In today's episode, Ethan Brooks (Austin Business Review), Alyssa Dulin (Kit), and Jonathan Barshop (Modern Wisdom) join Matt and Kolby to discuss how to monetize a local newsletter with services instead of ads, what AI is actually doing to email deliverability, and the unconventional growth tactics that move a podcast in 2026.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
03:00 Ethan Brooks on Austin Business Review and Local Media
07:30 Why Local Newsletters Are Best Monetized as Services (Not Ads)
10:40 Selling Austin: $300K From Under 1,000 Readers
13:00 The $25K-in-8-Weeks Concrete Leads Side Business
22:00 Ethan's Two Frameworks: Valuable Audience + Media Monetization
32:00 Alyssa Dulin on AI in the Inbox
35:00 The New Curator in Town — How AI Is Rewriting Deliverability
46:00 The One-Word Reply Tip That Beats Every Other Engagement Tactic
52:00 Google Postmaster Tools: The Most Overlooked Deliverability Tool
1:01:00 Jonathan Barshop on Building a Podcast That Actually Grows in 2026
1:11:00 Why Premise Beats Production
1:18:00 The Cross-Promo That Supercharged My First Million
1:25:00 Engineering "Viral" Moments — The Tim Ferriss + Edward Norton Trick
1:42:00 Modern Wisdom's Tour Model and 12-Partner Sponsorship Strategy

📌 Resources Mentioned:

🔗 Connect with Ethan Brooks:

🔗 Connect with Alyssa Dulin:

LinkedIn

🔗 Connect with Jonathan Barshop:

LinkedIn

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Inside a Top 10 Spotify Podcast Business, Local Newsletters To Agency Funnel, Will AI Change Email Marketing Forever?