In 2022, I had the random idea to launch a newsletter. I just kept going back to the idea that I needed to build a list and a community. I’d done it before accidentally with my romance pen name’s list and the list made me money-money that I lived on during the early months of the COVID pandemic. The other thing was that I had already seen the power of list building in real time. I knew a surprisingly large number of people, friends and acquaintances, had become wildly successful as digital entrepreneurs. Without fail there were 3 important actions that these creators focused on to grow their brands and ultimately, their income. Here’s why you need to start a newsletter or email list in 2026.
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Defined Their Audience
Step #1
And most importantly the guiding mission of the work that they were focused on and how it impacted the people that they were serving. These creators were very clear on who the audience was for the project/community/product/entertainment/or art that they were building/designing or sharing. In my case, I’m currently focused on creators, especially creators doing impactful work, building communities, spaces and projects that are for underserved communities that weren’t being served, acknowledged or prioritized by other communities. Here are some fun examples of what I mean.
- Black Girls Love Football–This is for the football enthusiast who is looking for other fans to hang out with, talk about and enjoy the game of football with.
- Melanin MVP-A community for Women of Color sports enthusiasts founded by my friend Angela Hollowell.
- Movies are Therapy–Kit Lazer talks all things movies and shares his commentary with other fans of film. He also hosts a podcast called Streaming Things and does a live event at least once a year with it.
- Latinas in Podcasting-A wonderful community being built by my friend Paulette Erato is nurturing, building and empowering through different areas of focus such as the annual L.I.P. Online Summit that she hosts typically during the fall.
- Mimi G Style–She teaches women how to sew fashionable clothes.
A Clear Outcome
Step #2
These creators had a clear end goal internally for the project that they were building and externally for the audience that they were focused. The outcome was an extension of the defined audience. Some additional examples:
- Provide access to books written by Black authors with predomentantly Black characters. Why do you think Black BookTook is so beloved?
- Share history that would be overlooked such as Michael Motley’s OneMic History that shares Black history both known and unknown with additional facts added in. Want to know how Black people saved Cadillac or Why Black People Keep a Bottle of Hot Sauce (a more recent episode) he’s your guy. There’s a reason why I have a packet of Cholula or Tabasco in my bag at all times.
- Then there’s the rise of the NewsFluencer such as Aaron Parnas reporting news as an Independent journalist that is not employed by a traditional media outlet. Instead, he’s created his own outlet with the goal of sharing truth in reporting as his audience perceives it.
In the case of Creators Getting Paid, my goal is to connect my audience with all of the different strategies that online content creators, with an emphasis on creators of color who are monetizing their work successfully. My goal is to help my community members find monetization strategies that align with their project, ethos and personal belief systems.
Growing a (Healthy) List
Step #3
This focused action hands down was the number one resource/tool or area of focus that I’ve recognized successfully monetized creators having in their business building. They have an unwavering focus on building, communicating and optimizing their email list. I do want to point out one thing. A newsletter (as I define it) is a branded communication that is sent out at least once a week to your community.
Email marketing are the actions taken to deepen connections to your audience, learn what they would like from you and learn what they are reacting to that you’re doing. There is a phrase that you’ll hear people say it’s “The Money is in the List” By the way, I’m not saying that if you’ve found a profitable strategy optimizing social media that you should shift to list building. I’m saying that you should be focused on both list building and whatever else has worked for you successfully.
What Should You Do In 2026
It is my belief that every action creator entrepreneurs take in 2026 should ultimately direct people to their list. And double-down on building a brand eco-system that is balanced out and can rebound from all of the uncertainty that is likely to cause problems in people’s businesses.
What am I talking about?
- Increasing unreliability of social platforms-In the past two years it has become very clear that our ability to optimize social media platforms depends on luck, timing and good strategy.
- Creators and Creative Entrepreneurs face an increasing risk of being shadow-banned for their content, personal stances and more. If your content is being defined as subversive or problematic-social media platforms may decide to stop showing your content to their feeds.
- Basic tech glitches and issues-I’ve had more issues with social media platforms in the past 2 years of being a online content creator than I’ve had since I started using apps casually.
There are 5 important actions I would recommend to focus on in addition to building a list.
- The first is owning a home base and content platform that you can control-I have a website that I host my podcast show notes and other written content on. I can publish content on my website and not worry (for the most part) that I’m going to be shut down because someone doesn’t like what I’m saying. I recently spoke with Kristine Gonzalez who is focused on helping creators optimize their websites better. She reminded me that your website is working when you’re not.
- Collaborate with other creatives-One of the greatest joys that I’ve experienced professionally and personally in 2025 has been collaborating with Corey and Angela on a weekly livestream. We’re expanding the vision in 2026 and I’m so excited to share what we’re cooking behind the scenes. Work with people that you can grow with, highlight and share success with. Your business and your life will be better for it.
- Owned platform that allows you to share your voice-I know that video podcasting is all the rage. But I want to ask a question-have you thought about adding a video or audio podcast where you own the distribution for some of your content. I’m not saying don’t use YouTube. Absolutely use YouTube. I’m suggesting that you may also use a tool that allows you to distribute bonus audio or video content/episodes to your community. What if something happens to your channel on YouTube? What would you do?
- Design Cool Shit-Stop waiting to build the cool things that you imagine launching. DESIGN them imperfectly and get them out in the world. I’ll never forget Hayley Williams of Paramore quietly launching an album this year to her email list out of the blue and she now has 4 Grammy nominations for that work. I actually think the best song on that album “True Believer” was deemed too subversive to nominate for a Grammy and she was robbed of that accolade for that work.
- Build your list-You must invite people into your world and spend time getting to know them better. These days it takes significantly longer to warm up your audience and newsletters/email list building is a core part of that process. I’ve committed to talking about this as often as I can as a Black person building an online brand because I wish we would talk about and encourage other creators to build their lists. I even recored a previous podcast episode about this titled “Why Aren’t Black Content Creators Building Lists” I’ve included a link in the show notes to that episode or you can listen to it on your favorite podcast player. That episode was released in early February of 2025.
Still not sure about starting a newsletter? Check out the following post “Is It Time to Start a Newsletter?” that I wrote in early 2025. The link to that article is at the end of the episode show notes. Have you started list building yet? Let me know what has kept you from starting? I’m nosey.
