255: The Only Numbers a Creator CEO Needs to Look at Weekly
The numbers I check every single week (and why they matter more than dashboards)
If you’ve ever found yourself buried in data but still unsure about what’s actually moving the needle in your business, you’re not alone. In this episode, I’m sharing the exact weekly numbers I track as a Creator CEO, no overwhelm, no vanity metrics, just high-impact visibility that helps me make better decisions, faster.
We’re not diving into spreadsheet chaos or dozens of dashboards. Instead, I’ll show you how to focus on three core areas that give you the clarity to lead your business like a CEO. Whether you’re earning six figures or just starting out, these are the metrics that matter—and the ones you can let go of.
What You’ll Learn:
Why more data doesn’t equal more clarity
The #1 mindset shift from creator to CEO
The three key questions that guide all my business decisions
How to identify what’s actually earning in your business right now
Why cost isn’t just money—and what that means for your offers
How a CEO dashboard helps you scale, simplify, or let go
The reason I check these numbers weekly (not daily, not quarterly)
If decision fatigue has been creeping in, this episode will help you cut through the noise and get clear on what deserves your focus. Tune in and let’s build a business that runs with intention—not guesswork. 🎧
Mentioned in this episode:
The Numbers I Check Weekly As a Creator CEO—And Why They’re the Only Ones That Matter
If you’ve ever felt like you’re drowning in data but still can’t confidently answer the question “What should I focus on this week?”, this post is for you. I want to talk about the only numbers I, as a Creator CEO, actually look at every single week. Not because I love spreadsheets (I don’t). But because these few, clear signals help me make strong, strategic decisions without second-guessing myself.
So let’s stop chasing metrics for the sake of it. Let’s build visibility that makes leadership easier.
From Creator to CEO: Why This Shift Changes Everything
Most creators are taught to track performance—email opens, social media reach, ad impressions. But CEOs? We track signals. Signals that help us make decisions. Signals that help us grow with intention. That shift changes everything.
Instead of asking, “What should I post this week?” I started asking, “What moves the business forward right now?” And when you ask that question, the numbers you care about shift completely.
The Three Questions I Ask Weekly
Running a digital product business means ideas are never in short supply—but time and focus are. That’s why I’ve built my weekly CEO dashboard around three core questions:
What’s earning?
Not what I hope will sell. Not what I love working on. I look at what is actually bringing in revenue right now. Most business owners are surprised when they do this. A small number of offers usually do the heavy lifting.What’s costing me?
Cost isn’t just money—it’s time, energy, mental bandwidth, and operational friction. Something can make sales and still not be worth carrying if it’s pulling me (or my team) in the wrong direction.What deserves focus right now?
When everything feels equally important, nothing gets traction. A simple dashboard helps me choose one priority for the week—whether that’s scaling, repairing, holding steady, or letting go.
Why I Review These Numbers Weekly (Not Daily, Not Quarterly)
Weekly isn’t about pressure. It’s about rhythm. It’s about staying close enough to the business to lead with clarity, without micromanaging or reacting emotionally to every data blip.
A weekly review helps me see trends while they’re still small, so I can course-correct early. It also helps me make decisions based on reality—not assumptions or noise.
The Numbers That Actually Matter
So what does my CEO dashboard include? Honestly, not much. Just enough to see what’s earning, what’s costing, and where I need to pay attention next.
I don’t need to check every traffic stat or engagement number. I need visibility into:
Top-performing offers
Revenue per offer
Cost of delivery (including time and mental load)
Funnel or sales page conversion rates
Active visibility or marketing levers
One clear focus area for the week
That’s it. Anything else is just noise if it doesn’t support those core signals.
The Power of Clear Visibility
When you install this kind of visibility system, everything else in your business starts working better. Offers, funnels, visibility plans, retention strategies—they either strengthen your clarity or work against it.
Inside the Creator’s MBA Lab, this is exactly what we’re building right now. Not just a dashboard, but a decision-making lens that makes every other system easier to build and improve. Because when you know what matters, growth gets lighter—and way more intentional.
If you’re tired of spinning your wheels and want to feel like the CEO of your business—not just the content creator—this is where to start. You don’t need more metrics. You just need the right visibility, and the confidence to act on it.
Let me know if you want to peek inside the dashboard we use inside the Lab. I’ll be sharing more soon.
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Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Creator's MBA podcast, your go-to resource for mastering the art and science of digital product entrepreneurship. My name is Dr. Destini Copp, and I help business owners generate consistent revenue from their digital product business without the need to be glued to their desk, constantly live launching, or worrying about the social media algorithms.
I hope you enjoy our episode today.
[00:00:40] Hi there, Destini here, and welcome back to the Creator's MBA podcast. I'm super excited that you're spending this time with me. Lately, I've been thinking about why newsletters feel so frustrating for so many smart, capable online business owners. And I'm not talking about beginners—I mean people who are doing the work, sending out emails consistently, and still not seeing the kind of results that make the effort feel justified.
[00:01:12] Here's the part that matters: the problem isn't that newsletters stopped working—it's that the rules have changed over time. And at the same time, I've been paying very close attention to what's happening in the broader newsletter ecosystem. Especially after reading the State of Newsletters 2026 report that just came out this week from Beehiiv.
[00:01:39] What struck me is how deeply connected those two things are. On one hand, the data shows that newsletters are healthier than ever—revenue is up, engagement is up, and monetization is happening faster. But on the other hand, a lot of individual creators are still struggling to make newsletters work in a way that feels predictable and intentional.
[00:02:08] So today, I want to bridge that gap. I want to talk about what's actually changing in the newsletter landscape, why email is quietly becoming the most stable center of the creator economy, and how misunderstanding this shift is exactly why so many newsletters still aren't making money—even when that business owner is doing almost everything "right."
[00:02:36] Let's talk about the big picture and what the data actually says. The State of Newsletters 2026 report from Beehiiv made something very clear: email is no longer just a marketing channel. For solopreneurs, creators, service providers, and coaches, it is a business model in its own right.
[00:02:59] While social media platforms spent the last year dealing with algorithm changes and AI-curated feeds, newsletters quietly became the most stable place to build an audience you actually own. The report describes newsletters evolving from simple email updates into what it calls "multi-channel media hubs anchored in the inbox."
[00:03:27] I love that—multi-channel media hubs that are anchored in the inbox. That language matters because it tells us that the inbox is no longer just a traffic source. It’s the operating system of your business. It's where your content lives, it's where your products are sold, it's where communities form, and it's where your podcast, your events, and your experiences all connect back to one central place.
[00:03:57] Even independent creators are no longer operating with a single weekly email. They're building ecosystems, and the inbox is the anchor. This shift is driven largely by ownership. After watching reach disappear overnight on social media platforms, business owners started to prioritize permission-based relationships. And email is predictable in a way that social media simply isn’t.
[00:04:29] The Beehiiv report also highlights a move toward consolidation. Business owners are simplifying their tech stacks and doing more from one core system instead of spreading energy across disconnected tools and platforms. All of this sets the stage for what comes next.
[00:04:52] For a long time, newsletters were treated like digital megaphones. You stood on a box, shouted out your message, and hoped someone was listening. But I think the 2026 model looks more like building a digital coffee shop.
[00:05:10] In this model, the newsletter is the shop itself. It's the space you own and control—not a social media feed that can change overnight. The content is like the coffee: it needs to be high-quality, intentional, and human enough that people actually want to come back.
[00:05:30] Think Starbucks. They have really good coffee—I want to come back because I love the coffee. The community is the point. Your newsletter is no longer a one-way publishing platform. It’s hospitality. It’s interaction. It’s treating readers like participants, not passive email subscribers.
[00:05:53] Your products and services are the premium offerings—the merchandise and experience your most loyal readers are happy to invest in. AI plays a role here too. I equate it to the barista machine. It automates the repeat work so you can focus on what only you can do: thinking, connecting, leading.
[00:06:19] All of this lines up with what the Beehiiv report emphasized—moving away from one-way publishing toward engagement, community, and participation. Here's a quote from Michael Kaufman that captures it beautifully: "There is a difference between service and hospitality. There's a difference between doing something and doing something because you care."
[00:06:50] That distinction explains a lot of what we’re seeing right now. Most newsletters aren’t failing because of bad writing or inconsistency. They’re stalling because they’re still being run like megaphones in a world that now rewards coffee shops.
[00:07:12] Here's what that looks like: you send thoughtful emails, you share valuable ideas—but selling feels awkward. Promotions feel disruptive. You can't always answer what your newsletter is supposed to do this month. Because most creators plan newsletters around content. Very few plan around revenue.
[00:07:39] That doesn’t mean you don’t have offers—it means they’re not intentionally mapped into your newsletter in a way that makes sense over time. The result? Inconsistent performance. Confidence fades. I’ve been there myself.
[00:08:00] For years, I followed the standard advice. I sent helpful, well-written weekly newsletters. Sometimes things sold—and I thought I was on the right track. But nothing was predictable. Nothing I could plan around or repeat intentionally. That disconnect bothered me.
[00:08:23] When I started studying newsletters that consistently made money across industries, the difference wasn’t clever copy. It was planning. Those creators weren’t deciding what to send one email at a time. They were planning their next quarter—and how it tied to revenue.
[00:08:47] That shift changed everything. When you stop planning one email at a time and start planning with intention—quarter by quarter—the question changes. You stop asking, “What should I send this week?” and start asking, “What role does this email play in the bigger system?”
[00:09:10] Some emails build trust. Others sell. Some prepare your audience for what’s next. The problem isn’t that any of this is wrong—it’s that you don’t know which is which. A 90-day plan gives your newsletter context, confidence, and removes the weekly decision fatigue.
[00:09:35] And the data backs this up. The Beehiiv report showed that niche creators drove a 138% jump in paid subscription revenue last year. The median time to earning the first dollar dropped to 66 days. And open rates increased to 41%. People are reading—and buying.
[00:09:59] But they’re responding to intention, not just noise.
[00:10:05] So what do you do with all of this?
First, niche expertise wins. Generalist newsletters are struggling. Identity- and passion-driven niches are seeing higher engagement and stronger revenue.
[00:10:20] Second, automation is leverage—not a shortcut. Most newsletters still use almost no automation. Automating your welcome flows and re-engagement sequences frees up time. AI should support your voice, not replace it.
[00:10:39] Third, community beats audience. A smaller group of engaged readers outperforms a massive passive list. Treat your newsletter like a system, not a random collection of emails.
[00:10:53] That’s why I created the Newsletter Profit Club. Everything inside is designed to help you build a repeatable newsletter system—one that supports revenue without burning out your audience or yourself.
[00:11:10] Our first members-only workshop focuses on building a clear 90-day newsletter plan. Not just content ideas—but a strategy that connects what you send to how you make money. Then we layer in natural-feeling monetization, automation that keeps your voice, and growth strategies that attract buyers—not just subscribers.
[00:11:36] We also cover decision frameworks so you always know what to send and what to skip.
[00:11:45] If you’ve been sending your newsletter consistently but want it to feel more intentional—this is the work that fixes it.
[00:11:54] Email isn’t going away—it’s evolving. And when newsletters don’t make money, it’s rarely because the business owner isn’t trying hard enough. It’s almost always because the newsletter was never designed as a system in the first place.
[00:12:13] Structure is learnable. Planning is powerful. And the inbox is still one of the most stable places to build a business in 2026.
[00:12:27] Thanks for listening. I’ll include the links to the Beehiiv report and details about the Newsletter Profit Club in the show notes. Bye for now.
[00:12:38] Thanks for listening all the way to the end. If you love the show, I’d appreciate a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform. Have a great day, and bye for now.