Lay the Course Podcast · Vela Creative Co.

Expert Tips for Sustainable Business Growth with Yong-Soo Chung

·38 min·2 clips

Yong-Soo Chung's MAPS framework says mindset, audience, product, and scaling must happen in order.

Kelsey introduces the conversation as a place to talk about business growth, mindset, and other ways to take a business to the next level. Yongsoo says he has started three businesses in e-commerce, with Urban EDC as his main example. He also mentions his newer podcast, First Class Founders, while noting it is still too new to count as a business for him. The discussion quickly turns to how he packages content for listeners and readers. His newsletter is completely free right now, and he says he does not gate the core audience-building material. The podcast is also free, but premium layers let people access extra pieces of the process. He explains that some guest interview sections and solo moments are left out of the public feed when they are off topic. Those cuts become part of the premium version, along with the raw uncut interviews. He says the show is highly edited and highly produced, so the behind-the-scenes material is part of the value. Kelsey asks what led him to make podcasts and email central to growth. Yongsoo says those channels are all connected rather than separate tactics. He describes running Twitter ads to gain followers, then messaging those new followers with a link to join the newsletter. He says that approach has been very effective and has grown the newsletter steadily and consistently. He is still exploring other channels too, not just Twitter. Even so, his current focus is clear: make the newsletter as large as possible. He believes that a bigger newsletter can lead to a bigger podcast audience. The episode also circles back to the idea that founders should not try to build a product before they have an audience. He says that skipping the audience work can create roadblocks. He closes by urging people to do an audit and make sure the pieces are in place before the next big push.

As heard by us

Audience first, then the product, with newsletters doing much of the leverage work.

Yong-Soo Chung keeps the focus on the mechanics of growing a business: build an audience first, use the newsletter and podcast deliberately, and treat distribution as part of the job.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a practical blueprint on growing a business audience with Twitter ads, direct messages, and a free newsletter, with podcast and premium extras in the mix.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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