The Simple Newsletter Making $20M+ A Year With 1 Employee
About this video
Sam and Shaan interview Kevin Van Trump, founder of the Van Trump Report newsletter about agriculture and commodity trading. They discuss his $18M+ annual revenue newsletter business, FarmCon conference, merch company A Swag, and his perspectives on investment strategy, the agriculture industry’s future, and emerging opportunities in agtech, sustainable farming, and rural businesses.
Key takeaways
- Kevin’s Van Trump Report generates approximately $18M annually from ~30,000-40,000 subscribers at $600/year, with minimal team and zero advertising—demonstrating the power of focused niche expertise and organic growth
- Kevin uses a 2x2 framework (uniqueness vs. value) to evaluate business opportunities and avoid traps like high-volume, low-margin businesses that large clients pull you toward; he deliberately positions A Swag mid-market to maximize profitability
- Kevin emphasizes treating business and investing like poker, not chess—luck and variance matter; pros wait for fat pitches rather than play many hands, and the best traders make money by sitting and waiting rather than constant activity
- Agriculture faces a succession crisis with 80% of farms owned by people over 60 and limited heir interest; this is creating opportunities for private equity, institutional investors, and fractional ownership platforms like AcreTrader
- Emerging opportunities Kevin sees: blockchain/transparency in food supply chains, RFID tagging for animal welfare verification, agtech for disease detection in livestock, carbon markets, sustainable aviation fuel from crops, and data center buildout on Midwest farmland
Episode details: published July 1, 2024 · 147K views · 1:02:15 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.
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