Olly Richards made $175,461 from a brand-new business in 2023.
And he drove nearly all that revenue from one thing…
A Google Doc.
The most impressive part is he didn’t have a massive audience or a six-figure email list. He was starting his personal brand business from scratch.
This Google Doc generated $175,461 in gross revenue and 12,631 newsletter subscribers with a 55% open rate. And all that without doing any direct selling.
Lead magnets are quite a polarizing topic in the marketing space.
Some people love them and some people say they bring in low-quality subscribers.
But the way Olly has done this shows the benefit of a well-crafted and high-value lead magnet.
Olly Who?
Olly Richards is a savvy business operator. You may know him as the founder & CEO of StoryLearning—an online platform that teaches language with storytelling.
If not, here’s the TL;DR on Olly:
- Started StoryLearning in 2013
- Scaled it to a $10M business with minimal overhead
- Sold over 1 million books
- Now operates StoryLearning in about 6 days of work—per month!
StoryLearning is a dialed-in business earning Olly a generous, near-passive income.
It’s the kind of business many online educators dream of.
And because so many people chase this without much success, it gave Olly an idea.
The Start of the 6-Figure Lead Magnet
We recently hosted Olly for a Creator Session in the GIR Pro community, and he shared exactly what sparked the idea for this lead magnet:
“I remember thinking back to when I was first learning online business. I would love to have looked under the hood of other people’s businesses to see what actually happens. And so I thought, well, how about I just do that for myself? So I started writing and decided to write everything I could that explains what we do at StoryLearning and how it works.”
The final product?
A 118-page Google Doc titled: “Case Study: Anatomy of a $10M Online Education Business”. You can get a copy free as a Google Doc. He also recently released the Paperback and Kindle versions as well.
He created an in-depth look under the hood of a successful online education business.
He shares everything from his product ecosystem to how he does marketing, email, content, and so much more. It’s honestly a gold mine.
It’s the kind of thing most would charge for, and many would pay for.
But he gave it away for free. And people ate it up – the Google Doc went a little viral in various newsletter and marketing communities.
And paradoxically, he likely earned more from the free lead magnet than had he tried selling it.
This Was Getting Shared Everywhere
When I say the Google Doc went viral, I mean it.
I was seeing multiple newsletters each week sharing it for months.
I went back and found a few for you.
This one was shared by my friend Alex:
And I was also getting personal emails from people telling me to check out the case study. Here’s one from a reader named Drew:
The best part is most of these weren’t paid ads or sponsorships. People were excited to share it because they hadn’t seen anything like this before.
Pretty wild how many emails I got around this, to be honest.
Why He Chose a Google Doc
During our live session, I asked Olly why he chose a Google Doc as a lead magnet.
He said he liked the idea of the Google Doc being more unique, approachable, and casual than the typical PDF or book:
“Go against the crowd. Do something totally different. There’s something about writing on a Google doc that gives a kind of an air ‘I’m not really trying’, like it’s no big deal. A casual 118-page Google Doc gives off a certain kind of confidence, I think. And it seems like a silly, silly thing, but it just stood out… it was unique.”
And there’s no denying it worked.
How He Used a Lead Magnet To Scale Growth
Olly used this lead magnet to earn over 12,000 subscribers and $175k in revenue.
So, by now you’re probably asking, “How did he do it?”
But before we get into the revenue, let’s cover the costs of getting those subscribers.
Advertising The Case Study
Olly used his experience from building StoryLearning along with his knowledge of marketing, paid ads, content, and what he calls a ‘self-liquidating flywheel’ to market the Google Doc case study—not his newsletter, website, webinars, or services. In other words, not the things that actually drove revenue.
I repeat: he only marketed the Google Doc case study.
I think it’s worth it to discuss this before we dive in too deep.
Olly had the money to invest in marketing his case study. Not everyone does.
But before you write this strategy off on account of not having money to invest, keep reading because Olly used what’s called a self-liquidating flywheel.
Essentially he put in a little money, but the subscribers he got from that would go on to give him more money back to invest, building up a bigger pot of cash he could use to grow this.
It’s a brilliant strategy to fund paid growth if you don’t have any capital to invest (or even if you do)!
Here is the breakdown of marketing expenses for his Google Doc case study:
Paid Growth Strategies
Yes, Olly spent ~$36k on Podcast Booking ($12,500) and Social Media ($24,012).
The $12,500 got him booked on 24 podcasts, many of which have yet to be released (and, another exemplary case of Guest Starring—IYKYK), and the $24,012 was for a content agency to turn his newsletter content into LinkedIn & Twitter/X posts.
These are solid strategies, but not exactly a direct path to new subscribers.
When it came to direct growth, Olly used three main paid growth channels and these were his costs-per-lead (CPL):
- Social Ads: Twitter $6-8 CPL || Facebook $5
- SparkLoop: $1-2
- Sponsoring newsletters: $2-50
Those paid growth strategies cost ~$61k, but nearly 80% of that budget went into newsletter advertising.
And that doesn’t surprise me at all.
I remember seeing Olly’s case study advertised in SO many newsletters last year. So much so that I made a point to do this research!
Which Paid Growth Strategies Worked?
Olly wrote in his blog post “What the Hell Happened in 2023?” that advertising in newsletters both worked well… and also didn’t always work.
He reflects in his post:
“Success with newsletter sponsorship seems to be a lot like influencer marketing – you have to set a healthy budget for testing, throw money at the wall, and then aggressively cut your losses and double down on the ones that work.”
But there was a huge flaw in this strategy: Olly had no way to tell which newsletters were sending subscribers who converted into buyers.
In other words, he didn’t know which newsletters to “double down on.”
Building A Self-Liquidating Flywheel (7-Figure Marketing Stack)
So Olly created something to sell.
He put together a workshop series called the 7-Figure Marketing Stack (or 7FMS), which he sold for $100.
The 7FMS workshop was his barometer to gauge which newsletter promotions were “performing” and which ones were not.
And it worked great.
Several newsletters Olly had assumed were a perfect audience fit actually resulted in zero sales. Without having a back-end offer to see if those people would buy, Olly would have undoubtedly continued to pour money into those newsletters based on subscriber count alone.
His lesson here: “Always test, never assume!”
Another massive benefit of selling a product like 7FMS is its ability to be used as a self-liquidating flywheel.
In short, Olly used the revenue from 7FMS to help fund his paid marketing efforts.
The Self-Liquidating Flywheel looks something like this:
- Buy ads in newsletters – leads to new subscribers
- Promote 7FMS to those new subscribers – A percentage of those people will buy, allowing him to buy more ads
- Buy more ads in newsletters
It’s simple but so powerful. And since it’s a flywheel, the more you put into each step, the more you get out of it.
How Olly Made $175,461 With a Lead Magnet — Without Direct Selling
I teased this earlier, but I thought it was important to explain how Olly went about growing his email list before driving revenue.
And the part that still blows my mind is how he earned that revenue without any “direct selling,” as he puts it.
So how did he make his $175k in revenue?
Here’s how his revenue breakdown looked:
His 7FMS earned nearly $18k, but all of that revenue went back into paid growth.
So the true driver of revenue? His newsletter.
Olly knew if he could get the right audience onto his email list, he would eventually be able to drive revenue from it—even if he wasn’t quite sure how when he started.
Here’s how Olly’s system ended up working:
- Use the case study lead magnet to grow the newsletter (paid + organic growth)
- Nurture those subscribers with his niche newsletter content
- Casually mention the 7FMS workshop in his newsletters (which is a natural step up on his “product ladder” from his case study)
- Use 100% of that revenue to reinvest into paid growth
- Earn $157,500 in “inbound” sales for his business mentorship
Why This Lead Magnet Worked
So we’ve seen how he makes money from this, and how he is able to grow the newsletter and audience practically on autopilot, but why did this work?
Here are a few things to consider if you want to try this out for yourself.
1. His Lead Magnet Was Unique and Differentiated
A 118-page Google Doc is a unique lead magnet. But Olly’s transparency and willingness to reveal everything made his content stand out.
Plus, the casual use of a Google Doc made the lead magnet feel more informal, raw, and trustworthy. And that was because Olly did the opposite of what everyone else was doing:
- He used a Google Doc (not a fancy course or PDF)
- He made it free (when he could have easily charged)
- He invested zero in design (aside from the $10 Fiverr cover image)
In fact, the Google Doc was of such high quality and so unique that people were willingly sharing it in their newsletters and on social. The case study basically went semi-viral in the right corner of the internet because of the value that Olly packed into it, for free.
2. He Understood the Audience
Olly knew exactly who would benefit most from his lead magnet and content: six- and seven-figure online education businesses.
He crafted his lead magnet—and the content—specifically for this audience instead of trying to cater to everyone. And when the right subscriber found it, they “devoured it in one sitting.”
This highlights the importance of creating a lead magnet that is perfectly aligned with your newsletter content.
3. Effective Mix of Paid & Organic Strategies
Olly invested heavily in paid growth but he also continues to create valuable “free” content, including starting a brand new YouTube channel and appearing on podcasts.
His experience with StoryLearning taught him the importance and power of publishing organic content. Paid efforts get you out of the gate faster, but organic content is what builds your business over time.
In short: “Play the long game!”
The Power of a High-Value Lead Magnet
Olly Richards’ success with his Google Doc case study is a masterclass in leveraging a high-value lead magnet.
His 118-page case study attracted thousands of subscribers and generated substantial revenue without any direct-selling tactics. Win-win.
Key Elements of Olly’s Success:
- Offering unparalleled value in his lead magnet
- Using a unique, approachable format (a Google Doc)
- Using a strategic mix of paid and organic growth
- Creating a self-liquidating flywheel
- Focusing on nurturing subscribers rather than direct selling
The takeaway?
Oftentimes, the most effective marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all: providing genuine value and earning trust can build a loyal audience that’s eager to invest in what you offer.
Hopefully you can see the value of how doing a lead magnet the right way can create valuable growth for your newsletter.
As you develop your own lead magnet, consider: What valuable insights can you share that will make your audience feel like they’ve struck gold, like Olly’s did?
And if you want to get access to live sessions like these (and all the recordings), consider applying to join Growth In Reverse Pro.
And if you haven’t already, go sign up for Olly’s email list as he shares a ton of great insights (and you get access to this case study for free).
