How To Build A Simple Subscription Project That Actually Prints Money
The internet has no shortage of people promising fast riches, but the truth is, wealth in software often looks boring. The golden phrase is not “viral growth” but “monthly recurring revenue.” MRR is the calm heartbeat of a business that pays you again and again without the drama of chasing new customers every day. ARR, its annual cousin, is the scaled‑up version investors drool over because predictability is the rarest asset in business.
Understanding these terms at a human level matters. MRR is the monthly revenue your product generates from subscriptions. ARR is simply that number multiplied across the year, smoothing out the bumps. Unlike one‑off sales, where you sprint for each transaction, recurring revenue stacks like bricks into a wall. With each subscriber you gain, the future becomes less uncertain, and the compounding begins. The question isn’t why you should pursue it, but how to design something simple enough to start, yet valuable sufficient that people happily keep paying.
The best place to begin is with a format that thrives on consistency rather than complexity: the paid newsletter. It is the subscription model distilled into its purest form. The raw material is not fancy code or exotic infrastructure but your ability to deliver insights, entertainment, or guidance on a schedule people can trust. Imagine a weekly deep dive into a niche where you already spend your free time—crypto regulation, indie game design, or productivity hacks for remote parents. When your content saves readers time, gives them clarity, or makes them laugh, the value exchange is obvious. A small monthly fee feels less like a cost and more like a ticket to an exclusive club.
Starting is deceptively easy. A platform like Substack or Ghost takes care of payments, distribution, and analytics. You can begin free, experiment with voice and cadence, and only introduce a paywall once you see traction. The trick is not to lock everything away but to create a natural funnel: free content builds trust, premium content justifies the price. Think of the paid tier as the dinner party behind the curtain—smaller, more intimate, and worth sticking around for. Your ARR target grows each time a new reader decides they’d rather not miss out.
As the newsletter matures, the metrics become your compass. Churn rate tells you who leaves and why, helping you refine your offer. Lifetime value lets you measure how much a subscriber is worth across their relationship with you. These numbers aren’t just for spreadsheets; they whisper the story of how compelling your content is. If people stay, you’re providing genuine value. If they leave, the feedback is immediate and brutally honest. The beauty of the model is its clarity: either you’re worth the monthly fee, or you’re not.
Scaling requires creativity without abandoning focus. You can introduce tiers, offering fundamental weekly analysis at one price and in‑depth interviews or community access at a higher price. Partnerships with guest writers or experts can expand reach without diluting your brand. Special annual packages can nudge subscribers to commit longer and stabilise your ARR. Each new layer should naturally build upon what your audience already engages with. Over‑complication is the enemy of retention. Remember, your readers came for simplicity and insight, not for a circus of upsells.
Eventually, the newsletter becomes a platform, not just a product. With hundreds or thousands of paying readers, new possibilities open: live sessions, curated resources, even spin‑off digital products. The MRR from the newsletter becomes a launchpad for experiments that either reinforce retention or expand your offering. The discipline you learned in serving an audience weekly translates into the courage to test new revenue streams. And because the base subscription continues to hum steadily, risk is no longer existential—it is a choice.
The lesson here is not that everyone should run a newsletter. The lesson is that recurring revenue thrives on repeatable value delivered on a predictable schedule. Whether you’re writing, coding, or teaching, the newsletter model is a microcosm of how to build any subscription business. It starts with something deceptively small: a commitment to show up consistently and provide something so valuable that people would rather pay than miss it. From there, the compounding does the heavy lifting.
So, if you’ve been circling the idea of a side project but don’t know where to start, consider this your gentle nudge. A newsletter is not glamorous, but it is achievable, measurable, and scalable. One paying subscriber becomes ten, then a hundred, then a thousand. At that point, you’re not chasing income—you’re managing a rhythm. And rhythm, in business as in music, is the difference between noise and something people will keep coming back to hear again.