How to Build a Substack Audience

If I were a creator making $0 on LinkedIn, I’d stop chasing likes and start chasing email subscribers. You can spend hours making posts that get a few likes or comments. It feels good for a moment, but it fades fast. I’ve been there—watching my follower count go up and down, wondering if anyone is even seeing me. But here’s what I learned: Likes don’t pay your bills. Email subscribers do When you build an email list, you own your audience. - No algorithm can take them away. - No boss can tell you what to share. - You get to show up in their inbox, not their feed. That’s where real relationships start. If you want to make money as a creator, focus on these steps: - Turn your best LinkedIn posts into a simple newsletter - Add a signup link in your profile and every post - Give people a reason to join (like a free tip, checklist, or story) - Share real lessons, not just polished wins - Ask your subscribers what they want to learn next You don’t need thousands to start. My first newsletter had 23 subscribers. And those early readers became my first clients and supporters. They cared about what I had to say. You can build a business from your inbox. Not your likes. If you’re tired of chasing approval on LinkedIn, try building something you control. I build my newsletter on Substack because it's the best place to create multiple income streams from your newsletter. - No difficult algorithms - You own your subscribers - Built-in monetization features - Multi-channel engagement from one platform Ready to start? Grab My 15-minute Substack Launch Guide - it's free! https://lnkd.in/gejuvYTe My 9-to-Thrive newsletter breaks down how to turn your LinkedIn posts into a portfolio of paychecks—step by step. Link in bio. Let me know: What’s stopping you from growing your email list?

I've gone from 0 to 2000 newsletter subscribers in the last 8 months. 📈 I'm still early in my journey, but here are 5 things that have worked so far: 1. Be consistent. This is cliched advice for a reason. You have to get the reps in by posting on a regular schedule. I've managed to get 2 posts out every week since I started, which has been really, really hard at times. 2. Share your work. I was (naively) surprised to learn that content creation is only 50% of the job - the other 50% is promotion. There's so much content that you must be willing to fight through the noise. Early on, I posted daily about the newsletter, which helped me get to my first 1000 subscribers. But in May, I couldn't keep up with both, so I just focused on the newsletter. You can see where my growth curve changed! 3. Make it better. Stop. Reflect. How could your last post have been better (for whatever "better" means to you)? What can you do next time to build on what you've written? Who can you learn from to refine your style? 4. Make friends. As you're sharing and learning from others, try and make friends. It's always easier to grow together, and Substack streamlines this via Recommendations. 5. Don't get discouraged. This is just #1 again, but it's worth repeating: Keep writing. Be consistent. Don't compare yourself to overnight success stories. Don't compare yourself to me and my graphs. Compare yourself with how you did yesterday, not how others are doing today.

The Practical Prospecting Newsletter just hit 20,000 subscribers. And it only took me 1,568 days! 😂 Many people are starting newsletters so I wanted to share a breakdown of where my growth has come from: #1 Lead Magnets - 55% of my audience I've created 8 free courses and guides over the last couple years. Instead of charging, I simply ask them to subscribe to my newsletter. This is by FAR the biggest lever to growing a newsletter audience. And of course, I couldn't have done it without the help of Sell Better (special shoutout to Suzanne Brosnan & Christopher Merrill). Additionally, when I join webinars, my only ask is the email list. Then I send that list a simple 'thank you' email with a link to one of my resources. #2 Substack SEO - 20% of my audience Since Substack is still early on (especially when I joined) I was able to rank among the top sales newsletters early on. That means people who searched for the "sales" keyword on Substack would find my newsletter and sign up. This is a big reason why I highly recommend Substack. #3 LinkedIn - 10% of my audience I hardly promote my newsletter in posts, but I link to it in my featured section so when people visit my profile they see it and subscribe. #4 Recommendations - 5% of my audience In Substack, other creators can recommend the newsletters they subscribe to. I have to give a massive shoutout to Florin Tatulea as he has driven a majority of this percentage 😂. If you aren't already, go subscribe to his newsletter - it's one of the only ones I read. #5 Google - 5% Since my newsletters stay live on my site after being sent out via email, a few of them have received a lot of traffic and rank high in certain Google searches. The remaining 5% is untrackable :) ... Starting a newsletter is one of the best things I could have done for my career. It's never too late to start, and don't think "It's too crowded". The key is to start by writing for yourself about something YOU'RE passionate about or something you want to learn more about. Don't write for other people. Don't worry about growth. Worry about consistency. Once you're consistent, you'll see results. As you can see in the image below, it took me 2 years of consistency before I saw any real growth. Thank you to everyone who's subscribed along the way!!! #sales