Lessons Learned from 2 Years on Substack

Almost at 2,000 Subscribers

It is Monday, July 22, 2024 when I’m sending out this edition of the Creators Getting Paid newsletter. It’s my birthday week and I’m in full reflection mode. I’m also in the process of preparing my first keynote for the Black Podcasters Association Summer Picnic in Brooklyn this weekend. An opportunity that I’m nervous about and wildly excited about at the same time. What’s so wild to me is that I’ve spent the past 10 months doing what I would call “Quiet Work” the work that no one sees that you’re doing behind the scenes.

One of the most important parts of that quiet work that I focused on was growing my Creators Getting Paid Substack. I’d started it randomly on a hot August day in 2022 after watching my friend Danielle Desir grow her incredible resource “Grants for Creators” I had a vision for my project but it took me awhile to dial it in. It has only been in the last month were it’s 100% clear what my mission is and how to articulate it to others.

Affiliate Disclosure

“In order for me to support this newsletter, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note: As an Amazon Associate I may earn income from qualifying purchases that you may make if you interact with an Amazon Affiliate link associated with Creators Getting Paid”

2,000 Subscribers

• (Almost-I’m at 1,857) I should hit 2,000 in the next 2 weeks.

• Currently 34 Monthly Paying Subscribers-This is why I say that solely focusing on paid subscribers as your only monetization income stream you’ll stay broke.

• I’ve also earned income in the following ways listed below

  • Subscriptions

  • Coaching

  • Workshops

  • Affiliate income

  • Sponsorships

  • Mastermind/Group Coaching Test product

I’m excited to see what happens in the next 12 months of this project as I shift to a more aggressive marketing strategy. I’ve done all of this with a very quiet strategy in the past year.

Since October 2023

• I haven’t attended a conference

• I haven’t been a guest on someone else’s podcast (that I can remember)

• Very minimal freelance writing as a way to grow my brand

• My social media isn’t a large part of growing this project.

I’ve literally just hung out at my house for the past 10 months and worked on the following:

• Clarity

• Brand messaging

• Batching the important stuff (my guest interviews)

• Testing things out and doubling down on what has worked.

The Creators Getting Paid Mission

“Helping online content creators strategize, grow and scale at least one recurring revenue stream within their business.”

Why is this so important to me? During COVID I lived off of the income streams that I’d been quietly building and growing behind the scenes of my personal finance brand. I’d taking some risks with content creation and monetizing in ways that were paying off.

• Writing Romance

• Affiliate Marketing

• Course Sales

• Newsletter

I loved waking up and having money deposit into my account. I loved doing work “up front” and having it scale and pay off overtime. I discovered during COVID how important that “passive” income was while I was sitting at home by myself for 3 months scared out of my mind.

So Why Start a Substack?

I wanted to serve content creators in a way that I wasn’t seeing. I wanted to provide an accessible resource that could help people monetize their online content.

How did I envision doing this?

• Access to podcast content and other free resources

• The $5 paid tier that included recorded conversations with other content creators

• Occasional bundles and other paid items. Nothing crazy-all affordable or a day or week’s worth of side-hustle money.

Yes, I charge money but I literally am growing a projected called “Creators Getting Paid” so this shouldn’t surprise you.

I also wanted to build a list.

I’d built lists before but was looking for a public facing way to grow a branded resource with people who were unfamiliar with my previous work. I’d often heard that Substack was a great place for discoverability and I felt like it would be a fun space to experiment.

It has been.

But, there are few things that I’ve done that have helped me grow to just shy of 2,000 community members.

• Focused on diversifying traffic-It makes me nervous relying only one referral source to this project. I have a podcast that I host off the Substack platform and reference “Creators Getting Paid” in every episode. I share some additional steps that I take in the additional points below.

• I share it on social media-even though I’m not a social media forward creator.

• Connections and collaborations with other Substack creators-I’ve been so blessed to be shared with other Substack communities. Thank you to Danielle, Rahkim and the 32 other Substacks sharing this project.

• Showing up every week-There are weeks where it feels like I’m treading water and nothing is happening with the growth of this newsletter. Then, there are moments when it feels like an avalanche of amazing people have discovered the work that I’m doing. I don’t use a set schedule, instead I publish on a weekly cadence. I may publish an edition 1-3 times a week.

• Advertise in other newsletters-Every once in awhile I will pay for an ad in a newsletter that my content will complement .

Tips for You

It is my hope that you continue your Substack journey. I’m in the process of creating a weekly edition to Creators Getting Paid where I share tips and strategies to help you build and grow your Substack. I’m thinking of 7-8 posts so far and then we’ll see how things go. I will be hosting conversations and workshops about those topics each week for paying subscribers.

Share topics that you would like me to cover. I can’t guarantee that I will, but this would be helpful as I work on that series.

• Slow and steady wins the race-Never underestimate the cumulative impact of focusing on and growing your Substack with intention. Also, avoid overestimating how quickly you can grow your Substack.

• Collaborate-Design something unique that would encourage subscribers to say “yes’ to the work that you’re publishing. Collaborate in terms of having other people support or participate in the work that you’re creating.

  • A digital conference

  • An in-person event

  • A pop up event

  • A t.v. series

  • A commercial

  • A video-I just watched the most INSANELY AMAZING fan video to Beyonce’s YaYa song. I can’t believe how incredible that video is.

  • Write a book

• BE BOLD-Most Substackers are too in their heads about what they should be doing and how they should be doing it. Substack and content creation online is a creative space! Shine as your own special selves.

• MARKET YOUR SUBSTACK-I have a question. How are people supposed to know about your work if you don’t tell people about your work? Here are a few tips on how to market your work.

  • Wear a t-shirt-with a QR code and a link to your work.

    • Or, have a QR on your phone-Looking at you Paulette!

  • Memorable Opt-in Links-Create an easy link to share to your Substack when you’re a guest on a podcast

  • Focus on SEO-I’m focusing a lot more on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because posts on Substack rank on Google.

  • Have a thoughtful content strategy-Think timing and how it impacts your content. It’s almost the last week of July and Christmas in July content will be out in a few days. Halloween items are already for sale.

  • Speak at Events-Get in front of several people and share your message.

• Paid Subscribers ROCK-BUT, they aren’t the only way to make money with your Substack. In fact, you should build out several revenue streams. This will protect your business and take pressure off of needing paying subscribers.

• Making Wildly Large INITIAL Monetization Goals-I have huge monetization goals. But that first $500 a month of consistently earned “passive” income was amazing. Focus on growing income to pay a financial obligation and then pay for another expense and grow from there.

  • Your daily coffee habit

  • Electric bill

  • Gas

• Monetization-Know who YOU want to pay the big bucks to work with you. What do I mean? Know who you want to pay for big ticket items from you. For me that’s Corporations, Organizations and Non and Not-for-Profits. I don’t want to charge my community members thousands to work with me. Instead, I want my high ticket collaborations to balance out the lower ticket offers that I make to my community members. You may have a different philosophy and that’s ok! Knowing who you want to pay the “big bucks” will heavily influence your marketing, brand strategy, the products you develop and messaging. It’s important to mention that as your business grows and changes it’s absolutely ok to change how you think about your monetization strategy.

• Uplift others-I love the different Substacks and creative works that I support in different ways. It is so hard to put yourself out there and feel that you’re work is being seen.

  • As a follower

  • Paid Subscriber

  • By backlinking, shouting out or reposting other people’s work

  • As a brand advocate

  • Collaborator

  • Customer

  • Fan

That’s enough for today. I’m offering a Birthday Bundle this week! My birthday is on Wednesday and I’ve designed a Birthday Bundle that will help you kick start your fall business push.

Was Starting a Substack Worth It?

Yes. There were times when I second guessed this strategy. I was tired. I didn’t feel like doing social media, traveling or taking many of the actions that content creators are told to focus on. Creators Getting Paid was the second try at a building a brand focused on helping content creators build better businesses.

Why?

Because I kept noticing that many conversations around monetizing online were centered around all of the sexy topics. I wanted to focus on the unsexy things: recurring revenue, strategy and list building.

There were the unexpected things that Substack brought me as well. New connections, confidence, and a totally new skillset.

It has been a huge honor meeting creatives who support this work and hopefully are uplifted by it as well. Thank you for making Creators Getting Paid such a joyful experience for me. When I started it I was looking for something that lit me up and this project has definitely been a wonderful surprise.

One final thing, my birthday is this week and I’m offering a special resource bundle. I won’t offer any of these items after Wednesday, July 24th, 2024.

Birthday Business Bundle (Offer Ended)

What’s in the Bundle?

Three Things

• A one time $145 coaching session after you become a paying subscriber of Creators Getting Paid. Coaching sessions are normally $300. Your sessions will be a 90 minute session.

  • Once you become a paid subscriber-you will have access to the discounted coaching link (it’s in the Welcome Email)

• I will reach out to you within 48 hours after you purchase your coaching session to schedule our coaching session. All sessions must be completed by August 30, 2024. A coaching session is a great way to get in the right frame of mind and headspace for fall if…

  • You’re needing a Back to Fall reboot

  • Help working on monetization session

  • Need Marketing tips

  • Are looking or content design advice

• Two Bonus Mini Pre-Recorded Workshops:

  • How to Meet People Without Networking or Social Media (Workshop #1)

    • And Still Make Money

  • How to Grow Your Substack (Workshop #2)

    • Workshops will be sent to you on Monday, August 5, 2024

The bundle offer ends at 11:59 pm on July 24, 2024.

How is your Substack journey going?

Let me know!

Michelle

Creators Getting Paid