Mount Isa, Queensland
James Coghlan
Brand strategy · Platform architecture · Beehiiv website build · Newsletter setup · Podcast distribution · Backend CRM + ecommerce
James Coghlan has spent most of his life telling stories other people didn't think to tell. While working full-time in Mount Isa, he ran a quarterly print magazine called My Isa — producing it solo, selling 5,000 copies a quarter, advertising revenue covering print costs. He wrote sporting history books for local associations. He wrote a novel. He ran 700km through Northwest Queensland in 10 days — seven marathons, seven mines, in memory of his wife Fiona — and wrote a book about that too.
By the time he came to us, the magazine was done. Print was behind him. And James was at the start of retirement with a lifetime of content, a loyal audience who remembered My Isa, and no platform to keep going.
The plan had always been to write in retirement. That plan was written for two people. This project was about building something worth continuing.
He had decades of stories and no way to share them.
James arrived asset-rich and distribution-poor.
He had 20 podcast scripts ready to record. Years of historical research sitting in folders waiting to become stories. A community of former Mount Isa residents scattered across Australia who still wanted to hear from him. And a real instinct for the kind of storytelling that regional Australia rarely gets right — not nostalgia, not local colour, but genuine curiosity about people.
What he didn't have: a website, a newsletter, a podcast, a way to sell his books, or a way to reach anyone beyond the people who already knew him. And he was, by his own admission, not a technology person.
What he didn't have: a website, a newsletter, a podcast, a way to sell his books, or a way to reach anyone beyond the people who already knew him.
The Situation
My Isa had been James's vehicle for years — but it was a local magazine with a local remit, built around print logistics he'd grown to resent. What he wanted now was something different: an author platform with the freedom to write about anything, reach anyone, and not spend his retirement at the mercy of printers and deadlines.
The strategic call we made early was to move away from My Isa entirely and build around James himself. His name. His voice. His range. Not a nostalgia publication for Mount Isa — an independent Australian storyteller with Mount Isa at his core and the whole country as his audience.
We also had to build something he could actually use. James is 60, on local council, not tech-confident, and — like a lot of people who are genuinely good at one craft — had no interest in learning another one just to publish. Whatever we built needed to get out of his way and let him write.
This wasn't just a digital build. It was an identity shift.
What wasn't working:
The Real Challenge
- No website, no newsletter, no podcast
- Years of content with no way to publish or distribute it
- A loyal local audience with no way to stay connected
- Book sales sitting dormant with no ecommerce infrastructure
- No way to reach the Mount Isa diaspora spread across Australia
- The gap between what James had produced and what anyone could find online
We didn't build a presence from scratch. We built one that was true to what already existed.
We didn't build a platform from scratch. We built one that was worthy of thirty years of stories.
James wasn't a business that needed more work. He needed his platform to reflect the level he was already operating at.
The shift came when we stopped treating this as a 'let's get something online' project and started treating it as what it actually was — a credibility rebuild for a writer ready to reach a national audience.
James didn't need a flashy brand. He needed something that looked and felt like the work he'd built. Warm. Editorial. Honest. No fluff. Quietly serious about storytelling.
Once we had that clarity, every decision became straightforward.
The Turning Point
What it looked
like
What was actually
going on
"I just need a simple website"
"My audience already knows me"
"I'm not really a technology person"
The archive, the instinct, the audience — none of it had gone anywhere
Word of mouth has a ceiling — and they were hitting it
The platform needed to disappear so the writing could lead
A lifetime of content with no permanent home
"The magazine days are behind me"
Strategic Focus
Story before
platform
Voice before
design.
Credibility before
visibility.
What we built
We retired My Isa and built the new identity around James Coghlan as an author. The platform name: Stories That Matter. The positioning: not a regional newsletter, not a hobby blog — an independent Australian storyteller with genuine credentials, a real archive, and something worth reading.
The primary platform, built for James's audience: warm, editorial, easy to navigate. Designed for an older regional readership who want to find a story and read it without friction. Clean content hierarchy. Two core pillars — Mount Isa for the community that shaped him, Good People for anyone worth knowing regardless of where they're from.
Podcast — Five Minute Fill Up
James had the scripts. We built the home. Hosted on Beehiiv, distributed to Spotify and Apple Podcasts from launch. Short-form audio that works while someone's driving, walking, or taking five minutes in the middle of their day. The name was James's idea — and it's exactly right.
Highlight Hub (GoHighLevel) backend
Books ecommerce
James has written six or more books. The backend infrastructure to sell them — physical and ebook — is built and ready. Stripe integration, product setup, automated order flows. This is a revenue stream sitting there waiting to be opened
Every decision was made to close the gap between James's stories and the people who needed to read them.
Brand strategy and positioning
Beehiiv website
The engine James never has to think about. CRM, ecommerce infrastructure, automations, book sales pipeline via Stripe. When a reader buys a book, the confirmation goes out, James gets notified, and the follow-up is handled — without him touching anything. Built for growth he can step into when he's ready.
We built the platform around two principles.
First: it had to be simple enough that James could focus entirely on writing. Every piece of technology in the build was chosen to reduce friction, not add it. Beehiiv handles what Beehiiv handles. Highlight Hub handles what James doesn't need to see. His job is the words.
Second: it had to be built for reach, not just current readers. The 5,000-strong readership James built through My Isa is spread across Australia now. Former residents, their kids, people who left Mount Isa and carried it with them. The newsletter and podcast distribution are the channels that let James reach them wherever they are.
The thinking behind the build
"We don't have a newspaper out here. We lose a lot of the history. This is a way of maintaining it." — James Coghlan
tangible results
intangible impact
A complete author platform live from day one
Podcast distributed to Spotify and Apple Podcasts at launch
Newsletter infrastructure ready to grow to a paid subscriber model
Ecommerce backend ready to sell six or more books
CRM and automation handling order fulfilment without James's involvement
A brand — Stories That Matter — that gives his work a name worth carrying for the next decade.
James has somewhere to put what he's always done
The stories that disappear if no-one writes them down now have a home
A platform built for the next decade, not just the launch
Credibility established before the first conversation with a new reader
Word of mouth is backed up by something solid
Key Outcomes
The work was there. The voice was there. The archive, the audience, the instinct — all of it was already there.
What was missing was a platform that matched it — something that let the right readers find him, read him, and follow him wherever the writing goes next.
That's what we built.
And the lesson holds for a lot of good regional storytellers: word of mouth will only take you so far. At some point, the work you're putting out deserves to be seen properly.
The Takeaway
"I need something to keep me busy. It doesn't have to be a full-time thing. I just want to get back into the writing."
He's back into the writing. The rest is handled.
If you’re tired of throwing things at the wall and hoping they stick - let’s talk. Whether you need strategy, content, a website, or all of it wrapped into one clear plan, we’re here to help you show up, stand out, and grow with purpose.
Let's make your marketing matter.
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