Hi there 👋🏼 I'm Price.
I’m building a roofing company from scratch in my mid-30s and documenting the whole process.
Watch me succeed or fail.
I have (had) about 1,000 followers on X. Not exactly an influencer. So when I summarized last week's newsletter about local newsletters into a tweet, I figured maybe a hundred people would see it and I'd get a couple likes.
It got over 541,000 views. 4,000+ bookmarks. 2,000+ likes. 100+ reposts.
From me, a guy with a thousand followers talking about local email newsletters and roofing…
The Internet Is Weird
What fascinated me was the reactions were split into two very distinct camps.
Camp one: "This is genius! I'm starting one in my city this week." And a couple of people actually did launch local newsletters in their markets directly because of that tweet, which I'm very stoked about.
Camp two: "This is stupid. Using AI to write local newsletters is a slap in the face to real communities. No one will read that. Get out of our neighborhoods!"
Take two is hilarious, because I'm extremely active in my local community, and I specifically said that I wouldn't be using AI to write the content …. just to help with the research and event aggregation. But nuance doesn't travel well in a tweet I guess, and people love to be mad about stuff. So it goes…
The whole thing taught me that if your idea doesn't make some people upset on the internet, it's probably not interesting enough. The best ideas live right on the edge where half the room thinks you're onto something and the other half thinks you've lost it. It's the very spot I keep finding myself.
What Came From It
The views and likes are cool, but honestly kind of meaningless on their own. What actually mattered was what happened after.
A few of the newsletter operators I'd shouted out in Issue #005 reached out directly. I had conversations this week with Jas Singh from the Winnipeg Digest and Ryan Sneddon from Naptown Scoop -- two guys I'd been researching and writing about, now offering to hop on calls and share advice about what they've built. Genuinely super nice people who wanted to help.
I also had a couple more conversations with people in the roofing industry or with other helpful experience, like someone in private equity who has experience acquiring roofing companies. They reached out just to chat, give me advice, and share goalposts to work toward as I build Rally. I've been genuinely shocked at how generous people have been with their time and advice, and it's super appreciated! I've said many times I don't really know what I'm doing so every bit helps!
And then there's The Rally newsletter itself. We're approaching 200 subscribers now, which I know isn't a massive number, but five issues in, with no paid promotion? I'll take it. All from posting on X and LinkedIn and just being open about what I'm doing.
It's cool to see so much come from so little, and none of this would have happened if I hadn't been willing to put myself out there.
The Actual Point
I love writing, and I've always wanted some reason to do it more, but up until now I lacked the motivation. The reason I started this newsletter in the first place was partly accountability. To you reading, but mostly to myself. If I'm going to build this company in public, I actually have to...build in public. Consistently. Even when there's not a big update.
But I'll try to be more consistent. If I've learned anything through this newsletter so far it's the importance of just putting yourself out there. In just five issues, the newsletter has already paid for itself many times over….not in dollars, but in connections, conversations, advice, and honestly, motivation.
If you're someone who's been thinking about putting your story out there; starting a newsletter, posting about your business, documenting your journey, whatever it is…. I'd really encourage you to just try. The barrier feels massive from the outside, but it's mostly in your head. And the support that comes back is genuinely surprising.
The people reaching out with advice and support only happens if you're willing to be a little vulnerable about what you're building!
Build Log (Quick Hits)
Not a ton to report on the ground this week, so I'll keep it short:
License: Still waiting. Still studying. The glamorous life of a pre-launch contractor.
Website: Should be live in the next week or two. Not rushing it since I'm not officially launched yet, but it's close.
Pipeline: A couple of jobs lined up for when I get my license. The goal is to hit the ground running in May with work already in the pipeline.
Consistency: I'm committing to a more regular publishing cadence. Working on locking in a specific day so you know when to expect this in your inbox.
Lesson of the Week
You don't need a big audience to have a big moment. I had a thousand followers when that tweet took off. The content resonated because it was specific, useful, and came from real experience, not because I had some massive platform behind it.
Put the work out there. Let the internet decide what it does with it.
What's Next
I'm heading to Canada for a ski trip this week (last hurrah before the business launch and craziness), so the next issue might be a little light. But I'm going to keep showing up.
If you're new here from X, welcome! Issue #1 has the full backstory if you want the long version…short story is a crypto collapse, emergency C-section, lots of figuring out life.
If you've been here since the beginning, thank you! Seriously. The fact that anyone reads this thing still kind of blows my mind.
And if you're building something, starting something, or even just thinking about it, reply and tell me. I'd love to hear what you're working on. I read everything.
Talk soon.
-Price
P.S. - To anyone who started a local newsletter after seeing the tweet: I want to hear how it's going. Hit me up.