How Being Vulnerable Grew My Email List to 48K+ & Built a 7-Figure Business | Sam Vander Wielen

Quick Overview

The speaker built a multi-7-figure online business by embracing vulnerability and sharing her authentic, difficult life experiences—including brain surgery, family illness, and past trauma—which resonated deeply with her audience, leading to strong community loyalty and growth, instead of sticking to purely transactional content like legal templates.

Key Points: The speaker built a multi-7-figure online business selling legal templates, which she claims happened accidentally after a moment of intense turbulence on a flight in May 2016 served as a wake-up call. Her past involved a 'messed up childhood' where she was often left home alone, leading to a desire for safety and stability, which manifested as pursuing a career as a corporate lawyer at age 23, a path she immediately hated. The speaker experienced severe personal setbacks, including brain surgery one month into her new legal business and the subsequent loss of both parents within a year, forcing her to become a caregiver. The realization that vulnerability fosters connection led her to pivot her content strategy: instead of only discussing legal tips, she started sharing behind-the-scenes realities, which resulted in a highly engaged email list of over 48,000 subscribers. Key advice includes: 1) Share what you are going through to allow people to see themselves in your content; 2) Bring your story back to your audience, even if it's not directly related to what you sell; and 3) Be a leader by sharing TBD opinions and showing vulnerability. She emphasizes that being a leader means knowing how to think about things, not knowing everything, and sharing lessons from 'scars, not open wounds.'

Context: The speaker, Sam Vander Wielen, delivers a keynote presentation titled 'The Power of Being Real: The Surprising Secret to Winning Hearts and Unexpectedly Growing Your Business' at the Craft + Commerce conference. She recounts significant personal and professional turning points, starting with an airplane incident in 2016 that prompted a career shift from law to teaching people how to cook, eventually leading to her legal templates business. The core narrative revolves around how sharing her authentic struggles—including serious medical issues and family loss—unexpectedly created deep audience connection and fueled business growth.