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“All roads point to the email list." — Sam Vander Wielen, Sam's Sidebar

In this episode, we interview Sam Vander Wielen—a lawyer-turned-creator who has sold over $9M in legal templates with a 50k-subscriber newsletter. 

Sam shares how her motto of "All roads point to the email list" has helped her earn over $9M in total revenue since starting her business in 2017. And she's done it with a small team and a replicable funnel strategy most creators could copy. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Why she decided to walk away from strategies that “should” work — and what happened after
• The $100k turning point that reshaped how she runs her business
• How she blends storytelling with practical education to keep readers engaged
• How her newsletter fuels her entire content ecosystem
• What creators misunderstand about legal protections (and how to fix it)
• Why she believes the boring stuff is actually the growth engine
• The platform she almost abandoned — and why she came back stronger
• Her advice for creators chasing growth but ignoring long-term sustainability

LINKS MENTIONED

• Sam's website
• Sam's book: When I Start My Business I'll Be Happy
• Sam's Socials: LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube
• Ask us a question or submit a podcast topic idea: growthinreverse.com/questions
• Get Chenell's brand-new course: The Growth Vault — newsletter templates, growth strategies, and real examples you can implement at your own pace.
• Growth In Reverse PRO Community
• Want your newsletter roasted? Submit it here. 
• Check out past Growth In Reverse Deep Dives: https://growthinreverse.com/archive/

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

• Chenell: Twitter | LinkedIn | Substack
• Dylan: LinkedIn | Bluesky

OUR NEWSLETTERS

• growthinreverse.com
• growthcurrency.net

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Thanks to Tim Forkin for editing these episodes.