Inbox Insider #42 - November 16th, 2025

Welcome to Issue #42 of "Inbox Insiders": Your Email List-Building Backstage Pass

In this issue:

1. By the Numbers: What worked and what didn't
2. Deep Dive: Winners Always Quit

Welcome to Issue #42

"Inbox Insider" is my Sunday newsletter sharing the behind-the-scenes of what I'm doing to grow my email list to 100,000.

I share what works, what doesn't, and how I'm growing.

Thanks for reading.

Let's dive in:

By The Numbers:

My Email List

• Total Subscribers: 14,484 (last week: 14,455)
• 5* Subscribers (engaged in the last 30 days): 9,742 (last week: 9,397)

My Ad Account - Lead Magnets:

• Ad Spend: $385 (last week: $385)
• Gross Leads from FB: 193 (last week: 211)
• Cost per lead: $1.99 (last week: $1.82)

Instagram (@emailschool): Started Feb 1st

• Total Subscribers: 547 (-2 this week)

​Email School (Email-Focused Membership):

1. Paying Members: 244 (+3 from last week)
2. Monthly Recurring Revenue: $4,966 (+114/mo from last week)

Other Audiences:

• ​LinkedIn Newsletter: (173 subscribers; +0 this week)
• ​YouTube: 777 (+5 this week)
• Featured Video: Welcome Email Sequence Tutorial​

Deep Dive: Winners Always Quit

Happy New Year

I'm not much of a "resolutions" guy.

Systems over goals and whatnot.

But, a few years ago, I grabbed a Sharpie and scrawled 5 resolutions on it.

• Floss my teeth (stuck with it).
• Read 10 pages of a book (fell asleep and gave up).
• Write a daily email (still going 4 years strong).
• Hold a 1-minute plank daily (haha, nope).
• Do 100 push-ups (let's talk about it).

Ok, so push-ups.

At the time, I was in OK shape. But I didn't do push-ups.

On January 1, 2022, I did push-ups in front of my family in the living room.

I did 20 before collapsing in exhaustion.

I eventually did 100, but it took me an hour.

I was so sore the next day I could barely move.

January 2nd, I got the 100 push-ups in... but it took me even longer.

I powered through, sore and stubborn.

I stuck with it, and by the end of January, I could knock them out pretty quickly.

I'd do 40-50, then rest 30 seconds, do 20-30 more, rest, and then finish.

Took about 5 minutes.

Physical Therapy

By May of that year, my shoulder really started to hurt.

I couldn't lift my right arm above 90 degrees.

Seems silly in hindsight, but I didn't connect the dots that perhaps the push-ups are hurting my shoulder.

So I went to Physical Therapy.

They asked if I'd been in an accident. No.

Fall off a ladder? No.

Sports injury? No.

"Hmm...not sure what would cause this," the doc said, "But your shoulder joint is all messed up and pinching a nerve."

I sat quietly, confused, like a cow looking at a new fence.

After a few moments, I offered this:

"Oh...uh, I've been doing 100 push-ups a night for 5 months," I admitted.

"OH that's it!" He said. "Stop doing that."

He happily charged me hundreds of dollars and gave me a protocol to reset my shoulder joint.

No more push-ups.

My Viral Moment

I sent a great email on Friday about the U.S. Mint ceasing the production of pennies.

It costs three cents to make a one-cent piece.

Didn't make much sense (cents?) so they mercifully stopped.

In my email, I gave people permission to stop doing things that didn't make sense.

It went viral (for me, at least): 19 likes. 1 share. 2 replies. 🤣

It struck a nerve.

But, I gotta admit: I felt like a hypocrite.

Winners Always Quit

If you want to be good at something, you'll have to quit something else.

If you want to lose weight, you'll have to quit eating junk food.

If you want a great morning routine, you'll have to quit going to bed so late.

If you want a closer relationship with your loved ones, you'll have to quit watching so much Netflix.

Get it?

You shouldn't keep doing everything all the time and expect your life to improve.

To win, you have to pick something to focus on and then quit doing everything else that doesn't get you closer to your goal.

Do Your Job

So, what is the job of this Newsletter?

Well, it was to document the wild world of list-building on my quest to build a 100k Email List.

About 219 people get this Sunday Email.

Another 173 read it on LinkedIn (probably a lot of the same people).

When I started:

• Email List: 13,198
• 5* Subscribers: 8,455
• Email School Members: 177
• MRR from Email School: $2,910

Now?

• Email List: 14,484
• 5* Subscribers: 9,742
• Email School Members: 244
• MRR from Email School: $4,966

So in about 9 months, I've added 1,300 net subscribers, ~1,300 5* subs, ~70 members, and $2k MRR.

At this pace, I'll retire before I get to 30K subs, let alone 100K subs.

But each Sunday, I dutifully pull up my laptop and give you an update on how slow it's all going.

Might as well update you on some paint drying or how my beard is growing in.

So, I'm quitting this Sunday Newsletter.

Serial Quitter

I've quit lots of things:

1. FB Ad Agency (2017-2022): I used to run people's Facebook Ads
2. VIP Days (2023-2024): Hire me for a day and let me knock out your to-do list
3. Live Events (2019; 2023-2024): I haven't hosted a live event since June 2024
4. The FAM (2019-2022): This was a marketing membership about Funnels + Ads
5. The Cody Builds a Business Podcast (2018-2022): 4 years. 450 episodes. Documenting the journey because Gary Vee said.
6. The Morning Story Podcast (January - June 2024): I did a daily storytelling podcast to prove to you that you'll never run out of stories.
7. List Builder Lab Free Skool Group (August 2023-November 2024): I set up this free Skool group and grew it to ~1,200 members before shutting it down

The more stuff I quit, the more I win.

It makes space for something else.

Something greater.

Something more aligned.

Something more useful (for me and for you).

Not sure what new thing I'll bring in at this point.

But this Sunday newsletter ain't it.

So, thanks for being here.

If you wanna revisit any stop along the journey, all issues live on in the LinkedIn newsletter.

​https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/inbox-insider-7291974502647767041/​

Looking forward to whatever is next.

Thanks again for reading.

~ Cody

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