the Creator Network as a new income stream</h2>
<p>With ConvertKit’s Creator Network, users collaborate with other creators to help each other grow their newsletters through Recommendations. Since opening its doors, the Creator Network has helped creators grow their list an extra 9% than if they weren&#8217;t in the network.</p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-49259 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1141" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=456&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=779&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=584&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1168&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1558&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=449&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></p>
<p>But with <a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/craft-commerce-convertkit-updates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ConvertKit’s acquisition of SparkLoop</a>, you can also turn your list growth into a newsletter revenue stream by adding Paid Recommendation spots alongside your free recommendations, like Cole did.</p>
<div id="attachment_49258" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49258" class="size-full wp-image-49258 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1396" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=558&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=953&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=715&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1430&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1906&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=549&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-49258" class="wp-caption-text">What Paid Recommendations looks like to your subscribers.</p></div>
<p>In just 7 months, Cole earned $10,000 just by recommending creators he admires to his new subscribers as they joined his list. And that $10,000 helped get his new business off the ground.</p>
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm"><p>Once I started getting paid with Paid Recommendations, my growth took off. It’s helped me earn more money and earn more quickly so I can reinvest into growth. I grew my newsletter profitably without having any major revenue source.</p></blockquote>
<h2>The result: Faster newsletter growth with the Creator Network’s Paid Recommendations</h2>
<p>Starting a newsletter from scratch is an uphill battle. You need to make money to earn money, but how can you start building your list with only a few followers to your name?</p>
<p>Using ConvertKit’s <a href="https://convertkit.com/resources/blog/craft-commerce-convertkit-updates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">powerful referral features</a> give you the opportunity to get going more quickly.</p>
<blockquote class="blockquote-sm"><p>Earning earlier in my creator journey kept me going when I was struggling.<strong> Adding revenue right away helps you push through the challenging days at the beginning.</strong></p></blockquote>
<div id="attachment_49255" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-49255" class="size-full wp-image-49255 lazy" data-src="https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="629" srcset="https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=252&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=429&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=322&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=644&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=859&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=247&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=164&amp;w=390 390w, https://media.convertkit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><p id="caption-attachment-49255" class="wp-caption-text">Cole’s email list growth since being able to invest more time in his business while earning passive income with paid recommendations.</p></div>
<p>Paid Recommendations give you the momentum you need to find your footing. “Once you see the impact on your business, I doubt you’ll turn back. It’s the simplest way to add revenue with a quick payback period,” says Cole. “My newsletter would be much smaller if not for Paid Recommendations.”</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="btn" href="https://junto.ck.page/profile">Find out more about Cole and JUNTO in his Creator Profile</a></p>


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