Why I Redesigned My Email Newsletter Right After a $1M Launch Year

I’ve been in promo mode since mid-September. If you’re on my email list, thank you for surviving all those emails. This morning, I couldn’t even wait to make my coffee before sitting down to write to you.

Last week wrapped up my second and final live launch of 2026. Between those two launches alone, I generated over $1,000,000 this year. I’m still a little stunned typing that out.

But the most interesting part of this launch season wasn’t the number. It was an idea that hit me right in the middle of it.

The Epiphany I Had Mid-Launch

Picture this: I’m hosting a live webinar for 8,000 people. Over the next 24 hours or so, we sell $300,000 of the Ultimate Bundle®. It’s the busiest, most high-stakes stretch of my entire year.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, I thought: I want to shake up my newsletter.

Not the launch emails. Not my sales strategy. My weekly newsletter, the one that had been chugging along just fine.

What I Changed About My Email Newsletter

My newsletter is called Sidebar. The whole idea is that it’s where I share what I’d really tell you about business and life. Think of us whispering at the judge’s bench, trying not to let the jury hear. (Old lawyer habits die hard.)

So I leaned all the way into that.

I stripped out the graphics. I removed the curated sections. Basically, I gave my newsletter bangs.

Here’s the new format. Every week starts with my usual essay or story, which I’m now calling Off the Record. After that, you’ll get one or two of these sections, depending on the week:

• Exhibit A: a free resource to help you grow your business
• Hearsay: what readers are anonymously saying
• The Verdict: my hot take on an industry trend
• Recess: something I’m doing offline, thanks to my business running like a well-oiled machine

And every so often, I’ll throw in a bonus essay.

Why I Didn’t Wait for the Data

Here’s the part I really want you to hear.

I didn’t redesign my newsletter because it wasn’t working. I didn’t do it because I was panicking about open rates or slipping engagement.

I did it because it’s okay to let things be fun.

It’s okay to follow where you feel pulled creatively, even when the “data” isn’t telling you to. So much of online business advice is about testing, tracking, and optimizing (and yes, I love a good metric). But if every decision has to be justified by a spreadsheet, you’ll slowly drain the joy out of the very thing that made people want to read your stuff in the first place.

Your audience can feel it when you’re having fun. They can also feel it when you’re phoning it in.

What Readers Are Already Saying

One of the things I love most about the new format is the Hearsay section, because it puts my readers’ voices front and center. Here’s one that made my week, from a Sidebar reader named L.

“Thank you very much for sharing so many stories from your life! Your simple yet helpful stories inspire me to get back to my keyboard, write again, and share simple things… I could feel you sharing your ‘entire Shakespeare-style drama’ in your head, which I love, and it made me smile.”

That’s exactly the kind of connection I want this newsletter to create. Not polish. Not perfection. Just real stories that make people want to go create something of their own.

Your Turn: Permission to Shake Things Up

If there’s something in your business you’ve been itching to change, even though it’s “working fine,” consider this your sign. Your newsletter, your content, your offers. You’re allowed to evolve them because it feels right, not only because the numbers demand it.

Want to see the new Sidebar for yourself? Subscribe here and if you want to learn how to build an audience full of buyers, grow your email list, and create a product that flies off the digital shelves, [grab my book for $15].

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In my free legal class, you’ll learn:

• if the fear of doing something wrong is blocking your potential
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Ready to breathe a gigantic sigh of relief?