🎙️ Episode Summary:
Instagram isn’t your business model—and Em Connors is living proof. After watching her reach, engagement, and confidence take a hit from the algorithm, she made a bold pivot back to the one thing she truly owns: her email list.
In this episode of the Direct Sales Done Right Podcast, Em Connors shares how stepping away from Instagram helped her simplify her business, clarify her message, and build a more profitable marketing strategy. You’ll learn how she uses the simple 3-2-1 newsletter format, why cleaning your email list can improve deliverability, how she turns podcast transcripts into newsletter content, and why unsubscribes can actually be a good thing. If you’re exhausted by constant content creation and ready for a more sustainable way to build trust, stay visible, and turn your audience into buyers, this conversation is for you.
Who is Em?
Em Connors is a newsletter and email marketing strategist, one of just 43 Canva Verified Experts in the world, a sold-out course creator, and founder of The Content Coven Membership. She built it all from her fourth spare bedroom while raising two small kids and staying intentional about what matters most.
In 2021, Em left her rigid 9–5 to build a business that prioritized time freedom—not just making money. She wanted digital offers that worked with her life, not against it, without trading her time for dollars or missing slow mornings with her kids.
For years, Em was known as the Canva and Instagram girl. But behind the scenes, it was her beloved email list that quietly drove her business. She’s sent a weekly newsletter for more than five years—300+ newsletters without missing one—and grown her list to 25,000 subscribers. It’s the one channel she truly owns, and where she believes the real trust and sales happen.
Today, Em teaches female solopreneurs how to build an email list they own, show up consistently in their audience’s inboxes, and turn their newsletter into a powerful tool for connection and sales—all with simple systems that make marketing strategic, easy, and even fun. For entrepreneurs ready to ditch perfectionism, stop winging it, and build the one marketing channel the algorithm can’t touch, Em shows them exactly how.
💡 Episode Highlights & Time Stamps:
0:00 Introduction to Em Conners and her Pivot Journey
3:14 Why Instagram Stopped Working
10:02 Taking a Break to Reset
13:16 A Simple Weekly Newsletter Format
17:38 List Hygiene & Stronger Open Rates
21:04 Navigating an Entrepreneurial Pivot
27:44 Email vs. Instagram: Owning Your Audience
31:11 Inside the Newsletter System
33:38 Finding Your Aligned Business Focus
35:34 Navigating Change as an Entrepreneur
📌 Resources & Links Mentioned:
- Em Conner’s The Newsletter System™: https://www.thecreativebodega.com/new-the-newsletter-system
- Connect with Em Conners on Instagram: @its.em.connors
- Subscribe to Katy’s Weekly Emails here: https://katyursta.com/weekly-email
👥 Connect with Katy:
- Instagram: @katywritescontent
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefitfighter
- Substack: https://substack.com/@katywritescontent
- Website: www.katyursta.com
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19 min