IN THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER:

• 🚀 From Disaster to Gold [True Story]

• 🚨 Be a Contributor to Startup Club!

• 🔥 7 Steps to Creating a Kick-Ass Newsletter

• 📢 This Month’s Clubhouse

• 📈 Scaling Beyond the Startup Phase

Estimated Read Time: 4 minutes 23 seconds

Listen to this newsletter👇

🔥 TODAY’S CLUBHOUSE

Friday 3/7 2pm ET: The .Club TLD Story - Launch Your own Domain Extension

• Inside .Club – Launch, growth, and acquisition.

• TLD Opportunities – Build and monetize a domain extension.

• Key Lessons – Branding, marketing, and scaling insights.

🚀 FROM DISASTER TO GOLD [True Story]

In my 30-year career as an entrepreneur, I have experienced both the highs of partying like it’s 1999 and the lows of wanting to curl up in the fetal position and disappear shortly after the .com crash.

When crisis strikes, hiding and wallowing is not the answer.

It’s time to stand up and take leadership.

When the war broke out in Ukraine, my business partner Igor Nikolaichuk, who runs an 800-person IT firm, called GeeksforLess.com didn’t sit back and cry about it.

You can hear the in-depth story here👇

Russian forces advanced within a few miles of his office in Mykolaiv, southeastern Ukraine, just north of the occupied town of Kherson.

He took immediate action to protect and relocate as many people as possible.

In the U.S., we did our best to support these efforts by connecting employees with government agencies to secure refugee status.

We also launched a charity and raised tens of thousands of dollars, which has since become a registered 501(c) organization called Help For Ukraine Club.

Doing nothing in a crisis is not an option.

In 1996, we operated one of the largest internet service providers in Canada, based in Toronto.

We had hundreds of thousands of users who connected to the internet via phone lines using modems to access the “Information Superhighway.”

One morning, an electrical crew accidentally cut hundreds of our phone lines while installing power.

Our ISP was instantly shut down.

Restoring service required the telecom provider to send a team to splice each phone line back together one at a time.

If you’ve ever called a telecom for a repair, you know it can take days or even weeks to fix an infrastructure failure like this.

Within 30 minutes of the outage, I called all the executives into the boardroom.

I calmly stated that we were down for the count and that the survival of our company was in question.

Instead of merely informing customers that we were down—which thousands were calling to ask every hour—we issued a press release:

The Impact:

1. Almost every news channel covered the story, and a popular Toronto radio station mentioned our outage every 30 minutes.

2. The electrical company was embarrassed, and Bell Canada sent technicians who worked 36 hours straight to splice the lines.

3. Customers felt sorry for us and became more loyal to the company.

But the biggest impact…

We became the most recognized ISP in the country and later ranked as Canada’s 7th fastest-growing, then 3rd fastest-growing, company.

When external disasters strike, we can’t change what happens, but we can control how we respond.

You are not alone, and you’d be surprised how much customers, suppliers, and investors can help turn things around.

In some cases, like Internet Direct, you can even turn crises into gold!

— Colin C. Campbell

Disclaimer: Startup Club and its AI resources are for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for legal matters.

🚨 ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT STARTUPS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

Become a Startup Club Official Contributor and share your insights, experiences, and strategies with our thriving community.

Whether it’s lessons learned, expert advice, or inspiring founder stories, we want to feature your voice!

📢 Send an application email to [email protected] 

🚀 7 STEPS TO CREATING A KICK-ASS NEWSLETTER

Most newsletters never get read.

They land in the inbox (or the junk folder), sit there, and die.

And if you’re reading this, I’m guessing yours might be one of them.

A great newsletter doesn’t just “share value”—it grabs attention, builds loyalty, and turns readers into customers.

That requires more than just good writing.

Below are seven steps I use myself to create a newsletter that’s impossible to ignore. I’ve included real examples for every step so you can apply them instantly.

1. Your First Sentence Decides If They Read or Leave

Most newsletters start with: “In today’s email, I want to talk about…”

Every time I see a variation of this, I die a little inside.

This is your one shot to hook your reader. What the hell are you doing?

Your first line needs to be so compelling that it could stand alone as a social post and get engagement.

Example:

Instead of: “Hey everyone, for this newsletter, I wanted to talk to you about what makes a great email.”

Try: “Your emails aren’t being ignored because of bad subject lines—they’re being ignored because they’re predictable.”

Test this: If your first sentence wouldn’t stop you from scrolling on social media, it’s not good enough.

2. Keep Them Reading Like a Netflix Binge

Ever lose track of time binge-watching a show?

That’s because every episode ends with a cliffhanger (AKA an open loop) that forces you to keep watching.

Your newsletter should do the same.

How to Create Open Loops in Your Emails:

• “I made a huge mistake last month… but it doubled my business. Here’s why.”

• “Most people think they know how to write a great email… but almost everyone makes this one mistake.”

• “Even if your open rates double, there’s one fatal mistake that will kill your conversions every time. More on that next time.”

If your email is easy to close without finishing, it’s forgettable.

Pro copywriters chain two, three, even four sentences together to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

TikTok creators do this too. Watch how they use multiple hooks within 30 seconds to keep people watching the entire video.

3. Pick a Side—No One Respects a Fence-Sitter

The highest-performing newsletters, brands, and thought leaders don’t try to please everyone—they take a stand.

Alex Hormozi said it best: “If you’re making content that no one disagrees with, you’re making content no one cares about.”

Your goal isn’t to be liked by everyone—it’s to build a loyal audience that aligns with your beliefs.

If your audience doesn’t know where you stand, you’re being too passive with your content.

The Contrarian Framework:

Find a popular belief → Flip it → Defend it with data or logic.

Example:

Popular belief: “Bigger email lists are better.”

Flip it: “Smaller lists convert better—here’s why removing 30% of your audience can make you more money.”

Defend it: “A list of 10,000 unengaged subscribers costs you more in ESP fees and skews your data. A 3,000-person list of hyper-engaged readers? That’s where the real money is.”

Test this: If your email doesn’t challenge at least one common belief, it’s probably forgettable.

🚨 If you want to continue reading the other 4 tips, read the full blog HERE

In the end, you need to make an email people miss when they’re gone.

A great newsletter isn’t just an email—it’s a habit.

If your readers don’t feel like they’re missing something when they skip yours, it’s not strong enough.

🎉 FIND US ON AMAZON’S BEST SELLERS LIST!

Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. continues to dominate the charts hitting 5th most popular book on Amazon for Small Business.

📈 SCALING BEYOND THE STARTUP PHASE

Most entrepreneurs get stuck.

98% of businesses never scale beyond a few employees. 

They build a business, grind every day, and eventually hit a ceiling where growth stalls, chaos takes over, and they spend more time putting out fires than actually moving the company forward.

That’s where scaling comes in.

Scaling isn’t about working harder—it’s about working differently.

This is something Patrick Thean, CEO coach and founder of Rhythm Systems, breaks down in detail.

His systems have helped turn startups into multi-million-dollar businesses and even unicorns. And after implementing his approach myself, I can tell you—it works.

So let’s break down the key shifts that help entrepreneurs stop operating like firefighters and start running a business that scales.

1. Stop Delegating Tasks—Start Delegating Responsibility

In the startup phase, everything runs through you. You make the decisions, handle the fires, and get things done. But that doesn’t scale.

At some point, you need to build a leadership team that can make decisions without you.

✅ Instead of assigning tasks, give leaders ownership over areas of the business.
✅ Train them to solve problems without you rather than waiting for direction.
✅ Shift from being in the weeds to setting clear outcomes and accountability.

If you’re still involved in every detail of the business, it’s not a business—it’s a job. The goal is to make yourself unnecessary.

2. Build Systems—Not Just Sales

Most entrepreneurs focus only on revenue, but if your business doesn’t have the right systems, scaling just creates a bigger mess.

Here’s what separates scalable businesses:

A clear strategy—Where are you going? What are the biggest levers for growth?
A goal-setting system—Break down annual, quarterly, and individual goals.
A cadence for execution—Weekly check-ins, quarterly planning, and daily huddles.

At Hostopia, we saw flat growth for years—until we implemented these systems. Within 90 days, revenue started climbing again. In two years, we sold for 17X EBITDA.

The secret?

We stopped making random decisions and started running the company on a structured system.

3. Think in 13-Week Sprints

Forget long-term business plans. Things change too fast. Instead, plan your business in 13-week cycles.

Each quarter, ask yourself:

✅ What’s the #1 goal that will move the company forward?
✅ What are the top 3-5 priorities to hit that goal?
✅ Who owns each priority?

Set goals, execute, and review every 90 days. The companies that scale fast are the ones that operate with intensity and focus.

Final Thoughts

Not every entrepreneur wants to scale—and that’s okay.

But if you do, understand that it’s not a passive process.

1️⃣ Delegate responsibilities—not tasks.
2️⃣ Build systems that drive execution.
3️⃣ Work in 13-week sprints for faster progress.

🚨Find out the other 2 → here

📅 THIS MONTH’S CLUBHOUSE SCHEDULE!

Friday 3/14 2pm ET: Scaling Smarter — The Art of Scaling Business with AI

• Smarter Scaling – Leverage AI for business growth.

• AI Strategies – Automate, optimize, and scale efficiently.

• Key Insights – Tech-driven expansion without burnout.

Friday 3/28 2pm ET: Purpose, Profit, and Process with Author Cesar Quintero

• Purpose-Driven Growth – Align vision with business success.

• Profit & Process – Build a scalable, impactful company.

• Leadership Insights – Create traction and long-term value.

🚀 IS IT TIME TO SELL?

Time to Sell Index:

Strong Buyers' Market (Weak Sellers Market) → 6.9 out of 100.

While 2025 is shaping up to remain a strong buyers’ market and a challenging one for sellers, there are early signs of a recovery.

With the IPO market gradually picking up, conditions for startups could start improving.

🔥 CHECK ME OUT ON TIKTOK!

@startupclubhq

Delegation isn’t about offloading tasks; it’s about empowering others with responsibility. As entrepreneurs, we grow by focusing on the bi... See more

🚀 SUPPORTING STARTUP.CLUB

Thank you for reading along for another issue of the StartUp Club newsletter! I hope you genuinely look forward to opening the StartUp.Club newsletter every month. You can further support StartUp.Club by:

1. Sharing it with a friend or fellow entrepreneur!

2. Responding to this email and letting me know what you think. We love feedback around here! What do you want to see more of? What are you not interested in?

3. Picking up your copy of Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.

And if you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of the StartUp.Club Newsletter.

— Colin C. Campbell