A year ago, I sat down and wrote a newsletter about my first year running The Purse. It’s my second most popular post to date, and people still reach out to tell me how much they liked it. You dear readers seem to really enjoy it when I pour my heart out.
Twelve months later, The Purse has changed a lot. And also, it’s essentially the same. It’s just me, Lindsey, writing this newsletter every week. But there are a lot more readers! In June 2023, I sent the first newsletter to 200 people. In June 2024, my first anniversary newsletter went out to 7,000. This year, the subscriber base has grown to more than 15,000, and I have just shy of 600 paid subscribers.
Doing my own thing continues to be weird and wonderful, challenging and overwhelming, exhausting and rewarding in ways I never could have imagined. As I wrote last year, I really enjoy reading milestone posts, and so I’m going to continue the tradition of sharing what I’ve learned on the anniversary of The Purse. Thanks for humoring me!
This isn’t easy
Every other week it seems like some media personality is announcing they’re going independent and starting their own newsletter. The bold ones go so far as to say they are launching media companies. And the lucky ones get an article in The New York Times announcing said ventures.
I get why we’re all here doing this. The media industry is a disaster. There are layoffs all the time. Salaries are shrinking. Let’s not even talk about AI. And when you see how successful some of these newsletter writers are (hi, Emily Sundberg, Jess Graves, and Alison Roman), I completely understand why you would want to follow in their glamorous footsteps.
But, fuck, this is hard! I’m not sure we talk about that enough. And a lot of the time it’s not glamorous. It’s tough to have the discipline to get up every day and be your own manager. Sure, it might seem like you get more flexibility, but do you really? I work all the time. Weekends, evenings, early mornings. I’m also the worst boss. I never think what I do is good enough, and I’m always moving the goal post.
Building your own editorial calendar, writing and sending a newsletter every week, cultivating a social media presence, finding sponsors, and growing an audience—not to mention all the general admin stuff that pops up—is a shit ton of work. I like this work (hell, I’d even say I love it), but I also don’t think we should act like a feasible solution to the flailing media industry is a million and one indie newsletters. The 1,000 true fans theory is wonderful, but I do wonder if it’s scalable?
You can’t expect anything you neglect to grow
Last fall was a particularly challenging time financially. I ended a long-term freelance project that had provided me with a steady monthly income. Erika and I were trying to find brand partners, but we kept getting feedback that our newsletter audience was too small for any sort of meaningful sponsorship. And, of course, there was a presidential election that sucked so much oxygen out of the room and caused so much anxiety. (Of course, the outcome is still causing a lot of anxiety and uncertainty!!)
In December, I made just $400 from freelance work, and it really freaked me out. I was making some money from Substack subscriptions, but at the time, I wasn’t paying myself, as I was reinvesting everything I made back into The Purse, which mostly meant stashing it away in a high-yield savings account (and regularly buying Erika lunch, since she wasn’t getting paid either).
When a friend offered me a four-month maternity-leave freelance job, I hemmed and hawed a bit, but I also knew I really wanted to take it. I hated feeling so financially insecure. I knew it would be a lot of work, but I also thought I could figure out a way to juggle it all, especially because I had a partner in Erika.
But then Erika and I decided to part ways in February, and I found myself in a bit of crisis mode. I was working full time, taking CFP classes, and trying to run a business. Of course, I couldn’t get it all done. So I focused on the one thing I knew I could do well—writing the newsletter—and I mostly ignored the rest.
It should come as a surprise to no one that The Purse hasn’t thrived while my attention has been pulled in a million different directions. I’ve been stuck at 15,000 subscribers since February, and I cannot seem to break the 16,000 mark. So much for hitting the goal I set in January of reaching 25,000 by summer.
