How building a newsletter of fans and buyers set me free and how you can do the same

‘Trust me; you need to keep building your personal brand.’

I bit into my croissant at the air-conned little cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

‘Yeah, yeah, personal brand, personal schmand,’ I muttered.

‘I don’t get why it’s so important. I don’t want to be famous. I want to make my money and then disappear to some island somewhere.

I can reach out to people on the Internet and continue to get work as an illustrator. Why a brand? That sounds kind of icky.

I’m a freaking human, not a brand,’

My marketing-savvy friend continued telling me how I’d regret not building my online presence and newsletter.

She told me about how prized her newsletter is for her today. She uses it to promote her events and sell products. She also has three sponsors who pay her a total of $9k per month.

‘Trust me, you need to do this Alex.’

That was in 2014.

I didn’t always stay consistent with sharing content and growing my email list, but I’m so glad I kept it going.

Today I have over 160,000 followers and close to sixty thousand email subscribers. And I’m just getting…