Podcast Summary: "9 Things Beginners Should Ignore When Starting a Newsletter"

Podcast: Growth In Reverse
Episode: 9 Things Beginners Should Ignore When Starting a Newsletter
Hosts: Chenell Basilio & Dylan Redekop
Release Date: October 8, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Chenell Basilio and Dylan Redekop tackle common pitfalls and distractions that new newsletter creators face, especially advice that leads to wasted time and energy. Drawing from their own experience and industry stories, they break down the things you shouldn't focus on when starting out—and often, even after you've grown past just a handful of subscribers. Their aim: save listeners from the overwhelm, help cut through the noise, and point out what really matters when you’re just getting started.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Welcome Sequence & Over-Engineering Your First Emails

• Main Idea: Don’t waste time on elaborate welcome sequences (i.e., multiple onboarding emails).
• Chenell: “The first mistake I see beginners making (and sometimes intermediate folks)—writing a welcome sequence. I just... in the early days, you probably don't even need a welcome email. Like, if you have three subscribers, you probably don't need to be focused on getting your perfect welcome email set up before you try and find subscribers.” [02:29–03:12]
• Advice: A basic “thanks for joining” works. Focus on finding and connecting with subscribers before building complex automations.

2. Promotion Over Perfection

• Main Idea: Don’t obsess over tools, landing pages, or technical details before validating your idea.
• Chenell: “Even a fancy landing page—probably don't need it at the beginning, probably don't even need a form. Go manually, find 10, 15, 20 people to sign up...I would really push back on ‘no one in my network would be interested.’ You probably do have someone.” [05:24–06:08]
• Dylan: “Figure it out first before you…buy a domain and you create a landing page...” [06:08–06:24]

3. Tool Paralysis: Picking an ESP or Platform

• Main Idea: Don’t obsess over selecting the perfect email service provider (ESP).
• Chenell: “By far the biggest question I get is, do I choose Beehive or Kit or Substack? Which one’s perfect? Doesn’t matter…Just pick something and don’t look back for six months.” [09:33–10:12]
• Dylan: “This was a hill I died on back in the day…stop wasting your time trying to pick the perfect tool. Just start writing.” [10:12–11:27]

4. List Cleaning Automation—Way Too Soon

• Main Idea: Don’t set up complex list cleaning automations with just a handful of subscribers.
• Chenell: “What's a good automation to clean my email list? …how many subscribers do you have? And they're like, 80. And I'm like, no. Stop trying to clean your email list when you have 80 people on it.” [13:08–13:55]
• Dylan: “I wonder what number of subscribers…becomes a detriment…It’s a good call out.” [13:58–14:51]

5. Advanced Automations/Funnels/Segments

• Main Idea: Don’t bother with advanced automation, funnels, or segmentation until you’ve established real traction.
• Chenell: “Fancy automations—people try and set up…super fun automation to make sure that, you know, after seven days of not opening, they'll get this email...Just focus on the thing that matters, which is finding out what content people want and finding the people who are going to continue reading.” [15:11–16:10]

6. Paid Ads — Not Needed at First

• Main Idea: Running paid ads to grow your newsletter before you have validated content or an audience is usually a waste.
• Chenell: “I am not a fan of someone starting a newsletter and immediately starting paid ads...you're wasting your money...until you find that core format for your content...there's no reason to go find people for something that you're not sure what it is yet.” [16:48–17:18]
• Dylan: Cites industry debate, “Louis Nichols from Sparkly...he’s a big proponent of the complete opposite...spending money upfront to validate, whereas you're saying, save money...” [18:36–20:43]
• Chenell, reaffirming: “Organic subscribers are a better measure of whether something's working versus paid subscribers...” [21:39–22:38]

7. Newsletter Recommendations (Swaps) — Too Early

• Main Idea: Don’t focus on getting partner recommendations or swaps when you’re just starting.
• Chenell: “You should find your first few hundred subscribers from social media or talking to friends and having them share it...newsletter recommendations...they're not as high quality as someone finding you on LinkedIn via a post and then going to find your landing page.” [23:35–24:19]

8. Analytics Obsession & Attribution

• Main Idea: Don’t obsess over attribution or set up advanced analytics when you’re just getting started.
• Chenell: “Perfect analytics or analytics in general...they're just focused on the numbers on the backend versus, like, actually pulling people in…if you can't figure out where they came from, it's okay...let's just try and get people on the list.” [24:32–26:03]
• Simple Solution: Ask new subscribers in the welcome email how they found you.

9. Viral Growth, Scale-Hacking, and Overcomplicating

• Main Idea: Seeking viral growth or scalable “hacks” is the wrong goal at the start.
• Chenell: “People focus on these huge numbers, like, how do I get 50 subscribers today? And I'm like, okay, you just got started. How can we get three?” [28:34–29:11]
• Dylan: Shares DM outreach as a practical beginner’s tactic—manually connect with people. [29:11–30:58]

10. Other Technical Overkill: Double Opt-In, “Resend to Unopens,” etc.

• Dylan: “Don’t worry about double opt in in the beginning...Just get people on your list.” (with legal caveats re: jurisdiction) [33:03–34:20]
• “Resend to unopened” feature isn’t as helpful as it promises, and can annoy readers. [34:21–35:55]

11. Content Repurposing: Leverage & Repeat

• Don’t: Be afraid to share the same ideas in multiple places (i.e., post and ghost).
• Dylan: “Repurpose your content. Remix it…the self-awareness that we're sharing the same thing is…crippling…You could literally talk about the same thing a hundred times and people are not going to remember that you said that. So everyone's not watching you like you're watching yourself.” [35:55–38:22]

Quick List: What Do You Actually Need to Start?

Chenell boils it down to four true essentials:

• An idea and a basic content template (“have an idea for what you're going to send…valuable for a specific person”)
• An ESP (any free or basic plan is fine, once you need it)
• A way to collect emails (can be as simple as a Google Sheet before an actual form)
• A basic email address to send from, not your Gmail or personal account
  [38:45–40:31]

“I want to set the record straight that you can get started with so much less than you think you need to build a successful newsletter and that kind of thing. Focus on all the crazy stuff later.” — Chenell [40:06–40:31]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dylan (on spicy takes): “I think mild salsa should be outlawed…Let's get these takes like five chili peppers or whatever spice level we need to take em up to.” [01:07–01:22]
• Chenell (on distractions): “Stop trying to clean your email list when you have 80 people on it…just try it. Like, you could literally send a personal email to each of these people and say, do you enjoy this content?” [13:08–13:55]
• Dylan: “Planning is like procrastination. You'll just drive yourself silly with planning because it's just a form of procrastination.” [32:12–32:20]
• Chenell: “If you're just getting started and you don't have all your ducks in a row…going viral is going to be the worst thing for you.” [32:20–32:53]
• Dylan: “Repurpose your content. Remix it…the self awareness…is sometimes crippling, but actually we need to really ignore that. And I'm guilty of this a lot.” [35:55–37:38]
• Chenell: “Everything else is a distraction. Just look at getting a good idea, a good piece of content that people are willing to talk about and share and that's pretty much all you need.” [41:13–41:21]

Segment Timestamps

• [00:00–01:07] – Episode intro and the problem: wasting time as a beginner
• [02:29–04:28] – The welcome sequence fallacy and focusing on basics
• [05:24–06:08] – Validating with your network vs. technical throttle
• [09:33–11:27] – Tool paralysis and why choosing ESP is non-essential
• [13:08–13:55] – Don’t bother cleaning a tiny list
• [15:11–16:10] – Fancy automations: skip it, focus on value
• [16:48–22:38] – Why paid ads are mostly a waste early on; organic vs. paid validation
• [23:35–24:19] – Newsletter recommendations: don't worry about swaps when brand new
• [24:32–26:03] – Analytics and attribution: keep it minimal
• [28:34–29:11] – Going viral/super-scaling: not the priority
• [32:12–32:20] – “Planning is procrastination”
• [33:03–34:20] – Double opt-in: not a concern at the start
• [35:55–38:22] – Repurposing content and overcoming mental blocks

Final Takeaways

1. You can start with almost nothing—don’t overinvest time or energy into platforms, automations, or analytics.
2. Get a handful of real readers first (from your network, DMs, or social posts) before building infrastructure.
3. Focus on creating and sharing valuable content for a real, specific audience.
4. Ignore the advice that leads to over-preparing, over-planning, and overcomplicating.

Dylan: “What really matters is…you need a good idea and you need to share that idea in a new and interesting way.” [40:31–41:07]

Useful for Listeners Who...

• Are about to launch a newsletter or are struggling with where to start
• Feel overwhelmed by conflicting beginner advice online
• Want practical, experience-based guidance on what not to focus on
• Need permission to “start messy” and get feedback early

Next Steps

Once you have your first subscribers and are sending actual issues, check out the rest of Growth In Reverse for deeper strategies on growth, monetization, and retention.

For more, visit vault.growthinverse.com for Chenell’s video vault after you're past the very basics.