Every week you don't send an email, someone else is talking to your database.
Your leads go cold. Your past clients forget about you. And that referral that could've been yours goes to the agent who actually stayed in front of them.
Ryan Sneddon was a mechanical engineer with 800 subscribers in 2020.
Today he has 21,000+ subscribers in a city of just 40K people, a 65% open rate, and makes over $322K a year without spending a dollar on advertising.
How? With a 3-phase playbook any agent can copy.
— Andrew
PHASE 1: The organic hustle (0 → 500 subscribers)
The mistake: Running ads before you know your content works. It's like pouring gasoline on dry firewood, nothing happens.
The rule: If you can't get your first 1,000 subscribers through personal outreach, you're not working hard enough. That's from Matt McGary, the guy who grew The Hustle to 2.5 million subscribers.
PHASE 2: Paid acquisition (500 → 5,000+ subscribers)
Once the content works, that's when you pour gasoline.
The tool: Facebook Lead Ads targeted to your city.
Ryan and Alec's numbers:
→ Target: people over 35 years old within your area.
→ Cost per subscriber: $0.10 to $1.00 if the form is filled out within Facebook, no external landing page.
→ If you send them to a landing page, it goes up to $0.30 to $3.00 per subscriber.
Ryan invested $21,000 in Facebook Ads in his first 6 months, targeting women over 40 within 10 miles.
Important: When you reach ~10% of your market, you already have a strong position. In smaller cities, the ceiling for paid ads hits around 25-50% penetration.
PHASE 3: Referrals and partnerships (5,000+)
When ads start giving diminishing returns, growth comes from partnerships.
→ Partner with local businesses to share audiences.
→ Swap subscribers or lead magnets with other creators who have lists.
→ Co-registration: someone signs up for one thing and also subscribes to your newsletter.
WHAT CONTENT DO YOU PUT IN?
Because none of this works if the email is a sales pitch.
Ryan's rules:
→ No politics.
→ Minimal crime.
→ Write at a sixth grade level, like you're texting a friend about cool stuff in town.
What drives the most engagement (in order):
Restaurant openings → most consistent engagement
Development updates → best open rates
Live music listings → most clicks and virality
Weather alerts → returning audiences
WANT THE FULL STRATEGY?
Search on How He Makes $320K/YR by Emailing People in a Small Town (Local Newsletter) YouTube or your favorite podcast app to watch the complete episode now!
