When it makes more money than you spend on it.

It will obviously depend on what you are offering your list and if what you offer them is what they are looking for!

Assuming that you have good products to offer that people on your list want and need, then I would say you need at least 100 (more is better obviously) subscribers in order to get a feel for whether or not your email campaigns are going to be profitable in the long run.

If you don't bother optimizing your campaigns then you might need 3 times as many subscribers to get the same return compared to someone who has spent the time optimizing their campaigns.

I certainly get a better return promoting my own products than affiliate products - the relationship I build with my list is with me and therefore it makes sense to offer my own stuff - they know me.

Hope that helps.

It depends on so many things.

Your list starts to become profitable when they start trusting you and listening to your recommendations. That may take a week. It may take a year. It all depends on your relationship building.

As others have said, it real depends on many factors...I remember when I first started out I made my first clickbank sale with a list of 100 people...

Keep testing and tweaking to see what works best

A list is profitable when it brings in profit. Meaning that you get more money than the money + time you invested in it.

The KEY to list building is to:

1. Get fresh leads per day.

2. Give your list value.

3. Send them different offers cause not everyone will like ONE single offer that you send them to. Multiple offers is better.