Watch me build this email list

I’m going to take a risk. Since I began sending you emails a few weeks ago, I’ve done no traditional ‘list building’ activities. I’m no longer on Instagram which was the main place I’d go to get email subscribers. 

I used to have a relatively large list — 10,000 subscribers or so — but I didn’t do a great job of segmenting them or managing the system… it became so convoluted, I didn’t know who was who or what was what, so I basically just stopped emailing them.

I decided to create a Substack account in December of ’22, and up until about a month ago, I’d done nothing with it.

When I logged back in for the first time, there were 351 subscribers. Now there are 300. A bunch of people unsubscribed and a few signed up when they realized I wasn’t on IG anymore.

I’ve done none of the ‘marketing stuff’ I built my reputation on — the work that I do for my clients. I wanted to focus entirely on rebuilding my writing and publishing habit before I started adding more complexity to my business & life.

But now, it feels like it’s time to start growing this list.

How am I gonna do that?

I’m going to begin with Facebook & Instagram ads.

You don’t have to be active on either platform to use the advertising system.

It would probably be smarter if I just went ahead and got some results first so I could come back and tell you about it.

But that doesn’t sound as cool as working on it while you watch — in real time. So you’ll either watch me ✅ succeed or watch me ❌ fail — in real time.

I’m not going to create a fancy landing page — yet. 

I’m not going to create a “freebie” or “lead magnet” — yet. 

I’m not going to use an automated sequence to onboard new subscribers — yet. 

No “funnel,” no offer, no nothing.

These are all things I create with and for my clients — and I will most certainly implement them for myself. But first, I’m going to build the barebones infrastructure and see what I can do with that.

Then I’ll begin building out the fancy shit.

I’ll launch the first campaign over the next few days with a small budget — a few dollars per day.

You might see me popup on Instagram, but you’ll notice, it won’t be a normal account. My @ryanorrico page doesn’t exist anymore. 

I still have accounts for @randomtalkingvideo and @unusuallyfocused — but it’s been years since I’ve logged into either of them. So I’m not going to use them. At least, not yet.

I’m gonna do it another way — starting from zero.

The FB Ads platform allows you to run Instagram ads without creating an actual account.

So if you see me pop up on IG, and you tap the account, you’ll notice it’s different.

I’ll let you know when the campaign is live — and I’ll keep you up on what I’m doing and how it’s working.

I hope I don’t regret this.