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“How to grow my Substack?”
I get this question a lot.
It’s a valid question. Substack is a great platform for solopreneurs. You should want to know how to make the best of it.
But here’s my counter question to anyone who asks me that:
“What kind of business are you building?”
To which I usually get an annoyed, “Well, I’m building a Substack newsletter and I want to go paid.”
Duh!
Okay. Let’s take a step back for a moment.
First of all, Substack is only one of many platforms that allow you to build & monetize a newsletter (admittedly, one of the best ones, especially for beginners).
If you’re going for a paid Substack, you’re not building a Substack, you’re building a paid newsletter. That’s the business, Substack is just the platform.
Second, if you’re also looking to sell services or products (which most of you are), then you’re not just building a paid newsletter — you’re building the solopreneur equivalent of a conglomerate.
And that’s difficult to build even by experienced solopreneurs.
Most successful soloprenuers are known for focusing on one of the 3 types of online businesses:
Product-based business
Services-based business
Content-based business (which is where a paid newsletter fits in)
Even if you want to do all those different types of businesses eventually, you should always prioritize one of them.
Examples:
Grant Cardone started with a consulting business (service-based). Even though he’s now doing so much more, for years, his focus was on improving businesses’ sales performance.
Dan Koe’s first business was a design & ad agency. Then he decided he didn’t like his service-based business and changed directions. He’s now 100% focused on creating & selling great products. Sure, he makes money from YouTube and X, but that’s not his focus: he creates the content to sell products, not to make money from it.
Mark Manson, best-selling NYT author of “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck”, also writes a newsletter called Your Next Breakthrough (content-based business). He currently has over 650K subscribers. Instead of making it a paid newsletter, he’s monetizing it through sponsorships.
As you can see, all of these people built amazing businesses by focusing on one thing at a time.
It’s not your fault that you don’t know this.
No one taught us how to be solopreneurs.
There are schools for professionals and schools for business owners.
No school for solopreneurs.
And yet, solopreneurship is one of the hottest “jobs”, with millions of people transitioning to solopreneurship every year.
So, how do you start a solo business? How do you grow it? How do you take it from decent to 7 figures?
You’ll hear different answers of these questions, but I’ve worked with enough solopreneurs to know it starts with clarity.
Clarity affords focus.
Focus helps you learn more & do more.
Then, success comes.
But why am I here to talk to you about solopreneurship?
Back in 2014, I quit my well-paid job in sales to become a life coach — and I was wildly unsuccessful.
The first year, I made $2400. Yes, for the entire year.
I wasn’t about to give up, though. Struggling to find a way, I stumbled onto copywriting. I always loved to write, so I got hooked.
Fast forward 10 years, and I’m making $100K+ per year online. I’m featured in Business Insider, I’m a top 1% freelancer on Fiverr, and my Medium stories have been read by 220K people.
Because I’m striving to grow my business to 7 figures, I also read & follow the most influential solopreneurs in the world — and I often curate their best ideas for my readers.
In Smarter Solopreneurs, I help solopreneurs at all stages find the knowledge and support they need to kickstart, grow & redefine their solo businesses.
And today, I’m here to give you that first breath of clarity you need so you start right and grow fast.
If you want to start and grow a service business, read this. This is the best business for making good money fast.
If you want to start and grow a product business, read this. This is the best business to make you a millionaire.
If you want to start and grow a content business, read this. This is the best business if you’re starving for creative freedom.
And if you have no idea what business you want to start, read this.
Not a subscriber yet?
In Smarter Solopreneurs, we’ll talk about what type of business you’re building, how to start it, and how to grow it.
We’ll also touch on mindset, marketing & sales, pricing, platforms, news & trends in solopreneurship and SO MUCH MORE. So excited!
If you want to stop feeling overwhelmed (which usually happens because you think too much about platforms and have no idea what business you’re building), you’ll want to hit subscribe.
And if you want access to 1-1 DM support, monthly webinars and extra tools, consider jumping straight into the paid community.
“The successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus.” — Bruce Lee
Thank you for reading Smarter Solopreneurs and I’ll see you soon!
Maya
Great read! Recently read somewhere that to ensure success, you just have to be the "Last one standing".
Wise words.
The main problem is that in the beginning you don't know what you like best. At the same time, at any moment in time, there will be some get-rich-quick-scheme du jour pulling you towards "the best" business model.
So you end up inundating people's inboxes with cold emails to sell high-ticket services. But you can't stand the pressure of working with clients.
The solution always lies in small, low-risk experiments. Find a way to make test business models before betting the farm.