Nearly three and half years ago, I wrote about The Best Money Blog You Aren’t Reading. That website, Smart Passive Income, had about 100 readers or a similarly ridiculously low number. Today it’s at over 44,000 RSS subscribers and Pat Flynn is considered a rock star… err a blog star. At a conference I went to last year, there was a crowd around him everywhere he went. I can’t think of a better success story that I’ve watched nearly from the beginning.
Today, I bring you another source of awesomeness… again one that is largely overlooked. It is Dave Pell’s NextDraft email newsletter. Here’s an explanation of NextDraft in his own words:
“Each morning I visit about fifty news sites and from that swirling nightmare of information quicksand, I pluck the top ten most fascinating items of the day, which I deliver with a fast, pithy wit that will make your inbox vibrate with delight.”
I have tried dozens of email newsletters over the years and every one of them has been a disappointment – except for Dave Pell’s. The pithy wit is nice, but it’s not what I come for (sorry Dave). The meat of the product is the ten stories he chooses. Maybe it’s because he’s in Silicon Valley like I am, but I find that I click on over 70% of the stories he highlights. When I got to USA Today or CNN, it’s surprising if I find 2 articles that I’m interested in.
Here’s an example of a few of the items in Pell’s Newsletter today:
“What do you think is the world’s leading cause of death among people between the ages of 10 and 24? I bet you didn’t answer: Road traffic.”
“Don’t Try to Be Great: Speaking of managing the transition from adolescence to adulthood, here are 10 things your commencement speaker won’t tell you.”
“President Obama has adopted ‘Forward’ as his 2012 campaign slogan. Choosing these slogans is part of a long and often weird presidential contest tradition. Here’s a visual history of some of the more notable slogans, from Don’t swap horses midstream, to the inspiring: Not just peanuts.”
This may sound like a paid advertisement for Pell’s Newsletter, but I haven’t had any contact with him. Also, as he notes from time to time in the newsletter, it has no business plan. Since there’s no monetization strategy – he wouldn’t be able to pay me anyway. At some point, I would expect to see advertising in there, but today there is none. (Dave, if you are reading this perhaps we can get you introduced to Amanda Steinberg of Daily Worth.)
In the meantime, I highly encourage you to head on over to NextDraft and signup today.
I am an vid reader of the Smart passive Income blog. I found it about 2 months ago and I have been missing out. The Niche Duel on the site is a fantastic way to build the site.
The Money Mail is built around a similar concept of Next Draft, focusing primarily on personal finance sites. However, I am just trying to put a team around it now and will be in full swing at some point in the future.