Creator Science

Creating content has never been easier – but breaking through the noise has gotten harder. The only reliable way to grow as a creator is through observation, experimentation, and iteration. This podcast is your weekly guide to evidence-backed strategies and experiments you can apply to your business. Each episode features candid conversations with today’s top creators—like James Clear, Ali Abdaal, Tim Urban, and Codie Sanchez—sharing actionable insights to help you grow your audience, build trust, and boost your income. This isn’t just an interview podcast—it’s a deep dive into the business of content, hosted by Signal Award-winner Jay Clouse. It's growth for creators, down to a science.

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September 15, 2026

#318: The $9/month membership earning more than $500k/year AND buying Smart Passive Income — Pt. 2 featuring Liz Wilcox

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Liz Wilcox is the creator of Email Marketing Membership and the new owner of Smart Passive Income

Show Notes
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My guest is Liz Wilcox, the creator behind Email Marketing Membership — a $9/month newsletter template subscription she’s kept at the same price for six years, that now generates close to half a million dollars a year.

Liz built the whole thing as a single parent with no support system and no reliable internet, working from library parking lots and Lowe’s lots during nap times. She launched in February 2021, kept the price at $9, maintained a 5% churn rate, and grew to over 4,400 paying members. She and her sister run the operation — no upsells, no masterminds, no group coaching. Just the membership. Then in April 2026, she quietly closed a deal to buy Smart Passive Income — the 18-year-old creator education brand Pat Flynn built from scratch. She spent five months operating as SPI’s director of community before anyone outside the deal knew it had happened.

This is Part 2 of a two-part conversation. Last week, Pat and Matt told the seller’s story. This week, Liz tells the buyer’s.

In this episode, we talk about:

Why the $9 price point has worked for six years — and why she’ll never raise it
How she grew a half-million-dollar membership without social media, using podcasts and a 50% affiliate program
What had to be true before she’d pull the trigger on buying SPI
How she’s thinking about merging EMM with the SPI community — and why she doesn’t have the answer yet

By the end of this episode, you will understand how a $9 offer can compound into a half-million-dollar business — and what it actually looks like when someone buys a legacy brand and tries to honor it.

Full transcript and show notes

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TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Introduction

(01:14) The $9 membership

(03:48) The retention rate

(07:54) Low stakes for both sides

(11:06) The four thousand member math

(12:39) AI and the membership

(14:55) Who this model isn’t for

(16:38) Growing without social media

(20:23) Single parent, no backup plan