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  "description": "Some thoughts on year three of The Purse.",
  "path": "/how-to-build-a-media-company-in-2026/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-03T15:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.thepurse.co",
  "tags": [
    "January Receipts newsletter",
    "Palette Studio",
    "our gorgeous site",
    "year one",
    "year two",
    "Self",
    "Teen Vogue",
    "sad shell of its former self",
    "NPR",
    "the Associated Press",
    "The Washington Post in February",
    "The Ankler",
    "Semafor",
    "Feed Me",
    "The Food Section",
    "personal finance advice from ChatGPT and Claude",
    "weekly essays",
    "Division of Labor",
    "Work History",
    "Home Economics",
    "Alicia’s recent article",
    "Follow us on Instagram",
    "Upgrade to paid",
    "Meal Plan",
    "Travel Guides",
    "feelings of jealousy",
    "March 2026 Receipts",
    "already have",
    "Babylist reel",
    "Family Money podcast",
    "“The Magic Store.”",
    "“No Surrender”",
    "“We’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World,”",
    "“Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy.”",
    "I quit my job so you don’t have toFalling off the treadmillThe PurseLindsey Stanberry",
    "Some frank thoughts on money, jealousy, and lonelinessThe Purse is one year old, and I’m feeling introspective.The PurseLindsey Stanberry",
    "Is my imposter syndrome holding me back?And other thoughts on year two of The Purse.The PurseLindsey Stanberry"
  ],
  "textContent": "This past Monday, without much fanfare on my part, The Purse turned three.\n\nWhen Alicia and I were catching up during our weekly meeting, I joked that I was going to keep this anniversary newsletter brief. I had just three things to say about year three of The Purse. One, I’m working really hard. Two, I’m very tired. Three, working with Alicia is the best thing _ever_.\n\nAll of these things are true—especially the bit about being tired. Guys, I’m too pooped to pop, as we used to say around my house growing up. But my mom often tells me that’s simply a by-product of being a 40-something with a kid and career. So we power through. (And as I said in the January Receipts newsletter earlier this year, I know it’s tiresome when I write about being tired.)\n\nOf course, I’m not brief here. (When am I _ever_ concise?) My anniversary newsletters always give me a chance to reflect on how far I’ve come and where I want to go. I appreciate you allowing me to wax poetic for a bit. (I’ll also forewarn you that I’ve peppered my prose with quite a few curse words, and that parts of this post are a little inside media baseball.)\n\nThis past year has been a big one for The Purse. Last June, I had just wrapped up a full-time freelance gig, and I was seriously considering throwing in the towel and returning to a corporate job. Instead, I took a big risk and went in the totally opposite direction. I stopped taking on any other freelance work, and I focused 100% of my energy on The Purse.\n\nI’m lucky that it’s paying off—literally. In 2026, The Purse is on track to make more than I made in my role as executive editor at Fortune. Though for full transparency, I am not personally making that much because, well, running a business is expensive. And as the founder of a newsletter about women and money, I feel very strongly that I pay everyone who works on The Purse. (Except our husbands, Ken and Chris, who do way too much work for free in the name of supporting our dreams. But I’m working on changing that in year three, too!)\n\nWould you believe The Purse is a family business? We couldn't do it without support from our husbands, who do a lot of work behind the scenes. (Photo by Marissa Alper.)\n\nThis year, I made some big investments in the business. I hired my friend Elsa Ienna of Palette Studio to rebrand The Purse, shedding our homemade, hot-pink Canva designs for something that’s both playful and sophisticated. In January, we moved off of Substack and onto Ghost, and with Alicia’s help, we started publishing on our gorgeous site nearly every weekday.\n\nAnd that brings me to perhaps the most significant change. Alicia started working with me last August, and what was supposed to be a fun job to keep her busy while she looked for a new full-time role has morphed into an amazing partnership. She has become an integral part of The Purse, and working together has allowed me to dream even bigger about what this media company can become. Plus, she’s very funny, and she calls me out on my bullshit. I couldn’t ask for a better partner. (Even though both of us are hopeless at navigating tech problems!)\n\nA year ago, The Purse still felt like just a newsletter. And while there’s nothing wrong with “just a newsletter,” I’ve always had bigger goals. Today, I feel like we’re growing into the media company I’ve always dreamed of. No small feat in these unstable times.\n\nSo to mark our third anniversary, here are some thoughts on building while flying. Spoiler alert: Turbulence is to be expected.\n\n## **Hiring a business coach was a game changer**\n\nI’m a collaborative person by nature, and one of the hardest things about running my own business has been working by myself. In year one, I was really lonely. In year two, I struggled with disappointment after a failed partnership. In year three, I’ve been really lucky to find my people, and one of those people is my business coach, Steph Dolgins.\n\nI have to admit, I was reluctant to hire a coach. I’ve had many people offer their coaching services to me in the years that I’ve been running The Purse. And while I think many of those people have good intentions, I find something inherently scammy about coaching in general. It’s easy to spend a _lot_ of money and not see any results.\n\nBut I liked Steph from the first time I met her through our mutual friend Fran Hauser. Not to mention that she was _chief marketing officer_ at Tumblr—I mean, how cool is that? Her experience is bona fide, and when I followed up about working together, I asked if we could do some sort of hybrid of executive coaching with some marketing and business advice thrown in. I’m lucky she said yes, because working with Steph has really been transformative for me and the business.\n\nWe meet for an hour every two weeks, and we spend that time working through all kinds of problems, from my ongoing money anxieties to how to ask a client for feedback. I won’t tell you how many times I’ve cried in our sessions (quite a few). She lets me role play hard conversations, which sounds so cheesy but has been so helpful. I joke she’s the angel and the devil on my shoulder, making me put on my big-girl pants and do the hard things I would otherwise put off. I never want to show up for a session having not done the hard thing we discussed! And every session she reminds me to give myself grace and asks me, “What are you doing in the service of Lindsey?”\n\nOne of the biggest things we worked on over the last year is my struggle to consider my work on The Purse as a “real job.” I realized recently that that hasn’t been an issue lately. I credit Steph for helping me work through that hang-up and giving me the language to talk about The Purse in a way that makes me feel confident.\n\nThat confidence building is more important than ever, as I increasingly find myself in rooms with some pretty important people.\n\n## **Still, I’m a little fish in a big pond**\n\nLast month, I was invited to a breakfast that included a bunch of traditional media executives from companies like NPR, Conde Nast, and Vox. We gathered to talk about audience development—what creative ways we’re finding readers these days.\n\nWhen I saw the guest list, I was a little intimidated. And for a minute, I found myself wondering why I had even been invited. What could I possibly add to the conversation?\n\nBut I didn’t let myself get bogged down with imposter syndrome like I might have a year ago. I’m feeling pretty confident about what we’re building at The Purse and why we’re able to compete with bigger, better-resourced organizations.\n\nThe media industry is flailing, and since I wrote my last anniversary post, it feels like things have continued to get worse. In just the last six months, we’ve seen Self and Teen Vogue shutter. _Glamour_ is a sad shell of its former self. There have been big layoffs at NPR and the Associated Press. Let’s not even get into what happened at The Washington Post in February.\n\nMaybe I’m something of a reverse snob, but increasingly I don’t think the legacy publications hold the same cache they used to. Where I used to be scared that leaving Fortune might have been a career killer, lately I’ve realized it’s actually a résumé builder. I’m not in-house somewhere trying to push through my innovative ideas. I’m doing it on my own, and frankly, I’m pretty damn good at it.\n\nBehind the scenes with Neha Ruch on the set of __Family Money__ , our new podcast with Babylist. (Photo courtesy of Babylist.)\n\nIf you look around, some of the smartest people in media have left traditional outlets to build their own things from the ground up: Janice Min at The Ankler, Ben Smith at Semafor, Emily Sundberg at Feed Me, and Hanna Raskin at The Food Section, just to name a few.\n\nAnd yeah, it’s pretty fucking bold of me to put my name next to Janice Min and Emily Sundberg. But what Alicia and I are building at The Purse is pretty special. I don’t see anyone tackling the topic of women and money quite like we do. And we’re just getting started. It’s pretty thrilling to think about how we can grow from here.\n\n## **In the age of AI, I still believe in humans**\n\nA few weeks ago, I wrote about how more and more people are getting personal finance advice from ChatGPT and Claude. In writing the essay, I fell down a rabbit hole reading _way_ too many articles on AI. Over that week, I felt my anxiety spike and my sense of dread grow. Reading about how robots are taking over human jobs deeply bums me out.\n\nBut I’m particularly angry that AI evangelists drone on and on about how they’re going to replace artists and experts with their stupid bots. Whenever I push back and point out that AI writing isn’t very good, the reply is always “Well, not yet. But just wait.”\n\nI’m fine waiting ’til pigs fucking fly. AI is not going to do my writing for me. Sure, it’s faster. (You don’t want to know how long it took me to compose this sentence.) But since when is faster better? More is also not better. I could easily stand up an entire personal finance website filled with AI-composed articles on all kinds of money topics. But why would I? And why would you want to read it? Or pay for it, for that matter.\n\nWhat makes The Purse special is that it’s written and edited by me and Alicia. We labor over writing our weekly essays, and we carefully edit each edition of Division of Labor, Work History, and Home Economics. And the quality of our work shines through. Yes, you could ask Claude for advice on whether you should buy Anthropic stock the first day it IPOs, but I guarantee whatever it spits out won’t be as interesting and nuanced as Alicia’s recent article. (Also, I asked Claude this question, and it made no mention of its obvious conflict of interest. _The worst._)\n\nJust a couple of human personal finance experts. (Photo courtesy of The 92nd Street Y.)\n\nI know The Purse may face an uphill battle in the age of AI, especially as we see the end of Google search as we’ve known it. There’s a lot of slop out there, and while I love to believe that cream rises, that’s not always the case. It takes a special mix of hard work and luck to succeed. Audience development is a top priority over the next year as I work my hardest to break through the noise in an effort to help The Purse grow and thrive.\n\nWhich brings me to my next point.\n\n## **Community continues to be the most important thing**\n\nFull stop: I love the community we’re building at The Purse. You readers are really the coolest and smartest. You’re awfully pretty, too!\n\nAt the media breakfast, the host asked each of us how we are thinking about audience development. As a two-person outfit, Alicia and I respond to as many comments and newsletter replies as we can. I want readers to feel like each post is a conversation. And I genuinely enjoy hearing how you feel about any given topic, even when you don’t agree with our take.\n\nPeople frequently ask me how they can help support The Purse. It’s easy. Share the newsletter. Forward an essay you like to your friend. Drop a link in your mom group chat. Post about an article you found interesting in a Facebook group you’re active in. Follow us on Instagram and share our posts in your stories. Every little bit of visibility boosting helps.\n\nEven better: Upgrade to paid.\n\nWe are meaningfully close to hitting another big paid subscriber milestone. I hemmed and hawed about offering a third-anniversary discount, but the truth is I feel like $50 a year is a steal. We’ve increased how much we offer paid subscribers now, including rolling out the new editorial series Meal Plan and Travel Guides. And we’re looking to offer more membership benefits in the future.\n\nGive me a microphone and a beer and I have no problem talking about how much I adore this community! (Photo by Marissa Alper.)\n\nI’m not asking you to upgrade because it’s important to support independent women-run media. (Though wouldn’t you rather give your money to me than to Sam Altman?) I’m asking you to upgrade because The Purse is fucking awesome, and when you pay for a subscription, it allows us to continue doing great work.\n\n## **The fine line between envy and inspiration**\n\nI’ve written about my feelings of jealousy before. I think it’s pretty natural for an ambitious person to be a bit jealous of other people’s success. But I’ve also come to realize that there’s a very fine line between envy and inspiration.\n\nIn March, I went to SXSW, where I had an amazing time being part of a panel for Realtor.com. But overall, I was really underwhelmed by the conference. (You can read more about that in the March 2026 Receipts.) But one event stood out and made me feel equal turns jealous and inspired.\n\nI was invited to a small breakfast where Emily Sundberg interviewed Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone. I pretty much always feel a little jealous of Emily. She’s everywhere doing everything—at least within the media bubble where I spend a lot of my time.\n\nBut I was really impressed by Emily’s interview technique. Her questions were thoughtful. She has an easy stage presence. And she made what should have been sort of a boring PR Q&A really entertaining. Anyone who regularly moderates panels should be taking tips from Emily. I know I did. Honestly, I understand now why so many people hire Emily to moderate events and interview their execs. She’s really fucking good at it. (Emily, if you’re reading this, feel free to quote me in your marketing materials!)\n\nHonestly, most of the time I feel really underwhelmed by the events I attend, and that’s where the envy overtakes the inspiration, and I’m left feeling both annoyed and determined. I know if given the opportunity, The Purse could pull off some really amazing events. (And we already have!) While I might not be Emily Sundberg, I’m a damn good moderator in my own right. I’m on a mission over the next year to do more of both.\n\nWe loved hosting a vision-boarding event with Copilot Money earlier this year! (Photo by Marissa Alper.)\n\n## **Patience and grace, grace and patience**\n\nEven when you feel the momentum building, growing a company from the ground up is slow. And it takes a stupid amount of perseverance. Everything takes longer to do than you think it will, but at the same time, the days and weeks fly by way too fast.\n\nIt’s also scary to build this business in the open with everyone watching. I feel pretty lucky that so far I’ve generally avoided the trolls that plague other women creators. (Also, I’m not comfortable with being called a creator, but that’s a different newsletter for a different day.) But when someone commented “this gave me the ick” on a recent Babylist reel promoting the Family Money podcast, it was hard not to totally spiral, set up a Finsta, and leave a lot of mean comments on her public account. (I did not. I have better things to do with my time. And truly I don’t want to be part of the problem.) It really hurt my feelings!\n\nIt’s also really damn hard to navigate all the seemingly competing priorities in my life. I’m writing this in the middle of studying for the CFP exam, and balancing everything right now is so _so_ hard. I have a million and one unanswered emails and text messages. There are so many projects I’d rather be working on, and yet I have to spend that time trying to memorize how the alternative minimum tax rate works.\n\nIn my session with Steph last week, I expressed my anxiety over needing to lean back from The Purse for six weeks so I can make sure I pass this test. (Which is _six hours long_.) What if we lose momentum? And worse—what if I don’t pass the test?\n\nI’m grateful to have Alicia in my corner, helping me steer the ship and (mostly) being patient with me as I continually tell her, “That’s a post-CFP project.” Thanks to her hard work, we should be able to keep up with our regular posting schedule as I hunker down to study.\n\nThe dream team! (Photo by Photo by Nadya Wasylko.)\n\nAnd truly, I keep trying to remind myself: _What’s six weeks in the big scheme of things?_ It took me 104 weeks to get to today, and despite many ups and downs and twists and turns, The Purse is still here. And it's better than ever.\n\nEvery year, I have a theme song for The Purse. Cheesy as it sounds, the first year it was the Muppets’ “The Magic Store.” Recently, I saw Bruce Springsteen from the upper rafters of Barclays Center, and I thought “No Surrender” might be this year’s theme. Then last week, I went to see Camera Obscura, and they played one of my favorites, “We’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World,” and Bruce got pushed to the side.\n\nBut neither song was quite right. On Monday, I was walking to the coworking space listening to Kacey Musgraves’ new album, _Middle of Nowhere_ , and I was struck by the song “Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy.”\n\nShe sings,\n\n> Everybody wants to be a cowgirl ’til it’s 5 in the morning\n> And it’s cold as hell, and the work ain’t gonna do itself\n\nAnd boy, does that ever sum up building a media business in 2026. I know what I do looks (a little bit) glamorous, but honestly, it’s hard as hell. It’s waking up early to write and staying up late to study. It’s trying to explain to your kid that you really are on your phone for work. It’s saying no to drinks with friends because you have to finish Friday’s essay. It’s spending Saturday morning answering reader’s subscription questions.\n\nI’m not complaining (too much). I’m damn lucky to be in this position, and I’m able to give myself over to this work because I have the support of my husband, Ken, who on top of copy editing every issue is pulling more than his fair share of household duties right now. My parents provide a ton of free child care (and free pep talks) and more often than not pick up the check at brunch. (And just last night I came home and discovered my mom cleaned our kitchen after she picked up Freddy from school!)\n\nI’m also so thrilled Alicia took a risk and joined the team, and I’m very, _very_ grateful that her husband, Chris, believes in us so much that he’s willing to be our unofficial art director.\n\nThe Purse has never truly been a solo endeavor, but each year, the team gets better and better. Whatever comes next, I hope it’s clear to you readers that so much love goes into The Purse. And you’re part of this story. We couldn’t do it without you, and we’re so thankful for your support. It really means so much.\n\nOK, on to year four! And back to studying!\n\n## If you want more on our origin story\n\nI quit my job so you don’t have toFalling off the treadmillThe PurseLindsey StanberrySome frank thoughts on money, jealousy, and lonelinessThe Purse is one year old, and I’m feeling introspective.The PurseLindsey StanberryIs my imposter syndrome holding me back?And other thoughts on year two of The Purse.The PurseLindsey Stanberry",
  "title": "How to build a media company in 2026",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-03T15:00:00.068Z"
}