Most founders think the ideal order of your content strategy is:
Build audience → monetize later.

This example flips that.

Bryan Harris, a solo operator struggled for a year:

Then one thing changed.

He shared a useful resource inside a small community.
The group owner with ~50,000 subscribers asked to feature it.

One email went out.

Over 1,000 subscribers joined.
Those subscribers later generated ~$100,000.

Nothing changed about his offer.
Only the distribution did.

This is Borrowing Other People’s Audiences (BOPA).

📥 Could this land in your growth archive?

1️⃣ If you sell high-ticket services.
You don’t need scale, you need relevance. One trusted audience beats months of cold outreach.

2️⃣ If you’re building a newsletter alongside a service.
Borrowed distribution funds and accelerates owned media. It’s not either/or, it’s sequence.

3️⃣ If content feels like a hamster wheel.
One strong asset, placed in the right inbox, beats endless posting to the abyss.

Most newsletters treat sponsorships as ads.

A logo.
A paragraph.
A CPM.

The Dink did the opposite.

Instead of selling ad slots, they embedded brands directly into their referral loop.

Here’s what changed everything.

When The Dink launched their referral program, 94.8% of new subscribers came from referrals on day one. Their daily sign-ups effectively doubled overnight.

But the real twist wasn’t the referrals.

It was the rewards.

Instead of stickers or PDFs, referrals unlocked:

All supplied by brands in their niche.

The brands paid nothing in cash.
They supplied products.

The Dink got:

Readers got free gear they already wanted.

Nothing felt like an ad yet every email became one and growth accelerated.

📥 Could this land in your growth archive?

1️⃣ If sponsorships feel capped.
Turn brand deals into infrastructure. When sponsors power growth itself, you earn distribution instead of renting attention.

2️⃣ If referrals feel weak or passive.
Give rewards that are native to your audience’s identity. Physical products people actually use beat digital freebies every time.

3️⃣ If you want brands to keep paying.
This wasn’t a one-off campaign. These partnerships have lasted years because brands get repeat exposure and social proof when prizes get shared publicly.