How Freelance Opportunities! Grew to 11,000 Subscribers on beehiiv

Situation:

Kaitlyn Arford started sharing freelance job opportunities on X in 2021. What began as helpful posts for writers and journalists quickly gained traction as more freelancers looked for legitimate, paid work in a noisy job market.

As her audience grew, Kaitlyn realized the limitation of relying on social platforms. Algorithm changes, lack of ownership, and no clear monetization path made it difficult to turn attention into something durable.

She wanted to build something more official, but it had to remain free and accessible to freelancers.

Challenge:

Kaitlyn faced three constraints:

• Audience ownership: Social platforms drove discovery, but offered no control or reliability.
• Cost sensitivity: Many newsletter tools became expensive as lists grew, making a free weekly newsletter unsustainable.
• Monetization clarity: She wanted optional revenue without locking job listings behind a paywall.

She needed a platform that could scale, stay affordable, and support monetization without compromising access.

Solution:

Kaitlyn moved Freelance Opportunities! to beehiiv and made the newsletter her primary distribution channel.

Using beehiiv, she:

• Published a consistent weekly newsletter curating paid freelance roles
• Leveraged built-in engagement tools like polls and surveys
• Used the beehiiv Ad Network and Boosts for passive monetization
• Maintained a clean, simple reading experience without paywalls
• Owned her audience relationship instead of relying on algorithms

beehiiv allowed her to focus on curation and consistency while the platform handled infrastructure, growth, and monetization.

Results:

After switching to beehiiv:

• Freelance Opportunities! grew from ~4,000 to 11,000 subscribers
• The newsletter maintained a free-first model while generating revenue
• Kaitlyn earned approximately $6,000 through ads and boosts
• Engagement increased through interactive tools and feedback loops
• The newsletter became a reliable, owned asset instead of a social feed dependency

What started as social posts evolved into a sustainable newsletter business.

Why It Matters

Freelance Opportunities! shows how creators can build meaningful, monetized newsletters without charging readers upfront.

By choosing beehiiv, Kaitlyn created a scalable system that balances access, growth, and revenue while fully owning her audience.

For creators serving price-sensitive audiences, beehiiv makes it possible to grow without trade-offs.

Start using beehiiv to turn your expertise into an owned, scalable newsletter.