What if you could become 10x productive by reading a newsletter?

Not a list of tips and tools, nor the news, but deep dives on emerging technologies, and how to actually use them.

We spoke with Dylan Eastwood (Dils) who leads newsletter and content strategy for WGMI Media, and Founder, Dylan Scott, who gave us the full breakdown.

This is one of the more dynamic media companies we’ve covered, so with no wasting time, here’s what we’ll cover:

• The origin story.

• “Niching Up”

• The content strategy earning 60,000 subscribers (since January 2023).

• Their top channels (you won’t believe the second).

And so much more. Let’s get into it.

The Origin Story:

WGMI started as a Web3 media property and pivoted to covering AI, other emerging technologies, business, and making money (more on this later).

“We started the newsletter in January 2023. We’re just about to hit 60k subscribers, so you can imagine the last six months have been wild. We had been playing around with a few different newsletter formats in 2022, but we only started taking the newsletter seriously when we found a topic we fell in love with: AI (and specifically how you can use AI in business).”

“Obviously, AI started getting a lot of attention at the beginning of this year, and we decided to go all in for two reasons:

• We love using and researching new technologies;

• We love sharing tips and tricks for becoming more productive and making money online… AI is an incredible tool that levels the playing field and makes it possible for most people. It’s our mission to show people how.”

Many AI newsletters are doing well; we’ve covered some before, but there is a key difference.

WGMI takes a practical approach with this focus on emerging technologies. AI is popular now, but it’s not the only thing they cover.

As for Dils, it’s something you may not have seen coming. His background is not in AI or content. In his own words:

“I used to be a commercial contracts lawyer but hated it. Hiring a lawyer is outsourced worrying and I prefer to think about how things can go right than how can things go wrong.

Law was useful for one thing. It taught me I was quite good at writing (and arguably made me a better writer).

After I quit law, I started copywriting for several start-up businesses in Europe before finally deciding to make my own content.”

Clearly, it’s been going well.

Niching Up:

Choosing a topic is arguably one of the hardest parts of starting a newsletter. So many new (or prospective) newsletter writers agonize over what topic to cover.

• “What if I change my mind?”

• “Will I get bored of this?”

• “Is this topic going to be relevant in a few hours?”

These are just a few of the many questions that can plague us before starting.

There’s a lot of advice out there to niche down, and for good reason. It works. But it’s not the only way.

WGMI Media started by focusing on Web3 and expanded later to include more, not less. There are many ways to build a successful newsletter and media company.

This approach has clearly worked for the team, so you know that it’s certainly possible to successfully “niche up.”

Some examples:

• From Web3 to emerging technologies, including AI and more.

• From a single marketing tactic (like SEO) to all things marketing.

• From morning rituals to all things personal development/wellness.

• From daily business news, to the latest in multiple industries.

The examples go on.

Niching up has worked for WGMI, but it’s just the start.

Content Strategy to 60,000:

Topic Selection:

Dils approach:

“To find content, I spend a chunk of my day on Twitter, Reddit and YouTube. This gives me a good idea of what topics are trending, and gives me more article ideas than I can feasibly write in one lifetime.

To decide on which topics to prioritize, I ask 3 simple questions:

• Will readers be able to use this information to become more productive or successful?

• Will entrepreneurs and/or tech enthusiasts want to share this information with their friends or colleagues?

• Will this blog rank on Google (i.e. is there a keyword opportunity)?

If I answer yes to any of these 3, it makes its way onto my to-do list (prioritizing trending topics). If I’m really stuck, I just write what I find most interesting that day. My best-performing articles are, without exception, the articles I enjoyed writing.”

Reread the last sentence. It may not always work for everyone, but it’s worth considering…