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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 X/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 X/Twitter and Instagram felt impossible without already being an influencer. Instead, Cole started with paid ads to drive traffic to his <a href="https://kit.com/resources/blog/newsletter-landing-page" target="_blank" rel="noopener">newsletter landing page</a>.</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.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1196" srcset="https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=478&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=816&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=612&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1225&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1633&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-04.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=470&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.kit.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 Kit.</p></div>
<p>Juggling <em>Junto</em> with his day job meant Cole needed to prove the value of his <a href="https://kit.com/resources/blog/101-side-hustle-ideas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">side-hustle</a> 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 (now part of Kit) and <a href="https://kit.com/features/paid-recommendations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paid Recommendations</a>.</p>
<h2>The solution: Setting up Paid Recommendations in the Creator Network as a new income stream</h2>
<p>With Kit’s <a href="https://creatornetwork.kit.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Creator Network</a>, 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.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1141" srcset="https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=456&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=779&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=584&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1168&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1558&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=449&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-06.jpg?fm=pjpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></p>
<p>But with <a href="https://kit.com/news/convertkit-acquires-sparkloop" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kit&#8217;s acquisition of SparkLoop</a>, you can also turn your list growth into a newsletter revenue stream by adding Paid Recommendation spots alongside your <a href="https://kit.com/features/recommendations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">free recommendations</a>, 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.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1396" srcset="https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=558&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=953&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=715&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1430&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=1906&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-05.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=549&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.kit.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 Kit’s <a href="https://kit.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.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fm=pjpg" alt="" width="1500" height="629" srcset="https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=252&amp;w=600 600w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=429&amp;w=1024 1024w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=322&amp;w=768 768w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=644&amp;w=1536 1536w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=859&amp;w=2048 2048w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=247&amp;w=590 590w, https://media.kit.com/post/cole-bridge-02-2.jpg?fit=scale&amp;fm=pjpg&amp;h=164&amp;w=390 390w, https://media.kit.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" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Find out more about Cole and JUNTO in his Creator Profile</a></p>


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