The Media Trends Nobody Is Talking About

$100M Course Seller: Info Products Are Dead Forever (Here’s What’s NEXT)

Ryan Deiss (DigitalMarketer, Scalable.co) joins Matt to talk about why he killed an eight-figure course business, the 80% sales drop that forced the pivot, why AI is replacing courses faster than anyone wants to admit, and how to actually monetize expertise in a post-course world. Timestamps:  * 00:00 Intro  * 00:28 Why Ryan "Retired" From DigitalMarketer  * 03:32 The Real Reason Course Sales Collapsed  * 06:37 Why AI Beats Courses Every Time  * 11:54 DigitalMarketer's 80% Revenue Drop  * 13:05 Why "Course Business" Is the Wrong Frame  * 16:53 Build Your Own Media First  * 21:19 The 4 Ways Media Companies Make Money  * 22:23 Sell AI Trained on Your IP, Not the Course  * 28:23 Why Coaching On Top of Courses Won't Save You 3 * 3:12 The Truth About Cohort-Based Programs  * 35:14 The 3 Event Business Models  * 41:36 Sponsorships, Exhibitors & Critical Mass  * 48:07 Sponsorship Tiers and Protecting the Stage  * 58:00 Activations, Meetups & Sponsored Experiences  * 1:02:28 Where to Find Ryan 📌 Resources: * The Scalable Company [https://scalable.co] * DigitalMarketer [https://www.digitalmarketer.com]  🔗 Connect with Ryan Deiss: * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandeiss/] * Newsletter [https://www.accidentalmba.com/]

The Media Trends Nobody Is Talking About

Brian Morrissey (The Rebooting) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about his three-archetype theory of modern media, why most TBPN streaming-show clones will fail, the real strategic value of SMS, and why aging out of LinkedIn is a bigger flex than flying private. Timestamps:  00:00 Intro  00:06 The 3 Media Archetypes: Artists, Suits, Engineers  05:54 Streaming Media and MTS vs TBPN  08:00 Why Webinars Punch Above Their Weight  12:37 The Power of Parasocial Podcast Connections  16:09 Is Streaming A Fad? Neo-Traditional Media  20:18 The Underpants Gnome Problem With Clips  24:03 Is SMS The New Email?  26:45 The Hardest Part Is Having The Audience  29:51 Brian's Writing Process (No Audience In Mind)  34:36 Smart SMS Use Cases (Events, Subtext)  40:00 Building A Strategic Reserve Of Phone Numbers  42:59 Why SMS Crushes For Webinar Registrations  49:47 NoScroll And Anonymous X Accounts  53:22 Aging Out Of LinkedIn Is The Real Flex  54:05 Where To Find Brian 📌 Resources Mentioned:  The Rebooting [https://www.therebooting.com/] People vs Algorithms (podcast) [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/people-vs-algorithms/id1642958293] Monitoring The Situation (MTS) [https://x.com/MTSlive] Breaking Points [https://www.youtube.com/@breakingpoints]  🔗 Connect with Brian Morrissey: LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianmorrissey/] Website & Newsletter [https://www.therebooting.com/]  Enjoying the show? Leave a 5-star review on Apple or Spotify, then email matt@growletter.co [matt@growletter.co] or kolby@growletter.co [kolby@growletter.co] with a screenshot and a question — we'll answer it on the show.

Inside a Top 10 Spotify Podcast Business, Local Newsletters To Agency Funnel, Will AI Change Email Marketing Forever?

In today's episode, Ethan Brooks (Austin Business Review), Alyssa Dulin (Kit), and Jonathan Barshop (Modern Wisdom) join Matt and Kolby to discuss how to monetize a local newsletter with services instead of ads, what AI is actually doing to email deliverability, and the unconventional growth tactics that move a podcast in 2026.  Timestamps:  * 00:00 Intro  * 03:00 Ethan Brooks on Austin Business Review and Local Media  * 07:30 Why Local Newsletters Are Best Monetized as Services (Not Ads)  * 10:40 Selling Austin: $300K From Under 1,000 Readers  * 13:00 The $25K-in-8-Weeks Concrete Leads Side Business  * 22:00 Ethan's Two Frameworks: Valuable Audience + Media Monetization  * 32:00 Alyssa Dulin on AI in the Inbox  * 35:00 The New Curator in Town — How AI Is Rewriting Deliverability  * 46:00 The One-Word Reply Tip That Beats Every Other Engagement Tactic  * 52:00 Google Postmaster Tools: The Most Overlooked Deliverability Tool  * 1:01:00 Jonathan Barshop on Building a Podcast That Actually Grows in 2026  * 1:11:00 Why Premise Beats Production  * 1:18:00 The Cross-Promo That Supercharged My First Million  * 1:25:00 Engineering "Viral" Moments — The Tim Ferriss + Edward Norton Trick  * 1:42:00 Modern Wisdom's Tour Model and 12-Partner Sponsorship Strategy  📌 Resources Mentioned:  * Austin Business Review [https://austinbusinessreview.com/] * Google Postmaster Tools [https://gmail.com/postmaster/]  * Modern Wisdom [https://chriswillx.com/podcast/] 🔗 Connect with Ethan Brooks:   * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethandbrooks]  * Newsletter [https://austinbusinessreview.com/] 🔗 Connect with Alyssa Dulin:  * LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssadulin/ ]  🔗 Connect with Jonathan Barshop:  * LinkedIn [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-barshop]

Life Update

Join here: WriteGrowSell.com [https://course.writegrowsell.com/] Enrollment ENDS May 4th at 11:59 pm EST.  This is the last opportunity to join Write, Grow, Sell for the next 5+ months and get in at the lowest price since 2024.

This Free Site Makes More Than His $10M Course (w/ Neville Medhora)

In today's episode, Neville Medhora (Swipefile, Copywriting Course, ex-AppSumo) joins Matt and Kolby to talk about how good copy delivered AppSumo's first $10,000 day, why his flagship Copywriting Course business is being eaten by AI while Swipefile.com is soaring, Neville's content workflow, and why selling software is dead in 2026. Timestamps: * 01:19 House of Rave and Dropshipping in High School * 03:21 Finding Copywriting and AppSumo's First $10K Day * 05:53 Copywriting Course Dying, Swipefile Soaring * 11:27 Brand, Style, and Standing Out From AI * 16:33 How Swipefile's Business Model Works * 18:44 Why Selling Software Is Dead * 22:51 The Hybrid Sponsorship Model That Actually Pays * 26:45 Custom Content and Evergreen Sponsorship Deals * 33:47 Acquired's $4.8M Pre-Rolls and B2B Ad Math * 35:57 Why Blogging Is Social Media Now * 37:15 Neville's Content Flow: Swipefile → Newsletter → Social * 40:43 Growing a Newsletter in 2026 * 45:00 Why Neville Won't Sell Claude Skills (Yet) * 52:34 Where To Find Neville 📌 Resources Mentioned: The Gary Halbert Letters — https://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com [https://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com] Wait But Why (Tim Urban) — https://waitbutwhy.com [https://waitbutwhy.com] 🔗 Connect with Neville Medhora: LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/neville-medhora-654749/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/neville-medhora-654749/] Swipefile — https://swipefile.com [https://swipefile.com] YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSN1tlH1nvAXkv9nnBCmfiQ [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSN1tlH1nvAXkv9nnBCmfiQ] 🍿 Watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@growletter [https://www.youtube.com/@growletter]