The Side Hustle That Changed How I See Online Business

_{Before we get started you should know this newsletter has been my most surprising side hustle of 2025. And it’s the one I’m most confident will keep compounding into 2026.}

_{I started it about ten months ago with pretty low expectations. Just a decision to write clearly about how people actually make money online, without skipping steps or selling fantasies. What surprised me wasn’t growth for growth’s sake. It was how powerful it felt to own the relationship. No algorithm guessing. No reach roulette. Just showing up in an inbox.}

_{As it grew, beehiiv eventually reached out after seeing the traction. Not to rewrite my voice or turn this into some polished case study, but because they genuinely aligned with the transparency-first approach I’m taking. They’re supporting this newsletter now, and that matters to me because I already use the product every week.}

_{Why beehiiv specifically?}

_{It lets you monetize when you’re ready, not before. Ads, paid subscriptions, boosts, all live in the background until they make sense for you. And when they do, beehiiv doesn’t take a cut of what you earn. That’s rare.}

_{It also removes the technical friction. No-code setup, flexible tools, and enough structure to grow without forcing you into someone else’s playbook.}

_{They’re backing this work and they gave me a code to share so you can start your own too.} 

Use HUSTLE30 to get 30% off your first 3 month

The Side Hustle That Changed How I See the Creator Economy

One year ago, I set out on an experiment.

I wanted to really understand how people were making money with newsletters. Not in a theoretical way. Not in a “someone on Twitter said this works” way. I wanted to see it up close. Run one. Feel the friction. See where the dollars actually come from.

What surprised me back then was simple.

This was a real thing. And it worked.

That first realization felt almost embarrassing. Newsletters had been sitting in plain sight for years, dismissed as old media, too slow, too boring, too email. And yet here they were doing something most modern creator strategies struggle with.

They converted attention into leverage.

Now, a year later, I’m past the surprise.

What’s clear to me now is that newsletters aren’t just a revenue stream. They’re becoming something more fundamental to how money moves through the creator economy. And a lot of people still don’t see it.

Why newsletters are rising right now

Most people still think of newsletters as content. Writing. Updates. Essays.

That framing misses what’s actually happening.

People aren’t subscribing because they want more content. They’re subscribing because they want judgment. Filtering. A point of view that saves them time or helps them make better decisions.

The inbox has become a place of intent again.

Social feeds are optimized for reaction. Speed. Novelty. You scroll, you forget, you scroll again. Newsletters reward something different. Familiarity. Consistency. Trust built over time.

That difference matters more each year.

You can see it in the numbers. Open rates that would be considered impossible on social. Click behavior that actually reflects intent. Sponsorships priced on attention instead of impressions.

You can also see it in behavior. Creators building newsletters alongside social instead of treating them as an afterthought. Businesses using newsletters to educate instead of constantly selling. Brands shifting spend toward creators who own direct relationships.

This is adaptation.

The part most people don’t understand

Here’s where my thinking really changed.

A newsletter isn’t a monetization tactic. It’s a monetization layer.

Once you run one long enough, you realize it doesn’t live on its own. It sits underneath everything else you do.

It can generate revenue directly through reader support or paid access. It can support sponsorships that feel native instead of disruptive. It can drive affiliate revenue without screaming links. It can sell your own products more effectively than any launch thread ever could.

And often, it does several of these at the same time.

That’s the part people miss. They look for the single lever. Newsletters work because they stack.

They reward accumulation.

What this means depending on who you are

If you’re a creator, a newsletter changes your leverage.

It gives you a place you control when platforms shift. It lets you monetize thinking, not just reach. And it changes brand conversations because you’re no longer just distribution. You’re access to a relationship that already exists.

If you’re an entrepreneur, a newsletter isn’t just marketing.
It’s a product. A real estate agent can monetize a hot investment list or off-market insights. An interior designer can sell memberships, product placements, or brand sponsorships tied to taste and trust. Consultants can turn lived experience into paid access. The newsletter itself becomes a revenue stream.

If you’re a brand, newsletters remain one of the most misunderstood parts of creator marketing.
Creators who run them think in long arcs, not posts. They price on trust, not impressions. And their audiences convert because they chose to be there. Brands that understand this are already reallocating budgets. The rest will catch up later.

Where tooling finally matters

Once I understood newsletters as infrastructure instead of content, the platform question changed for me.

I needed something built for growth, experimentation, and layered monetization. Not just sending emails.

That’s why I ended up on beehiiv. It matched how newsletters are actually being used now, not how people talked about them years ago.

If you’re thinking about starting a newsletter or rebuilding one with intention, I do have a 30% off code you can use HUSTLE30. It’s there if it’s helpful. No pressure.

Where I’ve landed after a year

A year ago, this started as curiosity.

Now it feels obvious.

Newsletters are becoming a foundational layer in how creators, entrepreneurs, and brands make money online. Not because they’re trendy. Because they create leverage where everything else is getting noisier and less predictable.

The people who understand this early won’t look flashy. They’ll look consistent. Focused. Hard to shake.

If you’re already experimenting, I’d love to hear what you’re seeing. And if you’ve been skeptical, that’s fine. I was too.

And to be clear, this newsletter isn’t an ad for newsletters.

I was writing about newsletters and monetization here long before there was any support involved. I published my early thinking while I was still testing, still skeptical, still figuring it out.

The belief came first. The backing came later.

That distinction matters to me, and I want it to be clear here.

_{Transparency Statement}

_{This newsletter is a mix of AI-assisted editing and my personal tone, style, experiences, and research—all carefully reviewed to ensure accuracy and quality. No data is blindly trusted, and every insight shared is something I stand behind.}

_{I highly value transparency, which is why I choose to disclose that I use AI to help edit and craft this material. Many others choose not to, but I believe setting an example for the future is important. AI should be a helpful tool that enhances human work, not replaces it.}

_{I hope this statement not only reinforces trust but also encourages more transparency around AI in content creation.}