Newsletter & Email Growth: Growth In Reverse
Growth In Reverse is the must-listen podcast for anyone serious about growing an email list and turning a newsletter into a thriving business. Hosted by Chenell Basilio and Dylan Redekop, two leading voices in the newsletter space, this show pulls back the curtain on how today’s top newsletter operators actually grow and make money. Episodes include deep-dive teardowns of the strategies behind the most successful newsletters. You’ll hear how creators like Justin Welsh, Codie Sanchez, Sahil Bloom, and other creator founders are building loyal audiences and turning subscribers into revenue. Learn how they attract traffic, increase conversions, boost retention, and scale without burning out. Whether you're launching your first newsletter or refining your growth engine, Growth In Reverse gives you proven tactics you can use right away. From onboarding systems and referral programs to sponsorships and paid products, this podcast helps you grow faster and smarter. If you’re ready to stop guessing and start applying what works, tune in and learn how the best are building newsletters that last.
Episodes
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“Creators overinvest in subscriber count and under-invest in content quality.” — Chenell Basilio
We went live on YouTube for the first time and opened up the floor for a full creator Q&A...
Get 30 proven strategies to grow and optimize your email list FREE >>
This week, we're playin' the hits!
Let's rewind the clock to December 2024. This episode was the very first episode we published—and it's been our most popular episode to date! In this very first episode, we dig into the 3,000+ hours of research Chenell has done into creators and uncovered some of the wildest ways successful newsletter creators have...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“I think you are being financially irresponsible if you do not have a newsletter.” — Nathan May, The Feed Media
The GIR Podcast is approaching it's 1st anniversary of publishing!
To celebrate, w...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“The quiz brings them in, the newsletter builds the relationship, and the community closes the loop.” — Milly Tamati, Generalist World
This week on Growth In Reverse, we sat down with Milly Tamat...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“Organic needs to be your biggest channel if you want a real audience that feels connected to you.” — Sean Griffey, Industry Dive
You might not have aspirations of building a $100m newsletter emp...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“People think automation sounds hard. But If you do automatic bill pay, direct deposit, an email autoresponder, you're automating.” — Joe Casabona, casabona.org
Chances are all of us writing news...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
Quick note: We ran a 30-day Social Growth Challenge that we opened to the public for a $100 fee to join.
But all purchasers of The Growth Vault were able to join for FREE ;)
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“I love the con...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“If you’re not exceptional at one of the Big 3 — it’s impossible to build a content business.” — Dylan quoting Matt McGarry
We're sharing the biggest stories, trends, and lessons from the newsle...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“Stop wasting time picking the ‘perfect’ newsletter tool. Just start publishing. You can always switch later." — Dylan
We're breaking down the most common mistakes newsletter creators make in the...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here—filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“I sent this short email—and got over 200 replies—when I usually get maybe 8 to 15. It was wild." — Chenell
In this episode, we're digging into the art (and science) of getting more replies to yo...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here! The Growth Vault is filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“One of the worst things you can do is send new subscribers to a dead-end thank you page. That kills engagement immediately." — Chenell
We're breaking down the most overlooke...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new offer for newsletter creators is here! The Growth Vault is filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“Sometimes less is more. Cut the clutter and highlight the one thing that matters." — Chenell
It's newsletter roast time 🔥🔥 We're putting the spotlight on Hobby Card Life: ...
Get 30+ video lessons and ideas for optimizing your newsletter: https://growthinreverse.com/vault
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“All roads point to the email list." — Sam Vander Wielen, Sam's Sidebar
In this episode, we interview Sam Vander Wielen—a lawyer-turned-creator who has sold over $9M in legal templates with a 50k-subscriber newsletter.
Sam shares how her motto of "All roads point to the email list" has helped he...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: Chenell's brand-new product —The Growth Vault— is here. Filled with newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
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“If content is king, AI is storming the castle." — Darren Vesterfelt, Mighty Networks
Chenell was just in Cleveland for the annual CEX conference. And she wasn't *just* in attendance—she was also ...
Join our September Social Growth Challenge: https://growthinreverse.com/social
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“You have to be first—or you have to be best. That's how you win at paid content." — Nathan May, The Feed Media
In this episode, we interview Nathan May, founder of The Feed Media.
Nathan shares how he turned a small, private newsletter into a $1M ARR business in under a year, and how his agency helps some of the...
>> Join the 30-Days of Growth Social Challenge: https://growthinreverse.com/social
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“The first 6 months taught me that consistency beats everything — even if you’re not perfect."
In this episode of the Growth In Reverse podcast, Dylan and Chenell rewind the clock to when Chenell was just starting her newsletter. She breaks down the two strategies that fueled her early growth to 11,0...
“If you spend 80% of your time making incredibly good content, you probably only have to spend 20% marketing it."
In this special episode, we’re bringing you Chenell’s conversation with Darrell Vesterfelt, VP of Growth at Mighty Networks, for a recent Creator Summit.
In the chat, Chenell talks about why she started a newsletter — and why she chose a newsletter — way back in December 2022.
Chenell and Darrell also dive into...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: https://growthinreverse.com/vault
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“During my last year as a CFO, I made more money from my newsletter and podcast than my full-time job." — CJ Gustafson, Mostly Metrics
We sit down with CJ Gustafson, former tech CFO and now full-time creator of two newsletters—Mostly Metrics and Looking For Leverage—and a podcast called Run The Numbers...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: https://growthinreverse.com/vault
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“You don’t need to create for everyone. You need to create for the people who value you most — and they’ll carry your newsletter further than you think." — Matt Johansen, Vulnu.com
We sat down with Matt Johansen, creator of the Vulnerable U newsletter (nearly 30,000 subscribers), to unpack how he’s gro...
The Growth Vault is LIVE: https://growthinreverse.com/vault
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“This is the underrated growth strategy every newsletter should be using.”
What if every subscriber could turn into 10 more?
In this episode of the Growth In Reverse podcast, Dylan and Chenell unpack one of the most underrated newsletter growth levers: referrals.
They explore how to turn one subscriber i...
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