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Why 700k people (including me) love Contrarian Thinking

Why 700k people (including me) love Contrarian Thinking

It has a rare combination of clever teasers, strong writing, and a banger value prop

Brad Wolverton
November 11, 2024

👋🏻 Welcome to Newsletter Examples, where I highlight cool sh*t I’m seeing in newsletters that you can steal for your newsletter.

This week, I’m showing you 4 things I love about Contrarian Thinking, my front-runner for best business email of the year. Reading time: 2 minutes.

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1️⃣ Engaging openers

I ❤️ what Codie Sanchez is building at Contrarian Thinking, a multimillion-dollar business that helps people take control of their financial lives. Her October 24 issue, “The 5 Habits That Changed My Life,” is a model of how to write a newsletter from top to bottom, including this sick opener👇️…

What I ❤️ about it: She shuns traditional business advice, instead teaching people to look at their own habits.

How to apply it: Show your readers what you’ve learned that they can apply to their lives.

2️⃣ Inspiring teasers

Codie is a master at getting people to click. Go to school on these subject lines…

What I ❤️ about it: These teasers all build anticipation in different ways, making you wonder:

What business she could possibly be talking about
How something as boring as paint could make big profits
If they succeeded (and what you could learn from it)

How to apply it: Provide commentary and ideas that go against the grain. Be experimental—do stunts.

3️⃣ Conversational writing

Codie and team (including Jacob Cohen, who I hired at The Hustle and who has more talent than 99% of the writers I’ve worked with) write like they talk, from their subject lines to their headlines to every word after.

What I ❤️ about it: Codie uses lots of first person and a personal pic to make her story relatable. And she doesn’t just describe her own habits, she pushes people to build better habits of their own.

How to apply it: Like Codie, “play a little game” with your readers to drive home the lessons you’re teaching them.

4️⃣ Clear value prop

Codie’s media ambitions go way beyond this lil newsletter, with each property playing off the other:

She hosts a podcast where she shares unfiltered truths about business.
She has a community to help you buy your first business.
She’s a YouTube star.
And she’s the author of Main Street Millionaires, a forthcoming book about how to make extraordinary wealth buying ordinary businesses.

The common thread? She’s sharing smart, contrarian views on money, helping her audience gain financial freedom.

What I ❤️ about it: She makes people feel special (“You’re part of a rare breed”) and inspires them to build for themselves (“Be an owner in a world full of victims”).

How to apply it: Don’t just build a tribe of your own, name it (“Owner Nation”). And make your people feel special (“We’re built different”).

Hope you enjoyed this week’s examples. I’ll be back next week with a new set.

☮️ -Brad

P.S. I’m running a contest for Best Newsletters of the Year, and I need help rounding out a list of nominees. If you have favorite newsletters in the entertainment, politics, or general interest categories (especially independent newsletters), send ‘em my way!

P.P.S. Want to work with me? I just started a content consulting business—hit me up if you’re interested in learning more.

ICYMI: Links to recent issues

✨ How to make long emails engaging
👩‍💼 How Napkin Notes builds buzz for startups
💰️ The path to making money with your newsletter
📧 Why less is more in newsletters

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