How much should I charge to set up a newsletter for someone else?

I charge people $3,000 to set up a newsletter. On another call I quoted $3,500 for the same idea. We get them off the ground and running within a week or two.

What's included?

• Templates
• The welcome email
• The signup survey
• Meta ads set up and ready to run

Everything is set up so it's ready to go. When we're done, they're basically just ready to run with it.

Why charge that much for a week of work?

It does take us a decent amount of time. But the price is really about everything we've learned.

"It's that whole thing of you're selling your expertise, not your time."

I wish I'd had this when I started, because we got stuff wrong. My worst newsletters are the ones I started at the beginning, because I didn't know what I was doing.

What's the mistake you can't undo?

The signup survey. You can't go back later and get people to fill it out. That doesn't happen. You either do it right from day one or you miss out. That's just how it is.

That's a big reason setup is worth paying for, and why I'd rather a client start with it than fix it later. For the email side, see one welcome email or a sequence. For the survey, see what to ask new subscribers and changing a survey after launch.

What happens after the setup?

You'd start getting cheap subscribers quickly. At the beginning, you'd be set. After two or three months, you either figure it out yourself or come back to me.

It's a great way to hit the ground running, correctly and fast. Then the client runs with it.

Is there an ongoing option?

Two that I've used:

• Hourly consulting. An insurance agent paid me $500 an hour to consult on starting a newsletter. He has money and thinks it's a big play.
• A partnership. With one partner, I run the Meta ads in perpetuity, help him with anything and do all the back-end work. We do calls all the time. All he has to do is content.

For what the ads side costs, see whether $10,000 in Facebook ads is enough to launch.