93: The Fill-in-the-Blank Newsletter System I’ve Sent 300 Weeks in a Row

🌟 Why a Blank Page Is Costing You Your Newsletter

A blank page is a thousand tiny decisions. What do I write about? How long should it be? What goes first? What do I say at the top? Ughhhh.

If you’re a solopreneur (and especially if you’re a mom too), every one of those questions lands on you, on top of the decisions you’re already making about posting, emailing, freebies, and offers. Decision fatigue is real, and it’s usually the reason a newsletter quietly stops going out.

The hard part of a newsletter was never the writing for me. It’s the deciding.

So I made three decisions one time, and I never have to make them again. I call the system Repeat, Rotate, and Relate. It’s why I’ve sent over 300 newsletters in a row, and why each one takes me about 30 minutes to write. A fill-in-the-blank format is almost no decisions, and fewer decisions is life-giving for me.

📋 Want the whole thing on one page? Grab the Takeaway One Sheet from the show notes: HERE. It’s the full template, fill-in-the-blank style, so you can make your three decisions today.

💡 The Day I Walked Away From a Platform That Made My Heart Race

When my husband and I started our CrossFit gym in 2017, we sent our emails through Mailchimp. It was limited, and it showed. He handled the email side of things, got deep into SEO and email marketing, and eventually moved us over to ActiveCampaign.

So when I launched The Creative Bodega, I knew I needed an email list, and I was terrified of learning a platform on my own. His advice: use ActiveCampaign so he could help me with the tech. One less thing to worry about, right?

Wrong. Every time I logged in to write an email, it felt like the first time. My heart would start racing. (It’s racing right now, just thinking about it.) I couldn’t wrap my head around workflows versus single emails. There were too many places to click and too many places to mess up. And when I feel overwhelmed, I abort the mission.

My emails weren’t pretty either, and that mattered to me. I went to school for fashion design, I worked in interior design, and I’ve been a Canva person for years. I lived in that world for about 20 weeks of newsletters.

Then I watched my favorite marketers move to Flodesk, and I told my husband I was leaving ActiveCampaign. His response: “Okay, but I won’t be able to help you.” (He helped me in the beginning anyway.)

What I loved right away was that I could wrap my head around it. I get overwhelmed by interfaces, and Flodesk was built by a woman who understood that overwhelm is a very real thing. I love logging in, and that says a lot, because I don’t enjoy websites like this.

💡 If you don’t enjoy the place where you write your emails, you’ll find a reason to skip them.

This is not a knock on ActiveCampaign or Mailchimp. They’re great for a lot of people. They just didn’t work for my brain. More than 280 of my weeks have been sent from Flodesk, and if you already have a platform you’re happy with, stay there. This system works anywhere. Just pick a place you don’t dread.

🎯 Step One: Repeat (Decide What Shape Your Newsletter Always Takes)

Decision number one: what shape does my newsletter always take? Pick it once, use it every single week, and your reader always knows what to expect from you.

I’m a sucker for a framework, so mine has three sections:

• Three ideas for your business (something helpful)

• Two things I’m loving right now (something personal)

• One next step (an announcement, an offer, a win, or a question)

I borrowed the 3-2-1 idea from James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits. Yours does not have to look like mine. A lot of my students prefer a 1-1-1: one idea, one thing they’re loving, one next step, because three ideas felt like too much. It works beautifully for them. The right size is the one you’ll still be sending three, six, and nine months from now.

Give your sections names you like. You’ll want to hop in and write a section whose name you’re excited about.

Every email is built the same way:

• A subject line

• A quick hello with a real thing from my week. I call it my spark: something my kids said, something somebody DM’d me, something I finally finished, something that didn’t work out

• A thread from that story into my three ideas

• The three sections

• A sign-off

Once you have your shape, drop it into your email tool and fill in the blanks. Every week I duplicate last week’s newsletter, erase what’s in there, and fill it back in. That’s the whole process.

🎯 Step Two: Rotate (Decide What You Talk About)

Repeat tells you what goes where. Rotate tells you what you’re talking about in the helpful part, the section where you teach and flex your expertise.

Pick three to five content pillars: topics you could talk about in your sleep. Your helpful section cycles through them, so “what’s this week about?” is already answered before you open your email tool.

To find your pillars, answer these four questions, one sentence each:

• What do clients ask me over and over?

• What mistake do I see people make all the time?

• What do I wish every client knew before we started working together?

• What result do I help people get?

Every question a client has asked you more than once is a newsletter waiting to happen. Then write each pillar as an action that starts with a verb. “List growth” feels big and vague. “Get your first 100 subscribers” feels doable.

Mine right now (I revisit them all the time): own your audience, write it consistently, grow your email list, and sell to your email list. I rotate them in order. Week one is own your audience, week two is write it consistently, week three is grow your list, week four is sell to your list, and week five starts over.

The shape stays the same. Only the pillar changes. In a write-it-consistently week, all three of my ideas are about writing consistently.

Next to each pillar, jot down three ideas that fit. Inside The Newsletter System, my students and I brainstormed 10 to 12 ideas per pillar, and they flowed quickly. If yours don’t, the pillar is probably too vague or too close to another one. Start with three or four pillars. Four is the sweet spot, and you can always add more later.

💡 Step Three: Relate (Decide How Readers Get to Know You)

This is the step that has nothing to do with email marketing, and it’s the one your readers feel most. The personal part of your newsletter doesn’t have to be about your business at all.

Mine is mostly my favorites, in a section called Two Things I’m Loving: a fashion find, a home or kitchen find, something for the kids, a book, a recipe. The formula is three beats: I love it, why I love it, and where to get it. That’s it.

Yes, people buy the things. I have an Amazon influencer account, and I get about a $30 credit each month. It buys stuff for my kids, and it doesn’t pay my bills. But people buy from people they feel they know, and that’s the point.

I’ve considered getting rid of this section because it doesn’t help me grow my business. So I asked my Content Coven. They told me they’ve bought so many things from it, and they remember me because of it. One member said every time she puts on the PJ set from Amazon that I recommended, she thinks of me.

It’s also the easiest section for me to write. I don’t research anything. I just notice what I already love. If you’re not sure what yours should be, try:

• A favorite find

• A book, a podcast, or a show you’re into

• A recipe your family keeps asking for

• A small win from the week

• Something you tried and would skip next time (that last one sounds like a friend telling the truth)

Bonus: talk about your newsletter on Stories and in your feed before you send. Share a behind-the-scenes peek, let people vote on subject lines, or tease the two things you’re loving without sharing the link. Tell them they have to find it in this week’s newsletter. After you hit send, share it again, talk about what’s inside, and ask if people have read it. One newsletter, a lot more eyes.

✅ Does It Work?

My open rate is 53.8%, which means more than half of my list of over 10,000 people opens what I send, week after week. I’m not a fan of getting lost in metrics, but I share that one because it tells me the format works for my readers and not just for me. The average open rate for most newsletters is somewhere between 20% and 30%, so I’ll take 53.8 all day.

I’ve sent over 300 in a row, and each one takes about 30 minutes. In a chaotic week, the shape carries me: I look up which pillar I’m on, fill in the blanks, and it’s go time.

You don’t need a huge following. Start writing when you have three subscribers. That’s what I did. You get your feet wet when no one’s listening, and a small list that opens and buys makes selling feel easy.

🔥 Three Mistakes I’d Skip

1. Building a format so big you can’t keep it. If 3-2-1 is too much, go 1-1-1. A smaller newsletter you send beats a big one you don’t.

2. Picking your topic from scratch every week. The second you do, you’re back to guessing. Let your pillars choose for you.

3. Skipping the personal part because it doesn’t feel professional. It’s what makes your newsletter sound like a person wrote it, and it’s what makes someone look forward to opening it. People tell me Two Things I’m Loving is the reason they open my newsletter. I’ll take it.

✅ Your Plan for This Week

1. Name your three sections.

2. Answer the four pillar questions.

3. Write down three things you could share in the personal part.

4. Send one newsletter in the new shape, even if it’s messy.

The first one is allowed to be your worst. No one is judging you, and you can change the names and the size later. Sending in the same shape is the habit that counts.

🌟 The Flodesk News I’ve Been Sitting On

I’m a Flodesk partner, which means I earn a commission if you sign up through my link or my code. Now the news: Flodesk’s unlimited plans are back as of November 10, 2026. That’s unlimited subscribers and unlimited emails for one flat price, so your bill stays the same whether you have 500 subscribers or 50,000.

• Unlimited email starts at $38 a month and includes unlimited subscribers, emails, forms, and workflows

• Unlimited everything starts at $79 a month and adds unlimited checkouts and three seats for team members

Both are billed annually. Use my link or the code Bodega for 25% off your first year (about $28.50 or $59.25 a month). If you tried Flodesk through my link before, you get 14 more days free when you sign up between November 10 and November 30, with no code needed: CLICK HERE!

🛠️ Resources and Links Mentioned in the Episode

• Takeaway One Sheet (the full fill-in-the-blank template on one page)

• Flodesk (my email platform, and yes, I’m a partner), use the code BODEGA if prompted!

• Flodesk 10-minute getting started walkthrough

• My podcast episode on content pillars

💪 Make the Decisions Once

Three decisions, made one time: the shape, the topics, and how people get to know you. Repeat, rotate, relate. A blank page stops being a thousand tiny decisions and becomes a form you fill in, and that’s how I’ve kept sending for over 300 weeks.

If you want a second set of eyes on your pillars, bring them to The Content Coven. I tell people all the time to share theirs with me, and I’ll tell you if they’re too vague or too close to another one: JOIN or LEARN MORE HERE.

If a solopreneur in your life is staring at a blank newsletter page right now, send her this post.

Comment below and tell me: what are you naming your three sections?!