From 0 To 10,000+ Subscribers And 11 Revenue Streams In Under A Year With Beehiiv

Situation

Mike Kauffman launched Catskill Crew, a local newsletter for The Catskills region of New York, aiming to help residents and visitors stay connected to community events, history, and culture. A serial entrepreneur with 14 years of experience, Kauffman turned to newsletters after shutting down a previous venture, wanting to build something enjoyable and rooted in community.

Challenge

The local event space was fragmented—Instagram had become noisy and paywalled, and there was no centralized source for happenings in The Catskills. Kauffman also needed a sustainable business model that didn’t rely solely on traditional ad sponsorships, while starting from scratch in terms of audience and newsletter tech know-how.

Solution

Kauffman moved to beehiiv after initial growth, attracted by its rapid product evolution, community vibe, and user-friendly tools. He used:

• beehiiv’s Signup Page builder to optimize conversion.
• Polls to co-create products like discount cards with readers.
• Analytics dashboard to track daily subscriber growth.
• Organic growth via Reddit, Instagram, and local business tagging, paired with Facebook ads for paid growth.
  
  

Results

• Grew from 200 to 10,000+ subscribers in under a year; on track to close 2024 at 12,000+ subs.
• Built 11+ revenue streams, including:
• Monthly events ($2K/event)
• Ads from local businesses and counties
• Selling art prints (own and local artists’)
• Crew Cards (coupon books) with projected $12K profit from next launch
• Merchandise: shirts, pins, hats
• Prepped launch of Catskills Monopoly, reducing unit cost via Alibaba

Started a second newsletter (1800flyfish) and a newsletter creator community with 60+ members.