I’m pretty sure that most of you have either heard about ConvertKit, are thinking about using it, or are already raving fans. Today’s guest is the Go-To Guy behind ConvertKit – Founder and CEO, Nathan Barry.
This isn’t a typical interview with Nathan though, and we actually don’t really talk much about email marketing.
Nathan opens up to share his entrepreneurial journey with us – how he was able to make 6 figures selling ebooks – and how he made the pivot to starting Convertkit. He also breaks down the exact strategy that he used to grow ConvertKit to 10K/mo recurring revenue. (Hint: This strategy can be applied to most businesses and you might just want to steal it!)
He also shares with us the success ConvertKit is having now, and how was was able to make the shift to fully BE the CEO.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“You have to fulfill the promise that you made to people.
It needs to get the job done and be fun, fast and easy to use.
But a lot of the community comes from how you go about doing business.”
“All of that growth and success and the reach
comes from doing consistent work every day for a very long period of time.”
Gems:
- How Nathan got into starting ConvertKit.
- Teaching skills to people who have money and spending power.
- On building email lists: “The audience that you’ve grown might be different than the audience that you want. You then have the task to filter down that group.”
- How Nathan dropped other initiatives and focused on ConvertKit
- On selling: “Whenever you try to convince someone of something, they need to give you a reason they’re not gonna do it.”
- How taking away people’s primary objection closes the sale.
- On receiving rejection: “Even the people that were nos were part of your market research. You would get great insight as to what people would really wanted.”
- Tailor specifically to niches, go industry by industry, and turn yourself into that big fish in a small pond.
- The more you narrow down and target a niche, the better. It is the easiest advice to give and the hardest advice to take.
- You’re not gonna turn away business by throwing out something specific when niching.
- How some people might accidentally call laziness patience.
- Putting in consistent work and be willing to have a time horizon that is years long.
- Tradecraft, ConvertKit’s publication
- Inspirations:
- Tim Ferris
- Chris Coyier of css-tricks.com
- Notable ConvertKit Users:
- Gretchen Reuben
- Tim Ferris
- Tim McGraw
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Valuable Relationships
- Sean McCabe
- Caleb Wojcik
- Pat Lyn
- Craft and Commerce
- James Clear Atomic Habits
- Bryan Dell
- Other Links Mentioned:
View the transcript Episode 3. How to Scale by Doing the Unscalable with Nathan Barry.
Bio: In previous careers Nathan has been a designer, author, and blogger. After learning the power of email marketing he gave up a successful blogging career to build ConvertKit. Outside of work Nathan spends his time playing soccer, woodworking, and chasing after his two little boys. Find Nathan over at nathanbarry.com and convertkit.com