How's the business doing? Quarter in review (Q2 2026)

I predicted that we were going to have a rough quarter. Today, I'm sharing exactly how it went.

I ended up shifting some of our revenue and expenses around to make the math work. I also took some gigs outside the Rulebreaker world for the first time since we launched nearly two years ago.

Subscriptions stayed flat. Sponsorships went down. Events went up. We shipped the 2026 Legends sticker pack. We launched Legends Liaison and Classified Ads. We read stories about selling books, growing newsletters, prioritizing expenses, getting site traffic, finding clients on LinkedIn, knowing who to trust about AI and traveling with a business. We heard from over 60 Legends about everything from handling life emergencies to marketing a lead magnet in our Ask The Legends advice series. You collaborated with each other to produce stories, podcasts, events and new offers. You hired and referred each other for projects. I worked on shoring up our editorial strategy and I began liveblogging small business headlines.

It was a ton of work. But any day I get to wake up and do this job is a great day.

Here's my recap of how Revenue Rulebreaker did in Q2. Join me this Thursday for my earnings call where I present it live to you. It's a great opportunity to give me your input and share what you want to see next.

Sections

• Top lessons
• Q2 2026 Goal targets vs reality
• What we did together this quarter
• Community success stories
• Successful and failed projects
• Growth channels that worked
• Revenue and expenses
• What to expect in Q3

💡Top lessons

I am the brand. There's still some confusion about what the topic of this project is. It's how solopreneurs make money. But I've had several people join Legends (or share about it publicly) by referencing paid newsletters. I've been talking loudly about paid newsletters for the past three years on my personal social media, but Revenue Rulebreaker is not about paid newsletters. It never has been. Nor is Legends. I can write all the marketing copy about this project being focused on solopreneurs and how they make money. It doesn't sink in. Whatever I am talking personally about gets assigned to this brand.

Editorial has to pull its weight. When people become Legends, they overwhelmingly join because of the network perks. Coming to mixers, finding collaborators, getting more visibility on their business. I play those up in my marketing because I'm aware they are valuable and sought after. Occasionally, a Legend shares a specific story they wanted to read that caused them to upgrade, but it's fairly rare. I know Legends appreciate the stories, but I need for the editorial side to attract more of our paid subscribers. Otherwise, the publication doesn't have a reason to exist.

50% off is too much. The big subscriber drive this quarter was the bundle I ran with Lucy Werner. We launched at 50% off annual for two days and that discount is too much. I'll never do that again, at least at our current price point. Discounts work to encourage people who've been thinking about joining to join, but they also bring in lower intent, lower commitment people who are often confused about what we're doing and want me to sell them post-purchase or onboard them more substantially. I cannot do that for $50/year. I can't even really do that for $99/year.

Beware the sponsor who doesn't work with creators. I have always targeted brands for partnerships who are newer to working with creators. That's worked in my favor until now. This year, I pitched three brands who have never done a creator partnership and they all were more work than expected with extra meetings and email questions. Some people get it quickly. (My partnership with Outpost has been the best.) Others require more education and handholding than I can really do at the prices I charge. I've started pitching brands that do work with creators more frequently and they're substantially easier to work with.

🥅 Q2 2026 Goal targets vs reality

Revenue Rulebreaker's core revenue streams are subscriptions, sponsorships and events. Here's how they performed in Q2.