Side Gig Wire is published by Byte Foundry, which also makes SendingRight, one of the newsletter tools mentioned in this article.

“The money is in the list” is one of the oldest sayings in online business, and it has outlived every platform that was supposed to replace it. Here’s the reason in one sentence: a follower is someone a platform lets you reach; a subscriber is someone who lets you reach them.

Renting versus owning

When you build a following on a social network or a marketplace, you’re building on rented land. The platform decides:

  • Who sees your posts. A change to the feed can halve your reach overnight, and you’ll never be told why.
  • What it costs. Fees and commissions go up; “boosting” a post to reach your own followers costs money.
  • Whether you can contact your customers at all. Marketplaces often limit how you can message buyers. Etsy, for example, doesn’t let sellers add buyers to a marketing list without their consent.
  • Whether you exist there tomorrow. Accounts get suspended, sometimes by mistake, sometimes for good.

None of that makes platforms bad. They’re where new customers discover you. The trick is to treat them as the front door and your email list as the house: use the platforms to be found, and the list to stay in touch.

What a list does that nothing else does

  • It reaches everyone. An email goes to every subscriber’s inbox, not to whoever an algorithm picks.
  • It travels with you. Switch platforms, change your offer, start a second gig: your list comes along.
  • It turns one sale into many. Most small businesses earn more from repeat customers than from new ones, and the list is how you reach them when you have something new.
  • It’s the asset. If you ever sell your side business, a healthy list of customers who opted in is part of what a buyer pays for.

How to start one properly

  1. Choose a newsletter tool. Mailchimp, Kit and beehiiv are well-known options, and SendingRight (made by our publisher) is another. Look for signup forms, double opt-in, an easy unsubscribe and fair pricing as your list grows.
  2. Give people a reason to join. Not “join my newsletter” but “get first pick of holiday dates”, “new designs before they’re listed”, or “one practical tip a month”.
  3. Put the signup everywhere. Your profiles, your website, your email signature, a card in every order, a QR code on your flyer.
  4. Ask, don’t add. Only add people who said yes. Double opt-in, where people confirm by clicking a link in an email, keeps your list clean and your consent records solid.
  5. Write to them. A list you never email goes cold. Send something useful when you have something useful: news, an opening, a how-to, a short story about the work. Mix in offers; don’t send only offers.
  6. Follow the rules. In the US, CAN-SPAM requires honest “From” lines and subject lines, your postal address in commercial emails, and a working unsubscribe that you honour promptly. Other countries have their own rules, often stricter.

And social media?

Keep posting. Social is where people discover you, and your posts give them a reason to sign up. The best habit is to connect the two: every few posts, invite followers onto your list (“I send openings to my email list first”). Over time, your followers become subscribers, and your subscribers become customers who don’t depend on any one platform’s goodwill.

Sources

  1. FTC: CAN-SPAM Act, a compliance guide for business: the US rules for commercial email: honest headers and subject lines, your postal address, a working unsubscribe
  2. Etsy: Seller Policy: an example of a platform's rules on contacting its buyers
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