Do more lead magnets

Every Monday, I micro case studies and BTS from our community for newsletter operators. Detailed breakdowns on Thursdays.

Tea from my life

I have set up Claude Code because it’s finally time I start thinking like a CEO, not an operator.

With hundreds of tasks every week as a solopreneur, it’s important I invest my limited time and energy into core business actions, not just every other action. So I am automating as much as possible with AI.

I am grateful my friends are talented developers. Makes my life easier when I feel stuck.

Before we start, I am always experimenting to find the sweet spot for our community growth.

This month, I am playing around with pricing. The investment to join CognitionX dropped from $69 for three months to $35. If you have considered joining CognitionX multiple times but never acted on it, this is the time.

Inside, we are a bunch of creators and business owners who talk about making revenue via content.

Join CognitionX

Analysis in 300 words

In December 2025, Nathan May mentioned lead magnets are the #1 growth channel organically.

I didn’t publish enough lead magnets, nor do I have a huge social distribution to measure data, but I can vouch that the audience always needs relevant resources, and they’re happy to exchange their email for it.

Pick your favourite, 10k+ list publications and check for their resources. I guarantee that at least 80% of them have published three or more evergreen lead magnets.

I slept on this, but I started creating lead magnets last week. This one got me 10 subscribers.

As I plan to do one lead magnet a week, here are some notes to myself:

Do more of what works. People reacted better to a checklist over a cheatsheet? Do more checklists.
Posting about lead magnets is a skill. You can’t actually give out the resource, but you need to make your ICP curious enough to comment for access. They need to see some value beforehand. It requires top-tier storytelling and copywriting. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Just study the posts you have commented on.
Make sure the lead magnets are aligned with your newsletter. If your newsletter content is about writing great blogs, don’t make your lead magnet about content creation on LinkedIn. It should be something like an SEO checklist for your blog.

I know this is a little vague, but the point of this edition is to make you think seriously about lead magnets.

By the end of February, I will have more first-party data to share a playbook with you. I will also add my observations of how other creators are building their lead magnets.