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- From Newsletter Operator to Beach Club Winner: Matt McGarry's Passive Income Strategies
From Newsletter Operator to Beach Club Winner: Matt McGarry's Passive Income Strategies
3 Strategies Matt Used To Win beehiiv’s Paid-in-Full Bahamas Getaway
TG & Darwin Binesh
August 4th, 2023
Table of Contents
This creator spotlight has been reposted from creatorspotlight.com
Money trees do exist — at least, for beehiiv partners like Matt McGarry (the subject of this weeks Creator/Partner Spotlight).
This is one of our more in-depth Partner Spotlights so here is a quick TLDR:
Matt's Top Prize Triumph: Discover how Matt snagged the beehiiv Beach Club's top prize and what's next.
Growing The Hustle: Delve into the journey to 2 million subscribers, learning the detailed tactics behind this success.
Mastering Strategies: Uncover Matt's unique methods, including selecting the right niche, orchestrating great giveaways, and promoting like a superstar.
Earning Big with beehiiv: Learn the ins and outs of maximizing commissions with the beehiiv affiliate program, and how you can do the same.
Exclusive Access: Get a firsthand look at Matt's playbook for success and how to join the beehiiv Partner Program, all in an easy step-by-step guide.
beehiiv’s Partner Program is one of the most lucrative affiliate programs on the internet.
Partners earn 50% commission for 12 months on all revenue they refer.
That means if you refer 5 people per month, you could earn $20,000 per year – on autopilot.
And, at the beginning of Q2, 2023, we cranked up our partner program to make it even sweeter.
How?
We added a giveaway called the beehiiv Beach Club.
Our very first winner of the giveaway was Matt McGarry. As the top-performing beehiiv partner, he and a +1 will be off to the luxurious Atlantis resort in the Bahamas to relax and indulge for an entire week.
In this beehiiv partner spotlight, we interviewed Matt, founder of GrowLetter and Newsletter Operator, to break down how he was able to climb atop the leaderboards, securing the Atlantis all-inclusive trip.
Keep reading to learn the exact strategies he used to refer dozens of his audience members to beehiiv, so you can earn juicy commissions as a beehiiv partner (and possibly even secure Beach Club’s Q3 2023 prize – a trip to Maui)! Or simply grow your newsletter in general.
beehiiv’s Partner Program Overview
Before we dive into Matt’s journey and strategies, let’s cover the basics of the beehiiv partner program.
beehiiv has one of the most generous partner programs today. By joining (for free), you'll have the opportunity to generate recurring commissions while promoting one of the fastest-growing platforms.
Earning Opportunities:
Substantial Commissions: Earn a 50% commission for the first 12 months.
Unlimited Earning Potential: There's no ceiling on the commissions you can earn.
Growth Potential: beehiiv is growing at hyper-speed, and you can ride the wave up.
Generate Recurring Income: Leverage our platform (and growth) to create a dependable income stream.
Thanks to beehiiv’s Partner Program, Matt McGarry has been able to generate thousands per month passively.
Our Partner Program is a fantastic opportunity for beehiiv newsletter creators to tap into new revenue streams by recommending the platform they already use and love.
beehiiv’s Partner Program is a great opportunity for beehiiv publishers to earn additional revenue streams by simply recommending the platform they already use and love.
beehiiv Partner’s Beach Club: Round Trip Vacation Every Quarter
What’s better than a trip to a luxury, tropical resort for a week?
Getting to go for free.
Introducing the beehiiv Beach Club:
At the end of every quarter, we’re giving away an all-expenses-paid, weeklong trip to a luxury resort in the tropics (airfare included). Every three months, the top-performing beehiiv partner and a friend will get sent to an incredible luxury destination – the sweet icing on their beehiiv commission cake.
The inaugural contest launched in April and ended on June 30, 2023.
By becoming a beehiiv partner, you’ll automatically enter the current quarter’s Beach Club competition to climb the rankings with the chance to be crowned the winner.
Not only will you be swimming in partner commissions, but you could also be swimming with dolphins in paradise.
So what did he do to secure the prize?
Our first-ever Beach Club winner is Matt McGarry. He’s got two roundtrip tickets to Atlantis in the Bahamas thanks to his performance in bringing in new beehiiv users through his referral link.
We asked Matt about his business to find out the answer.
Matt shared, “I run a business called GrowLetter, which is a newsletter growth agency. I also have a newsletter called the Newsletter Operator, where I write about how people can grow and monetize their newsletters.”
Basically, Matt is the newsletter expert.
Not only does he run a newsletter agency where he helps people grow their newsletter businesses, but he also runs his own newsletter – and he doesn’t just talk the talk. He also walks the walk.
Check out some of his newsletter stats:
9,500+ active subscribers
59.1% open rate
23.3% click rate
His engagement is incredible, so he certainly knows what he’s doing with his newsletter.
But when it came to securing the victory to claim the Bahamas prize, he shared how he didn’t see himself winning it. He just thought it was a good fit to promote within his own businesses.
He mentioned, “When I first heard about it, I wasn't really expecting to win. I was promoting it, and then halfway through [the quarter], I was in second or third or fourth place. And I was like, ‘Well, I've got a shot at this.’ So I got to actually push and win.”
Matt also mentioned how despite winning the Beach Club, he’s more excited about the commissions he’s earning thanks to beehiiv’s Partner Program.
“It feels good to win – almost like half of what I did is just to win rather than actually for the prize. I’m a competitive person, so that's half the reward for me. So it was fun. I loved the contest. Honestly, the core of the affiliate program itself is if not more exciting than winning Beach Club – just the compensation you get from that commission. So I'm really excited for that, especially when you start to see the recurring affiliate commissions come in every single month. It really starts to add up.”
Before we dive into the exact strategies and tactics he used to claim victory in the Beach Club Giveaway, let’s back up a bit and journey through a bit of his backstory which helped lead to his success.
Growing the Hustle to 2 Million Subscribers
Although Matt started using beehiiv in February 2022, his email newsletter story began while working at The Hustle, one of the largest business newsletters in the world.
Matt shared, “I worked at The Hustle, which is an email newsletter that's grown to like 2 million plus subscribers. Towards the end of the stint there, I discovered beehiiv, and I was like, ‘This is really cool. It's built by the people behind Morning Brew. I started using the product. beehiiv is allowing us to do things that we built an entire engineering team at The Hustle to do. It's making this accessible to newsletter operators for a very low cost. And it's much easier to do”
At The Hustle, Matt was in charge of all things growth, primarily leveraging paid acquisition.
“My main role was leading newsletter growth for The Hustle, so basically helping them grow their email list and get more opens and clicks from the email list. We started at like 1.3 million subscribers. I helped them get to over 2 million by the time I left there using probably 95% paid acquisition.”
He continued, “I was involved in all the growth marketing. But, especially because of churn, when you want to add over a million email subscribers in a year, really the only way to do it is with paid acquisition. There's just no other organic channel that can get that type of volume, so we did a lot of paid ads.”
After his time at The Hustle, Matt decided to start freelancing before eventually starting his own newsletter agency. Shortly after, he started noticing some of his clients were using a new email service provider called beehiiv. One of his early clients was Milk Road, an early beehiiv success story and one of the fastest-growing newsletters on the platform.
He shared, “I started freelancing — helping other newsletters with growth. So I started working with the Milk Road, and that's where I first started using beehiiv to actually grow a business (not just dabbling around and exploring the product).”
Matt spoke about how using beehiiv made him realize how complicated other newsletter platforms were. It became one of those things where once he started using it himself, it didn’t seem like there were any other all-in-one options that matched up.
“[beehiiv] was super helpful in that, with the Milk Road and what we were doing. We were driving a lot of growth with paid acquisition; and if we used another email service provider, the amount of add-on tech and more manual stuff we had to do to make that happen would be so much more difficult.”
“So I kind of fell in love with the product back then in February of last year (2022) when I first started with Milk Road. And then I started working with other beehiiv newsletters, like Exec Sum and many more. Then I started using the product myself for my newsletter and have been recommending it to other clients over the past 6 to 12 months.”
Want to read more on the Milk Road story? Only 10 months after launching, the newsletter grew to 250,000 subscribers before being acquired. You can read the full case study here.
Partner Success Strategy #1: The Right Niche
Now, let’s get to some of the strategies Matt used to climb the rankings.
We asked him to share the specific tactics he implemented, so you can apply them as a beehiiv partner and earn more referral commissions.
Matt started by mentioning how he had an edge up in the Beach Club strictly because his niche is highly relevant to promoting beehiiv. Since Matt’s audience is people with a newsletter, or those looking to start one, promoting a newsletter platform couldn’t be more ideal.
He mentioned, “I don't have a huge audience. But I have a very good audience match for beehiiv, and I think that helped me a ton. Whereas, with others, it's a little bit more difficult, so I was kind of lucky in that way. Honestly, the strategies I'm using are not really groundbreaking. It's just kind of lucky to have a good fit there.”
If your audience has nothing to do with newsletters, there are still dozens of ways you can promote beehiiv to earn partner commissions. For instance, you could share the success of your own newsletter with your followers on social media. Or, you could start a blog, YouTube channel, or social media account to document the success you’re seeing with beehiiv.
Partner Success Strategy #2: “The Giveaway Bonus”
Matt’s second secret to success is what he calls the “Giveaway Bonus Strategy.” This is a unique strategy where he promotes beehiiv and also offers a bonus to his followers if they sign up using his referral link.
He shared, “What drove 80% of the referrals was a giveaway bonus strategy. I did one, maybe 15 days before the quarter ended. And I did one 30 days before that. It's basically me saying on my newsletter and on Twitter that I will give away three rewards for anyone who purchases beehiiv through my affiliate link. To get those rewards, people forward me an email with a receipt.”
Matt shared how the bonus he was offering his followers was a private coaching call with him, as well as courses that were really relevant and valuable to his audience…
Earn Passively With beehiiv’s Partner Program
The beehiiv Partner Program is an incredible way to earn passive income by sharing about your favorite newsletter platform.
At beehiiv, we made it our goal to make it one of the most generous partner programs online, giving you 50% of all revenue from referrals for 12 months. That means for the entire first year after someone signs up through your link, we’ll give you a 50% commission!
What’s even better is that we won’t cap you on your earnings. Whether you refer 5 users or hundreds, you’ll still receive a 50% commission. The income potential is truly limitless.
Since the average beehiiv customer pays $87 per month, if you get 20 people to sign up in a year, you’ll earn $10,440! If you get 50 people to sign up, that’s $26,100!
It’s easy (and free) to join the beehiiv Partner Program. Just click the button below; and in a few minutes, you’ll be fully set up.
Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get access to our beehiiv Partner Program playbook for a simple step-by-step guide to succeed.
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