Thread by @pohjie_pj

After hearing about @JanelSGM from @csallen, I spent the past few hours digging into her Twitter feed to see how she has been building Newsletter OS in public, from ideation to launch.

Here are some highlights in chronological order and what you can learn from the process:

1/ August 5 2020: Janel digs into '50+ newsletters' (note the number to build credibility) and creates a thread to discuss the lessons learnt. She also mentions that this is for a side project, which raises awareness of something she may be working on.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1290718783686967297

2/ August 5 2020 (cont): Each tweet in the thread is focused on a key message, with clear pointers for newsletter writers to consider.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1290718795481350145

3/ September 1 2020: Janel tweeted about #buildinginpublic (note the hashtag) with @pabloheredia24 for @makerpad's challenge. While the project is Pheedback.co and not NewsletterOS, Janel is getting in the reps on how to build in public.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1300823187039629312

4/ October 18 2020: Janel hints at building her new product using @NotionHQ and @gumroad. But instead of telling the audience directly what the product is, she invites her audience to take a guess.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1317851629073424386

5/ Note that @JanelSGM also entices her audience to make a guess via offering a free copy for the first person who guesses right. This adds in the 2 elements of scarcity- volume (only 1 copy!) and time (first person who guesses right).

6/ October 19 2020: Janel announces her purchase of a domain. Further preempts her audience by telling them that more details will be announced soon.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1317980988211929089

7/ October 20 2020: Officially announces the pre-sales of Newsletter OS. Note the clear and concise structure of the tweet:

- Headline (what is being launched?)
- Who is this for?
- What is the problem?
- What is the solution?

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1318227986089431042

8/ In the same thread, she gives a quick peek into the product, such as objectives and key results page, email boilerplates. Note that these are just screenshots of Notion pages, which do not necessarily require much time!

9/ Introduces scarcity to pricing- $10 for the first 30 copies, then raised price to $15, then to $29 once $2k sales were crossed.

10/ Then shared what she has learnt launching Newsletter OS to @IndieHackers. Do you see the pattern? Launch -> learn -> share learnings -> launch.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1319256547831238656

11/ Give your audience 'deadlines' to move them along the sales funnel! Mentions how price will be increasing from $15 to $29 at a specific timing, and how that price will likewise further increase to $49 at launch.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1320469762397360135

12/ Videos showing workflows of Newsletter OS! A short GIF is used to exhibit the idea. Most people also like the idea of learning from frameworks of others.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1321885420716806147

13/ October 30 2020: @JanelSGM announces how she is almost done with Newsletter OS product. Note the quick turnaround of 12 days- while she had to do more of brushing up + improving her existing workflow, she was very conscious of building the product in a quick and effective way

14/ Another feature of Newsletter OS- assets for newsletter directories. Instead of trying to do this alone, she relied on @Mike_Andreuzza for the design.

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1322221413948862467

15/ Make the launch interactive! Info-products are not necessarily interactive by design. But Janel manages to add interaction to the launch by having her buyers look for Easter eggs and post them on Twitter. Reward? A 30-min newsletter consult with her!

https://twitter.com/JanelSGM/status/1322240241915305995

This thread was also inspired by this great article by @buildinpublic_- aside from the high level ideas I also want to document the exact steps.

buildinpublic.xyz/interviews/how…