Inbox Insider #20 - June 15, 2025

Welcome to Issue #20 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: When in doubt...sketch it out
3. Up Next: What I'm working on this week

Welcome to Issue #20

"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: 14,266 (last week: 14,205)
• Added last week (net): 57 (last week: -2,018)
• 5* Subscribers (engaged in the last 30 days): 9,439 (last week: 9,611)

My Ad Account - Lead Magnets:

• Ad Spend: $454 (last week: $454)
• Gross Leads from FB: 287 (last week: 259)
• Cost per lead: $1.58 (last week: $1.76)
• Analysis: Easy. Steady. Stable. Didn't think about it.

Instagram (@emailschool): Started Feb 1st

• Total Subscribers: 445 (+0 4his week)

​Email School (Email-Focused Membership):

1. Paying Members: 225 (-1 from last week)
2. Monthly Recurring Revenue: $4,077 (-$40/mo from last week)

Other Audiences:

• ​LinkedIn Newsletter: (147 subscribers; +1 this week)
• ​Threads: 24 followers (+0 this week)
• ​YouTube: 654 (+2 this week)

Analysis:

• I need to find a system to post on social media more (IG/Threads and YouTube).
• I haven't posted in ages, and it shows

Deep Dive: What I Buy

I operate a lean, laid-back solo business.

No team.

No contractors.

No office space.

I pay myself a reasonable salary.

Which means I spend money on two things:

• Ads
• Training

I've spent $23,340 so far on ads this year, which is about $4k per month.

This tracks to roughly 10% of my monthly revenues as I've averaged about $45K per month YTD.

When I'm launching, I spend more.

When I'm plotting, I spend less.

INVESTING IN MYSELF

I'm no stranger to investing in myself and my business.

I've joined $10K Masterminds, where I joined $12.5K Masterminds, where I hired $50K coaches.

I used to collect coaches like Pokémon cards.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I got myself into financial hot water when COVID shut everything down.

...which is a story for another day.

I remember the pain of getting fired in December '22.

I would have paid anyone any amount of money to ease the pain.

Luckily, (a) that's not a service and (b) I couldn't have afforded it anyhow.

I just had to endure it and get to work.

Eventually, it came time to invest back in the business.

MY MENTORING MANTRA

Here's my 3-step process I use before hiring someone:

1. Find someone who's been where I wanna go
2. Hire them in the most intimate way I can afford
3. Implement

Depending on my budget, this may mean downloading their lead magnet (free) or hiring them for a VIP Day ($ 10,000-$ 20,000).

Whatever I'm working on, I find the person who's great at that and hire them.

TIME COUPONS

I heard it said once that "Money is a time coupon."

Instead of taking forever to figure something out on my own...

Trying, failing, and iterating...

I pull out my wallet and buy some time coupons.

WHAT I BUY

My business is comprised of 3 revenue-generating chunks:

1. A coaching program
2. 2 memberships
3. Mini-workshops

I have coaches, mentors, ane experts in all areas.

From oldest to newest:

MEMBERSHIPS

If you have a membership site (or want to) you should hire Stu McLaren.

I went to his membership event in 2018 and joined his coaching program.

It's gone through some iterations, but I'm still in it 8 years later.

It's called "Connect Mastermind" and it's for 6-figure membership site owners.

It's limited to 100 people, and I think the current enrollment cost is around $15,000.

Many (like me) joined a while ago, so we pay less than that 😉

It has an extremely high retention rate, and it's a lot of fun.

The best part: in-person events (1 or 2 per year).

COACHING

I've known about Taki Moore since attending an event of his in 2016.

Top notch.

5 stars.

Super smart, funny, and shoeless Australian dude.

About a year ago, I had 8 people in a 1:1 coaching program, I was drowning in fulfillment, and couldn't scale.

So, I finally joined his BlackBelt coaching program.

In the last year, I've had 31 people join my Laidback Coaching Program and it was the primary revenue generator.

When I signed up, it was $30K per year, and I've roughly 10x'd my investment.

WORKSHOPS

I don't remember when or where I met Justin DeMers and Sarah Temte.

Maybe through Stu?

But in September 2020, I bought a mini-workshop about mini-workshops called "Mini Workshop Magic."

It was about how to use short, paid training to sell your backend stuff.

I paid $27 and, since then, have sold thousands and thousands of mini workshops.

Hard to calculate my ROI, but let's assume it's over $100K in revenue from a $27 training I bought in 2020.

I buy everything they sell.

It pays off.

That's it.

That's what I spend.

Let's say $50K in Facebook Ads.

Another $50K in professional development (courses, coaching, travel, events, mentors, etc).

More when I need it.

Less when I don't.

And I always... I mean always ... ROI.

Thanks for reading.

~ Cody "Self-Investor" Burch

P.S. I have three spots in my Laidback Coaching Program. If you'd like me to install my lean, laid-back business systems into your business... reply with "COACHING" and I'll get you the details.

What's Next:

1. I'm hosting a new workshop called "Flashback Funnels" where I share my system for turning old, underused resources into cold hard cash. Click here to register your seat.​
2. My June Implementation spots sold out in 48 hours. However, I'm considering opening up some spots in July where we spend a few hours together and tackle your marketing to-do list. Reply with JULY in the subject line, and I'll get you the details.

Thanks for reading this issue of "Inbox Insiders."

See you next week,

~ Cody

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