Growth In Reverse: Newsletter & Email Growth

Steve Kamb bought the domain for NerdFitness.com in 2007 and grew it into a 45-person, SEO-driven coaching company. But then he burned out. Badly. He demoted himself twice, and eventually stepped away from running the business entirely — all so he could do the one thing he actually loved: write.
In this episode, Steve joins us to talk about his new book How to Try Again, the hard lessons from 17+ years of building Nerd Fitness, and why starting over isn't a failure — it's a skill.
His PACT framework (Pause, Accept, Change, Try) offers a practical roadmap for any creator who's ever felt stuck, burned out, or tempted to quit.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
How Steve built Nerd Fitness from a blog into a 45-person company
Why he demoted himself out of his own CEO role
The brutal reality of pandemic-era burnout and what it taught him about chasing the wrong things
Why "all or nothing" thinking almost always fails
His four-step PACT framework for starting over after burnout or failure
The question he asked that changed everything
Why writing two articles a week for 10 years was the real engine behind Nerd Fitness
The danger of modeling celebrity success over relatable success
How Steve separated his personal brand from Nerd Fitness
What success actually looks like for Steve now
LINKS MENTIONED
SteveKamb.com
How To Try Again (Steve's Book)
NerdFitness.com
Kit — email platform used by Steve and the hosts
LLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
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Check out the 30 Days of Growth: 30daysofgrowth.co/
Get the Growth Vault: growthinreverse.com/vault
***
Alyssa Dulin is Kit's deliverability expert.

She joined us to pull back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood forces shaping newsletter success: deliverability.
We sat down with her to unpack why emails land in spam, what the big Gmail and Yahoo changes really mean for individual creators, and how to build a sending reputation that lasts. From domain warmups to fake opens to bot clicks, this episode covers the stuff most newsletter creators won't learn until something goes wrong.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The custom domain mistake tanking open rates — and how to make the switch
Why your sender reputation works like a credit score, and what "starting at zero" actually means for deliverability
The top 3 subscriber engagement signals ranked by impact
How long you should wait before removing inactive subscribers
What actually happens to your sender reputation if you take a break from sending 
Alyssa's deliverability checklist for newsletter creators
How to onboard Creator Network and "recommendation" subscribers without hurting deliverability
The uncomfortable truth about whether your open rates and click rates are even real
How AI inbox summaries are becoming the new gatekeeper between your email and your reader
How to safely increase your send frequency without triggering spam filters

LINKS MENTIONED
Kit — email platform used by Alyssa and the hosts
Google Postmaster Tools — monitor your domain reputation and complaint rates with Gmail
SendGauge — Alyssa's new deliverability intelligence platform (beta)
Deliverability Defined Podcast — Alyssa's podcast with the deliverability back catalog
Kit deliverability support: deliverability@kit.com
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform.

Check out the 30 Days of Growth: 30daysofgrowth.co/
Get the Growth Vault: growthinreverse.com/vault
***
Chenell and Dylan break down everything that happened with the second annual 30 Days of Growth — 30 cross-promotions with 30 different newsletter creators, published as a daily email series over 30 consecutive days. They cover what worked, what flopped, why Chenell wishes she'd done opt-ins instead of opt-outs, how 2,086 new subscribers came in (beating last year's 1,757), and which tips from the series they found most compelling — from AI-powered subject line analysis to a 5x landing page conversion boost from changing one button.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Why Chenell decided to run 30 Days of Growth for a second time 
The biggest mistake they made with subscriber onboarding this year 
Why daily newsletters can quietly hurt engagement and deliverability 
The surprising ROI of referral incentives and private podcast feeds 
Why collaborations create long-term relationship leverage beyond subscriber growth 
The operational reality of coordinating 30 creators in 30 days 
Whether 30 Days of Growth will return again next year 
LINKS MENTIONED:
30DaysofGrowth.co
https://helloaudio.fm/
The Growth Vault
The GIR Pro Community
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform.

Get Sam's FREE $500K Launch Breakdown >> growthinreverse.com/500k
Get Instant Access to Chenell's Growth Vault >> growthinreverse.com/vault

***
What does a $500,000 digital product launch actually look like behind the scenes?
In this episode, we welcome back Sam Vander Wielen to the show. She's breaking down the exact strategy behind her recent 4-day launch that generated over $500,000 in revenue — with only about $24,000 in Meta ad spend.
Sam walks us through the entire launch machine: how she generated 11,000 webinar registrations, why she treats Meta ads like a social media channel, the psychology behind her webinar structure, and the surprising role personalized VideoAsk responses played in boosting attendance and conversions.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The exact webinar strategy behind a $500k launch in 4 days 
 Why Sam treats Meta ads like a social media content channel 
 The personalized VideoAsk tactic that boosted webinar attendance 
 How she generated 11,000 webinar registrations 
 The subtle webinar psychology most creators completely miss 
 Why she believes creators should focus on ONE flagship product 
 The “Olive Garden Effect” philosophy for customer retention and referrals 
 Her secret trick to sending webinar replays that dramatically increased replay consumption 
 The biggest mistakes creators make with launches and digital products 
LINKS MENTIONED:
The FREE $500K Launch Breakdown >> growthinreverse.com/500k
Sam Vander Wielen Official Website
Sam’s Sidebar Newsletter
On Your Terms Podcast
When I Start My Business, I’ll Be Happy
VideoAsk
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn
Dylan: LinkedIn | Substack | Instagram
OUR NEWSLETTERS
growthinreverse.com
growthcurrency.net
Subscribe & Leave a Review:
Love what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, and if you found this episode helpful, leave us a rating & review on your favorite podcast platform.

Check out Jillian & Jordan's Growth Lever here: https://growthinreverse.com/loveleigh-popups/
Join 30 Days of Growth here: 30daysofgrowth.co