Happy Subscribers

Episode Summary: I got home from Craft + Commerce late Saturday night, and by the time Jess and I sat down to record this on Monday afternoon, I had already taken two naps. (Sunday had one of its own, too.) My friend Jess Freeman of Jess Creatives somehow had a reel posted about Craft + Commerce before I'd even poured my coffee Monday morning — she has a child; I do not. 😂 Jess is a web designer,...

Episode Summary: I'm going to Europe for three weeks this July — Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Nice, Marseille, and Barcelona — and I have a lot of feelings about it. The last six years have been a lot: a pandemic at 30, an unhealthy relationship, a year and a half estranged from my parents, and a cross-country move to Nashville I was honestly afraid would close the door on the dreams I'd had sinc...

Episode Summary: What if building a loyal audience isn't about sending more emails… or optimizing click rates… or trying the latest marketing tactic? In this episode of Happy Subscribers, I'm joined by my real-life friend Steve Kamb — founder of Nerd Fitness, author of How to Try Again, and longtime newsletter writer — to talk about what it really takes to build an audience that sticks. It helps t...

Episode Summary: I'll be honest with you — this conversation was a long time coming. A year ago at a conference, my friend Justin Moore shared more of his thoughts on sponsorships with me, and I just let it sit. Now here we are, a whole year later, and I'm still debating whether to actually do anything about it — because every time I think about adding sponsorships to my plate, it feels like more...

Episode Summary: I did not expect to spend this episode nerding out about Taylor Swift as a brand strategist — but here we are. And honestly? It's the best possible way to explain what my guest Katie Trant means when she says "your niche is not your brand." Taylor went from country music to pop to indie folk to synth pop. Her audience (including Katie and me 😂) followed every single pivot. Becaus...

Episode Summary: You're already on Instagram, TikTok, Amazon storefronts — maybe more. You're posting constantly, showing up everywhere, and working haaaarrd. But if email isn't part of your strategy? You're not getting your full return on all of that time-consuming (and team-consuming) effort. Without email, money, relationships, and long-term security are being left on the table — and we don't l...

Episode Summary: Five years is a long time to work with someone, and what I love most about my relationship with Jason Norris is how much he trusts me to do what I do — and how much I've learned from watching him do what he does. Because Jason has a way of thinking about his email list that I don't hear from a lot of bloggers: He doesn't call it content. He calls it correspondence. Jason runs Reci...

Episode Summary: When I started email marketing as a personal finance blogger, I didn't know what I was getting into. Then strangers — on the other side of the world — started writing back. Not just clicking. Writing back, with their own money stories, their own fears, their own wins. That's when I understood: the inbox is one of the most human places on the internet. Toni Okamoto understood this...

Episode Summary: 100% email traffic growth. In one year. That's what happened for Liz Della Croce of The Lemon Bowl after 15 years of sending nothing but RSS emails — and it's exactly why I wanted her on the podcast. I just started personal training — and I went from finding out about the gym to having my first session on the calendar in under a week. There's something about committing to the righ...

Episode Summary: The most valuable audience isn't your biggest one — it's your most connected one. Welcome to the first episode in our Foodie Email Series — where we're diving into how food creators are turning attention into something more meaningful… and more sustainable. Because, yes — You can have a growing audience. You can have viral posts. You can have a lot of eyeballs on your content… …an...

Episode Summary: You're getting Pinterest traffic. People are clicking, landing on your blog, and then bouncing — no email opt-in, no capture, just visits that disappear. Eep, that's a wasted opportunity!! In this episode, I'm joined by Kayla Watkins, Pinterest strategist and agency owner. Kayla and her team help bloggers grow their revenue by repurposing their content on Pinterest — and today she...

Episode Summary: Yeah, I hear it. Me wrapping up work most days by 3pm might sound a little braggy. Maybe it is. A little. But I'm telling you about why I'm able to do this because how I got here has everything to do with where YOUR best energy needs to be going too — and I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't explain. I just know that if you're the one doing everything, all day, your best brai...

Episode Summary: If you've been running an online business for any amount of time, you know that every few years, something comes along that shifts everything. The way we create content, connect with our audience, run our businesses — it all gets reshuffled, and we find ourselves recalibrating all over again. AI is that thing right now. And if you've felt the pressure to figure it out, use it more...

How many emails should you be sending? It's a question I hear from content creators all the time, and the honest answer is: it depends. What I've noticed is that when I encourage people to send more than a few emails a week, there's often a little hesitation — a worry that it's too many, that it'll feel like too much, that their audience will get annoyed and start unsubscribing. But then there are...

Episode Summary: Today's episode is a little different — I'm sharing a guest appearance I made within the Food Blogger Pro membership, where Bjork Ostrom had their members submit email questions ahead of time. And y'all, food bloggers ask good questions. We covered a lot of ground: how often you should actually be sending emails, what makes a welcome sequence worth the setup, the surprisingly free...

Episode Summary: It's never been easier to create content. And somehow… it's never been harder to stand out. In this episode, I'm joined by Dorie Clark to talk about how to build a reputation that actually makes you known — even when everyone online (ahem, AI) sounds the same. Not only is she a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and one of the top business thinkers in the world, she can help us...

Episode Summary: Segmentation might sound really "techy," and while it is and there are technical elements, ultimately it's an opportunity for you to organize your subscribers based on HOW they want to hear from you and WHAT they want to hear from you.  By segmenting your email list, you're creating a happier environment for your subscribers to thrive in — giving them the content they want and exc...

Episode Summary: What do you do when the world around your work feels out of your control? When the blogging landscape shifts…
Algorithms change…
Goals you used to chase don't feel as motivating anymore…
You're also… tired? In this episode of Happy Subscribers, I'm joined by Danielle McGeough, Ph. D. — mom, professor, and women-centered coach who helps women in high-pressure jobs pursue bold goals...

Episode Summary: Curious how to grow your list, boost conversions with simple shifts, and use AI without losing your connection with your audience? Today's episode is a little different — I'm sharing a guest interview where I joined Tracy Beaver on her podcast, Create Online Business Success. Tracy was a guest on Happy Subscribers in 2025, and this time we flipped the roles. We talk honestly about...

Episode Summary: Most people don't come to me simply asking for "more emails." Clients often come to me because they don't know what's actually happening inside their email marketing — and that's kind of stressful. Like walking around in the dark without a flashlight. You want to know it's working — and you want a better plan going forward. Like, a real plan, a what-I-need-for-my-business email st...

Episode Summary: It's not every day that I get to rave about getting to listen to a lawyer talk about affiliate disclosures, accessibility compliance, and privacy policies. And yet… here we are. Excited! In this episode of Happy Subscribers, I'm joined by creator lawyer Brittany Ratelle (aka the Fine Printcess) to talk about something most of us would rather ignore: the legal blind spots in our on...

Episode Summary: Freebies are supposed to help grow your business but too often, they just collect downloads… and dust. In this episode, I'm joined by brand strategist, former Disney storyteller, and author Annie Franceschi to unpack why so many lead magnets fail and what actually makes a freebie work. Annie shares her Smart Freebie Formula: a simple, thoughtful framework for creating lead magnets...

Episode Summary: "If you can't explain why someone should choose you, your marketing has to work twice as hard." - Rich Brooks Most creators don't need MORE marketing ideas. They need a clearer answer to one question: "Why should someone choose me?" In this episode, I'm joined by Rich Brooks (founder of Flight New Media and host of The Agents of Change podcast) to talk about how to differentiate y...

Episode Summary: When I launched my podcast, I used Instagram, LinkedIn, and relationships with my peers in the online space to get the word out. You know what I never considered using?  Pinterest. Thanks to Andi Smiley, the podcast coach behind Friendly Podcast Guide, I got to learn about how to do this correctly, in a really sustainable way. Andi proves that Pinterest is a great way to get more...

Episode Summary: Most creators are sitting on years of valuable content — blog posts, emails, social captions, podcast episodes — but rarely stop to ask: "What content of mine deserves more attention?" "How could I package my ideas into a new revenue stream?" That's exactly why I invited workshop strategist Jake Wysocki from Intention Craft onto the podcast. This episode isn't just about "how to r...