How to Recover Lost Email Subscribers: 3 Lessons from Losing 151k Overnight

How I Lost 151k Subscribers Overnight (And What Happened Next)

Friday morning, I woke up to every creative entrepreneur's worst nightmare:

151,000 subscribers—99% of my entire email list—had vanished overnight.

A rogue third-party app that we were just starting to use had mistakenly wiped out years of carefully building connections with artists just like you. My stomach dropped. Panic set in. All I wanted to understand was HOW this had happened!

BUT, I knew we would survive this because of the things I'm going to teach you in this blog post.

Spoiler: We got all our emails back within 24 hours.

If you've ever worried about losing everything you've worked so hard to build, this story is for you. Let me share exactly how it unfolded—and the three business-saving lessons that could protect your creative dreams too.

How We Pulled Off the "Impossible" Recovery

When I realized my entire subscriber list had disappeared, my first thought was: "Okay, what's our backup plan?"

Because here's what I've learned after building multiple businesses: everything is figureoutable (Thanks, Marie Forleo). Even disasters like this.

Here's exactly what saved us—and what you need in place before disaster strikes:

• Weekly Backups: Those "boring" admin tasks you keep putting off? We had backed up our email list a week prior to this incident. So, the worst-case scenario was that we would lose only a week's worth of subscribers.

• Industry Relationships: I immediately called friends in the business. Within minutes, we had a direct line to ConvertKit's team. This wasn't luck—it was years of genuine relationship-building. They ensured that our issue was addressed swiftly.

• Kit's Incredible Response: Their team worked around the clock to restore everything. Sometimes having the right partners makes all the difference. I was genuinely blown away by their support and willingness to help us get back on track.

Why This Disaster Actually Strengthened Everything

Here's what surprised me most: When I transparently shared what happened, our community rallied like never before.

Instead of criticism, we received empathy, encouragement, and support. Artists reached out saying, "We're with you. I'm re-signing up for your newsletter just to be safe!"

This crisis proved something I want you to remember on your hardest days: authentic connections can survive anything. When you show up genuinely—even in your messiest moments—your people will show up for you too.

3 Business-Saving Lessons for Your Creative Business

If you're serious about building a sustainable art business, here's what this taught me:

1. Your backup plan is only as good as your last backup: That email list you're building? Those customer files? Your portfolio? Your Shopify theme? Your Procreate app? Back them up regularly. This isn't optional—it's business insurance.

2. Relationships are your secret weapon: Connect with other artists, course creators, and industry professionals. Not for what they can do for you, but for genuine relationships. When crisis hits, these people become your lifeline.

3. Transparency builds unbreakable trust: Don't hide your struggles or pretend everything's perfect. Your audience craves authenticity. When you're real about setbacks, you build deeper trust than any polished success story ever could.

Your Business Protection Action Plan

Don't worry—you don't need fancy systems or a big team. Start with these simple steps:

✅ Download your email list once a month (takes 2 minutes)

✅ Screenshot your important numbers weekly (followers, subscribers, sales). Or better yet, record them weekly in a KPI spreadsheet (I teach about this in my course Leverage Your Art).

✅ Write down your login info for all your business accounts (keep it somewhere safe—we use 1Password).

The goal isn't perfection—it's protection. Start with one thing and build from there.

The Beautiful Truth About Building a Real Business

In the end, after we got our list back, we still ended up losing thousands of subscribers in the chaos (another blog for another day—random automations were triggered unintentionally, sending out some weird emails from us!). But what remains is a rock-solid community of artists who are serious about their craft and their business.

This experience reminded me why I do this work: to show artists like you that setbacks don't disqualify you—they're part of the journey. Every successful creative business faces moments like this.

The difference? We prepare. We build relationships. We keep going.

Your art business dreams aren't too big. You're not "not ready yet." You just need the right systems and support to weather any storm.

Keep creating, keep building,

Stacie