Write Freakishly Engaging Newsletters That’ll Make ‘Em Lust, Crave, Worship, Subscribe, and Buy Everything You Make.

Take the world’s most fun & fantastic 30-day newsletter writing challenge—and grow your business the ridiculously easy way.

May 1st - May 31st, 2024

THE 2024 CHALLENGE HAS NOW ENDED

Secure your spot in this year’s newsletter writing challenge, made especially for beginners 💌

Starts May 1, 2024

•

Secure Your Spot Now

•

Starts May 1, 2024 • Secure Your Spot Now •

You’ve Heard You Need a Newsletter, But Where Do You Start? What Do You Write? Will Anybody Really Read It? And Will It Actually Help You Get Customers & Clients?

OH YEAH.

THE 2024 #FREAKSTREAK NEWSLETTER CHALLENGE is an exciting new 30-day cohort-based course + challenge to get you writing freakishly engaging newsletters that are fun to write, fun to read—and make it fun to grow your business. 🎉 For thirty days this May 1 - May 31st, 2024, you'll write and publish four (4) newsletters & one micro FreakFlame™️ every day in a public writing forum, designed to get you writing online, wave your freak flag in the air, establish yourself as an industry authority, gobble up happy newsletter subscribers, launch your next project with joy, make people fall passionately in love with you, and get all the clients, customers (and probably dragons) you want—the easy way.

“I Got 300 Subscribers My First Week!”

Just ask this doggy spa owner, a “total non-internet person” with zero list and zero audience—who got 300 email subscribers her first week in business and sold out, thanks to the strategies you’ll learn in this exciting new course.

“I launched my newsletter and got 300 subscribers right out of the gate! That number has now more than doubled, and I’ve been booked solid ever since. Already this business has been more successful than I ever imagined—all thanks to Ash’s newsletter strategies. Her advice is worth its weight in (literal) gold.”

The Right Newsletter Will Make You Rich.

As you may have heard 👀, newsletters are famous for having the biggest, baddest ROI out of ALL the things you could be doing online. You know what the ROI is for every dollar you spend on email?

4,200%

WHAT.

I mean, you knew that. You’ve heard that, but can we think about what that means for a second?

That’s like walking up to a slot machine and putting in a dollar bill, and having it spit $40 back out at you, every single time. You would do that ALL. DAY. LONG. (until your back gave out).

One dollar in, forty dollars out.

You can’t even get that kind of return in the stock market. 📈 The average return of the stock market is 10% a year, which means that for every dollar you put in, you’d earn ten cents.

Ten, um, cents?

Or forty dollars?

It’s definitely a no brainer…

…unless you don’t know the inside scoop about newsletters yet, that is. 😉

Having the right newsletter makes it easy to grow your business BIG TIME—without having to do all of the stuff you don’t really want to be doing (like video), while becoming everyone’s favorite inbox darling, and being known as the obvious choice in your industry (even if there are plenty of other people who do what you do), and charging premium, feel-good rates that make your work feel joyful and you feel appreciated and fulfilled, never resentful.

You know why?

Because people LOVE buying from their inbox.

Just think about how *you* purchase things. The last website template you bought, the last workshop you attended, the last retreat you signed up for, the last set of Pottery Barn curtains you ordered in the dark while your partner was sleeping. (Shhh!)

All from your inbox.

The inbox is the place where people take action and buy. 🔪 Contrast this with social media, where people are there to scroll and realize they are wearing very uncool jeans. 👖 🧐

In fact, 4 out of 5 marketers—who are very knowledgeable humans with very good hair—say they would rather give up social media than email.

And baby, there’s a reason for that.

The money is in the inbox. 💰

Yup, newsletters work like magic. 🪄 Every single time. As long as you know how to do them right.

Doesn’t Matter What You Sell: Photography, Design, Writing, Coaching, Knitting, Farming, Jock Straps—We Can Write a Newsletter for That.

Newsletters work for every industry.

That’s because research shows that 99% of email users check their email every single day.

So as long as your customer is not an alien living in Mars without access to an inbox???

They *will* want your emails.

For as much as we all talk about getting to inbox zero, the funny thing is, we actually LOVE getting email—so long as it’s the right email.

This is where your hot (new) newsletter comes in.

People want to hear from you! It doesn’t matter what you’re selling: people are obsessive with whatever they’re into.

Travel? Cars? Sports? Cameras?

YUP.

Books? Weddings? Food? Gardens?

Those too.

There are people who are into rocks 🪨, and into candles 🕯️, and into movies 🍿, and into cards ♠️. There are people who are into babies 🍼, and handbags 👜, and horses 🐴, and painting. 🎨

You think if you came out with a cool new newsletter all about someone’s favorite topic, they wouldn’t want it?

Absolutely they would. ✅

This is the beginning of a really cool relationship where you can communicate directly with the people who are 100% INTO whatever it is YOU love…because they love it, too.

And then you know what happens?

Sales flow naturally. 🌊

Because now you’re part of the same gang. The same crew. The same club. You and that person? You’re pals. And if you would buy the thing you’re selling?

They 👏 will 👏 be 👏 thrilled 👏 to👏 buy 👏 it 👏 too 👏.

They’ll buy everything you make, and feel HAPPY doing so. Isn’t that great? It’s a win/win for everyone. And that means that you get to run a thriving business you enjoy—without the pain of “misery marketing.” (That’s what I call all the stuff you hate doing, but do anyway, only to experience lackluster results. Blech!)

Starting a newsletter you love is the #1 thing you need to do this year to make your marketing feel like JOY, and your profits expand like JUMBO.

But, there’s one thing you really gotta get right. (Or else it won’t work.) ⬇️

Your Newsletter Can’t Be Boring.

This, right here, is the catch. The big elephant in the room. 🐘 The secret behind why some newsletters are a hit, and others…are hitting the ground.

Your newsletter has to be good.

It has to be interesting.

And it has to be fun & pleasurable to read.

In short, it has to be something they will want to open again. (And again, and again.)

Because, check this out:

42% of people will look at the sender first to decide whether or not they want to open an email. 👨‍🦰
47% of people will open an email based on the subject line 📝
And the grand mack daddy of all? In January, Gmail rolled out a big, fat “unsubscribe” button that appears riiiiiight next to the sender’s name, making it easy for readers to say BYE in literally 1.7 seconds
Wait, did you think I was done? HA, so did my boyfriend. Gmail is now implementing a VERY fun new feature where they tell on you for clogging people’s inboxes and sending too many unread emails, which means your email game needs to be siiiiiick
Oh, and also? 75% of all email openings on the internet result from Gmail. And this is why we bow.
Furthermore, however? The other two biggest email platforms used by Americans Microsoft (Outlook and Hotmail), and Verizon (AOL and Yahoo Mail) have their own protections in place. As The Atlantic reported: “Opening an email and clicking on a link inside it might tell the software’s algorithms that you want more like it. So might scrolling down the body of an email, or spending a certain amount of time reading it, or starring it, or filing it into a folder. Ignoring other messages, meanwhile, can lead the mailbox software to start junking them, or even blocking the senders.” 😬

ALL of these things mean that your ability to resonate with real humans in the inbox is more critical than ever. People care about how it feels to read your newsletter. In fact, research shows that anytime a reader starts reading an email but doesn’t finish it? They actually feel bad. It’s a real thing! They can’t check the task off their list. It feels incomplete. Therefore, anytime they see your name in the inbox? They start to associate it with feeling bad.

AND THAT IS LIKE TAKING A KNIFE TO YOUR BUSINESS’S EYELIDS. 🔪 👀

Ew, gory. But to my violent little point:

You can’t just write any old “here’s what we’ve been up to” newsletter. (Love you but nobody cares because we are all people with a life.)

You’ve got to write a damn good newsletter that gives me something. (Because we are all also greedy little monsters).

This is where most people get intimidated and quit and go boil some ramen. It can be hard to figure out what to write, and how to write, and how often to write, and is this thing actually on?! 🎤

Couple a lack of clarity with a busy schedule, and suddenly you’re putting your newsletter on the back burner (again), and you haven’t written in months (again), and you feel guilty you can’t seem to commit to a schedule (again), and the whole thing makes you feel like a big, huge loser with a bag over your head. (Making you just want to procrastinate it even more. 😵‍💫)

That’s why The 2024 #FREAKSTREAK Newsletter Challenge isn’t just about helping you start writing your newsletter: it’s about helping you write a freakishly engaging one that sells.

With a focus on creative & magnetic newsletter writing skills, you’ll learn how to write newsletters that people love to read. From subject lines and preview lines, to writing killer openings that makes ‘em want to read more, to telling a story people actually care about, to learning how to write with authority, to infusing your writing with personality, to transitioning to selling without feeling like a dope, to ending your newsletter with a satisfying “mic drop” moment, this is the challenge that won’t just give you a newsletter:

It’ll give you writing skills that’ll change your earning potential for life.

If You Can Send an Email, You Can Have the World.

Sell your courses and digital products to massive fanfare 🎉 & worldwide customers…without ads
Get completely booked out with your service-based business 🧾 (and have to raise your prices!)
Gain much-needed traction (finally 😮‍💨) and have clients lining up to work with you
Build an audience to publish your book 📖, or launch your product, or sell your grandmother’s cookie recipes
Make marketing feel easy and fun again 🥳
Create a real and tangible business asset that can be sold with your business someday 💰 (that’s what a newsletter + email list is: an extremely valuable business asset that makes valuation rise significantly)
Have a dead-simple sales process 🔁 anytime you need to sell anything: log online, write an email, and push send
Keep your clients & your customers engaged and excited about buying from you 🤩
Have a waitlist for your work 📝 (or seven), and only take on the kinds of clients you enjoy working with
Build your name + reputation 💪 and become an instant authority (having a newsletter instantly catapults your status)
Learn cutting-edge best newsletter practices & hard-earned wisdom—and avoid years of trial and error on your own ❌
Use your newsletter to 3x, 5x, 10x your sales ⚡️ in a way that feels good, dead simple, and never sleazy
Turn your newsletter into your #1 sales channel 🏆—and be shocked at how easy it is to grow your business when you just do this one simple thing

You Don’t Need to Be a “Good” Writer. Or a Funny Writer. Or a Brilliant Writer. (Or Even a “Writer” At All.)

You just need to understand a few time-tested, proven frameworks that’ll take you from “staring at a blank screen” to “newsletter written & sent!” ✅

And boy, does it feel good to check this task off your list, because you know you should have been doing this all along, but hey—life gets in the way. (We’re going to fix that!)

Or maybe you’re launching a new business in a new niche, and you need to attract an all-new audience.

Or maybe you’ve had a newsletter for a while, but it’s getting lackluster results. Why aren’t they subscribing? Why are they unsubscribing? (Don’t worry, we’re going to find the hole and plug it. 🔌)

Whether you’re an online business, a local business, a service-based business, or a product-based business, The 2024 #FREAKSTREAK Newsletter Challenge is exactly what you need to start fresh, re-energize your efforts, and launch—or re-launch!—a remarkably awesome newsletter that will help you get your momentum back.

Welcome to
The 2024 #FREAKSTREAK
Newsletter Challenge

Here’s how it works!

Learn the Fundamentals of Starting a Freakishly Engaging Newsletter

Upon joining, you’ll secure your spot 🔒 in The 2024 #FREAKSTREAK Newsletter Challenge.

You’ll then be taken to a participant intake form where you’ll fill out all your details, so we can begin organizing curated pods of #freakwriters with the same interests as you for the duration of the challenge. Note: this is 💯 optional. You do not need to join a pod + engage with others if that gives you hives or if you’d prefer to focus exclusively on your own work. You can opt out when you fill out your participant intake form. All training sessions will be recorded and you are welcome to take the challenge in private as a self-study DIY.

The challenge begins May 1st, 2024! We will have a brief orientation kick-off Zoom call that day, followed immediately by our very first training session: Choosing a Money-Making Newsletter Topic & Finding a Punchy, Memorable Angle That’ll Make Readers Immediately Want to Subscribe. 📝

Throughout our 30 days together, we will have 10 (ten) live training sessions—all recorded—where you’re going to not just learn how to write freakishly engaging newsletters, but start writing them in real time.

Yes, that’s right! Over the course of the month of May, you’ll write & publish 4 (four) newsletters, one per week, because it’s the BEST way to learn: on your feet! 💥

You will also write & publish 30 micro FreakFlames™️ on your public writing platform of choice, such as LinkedIn, Substack, Threads, Facebook, Facebook Groups, Twitter (X), or another of your choice, designed to help you gain initial traction, get your first newsletter subscribers, build your authority, and drive people over to your email list (forever). You can’t write in a vacuum, so we’re not going to. Instead, we’re going to learn how to repurpose your thoughts into itty bitty micro posts that you’ll share each day in a public forum. (With templates for you to follow!) We’ll be using the hashtag #freakstreakwritingchallenge so myself & your peers can see them all—and also so you don’t feel awkward starting this new thing on your socials!)

There’s no time like the present, and this is ALL about getting you moving, getting you accountable, getting you traction, and getting you writing consistently online.

Your peer-to-peer #freakpod will provide feedback, accountability, and the motivation to make it through to the end.

By the end of 30 days? ⏳

✅ You will have launched a newsletter you’re fiercely proud of. 🥰

✅ You will have written & published 4 freakishly engaging newsletters to kick off your smokin’ hot new reputation + direction.

✅ You will have written 30 micro Freak Flames™️ in public forums designed to get you traction & momentum.

✅ You will have gotten your very first newsletter subscribers! There will be milestones set up for you to work toward, with your first 100 subscribers being the first biggie. 🥹 (Though you can set whatever goal you have for yourself, if you’re more advanced.)

✅ You will have established a rock-solid writing rhythm that’s reasonable, manageable, fun, and most importantly, effective for sales.

✅ You will watch in awe as the more you write, the more your business grows. 🌷 It’s like a universal law, sort of like how Oreos taste way better when you separate them and scratch your front teeth down the cream. 🤷‍♀️

The 2024
#FREAKSTREAK
Challenge Schedule

May 1st - May 31st 2024

LIVE SESSION NO. ONE
Wednesday May 1st, 2024 @ 12pm EST

Choosing a Money-Making Newsletter Topic & Finding a Punchy, Memorable Angle That’ll Make Readers Immediately Want to Subscribe 👀

LIVE SESSION NO. TWO
Saturday May 4th, 2024 @ 12pm EST

Setting Up, Branding & Pitching Your Newsletter to be “Sticky” (If You Do This Right, You’ll Get 10X More Subscribers Like Clockwork)

LIVE SESSION NO. THREE
Tuesday, May 7th, 2024 @ 12pm EST

What to Write? Where to Start? Here’s How We Get Endless Content Ideas That’ll Attract the Perfect Audience (And Not a Bunch of Ukulele Players from Wisconsin)

LIVE SESSION NO. FOUR
Friday, May 10th, 2024 @ 12pm EST

How to Write a Freakishly Engaging Opening Paragraph That’ll Make ‘Em Instantly Want to Read More and Know You and Probably Marry You (Proposals Incoming)

LIVE SESSION NO. FIVE
Tuesday, May 14th, 2024 @ 12pm EST

How to Write a Freakishly Engaging Story (They’ll Actually Care About), Keep ‘Em Invested in Your Message & Falling in Love With You More & More By the Minute Word

LIVE SESSION NO. SIX
Friday, May 17th, 2024 @ 12pm EST

How to Write With Authority & Get Respected as a Thought Leader With Your Writing—Because Without This, You’re Just Writing a 13-Year-Old’s Diary Entry

LIVE SESSION NO. SEVEN
Tuesday, May 21st, 2024 @ 12pm EST

How to Wrap Each Newsletter With a Strong, Meaningful, Emotionally Satisfying Payoff That’ll Make ‘Em Want to Buy Whatever You’re Offering (Hint: This Step is Critical, and Often One of the Biggest Missed Opportunities.)

LIVE SESSION NO. EIGHT
Friday, May 24th, 2024 @ 12pm EST

How to Do a “Personality Edit” & Infuse Tasteful Humor, Levity & Delight Into Your Writing (Wait Until You Learn These Easy, Fun Techniques That Breathe So Much More Life into the Page!)

LIVE SESSION NO. NINE
Tuesday, May 28th, 2024 @ 12pm EST

The Art of Writing Clickable Titles, Subject Lines & Preview Lines—And Why Most Newsletter Writers Are Getting This (Really) Wrong (Especially on Substack)

LIVE SESSION NO. TEN
Friday, May 31st, 2024 @ 12pm EST

The Fundamentals of Selling With Email: How to Make the Transition from “Story” to “Sales” Like a Pro, And Earn More From One Email Than Your Friends Do All Year. (Not That You’re Bragging).

At the end of each live training session, we’ll have a light ‘n loose Q&A and you can ask any questions you’ve got! 🔥 Afterward, you’ll get peer-to-peer feedback from others with similar interests as you in your #freakpod.

Sound Deliciously Fun? Uber Practical? Something Your Creativity—And Business—Needs?

Secure Your Spot Now & You’ll Also Get
These Four Orange-Hot Bonuses!

BONUS NO. ONE

✅ THE #FREAKSTREAK DIGITAL BOOK + GUIDE 📖
A text-based curriculum for those who don’t prefer to learn via video (and love examples in writing for easy reference later!).

BONUS NO. TWO

✅ THE #FREAKSTREAK NEWSLETTER INSPO + IDEA KIT 📝

A kit containing over 100+ prompts & ideas that’ll give you PLENTY of things to write about in your newsletter anytime you’re stuck!

BONUS NO. THREE

✅ THE #FREAKSTREAK TECH KIT 💻

For anyone worried about the technology involved, in this bonus training I’ll walk you through every single step you need to execute this flawlessly (don’t stress if you’re not tech savvy!)

BONUS NO. FOUR

✅ THE #FREAKSTREAK START-UP KIT 💻

Thinking about taking the challenge but you aren’t even sure what kind of newsletter you should start? Not sure if it would really make sense for your business? Need some inspiration to get the ideas flowing? In this exciting new bonus, I’ll help you sort through your ideas, generate new ones, and help orient your thinking.

Join The 2024 #FREAKSTREAK Newsletter Challenge Now

Take the world’s most fun & fantastic 30-day newsletter writing challenge—and grow your business the ridiculously easy way.

THE 2024 NEWSLETTER CHALLENGE HAS NOW ENDED

Get Your

Freak On

START A NEWSLETTER YOU LOVE FOR JUST $899

$699

Affirm, Afterpay & Klarna payment plans available

✅ Join the official 2024 #FREAKSTREAK newsletter writing challenge 🎉

✅ Access all ten (10) LIVE 2-hour training sessions with expert creative copywriter, 15-year newsletter veteran & founder of The #FREAKSTREAK Newsletter Challenge, Ash Ambirge 🎙️

✅ Start a brand-new freakishly engaging newsletter you love by the end of 30 days 📝

✅ Write & publish four (4) freakishly engaging newsletters during the month of May 2024 🗓️

✅ Write & publish one daily FreakFlame™️ each day on the public writing platform of your choice to get you traction, keep you accountable & help you gobble up happy new subscribers 💨

✅ Receive peer-to-peer feedback from your hand-curated #freakpod of people with similar interests as you 💬

✅ Enjoy the motivation of being a part of something exciting & setting an ambitious new goal for yourself 🏆

Secure your
spot now

Let’s make this your most profitable year ever 🍉 ⛱️ 🌻

THE 2024 NEWSLETTER CHALLENGE HAS NOW ENDED

*After purchase you’ll be taken directly to our classroom, where you can view our live training dates & links, all assignments, bonuses, and next steps!

See you there! -Ash

Freaky FAQ

I have a exciting bonus just for you where I’ll help you get inspired, sort through your ideas, generate new ones, and orient your thinking before we begin. Delivery once we begin class on May 1st!
Newsletters work for all industries. 🎉 Online, offline, services, products—you name it, we can write a newsletter about it. Whether you’re in a creative field like photography, writing, design, or illustration, or you run a physical business like a hair salon, a dog kennel, a law office, or a therapy practice, or you sell physical products like candles or planners or barbecue kits, or you sell digital products like books and courses and downloadables, a newsletter will help you earn more money this year, market yourself with ease, and have fun doing it!
You’re already ahead of the game, woo hoo! If you’re struggling getting subscribers, have low open rates, have less-than-desirable sales, and/or want to make your newsletter the star this year, definitely sign up—the goal behind being “freakishly engaging” is to help you learn how to write these like a pro—and get the results of a pro. Hope to see you there!
No problem! All trainings will be recorded and transcribed and available for you to watch or read anytime. (There’s a matching PDF guide that participants get each week, too, for those who do not prefer video). Even though the challenge runs for 30 days, you will have lifetime access to all of the materials, so you can complete it in private whenever is best for you.
Nope! All the tech we’ll use is 100% free, by design. 🥳
Writing pods are 100% optional, and available to you for added accountability and peer-to-peer feedback in between training sessions. But you are free to opt-out of these if you’d simply like to remain focused on your own work (you’ll be asked in your participant intake form).
We will be using Zoom for our live trainings, and it’s totally up to you if you’d like to have camera on, or camera off. No pressure either way!
We will be focused on writing first person narrative emails, where you’ll tell stories & become the voice of your newsletter. Even if you’re the CEO of a product-based candle company, we still want you to be able to write personal, human emails to your subscribers, which will greatly increase your open rates, your brand loyalty, your reach, and your conversions. Plus, it makes it WAY more fun—promise!
That’s fine! You’ll be put into a peer pod where the focus will be exclusively on getting more subscribers, skyrocketing your open rates, increasing brand loyalty, making people fall in love with you, and increasing conversions for your business, resulting in more sales. Let’s go!
Yes! This is a critical part of making your newsletter work for you, and we will cover favorite, time-tested strategies that work.
Absolutely! As long as the time works for you in your time zone. We’ll be meeting at 12pm EST twice weekly for 1 hour + Q&A. Or, you may review the recorded trainings and then join us whenever it’s convenient for you inside the community forum.
You bet! You are welcome here.
Absolutely!
This is a brand-new curriculum, head-to-toe, exclusively focused on newsletter writing. While you may see one or two familiar creative writing techniques pop up in the training on writing with personality, it’ll be through the lens of an all-new context! And with all new examples, too. 🥳
All participants are entitled to a 14-day refund from the date of purchase—no questions asked.
I hope you DO come, this was made for you! It doesn’t matter if you’ve never written so much as a postcard before, there’s a place for you here, and you will not be left behind. I’ve got you!
No fear here: I’ve got you! I’m including extensive, comprehensive bonus tech training for anyone who would like a little more hand-holding through the process of setting up your newsletter. It’s not necessary, but it will be available to you anytime if you get stuck!
Yes you will! All trainings will be recorded and transcribed and available for you to watch or read anytime. (There’s a matching PDF guide that participants get each week, too, for those who do not prefer video). Even though the challenge runs for 30 days, you will have lifetime access to all of the materials, so you can complete it in private whenever is best for you.
That one’s outside the scope of this course. This challenge is focused on learning how to write freakishly engaging emails that make the world love you, obsess over your work, and buy everything you make.
In order to build solid habits, I’m stressing that no participant spend more than 1 hour on any given activity, in order to have the best odds of you being able to make this practice a permanent part of your life.
I am totally going to show you how to use AI to make brainstorming easier—YES!
Approximately 2 hours, where we first do a hot seat feedback session, and then move into that day’s lesson!

Join The 2024 #FREAKSTREAK Newsletter Challenge Now

Take the world’s most fun & fantastic 30-day newsletter writing challenge—and grow your business the ridiculously easy way.

THE 2024 NEWSLETTER CHALLENGE HAS NOW ENDED

About the Instructor, Ash Ambirge

Ash Ambirge is the founder of Meat & Hair, a creative writing education company she started before realizing everyone would think she was referring to a crotch, creator of The #FREAKSTREAK Newsletter Challenge 📝, author of THE MIDDLE FINGER PROJECT (Penguin Random House), and best-selling Substack newsletter writer. (Though she’s been publishing a Webby-award-winning newsletter since 2009!)

Seth Godin called her “an original voice in a world with too little of it,” and she has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The BBC, CBS News, The Jenny McCarthy Show, Entrepreneur Magazine, Real Simple Magazine, Philadelphia Magazine, and on hundreds of podcasts.

Ash is an expert creative copywriter and is regularly called upon by Top 5 Publishers as a secret weapon “book doctor” to help flailing manuscripts that need punchy prose. She founded Meat & Hair to help businesses find their voice, put their personality on the page, and learn to write with substance & style—AKA meat & hair. 🍖💈 Because boring writing doesn’t sell, and in today’s world? You can’t afford to be invisible.

With a master’s degree in Linguistics, a degree in Communications & PR, and over fifteen years of experience writing for clients who want to stand out from the crowd, Ash believes that what you say about your work is just as important as your actual work—because perception is everything. Not just your customers’, but your own. And when you have the right words to describe your idea?

You have power.