Uninstalled Substack from my phone. Stopped checking the stats. Now, I’m slowly coming back. And I’m seeing my work differently.

I’m calling it a sabbatical, but really it was a question. Three years of writing every day, and I wanted to know what would happen if I stopped.

Not a week off. Not a slow week. But a real pause.

I’m not sure I was ready for the answer.

The posts kept getting read. Products kept selling. One morning, I woke up to a Stripe notification for a sale I didn’t know I’d made, from a reader I’d never spoken to, for a product I’d launched half a year ago.

I hadn’t touched my business.

But it kept going.

No one really talks about this part of building a personal brand. When you’re in the middle of it, it feels fragile. Miss a day and you feel it. Miss a week and you start panicking. The muscle memory of “I have to post or it’ll all disappear” runs deep.

Then you stop. And you realize how much of that panic was in your head.

The brand was doing the work.

Not the latest viral post. Not the algorithm. Three years of showing up for people, putting out work that solved real problems for a specific kind of reader. That’s what kept working.

I used to think I was building a business. Turns out I was also building something quieter underneath it. The kind of thing that doesn’t need you sitting at the keyboard to pay the bills.

I don’t know how to explain how grounding that was.

Two months of quiet also changed what I thought the next chapter should look like. I came in planning to reassess my vision. I came out with a different question entirely. What do I want to build that’s bigger than my own output? What do I want this work to stand for five and ten years from now?

Those questions felt embarrassing to ask before the sabbatical. They feel necessary now.

You might be closer to this than you think. If you’re writing or posting consistently, if people are reading, if you’ve put anything out that someone can still find six months later, you’re building it too.

Most people never test it. They’re too scared to find out.

The test wasn’t whether I could pause. It was whether I’d actually built something that could hold without me. And to confirm what I wanted to keep building.

It held.

So I’m coming back.

Slower this time. With a clearer picture of what I’m doing here.

The next chapter is going to be different. I’ll share more as it unfolds.

For now, just this: whatever you’re building, keep investing. One post. One email. One conversation. It doesn’t look like much on any given day. But three years of it, and you’ll have something you didn’t know you had.

Something bigger than you.

Landon

P.S.

A podcast I recorded earlier this year with my friend George on The Mind of George Show just dropped, and I’m thrilled to share this with you.

We spent two hours skipping the surface-level BS and getting into what most people online aren’t willing to say out loud.

Here’s a taste of what we got into:

• The uncomfortable pattern I keep seeing: people hitting “success” online, then quietly burning their business down 5 years later because they’re miserable behind the scenes.

• The question that changed how I run everything: “What would this look like if it was easy?”

• And, the thing I’ve stopped doing in my marketing that’s probably costing me money, and why I don’t care…

If you’ve been quietly wondering whether the business you’ve built is the one you actually want to be in, this one’s worth an hour.

Watch or listen below.

​Click here to watch on YouTube​

Or, listen on Spotify

I’m sure you’ve heard the advice a hundred times.

“The riches are in the niches.”

“It’s easier to be a big fish in a small pond.”

“If you’re talking to everyone, you’re talking to no one.”

And this advice isn’t wrong.

Niche content is more relevant to the people who need it. Smaller, specific audiences convert at a higher percentage than broader or more disparate ones. I’ve seen this play out. I’ve taught it too.

Where it gets complicated is when niching down too far destroys the creative spark or leaves your message watered down and blending in with the crowd.

I recently had a call with a writer who quit Substack after gaining a hundred subscribers. It wasn’t because they weren’t growing—they were. It wasn’t because the content was bad—people engaged. They couldn’t bear to write about the same thing over and over again.

People second-guess themselves at every corner.

“Should I focus on motherhood instead of all life transitions?” “Maybe even narrower—just postpartum anxiety for first-time moms?”

“Should I write about Substack instead of business and marketing?” “Maybe I should niche down to monetizing paid subscriptions for fiction authors?”

This is where traditional advice starts to break down.

Because you’re not running a Facebook ad campaign. You’re building a little business you’d like to sustain for years to come. Even if the riches are in the niches, it doesn’t help if you resent every piece of content you create, then quit.

I take a slightly different approach to this.

Why The Advice Exists (And Why It’s Not Wrong)

Niche content is specific, duh.

The goal is simple: be relevant to a specific group of people.

This is what allows people to build profitable businesses with small audiences and why people throw rocks at viral content that chases millions of followers.

I have a client who sells a $5,000 coaching program for women.

We sell this program using paid ads that send people to a free webinar. Then the program is sold from a sales call that’s booked after they watch the training. It’s a pretty standard business model for high-ticket programs.

Initially, the message spoke to women who were stressed and overwhelmed and wanted to be calm. It worked okay, but I knew it could work a lot better.

My advice: let’s get specific.

Stats show that half of Americans experience stress. I’d say it’s higher. There’s not a single person in my life who isn’t stressed or overwhelmed. Sad, but true.

We niched down our message and ran ads like this:

“Stress of caring for an aging parent while managing a Full-Time career.”

“Empty nesting Moms who spent the last 25 years taking care of their family.”

“How to break the exhausting cycle of people-pleasing and finally say No without feeling selfish.”

Specific.

The result: conversion rates increased.

On the surface, it might seem good to appeal to a couple of hundred million people. More people, more money? That’s not the case. When we speak to something that appeals to everyone, the message becomes noise—they’ve seen it before—they see it hundreds of times a day.

When we speak to their specific pain, specific situation, or circumstance, that’s when we capture their attention. That’s why this advice exists.

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The Hidden Cost Nobody Talks About

I struggle to talk about the same thing every single day.

I’m wired for novelty. I can’t even walk into 7-11 without trying a different energy drink flavor, even if I know there’s a 99% chance I’ll prefer the one I had yesterday. I can’t rewatch movies either.

And, if I’m being honest, I envy other people.

The ones who never get bored. Who can write and record videos daily on the same topic with some kind of psychotic level of discipline.

That’s just not how I operate. And it turns out, I’m not alone.

“I could just talk about motherhood, but that’s not all that I am.” A client told me. I could not summarize the dilemma better myself.

We’re bigger than a niche.

I think this is the human condition. We’re multifaceted beings. Layered like a damn onion. Constantly evolving. Growing. Transforming. How on earth could we still be talking about the same thing we did last year?

Here’s the pattern I see unfold.

We fill out the avatar worksheet and pick our niche, then:

Month 1: Full of energy, tonnes to say.

Month 3: Running out of fresh angles for content.

Month 6: Content becomes forced, excitement slowly fades.

Month 9: We quit. Pivot. Start a new account. Start over. Repeat. Inperpituity.

This time, instead of picking a new niche, let’s take a different approach. One that doesn’t suck our creativity dry and becomes our unique advantage.

The “Yes And” Framework

“The real reason saying ‘No’ is difficult for Moms during the holidays” was the top-performing ad my client ran this past December.

But, we didn’t niche down on Moms + Boundaries + Holidays.

Instead, we created dozens of angles, like:

• The transition from working full-time to retirement.

• January burnout and exhaustion from the Christmas season.

• How to navigate conversations with adult children who still live at home.

• The emotional toll of being the primary caregiver for an aging parent or unwell loved one.

Another client wrote a post about their daughter’s best friend's breakup. Even though they worked with mothers, this was a story about transitions. More importantly, this type of content does something else. It shows who they are—a mother, empathetic, navigating emotional moments. It resonates with a specific segment of the audience—women, mothers, and the age range she works with.

Think about it like this:

Niching down is different than niche content.

One creates every single piece of content on a specific topic. The other creates specificity within every individual piece within a category.

Reread that. I’ll wait.

It’s not this or that. It’s this and that.

People buy for different reasons. Different people are at different stages in their customer journey. People buy from different people. This can’t be overlooked.

This respects the nature of behavioral psychology.

This is the strategy I used to help my clients generate over 25 million in revenue with paid advertising, and it’s now the way social media works.

Create content that is contextually relevant for different people.

My client helped women overcome stress, overwhelm, and burnout so they could reclaim a sense of calm and presence.

The broad problem was that they were overwhelmed.

A symptom of this problem? Boundaries.

One example of how this could show up: people pleasing.

Saying ‘Yes’ to please everyone at Christmas—your kids, your parents, your in-laws—produces a lot of stress, and overwhelm, and sleepless nights, maybe an extra glass of wine after a long day of prep.

The scenario paints a vivid picture of a symptom of the larger problem.

This is how we create niche content, or ads, emails, and campaigns that are contextually relevant to multiple segments of our niche—or in other words, audience.

Every niche has dozens of unique angles within it.

This is how we create content that is relatable. Content that feels natural. And a strategy that is actually sustainable.

It’s an important aspect of selling without being salesy because it speaks directly to what someone is experiencing in that moment. They read or watch while nodding their head, thinking, “Yes, that’s me.” And when you can describe someone’s problem as well or better than they can, people assume you can solve it.

Your niche isn’t just what you talk about—it’s also who you are.

This is where the common phrase “you are the niche” comes from.

At the risk of being forward, you’re not the only person who does what you do. There are a lot of personal trainers, life coaches, therapists, and yes, even people like me, talking about business and marketing and Substack.

People aren’t just looking for the solution anymore.

They're looking at who’s delivering it.

As Gary Vee has outlined, algorithms are now based on interests, not social circles. Unique angles allow us to tap into different market segments or customer cohorts. But so does bringing our unique personalities into our content.

My stories, my ‘non-niche’ content, are what many people relate to.

Posting about going $100,000 in debt to close a business generated dozens of comments and DMs from people who’ve gone through similar experiences. When my wife and I closed our gym, we had dozens of gym owners reach out who were contemplating the same.

Seven years later, when I posted about paying off the debt, I received a flood of messages from people in a similar situation—debt—and felt inspired that they could also reach the other side.

I talk about ADHD, switching careers multiple times, and how I didn’t like being a nomad. My stories, interests, and values are what differentiate me from everyone else offering the same solutions.

Maybe you’re a parent. Secretly love K-Pop. Or you spend too much money on Pokémon cards. Guess what? So do other people. Don’t be afraid to share it.

It’s not this or that. It’s this and that.

The combination makes you different—not just your niche.

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Putting This Into Practice

Ask yourself this simple question:

“Could I talk about this topic every day for the next year?”

If the answer is No. If a sense of dread washes over you. Or you think it might make you want to claw your eyes out…

It’s too narrow. If the answer is “Ugh, I guess.” Still, too narrow.

If “Yes, I love this topic!” You’re golden.

The goal is to be here in 12 months, still doing the thing, without feeling a sense of dread every time you sit down at your keyboard.

Maybe postpartum anxiety for first-time moms in their 30s is too narrow. Zoom out. Life transitions? First-time Moms? It’s still a niche, but with more flexibility. You can still write about postpartum anxiety as a 30-year-old first-time mom. It’s just not the only thing you need to write about.

I’ve always admired people who can spin the same topic every single day for years on end. But that was never me. During my years as a personal trainer, I met experts who talked about shoulder mobility for a decade. Ten freaking years. I couldn’t talk about it for more than 10 minutes.

Content becomes easier when we match our strategy to how we’re wired.

Specificity is like an ingredient. Sprinkle in different amounts based on the recipe you’re making that day.

Navigating postpartum anxiety for first-time moms in their 30s would make an amazing article, a headline, a brilliant workshop, a cohort, or a program.

Your life isn’t a single topic.

Nuance is what makes you relatable. Share the human moments, stories, observations, and your personal experience, because this is sustainable—and relatable.

Anything can become a content topic when we bridge it back to our offers.

Last year, I saw a snail slugging along the sidewalk. I’m not sure why, but I stopped. I took in the moment, I snapped a picture, and spent some time watching it. Then I wrote about it. A freaking snail. And I bridge it to my niche, speaking about slowing down and building a sustainable business instead of hustling.

Here’s your permission slip:

Niche down without resenting your content and wanting to quit. Be focused enough in your work that the right people find you. But be broad enough that you don’t feel handcuffed when you sit down to write.

Guiding Principles

Let’s not pretend like choosing a niche is easy. It’s not.

Even with everything I’ve described here, it’s an evolving process. My goal is simple: shift your perspective, bring out more of your unique sauce, and keep the creation process fun. Or, at least more fun.

Here are 9 guiding principles:

1. Your niche can, and will, change.

2. The bigger your audience, the easier it is to diversify topics.

3. In the beginning, your niche matters less—test and experiment.

4. Your non-niched interests and stories are what differentiate you.

5. Everything can be relevant by bridging it to an offer or insight.

6. Every lesson can be told in an infinite number of ways.

7. Niching down is different than niched pieces of content.

8. When content creation is fun, you’re less likely to quit.

9. When in doubt, hit publish.

The industry will make you feel like you’re doing it wrong.

You might hear you need to niche down one day. Then you’ll see a post saying you are the niche. And the next day, you’ll hear that you need to be authentic and show your personality.

Most modern marketing messages contradict the next.

The best advice I can give you is to take it all in, let it land, then make it your own.

Remember: if you’re building something you wish to sustain for years to come, build it in a way that you can live with. We spend nearly 50% of our day working, so why not enjoy it?

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. If you’re looking to build a sustainable and profitable Substack publication without burning out, I share my complete process to hustle-free growth inside The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop. Just the truth of how I grew a 10,000-subscriber publication. Click This Link To Learn More.

Grab The Substack Growth Workshop

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Let’s face it, there’s nothing more frustrating than sitting behind your keyboard with no idea what to write, no inspiration, just staring at a blinking cursor.

Your weekly article needs to get published.

You need to write 3-5 Notes per day.

It’s physically painful.

You open your phone—scroll Substack for some inspo—only to watch your feed filled with people publishing content like it’s coming off an assembly line.

The search for content inspiration turns into an afternoon of doomscrolling. Sprinkle in a side of FOMO, and listen to that inner critic get louder, as it screams:

“More Content = More Subscribers = More Money”

When I first started writing on Substack, I had a ton of ideas.

The first articles I wrote flowed. I knew what I wanted to write when I sat down. The words flowed—not easily—but they came.

That initial burst of inspiration faded as quickly as I typed those articles.

Fear started to bubble up in my chest—my subscriber count wasn’t moving—and that vision of making money from my writing seemed to fade with every blink of that damn cursor.

Left with a blank page taunting me, I sought a better way.

This path eventually led me to an infinite source of content ideas right under my nose—one that practically wrote my articles for me.

The same one that wrote this article. Meta, I know.

I’ve distilled this down to a single question, one that’s become the most powerful tool in my business, and it’s the source of every single post, note, and even product I create.

Here’s the simple question that’s become an endless stream of content ideas:

“I’d love to know what, if anything, is your biggest challenge with Substack?”

Now, let me translate this into a framework you can use.

“What is your biggest challenge with [INSERT NICHE]?”

Feel free to modify and adapt this to match your voice, writing style, and the goal of your publication.

These examples might get the juices flowing for different niches:

• "What's the one thing about writing emails that makes you want to close your laptop and walk away?"

• "What's the piece of weight loss advice you're tired of hearing because it sounds good but doesn't work in real life?"

• “What part of running your business feels harder than it should?”

Here’s the thing.

The content you write is supposed to be valuable to your reader.

So instead of trying to “come up with” content ideas—it’s a lot simpler to just ask the reader—and let them tell you exactly what they find valuable.

Last week, I got a reply so good that I immediately opened a draft.

“How do I grow a following on Substack while being a full-time father with a full-time job (without burning out)?”

That’s not just an article idea… It’s the perfect headline.

Here are some other responses I’ve received in the last week.

What steps should I take into account when I start from almost zero (I currently have one follower who is a good friend of mine)?

I currently focus only on posting a single note per day (that is my current capacity, fingers crossed that I’m able to write a weekly newsletter soon), what should I keep in mind to maximize this strategy?

When and how should I start monetizing this thing?

What habits to keep in mind to “win” the game of Substack?

This becomes my queue of articles to write.

Your next article idea is sitting on the other side of asking one simple question.

Here are the best places to insert this question:

For automations, start here:

• On Substack: Inside Your Welcome Email.

• Outside Substack: The 2nd Email after someone downloads a lead magnet.

Then, start sprinkling these into conversations.

• DMs: When people reach out asking questions, ask them.

• Substack Chat: Post these questions, or variations, monthly in your chat.

• Email Engaged Subscribers on Substack: You can filter subscribers by Five-Star Activity, or subscribers who have Commented, Viewed Posts, or Opened Emails >1 in the last 30 days. (You can adjust the filters as needed based on audience size)

We live in an era with a lot of tools for “research.”

We can use AI, Reddit, Answer The Public, Google, or dozens of others to figure out what to write about, but nothing beats a good old fashioned converstaion.

Because it tells you exactly what your readers are searching for.

Then the next time you sit down at your keyboard to start writing, there’s no need to doomscroll for inspo, there’s no staring contest with the blink cursor, or fear of getting this weeks article published because your readers are practically writing your posts and notes for you.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. Ready to make Substack work for you?

If you’re convinced Substack is worth it but tired of the hustle-culture guru advice that didn’t work, I’ve documented exactly how I built 9 revenue streams from my Substack—without burning out.

The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop shows you my complete system: from building a 90-day content calendar, the anti-hustle growth engine, to building genuine authority with your writing that attracts opportunities instead of chasing them.

No overnight success promises. No viral growth hacks. Just the sustainable approach that let me quit traditional social media and still grow to 10,000+ subscribers.

Click This Link To Get Instant Access.

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And no, I’m not kidding ;-)

Finding myself in $100,000 of debt after a failed business in 2018, the re-build hustle was starting to burn me out. It’s not surprising I became a little obsessed with caffeine.

Traveling to new cities, even new countries, became a hobby. Luckily, I was in a season of masterminds, events, and nomadding, which gave me the perfect opportunity to hunt down exotic flavors and discover new brands.

Snagging an Orange Cream Ghost, a limited edition Monster, or a Root Beer Bang—my all-time favorite—I shed a tear when it was discontinued.

During a difficult time, it brought me genuine joy.

Still does over seven years later.

And… just in case you thought this was a story made up by ChatGPT—it’s not.

I spent an entire 20-hour road trip from the prairies of Canada to the Colorado Rockies mapping out my Energy Drink Review YouTube Channel.

I’d rate the flavor, the aroma, and that first-sip dopamine rush.

Then I’d travel the world in search of new flavors like Anthony Bourdain, funded by brand deals and sponsorships.

I learned a valuable lesson during this time of my life. And seven years later I still see the same patterns in the coaches and creators I see online.

Most folks I know spend their days chasing 10k months and the nomad lifestyle…

…I was chasing what made me light up inside.

There’s a big difference.

One feels like work you have to justify.

The other feels like play you can get paid for.

I recently did a deep dive strategy session with a client—I’ll call her Jane.

Jane built a successful career as a practitioner and author, and taught health professionals how to become freelance writers. She had a solid offer and a track record of proven results. Everything made sense, on paper.

But Jane was procrastinating on growing her business.

That’s why we were chatting.

I spent 2 hours doing a deep dive into her business to prepare for our call. Nearly an hour into our call together… I started to recognize the pattern.

So I paused and asked, “What do you actually want to do?”

Silence fell. Then she realized she’d never actually considered that.

I tossed my two-pages of prepared notes on scaling her existing business aside. And we started to dig in, peeling back the layers, and asking more difficult questions, like, “What business do you want to be running in five years?” “Can you give me an example of a client or call where you were really excited?” “What part of this work drains you?”

Big aha moments quickly followed.

We went from wanting a business that didn’t require phone calls to realizing calls were incredibly fulfilling when on a certain topic.

From scaling selling digital products to realizing she loved coaching when it was working towards specific goal.

From scaling her existing business to shifting the business entirely.

After sitting with these difficult questions, we uncovered what lit her up and what she would do even if she were retired and didn’t need the money.

That’s the business we needed to build.

We shifted from what we thought would sell…

…To finding what overlapped with what put a smile on her face.

Her offers would change, and her content would flow effortlessly because she would no longer have resistance to her work showing up in the form of procrastination.

Maybe I’ll still launch that energy drink channel someday.

Technically, I did create one ;-)

But I’ve found what lights me up inside.

Every day, I work towards getting closer and closer to it, and now feel called to help others do the same because no one should run a business they want to escape.

The lesson is this:

When you’re figuring out what to monetize online, don’t only ask “what will sell?”

Ask “What would I do even if no one paid me?”

That’s where the magic lives.

You might not be able to drop everything and pursue it today, but it can become the north star that guides the business you work towards creating.

A business that’s enjoyable is a business that’s sustainable.

If you feel stuck trying to figure out what to offer, how to position yourself, or what success on your own terms actually looks like—that’s exactly what we work through inside The Community.

I don’t believe in cookie-cutter blueprints.

Together, we build our own. Real conversations. Clarity. And the kind of personalized support that helps you design your own path instead of forcing you on someone else’s.

We’ve got monthly sessions, async Q&A threads, frameworks to guide your decisions, and a small group of creators working towards the same kind of sustainability.

It’s $27/Month. Less than that energy drink habit of mine ;-)

And as a bonus, the first 50 receive a conversational copywriter course.

If you’re interested, send me a DM or join here.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. If you’re building a Substack-powered business (or thinking about it)...

I know how tempting it is to copy someone else’s six-figure blueprint and expect the same results. Been there, done that, got the debt to prove it.

That’s why I’ve put together some free resources to help you find your path—without the massive investment or the decade of trial and error.

Whether you’re just starting or feel like you’re not where you “should be” yet, these resources are here to help you build something sustainable that actually fits your life.

Click here to check out the free resources.

📌 P.P.S. If you found this helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience?

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They quit because they don’t know why they’re writing in the first place.

I had a strategy call recently with someone who’d built 100 subscribers, then stopped. They weren’t burned out on writing. They loved it. But they had no idea what they were building toward. There was no reason to keep showing up beyond “I should probably post something today.”

So they stopped.

Together, we built a plan to start again. Here’s how.

The Foundation (Before You Write Anything)

Start With What You’re Selling—Not What You’re Writing

Before you publish a single post, answer this question:

What does “monetize my writing” actually mean to me?

And get specific.

Most people say things like “I want to make money from my Substack” without thinking through what it means. Paid subscriptions? Workshops? Coaching? Selling a course? Each of these requires a completely different strategy.

I see three primary categories of people on Substack:

First: You’re just writing. Publishing for the love of it. No monetization plan yet or maybe ever. That’s cool, but know that’s what you’re doing.

Second: You’re making money with your writing or want to. This usually means paid subscriptions, sponsorships, and affiliate marketing, among others. The content itself generates the revenue.

Third: You’re using writing to build a business that makes money off-platform. Workshops, courses, one-on-one coaching. Your Substack builds trust and audience, but you monetize elsewhere. I call this a Substack-powered business.

There are no right or wrong ways to use Substack—all of these are valid. But you need to pick one because what you’re building toward dictates the strategy you design.

Do A Little Math Before You Do Anything Else

Let’s say you want to make an extra $2,000 a month.

If you’re selling $100 workshops, you need 20 sales per month. If your list converts at 1%, you’ll need somewhere around 2,000 subscribers to hit that number.

If you’re doing coaching at $500/month, you need 4 clients per month. Totally different math. A smaller audience works fine.

The point isn’t to be perfect here. It’s to establish realistic expectations.

I wrote on Substack for 10 months before I even started growing. I didn’t make $2,000/month in my first year. Do I think it’s possible for someone else? Yes. Do I think it requires intentionality, some hard work, and maybe a little luck? Also yes.

Having a target keeps us from attaching our self-worth to hitting an arbitrary timeline.

Accept What Your Choices Actually Mean

If you work full-time and have a family and you’re intentionally choosing gentle growth over hustle, you need to be honest about the tradeoffs.

Not hustling means slower growth. That’s not wrong. But it’s a reality.

The industry will try to make you feel like you’re doing it wrong if you’re not posting three times a day and going live on seven platforms. Ignore that. But also don’t expect the same results as someone who’s treating Substack like a full-time job.

You’re not trying to be Gary Vaynerchuk. You’re trying to build something sustainable that doesn’t start to consume your life.

You chose this pace for a reason. Just make sure you’re cool with what it means.

Predict What Will Get in Your Way

Take a second to think about what’s most likely to derail you.

If you’ve tried this stuff before, what made you stop? Impostor syndrome? Burnout? Lack of clarity on what you were building? Couldn’t keep up? Wasn’t working?

If this is your first time, what roadblocks do you anticipate? Not enough time? Fear of putting yourself out there? Getting stuck on what to write? Unsure what to sell?

For most people, it’s one of two things:

1. They don’t know what they’re selling, or,

2. They don’t have a system they can realistically sustain.

Knowing your barriers before they show up helps you design around them.

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The Strategy (What You’re Building)

Define Your North Star (Even If It Evolves)

You need something to build toward.

Think of it like bumper lanes instead of a fixed plan.

The client I mentioned? They wanted to create workshops around life transitions. But “life transitions” is too broad. So we got specific.

What if we created a workshop for women in their 40s, processing the grief of losing a parent? Or one for moms who’ve recently become empty nesters and feel a loss of purpose? Or one for those caring for aging, unwell parents?

Suddenly, you’re not just writing about or selling “transitions.” You’re speaking to someone in a very specific situation who sees themselves in your content.

This doesn’t mean every post has to be about that one thing. But having a direction gives you direction and your content purpose.

And here’s the thing: knowing what you’re selling changes how you create content. It gives you a sense of confidence. It gives each piece a natural throughline, even if you’re not actively “selling.”

Let Your Offer Dictate Your Content

When you know you’re building workshops around specific situations like we just mapped out, your content starts to write itself.

You write about how those transitions show up. You share your own story of navigating them. You talk about people you’ve worked with (anonymously). You offer your insights and frameworks.

Your content builds the audience for what you’ll eventually sell.

Not every piece needs to be niched down. But it should fall into the same general bucket. Your posts can be more focused, your notes can be more personal and experimental. Think of notes as the discovery engine and posts as the deeper work for people who’ve already subscribed.

Niche Down, But Not To Resentment

A lot of people get stuck here. I sure did—do.

They think niching means talking about the exact same thing every single day until they want to scream and smash their keyboard with a hammer.

That’s not what I’m suggesting.

Niche content is relevant to fewer people, but much more relevant to those people. That’s powerful. But you’re also a complex human with layers. You can talk about motherhood and yoga and co-parenting and K-pop if that’s who you are.

Those things actually become unique differentiators that people connect to.

If you’re writing about life transitions and you love yoga, you can write about yoga as a grounding practice during hard seasons. That’s totally relevant.

If you start teaching yoga routines with no connection to your core offer, the risk is that it’s competing with your other content and may impact monetization. Like before, you choose the compromise.

The key is that most of your content connects back to what you’re known for. But there is nothing wrong with a rant about your love for K-pop. Especially in the early stages when we’re experimenting.

Niche down enough that people know what you’re about, but not so much that you resent what you’re creating. Keep your content fun.

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The Routine (How to Actually Do It)

At this point, we know what we’re building, what we’re selling, and what we’re writing about. Now, we start building the routine that facilitates its creation.

Find Your Specific Time Block

You need a time to create.

Not “whenever I feel inspired.” An actual block of time.

This doesn’t have to be daily. It just has to be consistent and protected.

For the client I mentioned, it was Sunday mornings at 10 am. This was a predictable time, when they felt good and were confident in sticking to.

Find the time that’s least likely to get interrupted. Not evenings when you might need to run errands. Not mornings when you’re barely functional or rushing the kids off to school. A real pocket of time that you can count on.

• 30-60 minutes can be a starting point.

• Predictable weekly time block.

• In your calendar.

Feel inspired? Have more time? Write for longer? Bonus.

The initial focus is on building momentum.

Build A Ritual Around It

Make it something you look forward to.

Light a candle. Brew your favorite tea. Go to your fav coffee shop. Listen to a special playlist gets you in the zone. Signal to your brain: this is creative time.

The ritual helps because it makes the work easier to start. Your brain learns the pattern. You sit down, light the incense, and the words start flowing.

Batch When Inspiration Hits

Here’s the thing about writing: some days you’ve got it, some days you don’t.

I shift between seasons of batch creation and daily in-the-moment creation. Both have their place, and I think it’s important to experiment and follow the natural ebbs and flows of your life and energy.

When building your habit, a cornerstone block of time sets the foundation for consistency. But if/when inspiration hits, take advantage. If the goal was one note, and you write three notes? Post one. Bank two.

Now you have a buffer for when life happens. And life will happen.

Don’t force yourself to post everything the second you write it. Build a cushion. Stay a little bit ahead so you’re never scrambling on Wednesday night because you forgot to draft your Thursday post.

I hate stress. So I build systems that reduce it. Batching is one of them.

Start Simple, Optimize Later

Don’t overthink headlines on day 1.

Don’t obsess over formatting or worry about going viral.

Right now, you’re focused on one thing: building a rhythm you can stick with.

One post a week, plus a few notes? That’s plenty.

Get the system down first. Build momentum. Find your voice. Then you can start optimizing and layering on complexity.

Trying to perfect everything before you’ve even built consistency is how people burn out before they start.

Remember, the perfect headline doesn’t help if we quit after 3 months.

The Growth Phase (When You’re Ready)

Add Growth Tactics When You’re Ready

Once you’ve got your rhythm, you can layer in other things.

But you don’t have to. There’s something special about finding a rhythm that works, growing slowly, and staying committed to that. his is oddly more difficult than chasing the next growth hack.

Collaborations are my go-to recommendation for growth. The reason is simple: they place you in front of someone else’s audience.

Here are my go-tos:

• Commenting on other people’s posts.

• Going live with someone.

• Collaborating with writers in adjacent/complementary niches.

But don’t stress about this yet. Comments can happen in 10-minute pockets—I call this ‘Commenting in the margins.’ But collaborations can wait until you have the capacity to build them into your routine.

When you’re building something sustainable, it’s not a race.

Remember Why You Started

Most writers don’t quit because they run out of ideas… They quit because they don’t know why they’re writing in the first place. Or somewhere along the line, they forgot.

Most people don’t talk about this… And it’s the thing that will either keep you going or quietly let you drift away and become disconnected from your work.

So before you worry about the perfect headline or the ideal posting schedule, get clear on the basics:

• Define what you’re actually working towards.

• Be honest about what is sustainable for your life.

• Anticipate and plan for the inevitable roadblocks ahead.

• Start simple and layer on growth strategies if, and when, you’re ready.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing in four bullets.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. But most people skip straight to growth hacks without ever asking themselves why they’re posting in the first place.

Now go build something you’ll actually stick with.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. Ready to make Substack work for you?

If you’re convinced Substack is worth it but tired of the hustle-culture guru advice that didn’t work, I’ve documented exactly how I built 9 revenue streams from my Substack—without burning out.

The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop shows you my complete system: from building a 90-day content calendar, the anti-hustle growth engine, to building genuine authority with your writing that attracts opportunities instead of chasing them.

No overnight success promises. No viral growth hacks. Just the sustainable approach that let me quit traditional social media and still grow to 10,000+ subscribers.

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The posts I hesitated to publish—the ones where my finger hovers over the button and I question whether they’re good enough—those are usually the ones that resonate the most with my audience.

Meanwhile, the “perfect” pieces I spend hours editing, the ones I think will go viral, usually get nearly zero engagement.

After publishing on Substack for over two years, I’ve watched this pattern hold true over thousands of notes and posts.

This didn’t seem random. And I realized it wasn’t just me.

I work with creators who experience this a lot. They’ll agonize over a post for days, editing and re-editing, making sure every sentence is perfect, often never publishing it. Then they’ll fire something off in five or ten minutes and watch it get more likes than their “good” content ever did.

Here’s what I think is actually going on.

When you’re about to delete a draft or talk yourself out of hitting publish, you’re usually doubting one of two things: whether it’s good enough, or whether it’s going to get any likes.

The content that makes you nervous is often the content that’s actually honest because it wasn’t created for max shareability or optimized to death.

Your audience isn’t looking for another perfectly crafted framework. They’re sick of those. They’re looking for someone who gets it. Someone who’s been there. Someone willing to say the thing everyone’s thinking but nobody’s publishing.

I had a writing coach once who told me to “let it rip.” The writing he enjoyed most from me was the stuff that was effectively a rant I typed without thinking too hard about it. Not sloppy. Just unfiltered.

When you try to go viral, you’re usually not going viral.

When you try to write the “perfect” post, you’re often writing something that sounds like everyone else.

There are people who’ve mastered viral content. They spend eight hours a day studying it, testing it, and iterating on it. But you’re building a business. You don’t have that time, and honestly, that’s not the game you’re playing anyway.

What happens when we overthink is predictable.

We edit out our voice. We remove the rough edges that make us unique and identifiable. We attempt to be catchy but water down our point of view. We make it “professional” when what people actually want is honesty.

I’ve watched creators spend hours perfecting posts that get minimal engagement, while others throw something together in their notes app.

The difference is rarely “quality.”

99 out of 100 times, I press publish on what I create.

If I wrote it, odds are, it’s getting shipped. That’s the deal.

Because here’s what I’ve learned—my job is to create and publish. The audience’s job is to decide if it resonates. I don’t get to make that call for them.

This works for a few reasons.

You’re playing a volume game. I’ve published over 500 Notes. Maybe 20 of them did the heavy lifting for my growth. You can’t get lucky if you’re not in the game.

Consistency compounds more than perfection ever will.

Turns out, our own judgment about our work is notoriously unreliable.

This isn’t about publishing garbage. It’s about publishing what you created without questioning it based on stories you’re telling yourself about how it will be received.

I’ve had a post with 0 comments generate thousands of dollars in sales, while Notes with thousands of likes generated none. The only reliable pattern I’ve found: the ones I almost didn’t publish tend to be the ones that matter most.

Here’s how I think about this now.

Your doubt might be a signal you’re onto something, not a signal to delete the draft.

The nervousness you feel before publishing? That might mean it matters to you. That might mean you’re being honest. That might mean you’re saying something worth saying. The world needs more of this.

If it makes you a little uncomfortable, it might make your audience a little less alone.

So next time you’re about to delete something because it doesn’t feel “good enough”—ask yourself: is this not good enough, or am I just afraid it won’t get likes.

I used to think this was about better systems and posting strategies. Now I realize it’s actually about having the courage to trust yourself to be seen.

The best work you’ll create won’t feel like the best work when you’re creating it. It’ll feel vulnerable, imperfect, maybe even a little embarrassing.

That’s how you know you’re onto something.

The next time your finger hovers over the publish button and doubt creeps in—maybe that’s exactly when you should press it.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. If you’re looking to build a sustainable and profitable Substack publication without burning out, I share my complete process to hustle-free growth inside The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop. Just the truth of how I grew a 10,000-subscriber publication. Click This Link To Learn More.

Grab The Substack Growth Workshop

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You committed to weekly newsletters. Or daily Substack Notes. Or launching that free educational email course. Whatever it was, you went all in.

But the results aren’t where you expected. Growth is flat. Engagement is dead. Sales haven’t materialized. Like clockwork, your inner critic starts whispering: “This isn’t working.”

So you start Googling. ChatGPTing. Searching for the next framework. The next platform. The next guru promising the answer.

Beneath the surface, here’s what’s happening… you’re about to abandon something that might actually be working. You just haven’t given it enough time to show.

Why Our Inner Critic Creeps Up

We’ve been conditioned for instant feedback. Post something, get likes within minutes. Launch something, see sales within hours. We seek immediate validation because that’s what the internet has trained us to expect.

Hustle culture reinforces this. “30-day transformations.” “10k in 90-days.” Or a one I saw yesterday, “copy this posting strategy, it’ll get you 368,000 followers.” Nonsense.

We’ve been sold the idea that if something doesn’t show results fast, it’s broken—or worse, we are.

So we panic. We mistake normal fluctuations for fundamental failure. We compare our week four to someone else’s year two or ten and wonder why we’re not seeing their results.

The consequence? We never actually do anything long enough to know if it works. We’re constantly starting over. Strategy-hopping becomes the (ineffective) strategy.

I walked a client through this recently. One month into a new marketing approach, they wanted to abandon everything. The data looked disappointing. When we pulled back and looked at the bigger picture, everything changed. The month they thought was failing was actually on track. They were about to kill something that was working.

The strategy wasn’t broken—how they were measuring success was.

One Month Is A Data Point—Three Is A Pattern

Here’s what most people miss: you’re not just gathering data about your strategy. You’re giving your audience time to discover you, trust you, and take action.

The market fluctuates. Holidays, seasons, random variance—all of this affects your results in ways you can’t control. One month catches you in the middle of the noise. Three months lets you see past it.

You need time to get competent at what you’re doing. Early execution is always messy. You’re learning, finding your rhythm, catching mistakes. That stuff takes time.

Your audience needs time too. Brand building works on a different timeline than direct response sales. Trust compounds slowly, then what feels like all at once.

This is what slow business actually means. Not slow results. Slow, intentional consistency. While everyone else is pivoting every 30 days, you’re building something that compounds. Patience becomes your competitive advantage.

The gurus sell: “Do X for 30 days and make $10k.”

What actually works: “Do X for 90 days and assess if it’s worth continuing.”

A Different Way To Think About It

Before you start something new, we need to gauge it differently.

Define a clear goal—within our control.

Not “grow my email list” or “add 300 subscribers through weekly newsletters.” But something that is within our control, like “write one 800-1200-word article on Substack per week for 6 months.”

Choose your success metrics. What are you actually measuring? Pick one primary metric. Maybe two secondary ones. Don’t drown yourself in data. Personally, I like to choose something we control, then something to assess how it’s working.

Commit to the timeline upfront. Decide now: 3 months minimum. 6 is preferred. No pivoting unless something is fundamentally broken. Or circumstances change.

While you’re in it, track stuff without panicking. Look at your numbers to spot obvious problems, but don’t make strategic decisions based on week-to-week changes. You’re gathering data, not reacting to emotional responses.

Optimize, don’t pivot. Small tweaks are fine. Testing different headlines or content topics—that’s optimization. I call this intentionality. Abandoning the entire strategy and starting fresh—that’s pivoting. Save that for the 90/180-day mark.

When you hit 90/180 days, look at the full picture. Compare your end state to your baseline. Not week 12 to week 4. The whole period to your starting point.

Ask better questions:

• Did the overall trend move in the right direction?

• What did I learn about my audience that I didn’t know before?

• What worked well enough that I should double down on it?

• What clearly didn’t work that I should remove?

• Was this sustainable with my current circumstances?

Then make the call. Now you have enough data to decide: continue with adjustments, pivot to something new, or kill it entirely.

The exception: you can pivot before 90/180 days if something is fundamentally broken. Life or finances change. The approach conflicts with your values. You deem it unsustainable. Everything else? Give it time.

You’re not asking “did this work perfectly?” or “am I at 10k?”

You’re asking, “is there a signal here to keep going?”

Remember, slow progress is progress.

What Changes When You Adopt This

You stop second-guessing yourself every time you see someone else’s success post.

That’s the ultimate goal. Your plan. Your pace. You give yourself permission to be early in your timeline while they’re sharing results from years of work.

You build something sustainable instead of constantly starting over. You actually learn what works for your business, not just what worked for someone else.

Here’s the part most people won’t tell you: most successful strategies look mediocre at day 30. The difference between people who make it and those who don’t isn’t better strategies. It’s longer timelines.

Hustle culture creates businesses we want to escape from.

Sustainable timelines create businesses that don’t consume us.

Here’s What To Do Next

Pick one strategy you’re ready to commit to. Or, re-assess a strategy you’ve been considering abandoning. Maybe it’s the content strategy that feels painfully slow. The platform that seems like an echo chamber. The offer that hasn’t converted yet.

• Commit to 90 days minimum. Ideally 180.

• Define your ‘success’ metrics.

• Track without emotional attachment.

• Assess with the full picture in mind.

In a world optimized for dopamine, patience is your unfair advantage. While everyone else is pivoting every 30 days, you’re building something that compounds quietly.

Remember… You’re not behind. You’re not broken. You’re not missing something. You’re just earlier in your journey than you think.

Give it the time it deserves—then decide with real information instead of making decisions based on that dreaded week-four panic attack.

You’re building a business that lasts, not one that feeds a guru’s wallet.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. If you’re looking to build a sustainable and profitable Substack publication without burning out, I share my complete process to hustle-free growth inside The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop. Just the truth of how I grew a 10,000-subscriber publication. Click This Link To Learn More.

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Substack posted a two thousand word article explaining how their feed worked. In the days and weeks that followed, we saw a stream of articles from Substackers breaking down the Notes algorithm and best practices for growth.

Like many, I studied these posts and invested in the workshops with promises on how to grow on Substack in 2026.

Then one morning, I woke up to 100 new subscribers.

But, they didn’t come from where I expected. As I reviewed my analytics, I realized that while people were saying “Post 5 Notes Daily,” I was generating hundreds of subscribers doing something a little different.

That’s when my strategy began to shift.

Instead of spending hours every week attempting to become a master of writing viral Notes, I began asking myself, “How would I grow if I didn’t post Notes at all?”

When Posting 3-5 Substack Notes Per Day Isn’t Working

I put the advice to the test: was posting daily Notes enough?

I wanted to know if this advice worked for someone starting today, too.

I’ve been active on Substack for over two years and built a following, similar to what I observed in those sharing growth strategies as well. And what works for someone who’s been around a while, grown a following, or has a paid subscription might vary from someone starting from square one.

So, I launched a “test” publication.

With a fresh account and a new publication with zero subscribers, I began posting daily Substack Notes under a pen name.

I tested a lot:

• 3-5 Notes per day.

• Proven frameworks.

• Modeling viral Notes.

• Engagement/boost threads.

• Even rage bait that was going viral.

The results took me by surprise.

After posting dozens of Notes, I got a single like and zero new subscribers.

Contrast this to the second publication I tested, which generated 207 subscribers from being recommended by my primary Landon’s Letters publication.

A hypothesis started to form. This led me to study other accounts in addition to my own. Over the course of a few months, I studied viral Notes and other accounts every single day. Three observations opened my eyes.

First, many of the top publications on Substack never wrote Notes.

Second, a fellow Substacker similar to me, who started after me, became a best seller, amassed over 20,000 subscribers, but oddly, their Substack Notes were receiving nearly zero engagement.

Third, another account, with over 100,000 subscribers, openly reported that their 4 paid subscriptions generate multiple six figures in revenue per year, but to my surprise, did not post daily and rarely received over 100 likes on a Note.

All of this left me scratching my head, thinking,

“Are Substack Notes enough?” or at least, “Do we need to post 3-5 times per day?”

Because when I dug into my own analytics to see where those 100 overnight subscribers came from? It wasn’t from posting 3-5 Notes per day, it was because I hit the restack button on a post that I published five months earlier.

Apparently, Substack growth didn’t just happen when you post. It could happen six months later.

I call this The Substack Lag Effect, and once you begin to wrap your head around it, it starts to shift your strategy to building a Substack-led business.

Substack Notes Brought In 25% Of New Subscribers—Here’s What Drove The Other 75%

Substack Notes are really hot right now.

I’ve spent months trying to master them. I wanted to crack the code on writing daily viral Notes. Thinking this was the secret to rapid growth, I even built an extensive ‘Content Lab’ operating system in Notion and scheduled 60 minutes of ‘Viral Mastery’ into my calendar every day.

Then one morning stress clicking through my analytics, I finally connected the dots.

Over the last 30 days, 356 new subscribers came from Substack—85% of my growth. This didn’t surprise me. However, what I saw next seemed to smack me in the face.

Only 87 of those were from Substack Notes.

“How did I miss this?” The words practically fell out of my mouth.

Only 25% of my Substack growth was coming from Notes. The rest? 25% came from Substack Posts, 50% came from Recommendations, and the remainder were in the ‘Other’ category.

For those wondering, outside of Substack, my growth was a mix of direct traffic (this includes subscribers that can’t be attributed), Google, Social Media, and AI Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.

There I was, pulling my hair out thinking, “What do I need to do to write better Notes?” Spending hours every week trying to figure out what to improve. But I was completely overlooking what was driving the majority of my growth.

Maybe it was the third espresso, but I decided to flip the question.

Instead of asking “How do I write better Notes?”

I asked, “How would I grow if none of my subscribers came from Notes?”

The Substack Lag Effect

It was back in October when I woke up to those 100 overnight subscribers.

My first thought? “Which Note went viral?”

I started scrolling through my recent Notes searching. Nothing particularly stood out. A few dozen likes here and there. Nothing special. So I opened my analytics.

That’s when I saw it.

The subscribers didn’t come from a Note at all.

They came from a post I published five months earlier. A post that I had nearly forgotten about. One that got modest attention when it first launched, but then seemed to fade into the background.

So what changed? I hit the restack button the day before.

That single restack pushed the post back into feeds. And over the next 48 hours, that five-month-old post generated more subscribers than most of my fresh content combined.

That’s when it clicked.

Growth on Substack doesn’t stop when you hit publish. It continues to build months later. Slowly compounding.

I call this The Substack Lag Effect.

Here’s what I mean.

Most platforms reward immediate engagement. You post something on Twitter, and it lives for 6 hours. Instagram? Maybe 24 hours if you’re lucky. Even LinkedIn gives you a moment at best before your post disappears into the void.

But Substack seems to be different.

Your content doesn’t expire. It sits there. Waiting for someone to discover it. Waiting for someone to restack it. Waiting for it to show up in Google or ChatGPT. Waiting for a recommendation to push it to a new audience.

And while it waits, it slowly compounds.

What you publish today might bring you three subscribers this week. But six months from now? That same post could bring you thirty more. Or a hundred. Without you doing anything extra.

If you’re stressed about slow growth, you might be measuring the wrong thing. What feels slow today could be your foundation building. Every post you publish is planting a seed. That seed might not sprout immediately, or at all. But when it does, on Substack, it keeps growing without you doing much else.

Knowing this, the question becomes: if growth compounds over months, what should I be creating today?

Content designed for 24-hour engagement, or content designed to work for 24 months.

That’s why I started building The Compound Content Method.

Let me show you how it works.

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The Compound Content Method

After discovering the Lag Effect, I built a system around it.

If growth can happen over months, not days, then my strategy needs to reflect that. I couldn’t keep optimizing for daily metrics. I needed to build assets that compound.

Enter, The Compound Content Method.

Here’s the marketing pitch: It’s a three-layer system designed to generate subscribers while you sleep, without burning you out. And it works because it’s built around how Substack actually functions, not how we wish it functioned.

Here’s a recap of the stats that helped me design this.

Over a 30-day period, I observed 356 new subscribers from Substack’s network, accounting for 85% of my total growth that month. Here’s where they came from:

• Long-form Posts: 73 subscribers (21%)

• Recommendations: 149 subscribers (42%)

• Notes: 87 subscribers (24%)

• Other: 47 subscribers (13%)

According to Substack, ‘Other’ consists of people who found your profile through a link on Substack. But in that 13%, I’m also including Search and Chat.

As mentioned earlier, I used to think this meant I needed to crack the code on writing better Notes—I spent months trying to master viral Notes to no avail.

When I began thinking outside the box, I started pondering what would happen if I did the opposite, if I leaned into what was working.

How would I grow if none of my subscribers came from Notes?

That question led to the three layers.

Layer 1: Pillar Posts

I believe “Posts,” or long-form articles, are underrated.

These are foundational content pieces. Ones with depth. Value. Pieces people bookmark and save to reference later. Articles that shift people’s beliefs and position you as an authority.

I aim to publish 1-2 of these per month.

Not daily. Not five times a week. Not even weekly. While I recommend publishing one Post per week, Pillar Posts are specifically designed for growth—designed to last.

Pillar Posts have four primary characteristics.

• They’re restack worthy.

• They’re searchable.

• They’re conversation starters.

• They’re evergreen.

They’re built to last long after you hit publish.

Evergreen content is still relevant 24 months later. Shareable content continues to reach new audiences. And content designed around questions people ask means that they are actively seeking answers to these questions—increasing chances of it showing in search engines or AI.

Nearly 25% of my new subscribers came from Posts.

However, it was not from my most recent posts. They came from posts that were published months ago, but continue to generate value today.

The first, “What People Actually Want Isn’t A Paid Newsletter,” was written over five months ago. And with a single restack four months later, it’s the post that landed 100 overnight Substack subscribers.

This post has been restacked over 400 times—and since it’s a conversation starter, as it reaches new audiences, it continues to be shared and drive growth.

In addition to subscriber growth, more than 1,700 people have clicked through to my Unhustled Substack Swipe File that is linked within the post. Turning this post into a considerable revenue source as a byproduct.

The second, “I Posted 10 Notes Per Day—And The Results Surprised Me,” was written nine months ago, and continues to generate new subscribers every week.

Similar to the example above, this post links to my Substack Content Calendar lead magnet. It has been downloaded over 700 times, not exclusively from this article, but this article accounts for approximately 50%.

Ann Handley, a content marketer, puts it this way:

“Quality definitely trumps quantity. Always has. Always will.”

She’s not telling us to post daily or repurpose across seventeen platforms. I think she’s telling us to create content so valuable that people would pay for it.

Content that compounds, and that’s the heart of a Pillar Post.

In case you're wondering, the article you’re reading right now is a Pillar Post.

Meta, right?

Layer 2: Strategic Collaborations

This is the most overlooked growth lever on Substack.

While Pillar Posts leverage audience growth through shareability, Strategic Collaborations leverage audience growth through reaching new audiences—that of your collaborator.

Building an audience from zero isn’t easy.

Mastering the fundamentals of consistency, or even “good” content, does not guarantee growth. It often feels like we spend months shouting into the void. Because we kind of are. It took me over eight months before I started growing on Substack.

The only honest way I’ve found to accelerate growth, without spamming comments or running paid ads, is to get in front of someone else’s audience.

That’s where Strategic Collaborations come in.

These can take varying shapes and sizes, but here are the five I prioritize.

• Genuine connections and relationships.

• Recommendation partnerships.

• Pillar guest posts.

• Cross-posting.

• Joint lives.

Here’s the magic behind these: you gain exposure to your collaborators’ audience.

Writing a few guest posts exposed me to over 8,000 new readers on Substack. They placed me in front of a new audience—one that someone else had built. Subsequently, I built my credibility while generating new subscribers.

“Collaborations” is a bit of a catch-all term here. You can think of “connections,” or even “relationships,” to broaden the definition.

They can be as small as spending 15-30 minutes leaving thoughtful comments on Substack Notes, or as big as The First Dollar Project by , who brought together 20 creators contributing guest posts and collaborating on joint lives. Then, turning the stories into an ebook on how these creators made their first dollar online.

In the last 30 days, over 40% of my subscribers came from recommendations. That’s as much as Posts and Notes combined.

And here’s the crazy part: I didn’t actively work for those subscribers. It didn’t require posting daily or going viral. Recommendations that have been in place for weeks or months work in the background every day.

This is what Toyota figured out with Kaizen—the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. You don’t need dramatic changes. You need small, incremental improvements that compound over time.

Collaborations work the same way.

Small partnerships + strategic alignment = Compounding results.

And back to Ann Handley, quality beats quantity. It’s not about accumulating as many recommendations as humanly possible because a few high-quality ones make a world of difference. With that said, more doesn’t hurt ;-)

As of writing, I have 324 publications recommending Landon’s Letters. But in the last 30 days, only 22 of them generated more than one subscriber. Twenty-two out of 324. That’s 7%.

One single publication has generated over 300 lifetime subscribers.

Let me show you a few more examples of how I’ve leveraged strategic collabs.

I launched a second publication on my main account. It generated hundreds of subscribers just from being recommended by my primary publication. No viral posts. Just leveraging the recommendation system.

I’ve built quality relationships through commenting. One, I’ve sent them 468 subscribers by recommending their publication. Another has turned into a business partnership. These relationships started through Substack comments.

Personally, I’ve found the key is authenticity. Instead of trying to game the system, focus on building real relationships with people and publications with aligned goals.

That’s passive, compounding growth.

Layer 3: Promote Your Work

In a survey last year, I found 95% of my audience made this mistake.

I asked, “After you publish a post, how many times do you share or promote it?”

And the response startled me. Not because 95% of people either didn’t share it or only shared it once. But because these same writers were a single click away from becoming more visible, just like I was when I got 100 subscribers overnight.

Luckily, Substack makes sharing posts simple. That’s why I wrote an entire article sharing examples of how we can do this. You can read it here.

That line ^^ is a little hyperbolic to demonstrate the point ;-)

Try this to get started promoting your work.

• Restack Posts upon publishing.

• Share Posts a min. of 1-3x more times.

• Re-surface your top Posts every 2-3 months.

• Share your “back catalog” for new subscribers.

Posts are sent to your subscribers when published. Someone who subscribes today isn’t likely to scroll back and read something that was published 12 months ago. Even if it’s exactly what they need today.

That’s why we need to share our work, even our older work. That’s what I am referring to when I say your “back catalog,” the pieces you’ve written and published in the past. Because they still have value today.

Every time I share or restack an old Post, I get new likes and comments.

Here’s a little bonus: Pull people down the rabbit hole.

Strategically place links inside your posts to related Posts—when it’s relevant. As you scroll this article, you’ll find 3-5 links to other articles I’ve written. Such as the one above and below that links to an article I wrote on sharing your work.

This is a fun little way to use your Posts to expose people to your other posts. Pulling them down the rabbit hole and increasing the chances of them subscribing and reading future work, if it resonates.

Here are the 7 methods I recommend to get started sharing your work.

1. Promotional Note.

2. The 1-Click Restack.

3. Impactful Quotes/Passages.

4. Cross-platform Repurposing.

5. Back-catalog Sharing.

6. The Restack Redo.

7. Shareable Images.

You can read a full tutorial breaking down each one here.

^^ That’s a link to pull you down a rabbit hole.

And not to make you feel like you’re living in the Matrix, but that article includes at least half a dozen links… to pull you further down the rabbit hole. See you soon ;-)

A quick word on Notes.

This article is designed around how to grow without Notes, but Layer 3 does leverage Notes—but not in a post 10 Notes per day, burnout, and quit kind of way. If it helps, you can think of Layer 3 as ‘how to grow without writing daily Notes.’

This one really hit home for me after studying the largest publications on Substack in big categories like Politics, Health, and News. They weren’t writing and posting 3-5 Notes per day like we’re taught. They’d restack, that’s about it.

I’ve got nothing against Notes, though, and we can apply this concept of ‘Promoting Your Work’ to Notes as well. And I figured I’d quickly touch on it.

On Fridays, when I assess my Notes using my Substack Content Calendar, I drop them into three buckets: Recycle, Remix, and Revise.

If a Note is “viral for me,” or performs “above average,” I look at recycling the Note, or in simpler terms, I just repost it again in 8-12 weeks. Copy, paste. I’ve had the same Note perform well 3-4x.

Next, I will look at remixing the Note, creating variations. It’s usually a good idea to do more of what works. Don’t make things harder than they need to be.

Lastly, if there was something I thought would perform well, but it didn’t, I will see if I can revise it. Did I bury the hook? Did it lack a strong insight? Was it missing a reason for someone to restack it? I don’t do this with every Note, but occasionally I will.

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Maybe It’s Time To Embrace The Slow Build And Play The Long Game

Think about it like this.

Warren Buffett didn’t build a $150 billion net worth overnight.

You don’t become the 9th richest person in the world after taking an 8-week program or timing the market. He accomplished this feat by letting a few great investments compound for decades.

It’s reported that 99% of his fortune came after the age of 50, decades after he began. It was that patience that compounded into massive wealth. It did not come from quick wins or overnight success nonsense.

Your Substack can work in the same way.

While everyone is day-trading Substack Notes, searching for a quick win, and the magic bullet aka going viral, we can leverage the compounding effects of our content.

Buffett has made hundreds of investments throughout his career. However, in 2026, 58% of his $318 billion investment portfolio comes from just 4.

I love this approach to building a Subtack-led business.

I treat it like my personal investment portfolio. Every note, post, connection, and collaboration is an investment. Like Buffett, I acknowledge two things:

1. Not every investment will pay off.

2. The payoff requires patience to be fully realized.

After writing on Substack for over two years, I’ve watched recommendations slowly compound into 324. Generating a total of 2,533 new subscribers—30% of which come from just 4.

I’ve published over 125 Posts—two that were published five and nine months ago still generate me new subscribers every week. And a few key connections I built on Substack have translated into multiple lives, affiliate partners, recommendations, and even business partnerships.

That’s the long-game. That’s Buffett’s snowball rolling down the Substack hill.

How The Layers Work Together

Let me show you what can happen when these layers operate as a system.

I write and publish a Pillar Post. It gets modest engagement. Some likes, a couple of comments, and a restack or two.

I promote it 3-4 times, highlighting the best insights. These strategic Notes drive people back to the original piece.

A few days later, someone restacks that post. It immediately reaches a new audience.

Meanwhile, my Recommendation partners are quietly putting me in front of new subscribers who’ve never heard of me, who see the post.

Some of the people who find value in the post may recommend my publication.

Months pass…

That post may begin getting traffic from ChatGPT and ranking in Google. I might restack it again from my back catalog, infusing it with new life. Recommendations continue to give it exposure to new subscribers, which may lead to more restacks.

And it did not require writing 5 Notes per day or more Posts.

This little flywheel creates a compounding effect.

Similar to how Warren Buffett didn’t build $150 billion worth by day-trading. He built it by letting a few great investments compound for decades. Your Substack works the same way—just on a smaller scale, or if were being honest, a much smaller scale ;-)

One great Pillar post today could become 100 new subscribers in six months.

That’s the snowball rolling down the hill.

But here’s what we can’t overlook:

Buffett has made hundreds of investments throughout his career. But as I mentioned earlier, nearly 2/3 of his wealth comes from just four of them.

Four out of hundreds.

Most of your content won’t compound significantly. But a few pieces will outperform everything else combined. This is one of the foundational concepts of building a Substack-led business.

We build the system. We put in the repetitions. We let it compound.

We don’t always know which ones will hit.

That’s why the system matters.

And trust. And lots of patience.

We keep publishing Pillar Posts.

We keep building (and nurturing) Strategic Partnerships.

We keep promoting our work.

With time, a few of our investments break through. They begin to compound and generate subscribers while you sleep.

This is part of why I believe people who’ve been doing it the longest can scale back and maintain growth—because of compounding. And also why it feels like growth is the hardest in the beginning, because we haven’t yet realized these effects.

This allows us to replace hustle with leverage—if we’re patient.

So here’s my challenge to you.

Instead of asking “How do I write better Notes?”

Try asking, “How would I grow if I focused on what compounds?”

Because the answer might transform the way you view Substack and your business.

Putting This Into Practice: A Simple “No Note” Growth Plan To Try This Year

Let’s talk about putting this into practice.

Implementing Pillar Posts

If you’re writing 1 Post (Newsletter) per week, try this:

Turn 1-2 of those per month into a Pillar Post.

We don’t need to publish more. Instead, we turn some of them into Pillars.

These are strategically written, and they may take longer to write because they’re not diary entries or simple updates.

They should be written to capture people’s attention without needing any additional context. If someone doesn’t know you or hasn’t read any other posts, they should be able to drop into this post, read it, and leave with value.

Ideally, they should still be relevant in 6-12 Months from now. Alternatively, capitalize on something “hot,” like when Substack published how the Notes algorithm works. Both can work, but if topics are too time-based or only time-based, we may not capitalize on as much long-term leverage.

Here are my two personal favorite approaches:

1. Answer simple and specific questions.

2. “Anti” advice, aka challenging commonly held assumptions.

“Should You Use Substack Or ConvertKit? Which Platform Is Better To Build Your Business,” was a specific question, and this article began ranking in Google because people were searching for the answer.

Or, take the article you’re presently reading. Currently, everyone is writing about how to master Notes, why you need to write 3-5 Notes per day to grow, and selling Note workshops… and I am here writing about growing without Notes.

Implementing Strategic Collaborations

The focus here is simple: relationships.

As my good friend George Bryant says, “Relationships beat algorithms.”

This is great advice in the AI age that we’re living in. As the pendulum swings towards automation and volume, people begin to crave true connection.

Start by identifying 5-10 people you want to connect with.

This could include people you want to connect with, write guest posts for, or go live with, or maybe it’s just cool people in your niche.

Bookmark their profiles. Then spend 10-15 minutes per day leaving thoughtful comments on their work.

You can spend more time commenting, or commenting on more people’s work, but this is a great place to start, especially because it’s focused on establishing relationships.

Aim for 1 collaboration every 1-2 weeks.

Lives, interviews, and guest posts. These are the simplest go-tos. In my experience, going live with someone is often the easiest. However, if you don’t want to be on camera, guest posts, or written interviews are great options.

Bonus: Cross-posts provide great exposure when doing collabs.

Think: Comments > DMs > Collaborations.

It’s kind of like a relationship or collaboration funnel. Of course, you can ask to go live with anyone. Sometimes, it’s easier to ask, or it’s easier for them to say yes, when there is a pre-existing connection that’s been made.

Recommendations often naturally evolve.

But you can initiate swaps. Relationships and valuable content lay the groundwork for recommendations. The place I suggest starting is with people you’re connected with, people in complementary niches, and/or people with similar-sized publications.

Lastly, don’t underestimate comments.

I’ve built many relationships on Subtack that started from comments.

Like previously mentioned, some led to recommendations. Some turned into ongoing collaboration partners where we go live together, share each other’s work, and even promote each other’s products and launches.

And believe it or not, some have even turned into business partnerships.

Things to avoid

Avoid spamming comments and AI comments. Thoughtful comments will serve you far more than substanceless comments. Let people see how you think. Offer something of value. Be real. Authentic. Quality over quantity in action.

Avoid dropping unsolicited links. I’m not sure where this trend started. But it’s clear what the intention is. Unless it’s 100% relevant or requested, avoid dropping links to your publication or posts in other people’s comments. Some people have begun banning people who do this or reporting them as spam.

Avoid sending cold DMs with ‘asks.’ Sending people DMs asking for recommendations without pre-existing relationships isn’t something I suggest. Like cold DMs on Instagram or LinkedIn, it might work with enough volume. But many people classify it as spam. Focus on relationships and valuable content, and always consider what’s in it for them. There are no shortcuts.

Avoid doing too much too fast. If things feel overwhelming? Scale it back until it feels almost too easy. The goal is sustainability. I call these Minimum Viable Habits. If commenting daily isn’t realistic, try 3-5 days a week. If weekly collabs are too much, try 1-2 a month.

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The Foundation That Cannot Be Overlooked

The real growth hack is being here next year and not hating your business.

Detaching from unspoken expectations and arbitrary goals is incredibly important when redefining success and doing things differently.

It’s easier said than done, though.

Philosophically, I don’t believe anything is achieved without consistency.

Patience isn’t passive. Consistency doesn’t mean we’re idly posting, oblivious to what’s going on. It’s about being intentional with our efforts.

Oliver Burkeman, in Four Thousand Weeks, introduces the concept of radical incrementalism: embracing progress that’s both steady and strategic. Instead of trying to overhaul everything overnight, we make small, deliberate adjustments that compound over time.

There’s a reason I pulled on the reference to Warren Buffett and investing. I wanted to demonstrate the importance of consistent actions and realistic timelines.

In my experience, things generally take longer than we’d expect. Or, at least longer than we want them to. And, definitely longer than what we’re sold online.

My general recommendation is to commit to Substack for a min. of 6 months.

I’m often asked how long it took me to grow. A question I love, because I can pull out my growth chart and show people the 8-10 months it took before I figured things out.

We have zero control over how long things take.

The only thing we control in this equation is if and how we show up.

Substack Notes Shouldn’t Lead To Burnout

Are Notes bad? Absolutely, not.

But they shouldn’t burn you out trying to keep up.

Especially for those of us who came to Substack because we were fed up with the hustle culture that plagued the popular social platforms. If we’re not careful, the chase on Substack can quickly lead us towards a similar path.

If you can’t keep up with Notes, you don’t have to.

I’m not here to say “Don’t post Notes.” I post them. I’m here to say there are other ways to grow, too. Ways that don’t require 3-5 Notes per day. Ways that might feel more aligned with the business you want to create.

Everything works. It’s about finding what works for you.

For some, Notes account for most of their growth. Others are finding their subscribers on LinkedIn. For me, my subscribers come from Substack, and only around 25% of them come from Notes.

There’s a difference between going viral on Substack Notes and building a Substack-powered Business.

One of the biggest lessons on Substack growth that I learned in 2025 was that nearly all of our growth is going to come from a very few specific posts, notes, or recommendations.

The tricky part is that it takes so much longer and more volume before we find those few bangers than we ever realize. And only through the act of continuing to show up do we uncover them and put ourselves in a position for them to compound.

I still write Notes. But this is how I’d grow if I didn’t.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. Ready to make Substack work for you?

If you’re convinced Substack is worth it but tired of the hustle-culture guru advice that didn’t work, I’ve documented exactly how I built 9 revenue streams from my Substack—without burning out.

The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop shows you my complete system: from building a 90-day content calendar, the anti-hustle growth engine, to building genuine authority with your writing that attracts opportunities instead of chasing them.

No overnight success promises. No viral growth hacks. Just the sustainable approach that let me quit traditional social media and still grow to 10,000+ subscribers.

Click This Link To Get Instant Access.

📌 P.P.S. If you found this helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience?

Sharing spreads the message and supports me in writing honest and practical content to help you thrive in your online business.

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Here’s the fastest way to monetize your Substack—without paid subscriptions or expensive tools.

I never set out to make a product.

But I kept getting the same question over and over.

“How do I make money with my Substack?”

I get it. I was there too... publishing consistently, building an audience, but with no clear path to revenue.

I started noticing something strange, though. Certain posts were getting way more engagement than others. One post got nearly 800 likes and 100 comments, another 1,500.

So, I paid attention.

The breadcrumbs were there all along.

You’re doing all the work already.

You show up. You write. You publish.

But there’s a gap between your words and the number on your bank statement.

More than 17,000 writers are getting paid on Substack right now. The top 10 writers collectively make $25 million per year.

But what about the rest of us?

How do we go from writing in an echo chamber to waking up to Stripe payment notifications?

Here’s what I discovered: Your first dollar isn’t as far away as you think.

The truth is simpler than you’d expect.

Most Substack writers I’ve talked to share two common struggles:

1. They want to monetize but don’t have anything to sell.

2. They don’t want to gate or charge for access to their content.

3. They want to build a digital product without spending money on fancy software.

Maybe that sounds like you, too?

You’ve been told you need to gate your content behind a paid subscription. Or build a massive course. Or develop some complex funnel system.

I found a different path, and I’d like to share it with you.

Introducing Subliminal Selling:

The 3-step process to use Substack to validate, create, and deliver your first digital product—and make your first dollar.

No guessing what to create. No expensive software. No gating all your best content.

Just a simple, repeatable framework to turn your writing into a product people actually want to buy.

In the time it takes to write your weekly newsletter, you could have your first product ready to sell.

Here’s what you’ll learn inside:

Step 1: Validate – How to determine what to sell.

Your audience is already telling you what they want to buy. I’ll show you how to find these hidden signals in:

• Your likes and comments.

• Your open rates and restacks.

• Your DMs and conversations.

And I’ll share the exact “invisible survey” method I use to validate product ideas without ever asking people to “buy something.”

Step 2: Create – Build your first product (without overthinking it)

Learn how to create a simple, valuable product that people will happily pay for:

• Why simple video trainings convert better than fancy courses.

• How to plan and record your product in a single afternoon.

• The “Minimal Viable Product” approach that removes all the complexity.

Step 3: Disseminate – Deliver your first product and collect payment.

I’ll walk you through 4 free ways to:

• Provide access to your product.

• Collect payments (without technical headaches)

• Set up the simplest possible system that actually works.

This isn’t about building an empire overnight...

It’s about making your first dollar.

Creating momentum and validating that people will pay for your expertise.

I spent years overthinking this process before realizing it could be this simple.

Who is this for?

This is for Substackers who:

• Already publish content but haven’t figured out monetization.

• Feel resistant to gating all their content behind a paid subscription.

• Want a simple, low-tech approach to creating their first product.

• Are tired of guessing what their audience might buy.

This is not for writers who:

• Aren’t consistently publishing.

• Want to monetize exclusively through paid subscriptions.

• Are looking for overnight riches or get-rich-quick schemes.

• Aren’t willing to pay attention to what their audience is telling them.

This isn’t for people looking for a $10k in 10-days promise.

If “slow, honest growth through intentional writing” doesn’t sound exciting, this isn’t your jam, and that’s totally Ok—we can still be friends.

What makes this different?

Most monetization advice focuses on paid subscriptions or building elaborate courses and complex funnels.

Subliminal Selling is different because:

1. It’s built specifically for Substackers.

2. It leverages the content you’re already creating.

3. It requires zero additional software investment.

4. It’s designed to get you results within weeks, not months.

Your first dollar is closer than you think.

You don’t need a fancy offer, an extensive course, or a massive following.

All you need is to identify a small, specific problem your audience needs solved, and create a training that delivers the solution.

You could go from zero monetization to selling your first product in less than 30 days using this exact method, just like it did for Ashley.

Get Subliminal Selling for Just $27

That’s less than the cost of a nice dinner, for a framework that could transform your Substack from a hobby into a revenue stream.

No recurring fees. No expensive software. Just a simple, proven process.

Click Here To Get The Subliminal Selling Workshop

Here’s My Personal Guarantee

If you implement what you learn in Subliminal Selling and don’t find it valuable, just email me within 30 days, and I’ll refund your purchase—no questions asked.

I’m not interested in keeping your money if you don’t get results. But I’m confident that if you follow this framework, you will.

One Last Thing

I built this course using the exact method I teach inside.

It took me 4 hours to plan and write. It took about 60 minutes to settle on the topic. It cost me exactly $0.00 in software to create and deliver. And now it nets me $150-$300 per month passively.

Your first product doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to solve a real problem for your readers.

Are you ready to make your first dollar from your Substack?

Click Here To Get The Subliminal Selling Workshop

Landon

Apparently, life had other plans for me.

I’m not sure if it’s embarrassment, disappointment, or a feeling of failure, but this isn’t a story I share very often.

You see, I’m a planner—even from a young age.

While kids in Jr. High were playing Truth or Dare… I was researching the best High School to go to.

While my friends in High School were thinking about which parties to go to… I was researching colleges with the best computer science programs.

While my college classmates were applying for internships… After receiving nine offers, my teachers let me “run my own,” seeing the volume of client work I had from freelancing—even my professors were hiring me.

By the time I graduated from college, I’d already built a replica of LinkedIn and was on my second business adventure.

In my mind, my future was all but certain.

I’d be named a Forbes Top 30 Under 30. Hit Six-Figure Months. And quickly becoming a millionaire.

A Decade Fueled By Ego And Status

Here’s a peek at my pre-30 “resume” striving for the illustrious Top 30 Award.

I built and sold computers.

I worked as a freelance web designer.

I launched a supplement company where I formulated and created my own product.

I was a partner in an “e-cigarette” company before they went mainstream.

I started a boutique advertising agency.

I coded and launched a social network for businesses before I discovered LinkedIn.

I launched multiple news and magazine websites to generate ad revenue.

I became a certified personal trainer.

I took out a $500,000 loan and opened a brick-and-mortar gym.

I worked as a mentor and business coach to fellow gym owners and personal trainers.

That’s the highlight reel.

Soon, I realized that the best plans didn’t provide any guarantees.

After eight businesses and sinking six figures into masterminds, mentors, and courses, none of it worked.

The devastation hit me during a business trip in Las Vegas.

Shortly after my 30th birthday, I sat in the overpriced “Chandelier Bar” in the Cosmopolitan, sipping cocktails I couldn’t afford. With a bruised ego, I snuck away to the bathroom, checking my bank balance to see if I could afford the check—I couldn’t, so it went on credit.

The emotions overwhelmed me as I searched for where I went wrong.

I wasn’t a millionaire.

I wasn’t a Top 30 Under 30.

I skipped my brother’s wedding for work.

Not only did I fail to achieve the goals I set out for myself, but I was $100,000 in debt, putting Vegas trips on my credit card, and doing everything possible to “fake it till I made it” until it caught up with me.

Nearly a decade later, I’ve had some time to reflect.

Here Are Three Lessons I’d Tell The Younger Version Of Myself

Blinded by the chase, those years left me broke, in therapy, and completely disconnected from myself. It took me nearly half a decade to recover.

Here’s what I learned.

Lesson 1: It’s going to take longer than you think.

Success did not follow the timeline I set for it.

With my rose colored glasses, I naively thought if I worked hard enough, followed the right steps, and invested in the right programs, I’d hit my goals on my schedule.

Social media told me that if I worked hard, results would follow.

All the case studies I read, 90-day planners I bought, $2k programs I invested in, and all the mentors I hired reinforced the same message.

My reality was a bit different. Every milestone took 2-3x longer than I expected. Many of which were never achieved. And my inner critic constantly questioned what I was missing, why I was stuck, and why everything else seemed to have it figured out.

I spent years beating myself up about being behind until I learned that my expectations were breeding resentment. I had to surrender to the journey and embrace the pursuit even when outcomes were uncertain.

Lesson 2: Don’t be afraid to find your own path.

This has become a permanent sticky note that lives on my desk.

A daily reminder that I don’t need to take the ‘traditional’ path or do what everyone else around me is doing to be successful.

We may be able to copy and paste the four-step frameworks and six-step systems, but we cannot copy and paste the results that someone else received.

Throughout my journey, I’ve learned it’s rarely as simple as we’re sold.

I devoured every book, podcast, and course I could get my hands on. Invested over six figures in mentors, masterminds, and programs. Built the funnels, ran the ads, and none of it worked until I stopped trying to copy someone else’s path.

There is one critical piece that gets overlooked… Us.

You know, the person running the business. Success for me didn’t look like success for anybody else. I eventually learned that my path had to be my own.

Lesson 3: It’s about more than money.

I let my identity get wrapped up in followers, revenue, and achievements.

When those things didn’t go as planned, I felt like a failure. Eventually, I found myself applying for jobs while contemplating striking a match and burning down the business I was desperately trying to build.

I had lost sight of why I started. The surface-level 10k-month goals overlooked the things that couldn’t be quantified. Things like fulfillment, impact, and looking forward to Monday morning.

The person you become matters more than any number. This allowed me to reconnect to my why and redefine how I’d get there.

You’re Exactly Where You Need To Be

I’m still not where I thought I’d be.

But I actually like where I am. I’m grateful I learned these lessons—these experiences gave me the ability to help others in similar situations.

I’ve been both swallowed by the pursuit of money and built the business that a younger version of me thought I wanted. One left me $100,000 in debt, while the other left me trapped in something I resented and couldn’t sustain.

Now, I see that I wouldn’t be where I am now without that.

So, if you find yourself feeling like you’re not where you’d like to be yet…

Know this: you’re not behind—you’re exactly where you need to be.

The lessons you learn today might be the ones you need—even if you don’t want them—and could turn into the wisdom you pass down to others. The power to derive meaning and fulfillment lies within you.

Hope that helps.

Landon

P.S. If you’re building a Substack-powered business (or thinking about it)...

I know how tempting it is to copy someone else’s six-figure blueprint and expect the same results. Been there, done that, got the debt to prove it.

That’s why I’ve put together some free resources to help you find your path—without the massive investment or the decade of trial and error.

Whether you’re just starting or feel like you’re not where you “should be” yet, these resources are here to help you build something sustainable that actually fits your life.

Click here to check out the free resources.

📌 P.P.S. If you found this helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience?

Sharing spreads the message and supports me in writing honest and practical content to help you thrive in your online business.

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Install 11 Monetization Pathways That Turn Readers Into Customers

You’re writing consistently, building your audience, and people are finally reading your stuff…

…But the money part? Still fuzzy.

Maybe you’ve got a lead magnet sitting there. Maybe you have an idea for a product. Maybe you’re already selling something.

The problem isn’t what you’re offering. It’s that nobody sees it.

Your readers show up, read your post, and leave. There’s no pathway pulling them closer.

Here’s what I figured out:

Substack isn’t just a newsletter platform. It’s a website. An email tool. A sales engine.

But most writers only use about 10% of it.

They write posts. Maybe pin one. And that’s it.

Meanwhile, there are 11 places inside your publication where you can place entry points to your offers—without being salesy, without launching, without adding more to your plate.

I’ve been running these pathways for months now.

One simple link at the bottom of an article? Generated 1,600 clicks to a product.

For six straight months, someone has either downloaded a lead magnet or purchased a product from me every single day. Not from ads. Not from launches. Just from these conversion pathways, doing their thing in the background while I focused on writing.

Inside this 40-minute training, I walk you through all 11 ways to monetize your Substack:

It’s an over-the-shoulder look at exactly how I’ve implemented these inside my own publication—the same setup that’s powered a six-figure Substack business while working 4-6 hours a day.

You’ll see where to find each pathway in your dashboard, how I’ve configured mine, and how they work together as a system that quietly pulls readers closer while you focus on writing.

Plus a checklist so you can implement them one at a time without getting overwhelmed.

Pricing: $17

If you’re in The Community, it’s already included for you.

The goal is simple: help you stop leaving money on the table inside a platform you’re already using. [Get the Workshop + Checklist]

Get Substack Conversion Pathways Now

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His new book Unhinged Habits: A Counterintuitive Guide for Humans to Have More by Doing Less reveals how to break bad habits and build your rich life by mastering the art of strategic subtraction. It’s being compared to Atomic Habits and Four Thousand Weeks—one of my favorite books.

On a personal note, Jon and I go way back to my days in the fitness industry. He’s somebody who has been successfully writing online and building remote businesses since 2011. Not only that, the guy has three young kids and has travelled four months a year, every year, for the last 13 years.

I’ve asked him to share an idea from his new book, published with HarperCollins, that was released today. Have a read, and then go buy the book ;-)

Consistency without seasonal bouts of intensity is ineffective. Kind of like in fitness, it’s not cardio or weights, we need both.

If you put in the dedicated work to build strength and resilience one time, you’ll be able to put up with more over time. A transformational period of focus needn’t take long to alter a lifetime. Building a strong business (and body) requires intense effort. Maintaining them requires consistency.

Here, let me tell you a story about Taylor.

She’d been a successful personal trainer for eight years. She loved helping clients transform their bodies but hated the 6:00 a.m.-to-9:00 p.m. schedule that came with it.

At thirty-five, she and her boyfriend were ready for marriage and children. One problem: her income depended entirely on physical presence. No training, no money. The financial reality of family life and personal training didn’t compute. The same goes for anybody who works in a service-based industry—freelance writers and coaches of any kind.

Three years earlier, Taylor had bought an online business course from me to escape the time-for-money trap. She dabbled—reading chapters between clients, watching videos before bed—but never gained traction. One online client in three years. Progress measured in molecules.

Then came the wedding date. Suddenly, the future had teeth. With a clear deadline to build a sustainable income before starting a family, Taylor hired my business coaching company and committed to a twelve-week season of focus.

We didn’t teach her anything new. Taylor already knew what to do. What changed was her approach and focus.

Instead of posting generic workout tips that felt like work but led nowhere, she dug deep into identifying exactly who her best clients were. She created detailed profiles of the people who both paid well and were enjoyable to work with.

With this clarity, Taylor made a list of everyone she knew who fit these characteristics. Instead of broadcasting to the void on social media, she reached out individually, asking for advice on the program she was developing. These conversations revealed exactly what her ideal clients actually wanted—information no competitor could access without the same focused effort.

For twelve weeks, she maintained her training schedule but dedicated every evening and weekend to these conversations and building her program. She declined social invitations except for one wedding. She ordered meal delivery to eliminate cooking. Every spare minute went to her business transformation.

The results? After three years of sporadic effort yielding one client, Taylor contracted $21,000 in revenue and fourteen new remote clients in only twelve weeks as a result of her focused intensity.

By her wedding day, she had escaped the time-for-money trap. She’d built an income stream resilient enough to support a growing family.

For Taylor, three years of balance yielded one client. Twelve weeks of focus created a new life. Her results are common.

Did you know that a rocket burns 90 percent of its fuel during liftoff, fighting Earth’s gravity and atmosphere? Once in orbit, it glides effortlessly.

New habits follow this cosmic principle: the initial push demands enormous energy to break old routines, but maintain it long enough, and momentum takes over, requiring only minimal adjustments.

Maybe some people are able to do hard things like writing books by fitting it around their other priorities. The math checks out. Five hundred words a day, in theory, takes only thirty minutes. At that rate, a 55,000 word book could be finished in 110 days, or three and a half months.

But there’s more to the story.

If my only option were to write a small amount every day, I’d waste time rebooting the book back into my RAM.

By the time I finished trying to remember what I was trying to say, rereading the previous section, and opening up my research and notes, my coffee would be cold, I’d have to pee, and twenty minutes of my thirty-minute writing session would be squandered.

Sure, getting something done is better than nothing. And if that’s your only option, then that’s the best option right now. I hope you reach your goals. But this is why even successful people find themselves stuck, never finishing books that they’re writing, never transforming their bodies, never learning new skills, and never measurably improving relationships.

–

Consistency is undeniably powerful. Essential, even, for maintenance and gradual improvement. The person who meditates for ten minutes a day for years will certainly benefit more than someone who does sporadic three-hour retreats and nothing in between.

But what I’ve also observed is that true transformation—the kind that reshapes your identity or capabilities—also requires periods of concentrated intensity.

Think of consistency as the reliable foundation that keeps you from sliding backward, while intensity is the force that propels you forward. The writer who writes daily maintains their skill, but the writer who occasionally retreats for weeks of focused creation often produces their breakthrough work during these intensive periods.

Whatever it is you want to excel at, whether it’s your career, your family, your fitness level, a personal passion, your social life—anything!—define it and prioritize it by placing it at the top of your to-do list.

It’s unhinged, almost deranged, this type of maniacal focus.

None of this is likely sustainable long-term, either financially or temporally. That’s fine. It’s not supposed to be.

It’s not possible to be in-season all the time. You might sometimes have everything on cruise control, too, which is fine.

Long-term consistency and stacking habits is a great way to make sure you do stuff like floss your teeth more often. But without intensity (visits to the dentist), you’ll never earn a pearly white smile.

Intensity is for gaining. Consistency is for maintaining. You can’t have one without the other.

Thanks for reading. I hope this was useful for you and that you consider buying a copy of my new book, Unhinged Habits in hardcover, Kindle, or audio today. Yes, it’s a habits book—but with a focus on the deeper values of family, community, exploration, and health.

— Jon

P.S. If you’re looking to build a sustainable and profitable Substack publication without burning out, I share my complete process to hustle-free growth inside The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop. Just the truth of how I grew a 10,000-subscriber publication. Click This Link To Learn More.

Grab The Substack Growth Workshop

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The time has come for us to challenge the status quo and start building a slow, simple, and sovereign business.

The journey starts with the best intentions.

We answer the call to create, to coach, to lead. While our motivational tank is full, we seek a guide. We follow their advice online. We buy their courses. We invest in their masterminds and communities.

Somewhere between the ‘3-secrets,’ ‘5-step frameworks,’ and promises of ‘10k months,’ we discover that even though we can copy & paste the guru’s blueprint, we can’t copy & paste their results.

It’s rarely as simple as we were sold.

But, whether it’s the chase or the taste, the money keeps us going.

Until one day, it doesn’t.

As our tank drains, it’s easy to lose sight of what we set out to build. And if we’re not careful, we can wake up one morning and realize we’ve built a business we want to escape.

Together, We’ll Reconnect With Your Why and Redefine Your How

It took me nearly half a decade to recover.

I found myself applying for jobs while contemplating striking a match and burning down the business I was desperately trying to build. Blinded by the chase, I spent years modeling the popular blueprints, but instead of success, I was left broke, in therapy, and completely disconnected from myself.

Since burning out, I’ve felt called to rewrite this narrative and expose the false promises, cherry-picked claims, and the manipulative sales tactics quietly shaping how we’re told to build a business.

Over 10,000 people have joined this movement to start building businesses that are slow, simple, and sovereign. And we’re recruiting.

Everything Can Work. I’m Here To Help You Find What Works For You

Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Landon.

Most people know me as “the ads guy” or “the Substack growth guy,” but if you ask me, I’d say I’m an author, speaker, and coach.

During my 18 years as an entrepreneur, I’ve built 9 businesses, created dozens of courses, and managed $15,000,000 in paid advertising, helping clients generate well over $25,000,000 in revenue. Two decades in the game turned me into a bit of a renaissance man of sorts, with a skill set that naturally translated into coaching and consulting.

More than anything, I’ve been both swallowed by the pursuit and built the business that a younger version of me thought I wanted. One left me $100,000 in debt, while the other left me trapped in something I resented and couldn’t sustain. As the years passed, I began discovering that many of the people I was speaking with were navigating similar situations.

It wasn’t just me.

These experiences have set me on a path to serve two groups of people:

When ‘Success-Is-A-Struggle’

The ones chasing success, but keep falling short. They’re putting in the time, posting non-stop, and devouring all the books, podcasts, videos, and courses. But the advice isn’t working, isn’t sustainable, or is out of alignment. Their inner critic is beginning to get the best of them. They’re constantly questioning what they’re missing and why they’re stuck.

When ‘Success-Is-On-The-Surface’

The ones who’ve “made it,” but behind closed doors, are running on fumes. They’re at an intricate crossroads. The desire to scale is still there, but they’re beginning to question if the rising expenses and stress levels are worth it. They’re craving a simpler lifestyle and a business that doesn’t consume them.

Even though they’re at varying stages and facing different challenges, the diagnosis holds true for both: a plan lacking alignment and a pace lacking sustainability.

And if I’ve learned anything throughout my journey, it’s that everything works—for the person it was built for.

We’ve Been Sold The Illusion That Success Is A Formula

C’mon, this is nonsense.

These cookie-cutter frameworks are shilled like free bonuses at the end of a webinar, but they ignore the only variable that matters: you.

It’s as if these gurus have become blind to the fact that maybe because it worked for them, or a select few under the right circumstances, it’s not going to work the same for everyone. And instead of customization or managing expectations, we see money-back guarantees, curated case studies, and gaslighting for those who struggle to figure it out.

You can only white-knuckle your way through life for so long before your hands start to bleed.

Success is specific to you. It’s a framework you have to custom-fit to your values, your goals, and your life. Never the other way around—or else the cookie starts to crumble.

No more feeling persuaded and manipulated.

No more feeling guilty for traveling at your own pace.

No more feeling forced into boxes, especially when it’s clear they don’t fit.

No more celebrating ego-boosting surface-level financial wins that minimize ones that can’t be quantified.

You deserve something better.

Something honest, something sustainable, and something personalized to you.

And That’s My Mission

Leading a quiet rebellion against hustle-culture and the one-size-fits-all advice that profits the creator more than it helps their audience.

At my core, I think capitalism has broken online business. The industry is failing 90% of the market. If you’re not willing to invest—you’re labeled not serious. If you’re unable to follow the plan—you’re labeled uncommitted. If you’re struggling to see results—you’re told to do more, do better, or GTFO—as if we’re the problem.

Shame deserves no place in marketing,

Yet it’s being weaponized.

If we don’t fit the mold of a future case study, we’re tossed aside.

It’s time for nuance to be normalized.

When “the plan” doesn’t work, maybe the plan is broken. What if it takes three years instead of three months? What if we’re not willing to throw it on our credit card? What if we don’t want to charge $10,000, post on nine platforms, run ads, work 16-hour days, or only serve “those willing to invest”?

What if success isn’t “more,” but being able to take Friday off when your kid’s sick or go on a spontaneous afternoon lunch date?

The future of online business will be shaped by those with the courage to take a stand, burn the blueprint, and build on their own terms.

My work lives at the intersection of business, marketing, lifestyle, and mindset, grounded in three philosophies that keep you at the center of your success.

Slow Business

Slow businesses run on radical incrementalism and intentional consistency. They’re not sexy, and that’s why we love building them. We detach from the cultural norms, embrace the pursuit, and turn patience into a business model.

Simple Business

Simple businesses seek leverage over busywork. Instead of asking how to do more, they ask, “What if this were easy?” We unsubscribe from the incessant hustle, trade complexity for minimal viable actions, and grow through subtraction, freeing up the capacity so the right things compound.

Sovereign Business

Sovereign businesses center the most overlooked piece of business: you. They reclaim agency by redefining the ‘how’ with strategies unique to your business, your boundaries, and your capacity. Our goal? A business that supports your life and is aligned with your definition of success.

Your days of chasing trends are over. It’s time to build a business that’s designed to last. If you’re ready to slow down, simplify, and start coloring outside the lines—here’s how you can join the movement.

Here’s What I’d Read Next

If you’re looking for sustainable growth, start here:

• Substack Growth For Creators Who Refuse To Hustle

• The Truth No One Tells You About Posting Consistently

• The ROI Of Writing Goes Beyond Making Money

If you’re in need of simple systems, start here:

• How I Hit $10K/Month On Substack Without a Single Paid Subscriber

• Product Sales for Creators Who Hate Selling

• How To Validate, Build & Sell Your First Digital Product (Ft. Landon Poburan)

If you’re seeking alignment, start here:

• The Moment I Knew I Could Monetize Substack—Differently

• The “Selfish” Morning Routine That Helped A Kid With ADHD Build A 6-Figure Business

• Money Motivation Is Overrated—Here’s What Actually Fuels My Success

Or, maybe you’re searching for a different way to do things, give these a shot:

• What People Actually Want Isn’t A Paid Newsletter

• I Made $1,186 From a Free Product (While Everyone Else Charges $97)

• Why Most Substack Writers Are Invisible (And How to Fix It)

• 19 Ways To Monetize Your Substack—Even If You Think You Have Nothing to Sell

And, In Case You’re Looking For Personalized Support…

I work with a small number of 1:1 clients each month—creators and coaches who are done trying to fit into someone else’s blueprint and ready to start building their own.

Whether you need help validating your offer, building sustainable content systems, or just figuring out what “success on your terms” actually looks like, I’m here for it.

Feel free to book a connection call, and let’s talk about what you’re building and whether I’m the right person to help you get there.

You can send me a DM or click the link below.

Book A Connection Call

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Despite investing dozens of hours, it only made one sale. Just one.

It was five years ago. I had no email list, a handful of random Instagram followers, but I was young, hungry, and fueled by conviction.

I watched everyone around me do it. My friends were making six and seven figures selling workshops, courses, and digital products. So I followed the formula exactly. Built the funnel. Created a tripwire. Added the order bump. Set up the upsells.

My first product, “DM Secrets,” launched for $7.

The result? Crickets. Nada. Zilch.

I felt like a total failure. I was missing something that apparently everyone else seemed to understand. Something nobody was saying out loud.

And at the time, I had no idea what that was.

Marketing That Makes Me Cringe

“$12M in revenue”

The ad caught my attention—well done—and stopped my scroll.

Since I run ads for a living, I like to study ads that catch my attention so that I can understand why they stood out.

Upon a closer look:

“Over 100 leads every month”

“36% conversion rate”

“$12M in revenue in 10 months with $0 ad spend and no sales team”

“Get the $12M Blueprint”

It’s marketing like this that makes me want to retire.

In my opinion, this is borderline criminal. Of course, everyone wants to know how to make 12 million dollars without ads or a team. Who wouldn’t?

You mean… I only need a quiz funnel?

Maybe that’s what I was missing five years ago ;-)

The Promise Social Media Sells Us

“Just create a digital product.”

“Just run webinars.”

“You don’t need to post on social media, just run ads.”

“Don’t waste time with lead magnets, just sell workshops.”

“Create a course and scale it with ads.”

“Download the $12M Blueprint.”

I’ve heard them all. I’ve believed them all. I’ve tried most of them.

Throughout my journey as a business owner and marketer, I’ve watched countless coaches, clients, and friends waste thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours chasing these promises, too. Not to mention the emotional stress that can cost us more than money.

Here’s the issue: All of these strategies work.

So they aren’t outright lies—they’re just using a slight misdirection by not mentioning the context in which they worked.

A Little Paid Ad Reality Check

Let’s talk numbers for a moment.

Let’s say you’re selling a $97 product. Sounds reasonable, right?

Here’s what you need to make it work:

You need traffic. Lots of it.

Imagine you get a click for $2.50. That’s conservative.

Your landing page converts at 40%. That’s optimistic.

Your sales page converts at 5%. That’s really optimistic.

Here’s the napkin math:

• 100 clicks = $250 in ad spend

• 40 land on your sales page

• 2 people buy at $97

• Total revenue: $194

• Total spend: $250

• You just lost $56

“But Landon,” you say, “I’ll just optimize the funnel.”

Okay. Let’s say you’re a wizard and you double your sales page conversion to 10% (we’d come to the same conclusion by cutting the cost of traffic in half, too)

• 100 clicks = $250

• 40 sales page visitors

• 4 sales at $97

• Revenue: $388

• Spend: $250

• Profit: $138

Great. You made $138.

To make $10,000 per month, you need to spend $18,115 in ads.

Are you ready to risk $18k to make $10k?

And that’s if everything goes perfectly. If your CPMs go up, if your conversion drops, your ads stop working, or there’s a recession, your profit can collapse.

Keep in mind that this doesn’t include any other expenses.

You know, the 1-5k/Month for someone to run those ads, taxes, subscriptions, accounting, team, or the mastermind you’re in.

This is why most profitable ad funnels have one thing in common:

They’re not making money on the frontend. That’s a bonus.

They’re acquiring buyers.

The profit lives in the backend. The upsells and the order bumps help to break even. But the real ROI comes with the high-ticket offer for $5,000 three months later. And the ascension into the $20,000 offer after that.

When we’re playing Facebook Ad Roulette, the $97 product isn’t “the business.” It’s the entry fee to the real business.

The Foundational Hierarchy Nobody Shows You

After managing over $15 million in Facebook ad spend, here’s what I learned. Success is rarely about stumbling upon the right tactic. It’s about building in the right order and in a way that aligns with your business.

Think of it like this:

Level 4: Passive Income (Digital products, courses, membership sites, etc)

↓ requires…

Level 3: Trust Mechanism (Email list, social proof, personal brand)

↓ requires

Level 2: Consistent Traffic (Paid ads OR established audience)

↓ requires…

Level 1: Valuable Skill or Knowledge

Most people are being sold Level 4 when they’re stuck at Level 1.

They’re told to “just create a course” when they don’t have anyone to sell it to.

They’re told to “just run ads” when they don’t have the cash or the backend offers to make it profitable.

It’s like trying to build a roof before you’ve laid a foundation.

The structure collapses.

What Changed Everything For Me

Two years ago, I started building things a little differently.

I stopped trying to hack my way to passive income. I knew that if it was ever going to be possible, I would require a personal brand and a large enough audience.

That’s when I started writing on Substack.

A rocky start…

My first post got 31 views.

My second post got zero likes.

I didn’t have a product. I didn’t have a funnel. I didn’t have a “monetization strategy.”

I just wrote. Consistently. Weekly, then daily.

I focused on one thing: showing up and serving my audience.

Two years later, I’ve built 10,000 subscribers on Substack, 18,000 followers, 5 products, and for six months, someone has downloaded or purchased something every single day.

Last summer, I quietly launched a swipe file using “Pay what you want” pricing.

I sent an email to 590 people.

I had 80 sales within minutes.

Within a few days, I generated $1,186 in revenue.

Five years ago…

I had no audience, no list, no trust, just a fancy product.

A few hard-earned lessons later…

I built an audience, a list, and a trusted brand, then quietly launched a simple product.

Same person. Different foundation.

I didn’t try to sell a product to people who didn’t know me.

I built trust first.

I gave value first.

I showed up first.

The product came after.

The Missing Prerequisite(s)

Alex Hormozi says, “The best offer in the world won’t work without traffic. The best traffic in the world won’t convert without trust.”

That’s the part I skipped.

Trust.

You can have the best digital product in the world. You can have a perfect sales page. You can have an optimized funnel. But if nobody knows you, nobody trusts you, nobody has experienced your value—they’re not buying.

This is why the gurus’ advice works for them or a select few under the right circumstances, but for the rest of us… It often doesn’t.

They have 50,000 email subscribers before they launch their “first” course.

They have a decade of social proof before they sell you their “simple system.”

The only way that $12M Blueprint could work without ads or sales calls is to have an established audience and a high degree of trust, along with the economics in place to maximize LTV.

They have a foundation we don’t see.

What Actually Works

Here’s what I’ve learned building my business and helping clients grow from $400k to $1.2 million in sales last year alone:

You don’t need a complicated funnel.

You don’t need paid ads.

You don’t need to be everywhere.

You need a foundation.

Here’s what that can look like:

Pick one platform. Not five. One.

I chose Substack. You might choose YouTube, LinkedIn, or a podcast. It doesn’t matter which one to start with. What matters is that you commit.

Show up consistently. Not when you feel like it. Not when inspiration strikes. Consistently and with intentionality.

Serve first. Sell later. Give value. Build trust. Prove you know what you’re talking about. Especially if we’re just starting our business or acquiring skills. “Later” depends on where we’re at in our journey.

The product comes after you have an audience that wants it.

Let time compound. This is the part nobody wants to hear.

It took me two years to get to 10,000 subscribers.

Two years of showing up when I had no views. Zero likes. Zero traction.

But now? Now I can launch a product and see dozens of sales within minutes.

That’s the foundation working.

Taking Alternative Paths

I’m not saying paid ads don’t work—they do. I’ve managed $15M in ad spend. I helped one client go from $400k to $1.2M last year and improve their ROAS from 4x to 7x.

Paid ads work when you have the infrastructure in place.

I’m not saying digital products don’t work either. My swipe file generated $1,186 in a couple of days with zero paid ads.

Digital products work when you have an audience to sell them to.

I’m saying the advice you’re being sold is incomplete.

“Just create a course” works—if you have an audience.

“Just run ads” works—if you have backend offers and cash flow.

“Just launch a workshop” works—if you have trust and social proof.

The tactic isn’t the problem.

What They’re Not Telling You

If passive income were easy, everyone selling courses on how to create passive income would be retired and wouldn’t need to sell you a course on creating passive income.

They’re not retired.

They’re still selling courses.

Why?

Because the easiest way to make money online isn’t creating a digital product for your niche… It’s selling people something that they would give nearly anything for.

That’s the real passive income play. And I don’t just mean sell “making money.”

Sell the dream. Not the reality.

Sell the shortcut. Not the foundation.

Sell Level 4 to people stuck at Level 1.

And when it doesn’t work? Blame the student.

“You didn’t take action.”

“You didn’t implement correctly.”

“You weren’t committed enough.”

Never: “I sold you a roof when you needed a foundation.”

I’ve been on the receiving end of those comments more times than I can count.

Here’s What I Suggest

Stop looking for shortcuts.

Start building foundations.

Here’s one example of how this could look:

Month 1-6: Build in public Pick one platform. Show up daily. Give value. No selling.

Month 7-12: Deepen relationships Start asking questions. Survey your audience. Understand their problems.

Month 13-18: Test small offers A paid newsletter. A small group coaching. Something low-lift.

Month 19-24: Build your first product Now you know what they want. Now you have trust. Now you have proof.

This isn’t sexy.

It’s not “make $10k in 30 days.”

It’s not “launch your course this weekend.”

But it’s honest.

I’d rather see you achieve success in 30 days and be surprised than watch it take two years and see disappointment because you were told it would take 30 days.

Keep in mind, this could look 17,000 different ways. And if I’ve learned anything throughout my journey, it’s that everything works—for the person it was built for.

Your Next Step

If you’re reading this and feeling discouraged, good.

You should be discouraged by the false promises you’ve been sold.

But don’t be discouraged by the work ahead.

Now you have a bullshit detector for the claims and promises we see daily.

Building a foundation takes time.

But once it’s built, everything else gets easier.

Pick one platform today.

Not five. One.

Show up tomorrow.

And the day after that.

And the day after that.

Don’t worry about the product, yet.

Don’t worry about monetization, yet.

Don’t worry about passive income, yet.

Trust the process.

I’m not selling you a shortcut.

I’m giving you permission to build slowly.

Because slow business may not be sexy, but it works.

And who knows… two years from now, you might send one email. See dozens of sales roll in within minutes. No ads. No complicated funnels. No backend upsells needed.

Just an audience that trusts you and a product they actually want.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S.

It doesn’t really seem fitting to drop in a sideways call-to-action here, does it?

However, I do have some free and pay-what-you-want courses to help you navigate this crazy journey of building businesses online. I know the journey takes time, and that’s why it’s my commitment to make accessible resources.

Click here to browse my resources.

📌 P.P.S. If you found this helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience?

Sharing spreads the message and supports me in writing honest and practical content to help you thrive in your online business.

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Not the dramatic kind. Not the “I quit everything and moved to Bali” kind. Those boxes were checked off back in 2019.

It was the quiet kind… Where you’re still showing up, still posting, still doing the things, but something’s off. Like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.

December hit and I realized I’d been white-knuckling it for months.

Q4 brought new projects and opportunities. On the surface, this was a win. Beneath that, it made it easier to let go of my boundaries. My hours slowly increased. The sticky notes piled up. Over time, I could feel a weight building in my chest.

So I sat down with a notebook and asked myself a question I’d been avoiding:

What would it look like to honor my capacity in January?

Your Business Can Only Grow As Fast As The Person Running It.

The bottleneck isn’t your strategy.

It’s your capacity to execute it sustainably.

We spend time optimizing our funnels, our content, and our offers, but these cookie-cutter blueprints ignore the only variable that matters: you.

Even the best “strategy” will struggle to work, or eventually plateau, if it doesn’t center the individual implementing it.

The list of things to do is infinite, while what we can do is finite. We’re brainwashed with messages of hustle, do more, and go all in, everywhere we go. From the high achievers streaming on Netflix, to the Lambos on Instagram, or the endless scroll of testimonials and case studies selling us how to have it all.

We honor our capacity by redefining the ‘how’ with strategies unique to our business, our boundaries, and our definition of success. Not theirs.

When we prioritize our business while treating ourselves as an afterthought, burnout and resentment quickly follow.

So here’s how I’m breaking this pattern.

I’m calling it my January Recalibration. Eight weeks of intentional pulling back—not because I’m broken, but because I’d rather prevent the break than recover from it.

The “Reset”

I’m taking a full week off. December 25-26, then December 29 through January 2.

No client work. No reports. And definitely no calls.

The rules are simple:

• Emergency-only client check-ins (30 minutes max)

• No comments, Q&As, or chasing viral content.

• No calls or collaborations.

• One Substack Note per day (Batched in advance)

• Gym deload.

Then from January 5-30 (or longer), I’m entering what I’m calling “Recalibration.”

The “Recalibration”

One week off gives us a chance to catch our breath.

The work begins by installing non-negotiable boundaries into our daily routines so that we’re not buying time until that next vacation.

I integrate a blend of boundaries, recovery activities, and prioritization.

Boundaries keep us within our capacity. Recovery activities are designed to fill our cup, regulate our nervous system, and introduce joy. Then we focus on prioritization over productivity to move the needle on what matters most.

The Boundaries

I’ve mapped out the constraints that will protect my time and energy:

Work blocks: Three 90-120 minute sessions per day. That’s it.

Hard stop: 1-2 PM. Every day. No exceptions unless it’s genuinely urgent.

Call day: Wednesdays only. Clients, leads, collaborations—all consolidated into one day. Theming my days to reduce the cognitive load of task switching.

Substack Notes: Batched 1-2 weeks at a time. No daily scrambling.

Priority project: “The Community.” Everything else gets pushed to February.

Comment cap: 30 minutes. Then I close the tab.

Constraints aren’t limitations, they’re how we design a sustainable business.

The Recovery

This is the part most people skip.

This isn’t just about doing nothing or “less.” It’s about doing only what matters. We optimize our business but forget that we’re not machines. We need maintenance. We need recovery.

Here’s what I’m building into my weeks:

• Weekly therapy.

• Daily journaling.

• Breathwork for nervous system regulation.

• Weekly date night.

• Reading (Fiction)

• Daily walks

• “Residue resets”—5-20 break to clear the mental clutter between time blocks.

• End-of-day ritual: close the to-do list, breathe, put the phone away.

• One recovery activity per week: nature, float, massage, or sauna.

Burnout recovery and prevention aren’t passive activities. This is what I am intentionally doing to recharge my battery and recalibrate.

The Must-Do List

When everything feels urgent, nothing gets done. Especially, the things we value most. That’s why I shift away from productivity and focus on prioritization—I put myself at the top of my to-do list.

These are my “Must-Do’s”

Block 1: Write. Maintain the weekly rhythm.

Block 2: Business development: community, calls, collabs, admin.

Block 3: Client work.

That’s the prioritized list.

This list has evolved over the last year and will continue to evolve with every iteration of myself and my business. Different seasons bring different priorities, and it’s important that our days reflect those.

Why This Matters

Traditional advice tells us to push hard. Do more. Be more productive. Find a better system. Model what works for the gurus.

But that ignores the only variable that actually matters.

You’re not running someone else’s business.

You don’t have their capacity, their circumstances, or their life.

We might not even have the same goals that they do… and throughout nearly two decades as an entrepreneur, I’ve seen this story unfold. The chase can lead us down a path that ends in realizing we’ve built something we want to escape.

Business isn’t as simple as the 60 sec TikToks portray.

It’s time for nuance to be normalized.

Things eb and flow with the season we’re in. Sometimes we push. Sometimes we pull back. Sometimes we’re reminded we’ve exceeded our threshold. Sometimes we intentionally stretch beyond it.

Having the patience to develop the self-awareness to recognize it is key.

Having the kindness to avoid beating ourselves up is crucial.

And trusting that we can do it our own way—priceless.

Sometimes it’s not about a new or better growth strategy…

It’s about building a business that doesn’t require you to abandon yourself to run it.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. If you’re looking to build a sustainable and profitable Substack publication without burning out, I share my complete process to hustle-free growth inside The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop. Just the truth of how I grew a 10,000-subscriber publication. Click This Link To Learn More.

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I hear this question a lot.

And I get it. This question can keep us up at night.

It’s not just writing, though. If we swapped writing with Substack, Instagram, YouTube, Coaching, etc., all of a sudden, it applies to many of us.

We want someone to hand us the playbook. You know, the step-by-step process, the thing that finally makes it click, and is certain to work.

But after years of doing this and helping others do it too, I’ve realized something.

The strategy rarely matters until you answer three questions first.

1. How much money do you actually need to make?

2. How quickly do you need to make it?

3. And what are you absolutely unwilling to do to get there?

This is the part most of us skip.

We jump straight to tactics and ruminate over which one will get us paid the fastest.

Should I launch a paid subscription, build courses, start ghostwriting, do coaching, sell ebooks, or whatever the flavor of the day is… If we see someone else doing well, it’s easy to assume they have the answer.

But without knowing your own constraints, values, and goals, you’re just grabbing at random levers hoping you get lucky.

Let’s explore this together.

There are really only two variables that determine how fast you can monetize your writing: your reach and your economics.

Reach is your audience size. The number of people you have access to place a marketing message in front of. They know you exist and trust you enough to pay attention.

Economics is the price—or lifetime value—of what you’re selling.

If one is low, the other needs to be high.

This is where I see people get stuck. They want to launch a $5/month paid subscription with 72 subscribers, but wonder why no one’s buying.

The math just doesn’t work. Not yet.

No audience yet? A $5/month subscription can still work, but it’s a longer game. You’re building something that compounds over time, not something that pays the bills next month.

And that’s okay. If you have runway, if you have patience, if you’re playing a three-year game instead of a three-month one.

But if you need income sooner?

A higher-priced offer, something you can sell through direct conversations and relationships, can work without massive reach.

This could be coaching. Consulting. A done-for-you service. Something where one or two clients can change everything.

You don’t need 10,000 subscribers to make your first dollar. You need one person who trusts you enough to say yes.

This isn’t about finding the “right” model.

It’s about finding the right model for where you are right now.

That’s the honest truth. We want the universal answer. The proven framework. But your situation isn’t universal. Your constraints are yours.

Maybe you have a full-time job and two kiddos at home. Maybe you have savings and can afford to go all-in. Maybe you refuse to get on sales calls. Maybe you love them.

All of these things matter.

When I reflect on my own journey? I’ve never built something profitable in three months. I’ve seen others do it. But I can’t promise something I haven’t done myself.

One to three years to build a sustainable income from writing? That feels a little more realistic to me. Not because it has to take that long, but because building trust takes time. Building an audience takes time. Getting clear on what you’re actually offering takes time.

And that’s not a failure. That’s just the truth of online business.

So before you ask “how do I monetize,” reflect on the harder questions first.

What do you actually need? When do you need it by? What are you unwilling to sacrifice to get there?

The strategy will often reveal itself once you’re honest about your starting point.

Meet yourself where you are. Not where you wish you were.

The rest becomes a lot clearer from there.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. If you’re looking to build a sustainable and profitable Substack publication without burning out, I share my complete process to hustle-free growth inside The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop. Just the truth of how I grew a 10,000-subscriber publication. Click This Link To Learn More.

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Becoming a content machine was consuming our feeds long before we could write posts with a one-sentence ChatGPT prompt.

It’s just getting louder.

Spend five minutes listening to Gary Vaynerchuk, who recently joined Substack, and you’ll hear him shouting at creators to post 16 times per day. Daniel Priestley has said every piece of content should be posted across a minimum of 5 platforms. And experts like Matt Gray routinely go viral, sharing their content repurposing systems.

On the surface, repurposing seems simple enough: write a post, copy and paste it everywhere humanly possible, and grow faster, right?

That’s not how it worked for me.

I Quit 90% Of Social Media And Went All-In On Substack

I struggled to grow an audience until the moment I quit 90% of social media and went all-in on Substack. I was knee-deep wading through burnout when I realized 99% of my Substack subscribers came from Substack’s own network.

The data was conclusive—I’d gained 50 subscribers from Instagram after a year of repurposing content. This made up 1.3% of my audience, but it cost me a lot more than 1% of my time, effort, and peace of mind.

I’ve always planned to come out of my social hibernation and restart YouTube, but only when, or if, I had the capacity and resources so it wouldn’t take away from anything else.

There’s no doubt in my mind that building a personal brand across Substack, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Snap, BlueSky, and Podcasting is beneficial.

The question I ask is: do we have the capacity or resources to effectively do it without feeling like we’re running a 10k with a weighted vest through quicksand every morning?

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Knowing When (Or If) You Should Repurpose Your Content Beyond Substack

Here’s how I assess this with my private clients.

Do you have an existing audience on [INSERT PLATFORM]?

There’s a Grand Canyon-sized gap between repurposing on a platform because you have an audience there, compared to repurposing to build one.

Solopreneur Justin Welsh has 800,000+ followers on LinkedIn. That audience, and the email list it built, allowed him to quickly rise to bestseller status when he launched on Substack in 2025.

Now, imagine I have 97 followers on LinkedIn, and build a robust repurposing strategy to share my Substack content there, hoping I can pull those people over to Substack. That’s a very different situation.

Do you have the capacity (or resources) to manage additional platforms?

Or, will managing additional platforms degrade the rest of the work you’re doing because you don’t have the time to adequately dedicate to it?

You know, the whole burnout thing.

I used to think repurposing was a simple copy and paste. Or, just installing a fancy Make or Zapier automation that was connected to ChatGPT.

As I experimented with this, I was faced with a stark realization—it’s much more nuanced than that.

YouTube requires a title, thumbnail, video edits, and show notes. Instagram requires an image or video. Twitter has character limits (or used to). LinkedIn posts without an image often get less reach. Unmodified content might not be relevant because people show up differently on different platforms.

Content that isn’t contextually relevant quickly falls flat.

“Copy/Paste” becomes “minor edits,” which become frustrating when they don’t work, get zero engagement, or chip away at your perfectly time-blocked calendar.

Doing this on one platform might take 5 minutes. Doing this on 7 platforms becomes more time-consuming than we were told.

That’s why I told myself I would only re-add YouTube when I had the resources to accommodate it. Someone to design the thumbnail, edit the video, draft the description, research topics, and schedule it. I’m still waiting.

There’s a reason why Gary Vee has a content team of 30 people and why Codie Sanchez and Alex Hormozi have publicly said they spend over $100,000 per month on their content.

This one’s important: Is it working?

No cookie-cutter online advice should ever supersede this.

C’mon, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Everything is worth testing. Just don’t forget to pay attention to the performance.

When I saw that Instagram had only gotten me 50 Substack subscribers, I immediately knew it wasn’t worth the time it was taking. That time could have been far better allocated to Substack, where a single Note could 10x that growth.

Your experience will differ from mine. I know a few writers on Substack who have gained a considerable number of subscribers from their LinkedIn. That’s why we test.

If it works, there’s no need to stop.

And for folks who’ve been active on Twitter, LinkedIn, or have a YouTube Channel or Podcast—they have a unique advantage of a living and breathing content library they can use to start their Substacks. I share my step-by-step plan for doing this in my Substack Growth Workshop.

What are you optimizing for at this stage of your online business?

For many, this might be the only question we need to ask.

Are you optimizing for maximum growth or maximum lifestyle and balance?

This question holds no morality. There is no right or wrong answer. And it can eb and flow depending on the season of your business.

I hate to be bleak, but everything comes at a cost.

Sometimes, it’s time. Sometimes, it’s money. During a season where balance and lifestyle are the priority, the time, energy, or resource allocation has a cost you must be willing to incur.

Whereas during a season where growth is prioritized, the dialogue changes. There is always a compromise. Maximum growth may require a compromise in time (lifestyle) or money (hiring a team). When balance and lifestyle are the priority, the compromise may be potential growth from additional channels.

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Repurposing Doesn’t Fix What Isn’t Working

Here’s the thing I never wanted to hear: repurposing content won’t make up for a lack of clarity on your message.

Sometimes we overlook the root cause. Our growth ‘problem’ often lives inside one platform, not outside it. Spraying the same post across nine apps can feel productive, but it can be an elaborate way to avoid doing the harder work of nailing our message in one place.

I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly with clients and within myself. We’re convinced we need to be everywhere when really, we just need to figure out what we’re actually saying.

Sometimes, it’s better to nail one platform first. Learn the ropes. Refine what you say. Find what your audience actually needs. Discover how to communicate it effectively.

Then, if you want to, repurpose from a place of clarity instead of avoidance.

Only You Can Answer This Question

Should you repurpose your content? Only you can answer this.

I’m just here to challenge the narrative that says ‘more is better.’ Sometimes, it might be. Othertimes, it might leave us resentful of our business because we didn’t want to become a content machine.

Everything can work. The journey is discovering what works best for you. At this time.

We won’t stop seeing rage bait online shilling ‘content machine systems.’

Vague generalities and contrarian headlines overlook the most important aspect: you.

I only tapped into growth when I scaled back and slowed down.

Something I’ve struggled to accept is that I cannot do as much as many of my peers. Many Substack writers produce 2-3x the content that I do. Many of them grow faster than I do. And I get slapped in the face with a wake-up call every time I try to keep up.

Some people were born to be content machines.

The thing I love most about this game we play is that we can change at any time.

In my experience, the best place to grow your Substack is on Substack.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S. Ready to make Substack work for you?

If you’re convinced Substack is worth it but tired of the hustle-culture guru advice that didn’t work, I’ve documented exactly how I built 9 revenue streams from my Substack—without burning out.

The Unhustled Substack Growth Workshop shows you my complete system: from building a 90-day content calendar, the anti-hustle growth engine, to building genuine authority with your writing that attracts opportunities instead of chasing them.

No overnight success promises. No viral growth hacks. Just the sustainable approach that let me quit traditional social media and still grow to 10,000+ subscribers.

Click This Link To Get Instant Access.

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It seemed like a healthier alternative to my craft cocktail hobby that left my head pounding and a piss poor sleep score on my Oura ring.

I spent hours consuming blogs, YouTube videos, and Reddit threads. This piece of wisdom grabbed me by the throat: “You can have the most expensive espresso machine, but if you buy cheap beans, your coffee will taste like crap.”

So rather than buying one of the $2,000 to $30,000 pieces of equipment that I researched, I opted for quality beans and a $25.00 espresso machine that I found on Facebook Marketplace.

And with that, I took my Fisher-Price-style machine and the $20.00 bag of beans that I splurged on, and I went to work.

It took about a week of learning to pull a shot of espresso that didn’t hit your body like a jolt of lightning. But after some tinkering, my budget brewer rivaled a $30,000 barista pro.

Today, if you were to ask my wife if she’d rather have her favorite $9.00 Americano at the bougie coffee shop down the street, or the one I can now make at home, she’d choose mine in an instant.

Let me show you how creating products that sell themselves is a lot like brewing a $9.00 Americano in your slippers.

Ignoring The Beans Is A Costly Mistake

Two of the top job aspirations for Gen Z and Alpha are being an entrepreneur or being a content creator. Making money online has become pretty sexy.

Nearly two decades in business have shown me the side we don’t see on Instagram. I’ve witnessed too many businesses investing in the fanciest espresso machines, while completely ignoring the beans.

I’ve watched a company spend 6+ months building a complex course curriculum, funnels, and a 17-email launch sequence for a product that didn’t sell. I’ve seen others spend over $10,000 on Facebook Ads for products that barely generated a sale. The list could go on for days.

I wasn’t immune to this either.

On the desperate chase for success, I’ve created more businesses and products than I can remember, most of which cost me significantly more money than they made me.

What We Sell Are The Beans. How We Sell It Is The Espresso Machine.

My journey into becoming a caffeine aficionado reinforced this lesson.

I felt like a Gen Z watching Jake Paul with the hopes of becoming a YouTuber. I spent hours looking at fancy espresso machines that cost as much as my car, only to face the stark reality that a $25 hunk-a-junk could still hit just right.

The experience reminded me of the most impactful copywriting course I ever bought.

Two thousand dollars for a collection of MP3 files. No videos or slide decks. No fancy worksheets or handouts. Just plain audio recordings of some group calls. I felt like I should pull out my old Sony Walkman to listen—but it was the most valuable training I’ve bought.

Slowly, I began connecting the dots: when we nail ‘what’ we’re selling, the ‘how’ becomes nearly irrelevant.

The mistake is not validating the ‘what’ before investing in the ‘how.’

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Validating Products Before We Build Them

This is the first hurdle we must overcome: we need to find beans so good that we can make a $9.00 Americano with a Fisher-Price espresso machine.

The process consists of two components: we must first identify ‘what’ we’re selling, and then we must validate that it’s something people want.

Step 1: Identifying ‘what’ you’re selling.

Never make the all-too-common mistake of guessing what people want.

When asked what they’re selling, people often default to answers like a course or a paid subscription, failing to realize that these are merely containers that hold or deliver what you’re selling.

It can be helpful to flip the question and ask, “What are people really buying?” The answer lies in the outcome or transformation your product provides.

To gain clarity on this, take some time and reflect on these questions:

1. What problems are they experiencing?

2. How is this problem showing up for them?

3. What questions are they asking me/others?

4. What goals are they currently working towards?

5. What’s stopping them from solving these problems?

6. What have they tried that didn’t work to solve this problem?

7. What’s running through their mind while they sleep?

8. What’s the one thing driving them bonkers on a Tuesday morning?

9. How is your solution different from what’s currently offered?

Yes, I know that’s a lot.

AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are great brainstorming partners for questions like these, but don’t forget you may have the most valuable information sitting at your fingertips.

Through a combination of observation and conversation, platforms like Substack become an endless source of product ideas. We just need to pay attention.

When we publish content that is specific to our audience’s needs, it serves a purpose beyond cheap dopamine hits and becomes a signal of relevance and the desires of our audience.

Every note, post, or message leaves you breadcrumbs. We find these insights inside our likes, comments, DMs, restacks, and even our open rates or email replies.

You can follow the trail and seek further insights:

• Talking to your new subscribers/followers.

• Reply to (and engage in) comments asking questions.

• Direct messaging people who’ve asked questions publicly.

Let curiosity be your guide: If you’re unsure of their barriers or roadblocks, goals or aspirations—ask them.

Every product I’ve created over the last year has emerged from following the trail of breadcrumbs my audience has left in my Substack content.

When I noticed specific topics performing well, I published more content in those same lanes and engaged directly with readers who my work resonated with.

Once we have ideas of what to create, pause, and proceed to Step 2.

Your wallet will thank you.

Step 2: Validating that people want it.

It’s much easier to let people tell you exactly what they want.

I’ve never met anyone who got excited about running a webinar where no one shows up, or launching a new product that no one buys. While we can’t guarantee success, we can shift the odds in our favor.

Step 1 provides us with a list of possibilities. Here’s an example of a few ideas that are floating around my own personal list:

• How to use ChatGPT to teach you to write better Substack Notes.

• How to retarget your Substack readers with Facebook ads to sell your products while you sleep.

• The intersection of ‘what I want to write’ and ‘how to make money’ on Substack.

My content and conversations inform my digital products, my offers, even my future content ideas. I treat everything I do like a mini experiment.

These half-baked ideas get sussed out in Step 2.

The biggest shift in my business came when I stopped creating things I wanted to create or things I thought people wanted, and I started letting my audience tell me what they wanted.

This is where I utilize the invisible survey. This strategy is agnostic to the platform, whether it’s Substack, LinkedIn, Instagram, or whatever, the same process can be applied.

Here are my go-to methods:

1. Surveys using Substack Chat.

2. Polls within my Substack Posts.

3. Surveys using emails that ask for replies.

4. Or, ask people directly when engaged in conversations.

Here’s an example of an invisible survey I might post in my chat or through email.

Hey there,

I’d love to get your opinion on something.

I’m putting together a special free training for my subscribers, and I have soooo many things on my heart I’d love to share.

But I need to pick one ;-)

(At least for this training)

So then,

Would you do me a favor and let me know which of the topics below you’re MOST interested in learning about?

If all three options pique your interest, please select the one that tugs at your heartstrings the most:

[SURVEY]

(Cast your vote by clicking the topic you’re most interested in learning about)

Thanks,

It’s really appreciated.

Landon

At the risk of oversimplifying the process, we ask people what they want, then we create it and turn it into a product or offer we can sell.

Sometimes we use a list of ideas like the example above, or other times, we might post a message that says, “Hey, I was thinking of creating this thing… Is this something you’d be interested in?”

The results from these simple messages dictate our next steps.

During the summer, I made $1186.00 while on vacation because I created a little product that 36 people asked for when I posted a simple 1-sentence “I’ve got this idea,” message in my Chat.

If we have 5-10 people who raise their hands? That’s a positive signal. More people = a stronger signal. Here’s the caveat: Just because fewer people raise their hands doesn’t mean you can’t create it, no different than 36 people raising their hands doesn’t mean I could retire after my launch.

The goal isn’t a guarantee—that doesn’t exist. The goal is reduced risk.

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But, How Does This Apply To You

I might not be a mind reader, but after writing 1,000+ Notes and 125+ Posts like this, you get a decent pulse on people’s questions.

Let’s see if I can help you apply this to your business.

If you’re reading this article and thinking, “That’s great, Landon, but I don’t even have 36 Subscribers yet,” or “Most of my posts barely get any likes.”

First, we must shift from thinking in absolute numbers like “5-10” or “36” and start thinking in relative numbers or percentages. This is one way we can tailor things for ourselves.

And I do this too. When I check out a Substacker with 100,000 Subscribers, it’s easy to think every one of my posts is an absolute failure. Then, I remind myself that they have 10x+ the size of the audience I have.

Second, remember that a signal is a signal. When I analyze my Note performance, I determine my “average,” and then I pay attention to what is above or below that. Let’s imagine most of my Notes get 0 likes, and then I notice one gets 2, or 5, or 10—I pay attention.

Third, there is a unique advantage to a smaller audience. This advantage lies in your ability to lean into intimate conversations. When engagement is lower, or subscribership is growing, lean into this and engage in more personal convos. Spending some time commenting, reply to every comment you receive, DM new followers and subscribers, and ask questions.

Lastly, the data isn’t only contained within your content. We can check out people doing similar things in our Niche. We might notice certain topics of theirs doing really well—we can piggyback their data while we build ours.

Creating Products That Sell Themselves

It’s funner than the alternative ;-)

After a couple of years writing on Substack, the two biggest questions I hear are “I don’t know what to sell,” and “No one is buying.” This two-step validation process here is my go-to answer I provide to both.

I use this process for people looking to create their first digital product and my 1-1 clients running 6- and 7-figure businesses, spending thousands of dollars on paid advertising alike.

Our goal? Find beans so good that we can make a $9.00 Americano with a Fisher-Price espresso machine. A fancier machine is always an option, but we must remember that the most expensive machine will still brew a cup of tar if we neglect to use the right beans.

Hope this helps.

Landon

P.S.

Fun fact: I used this exact process to create Subliminal Selling.

I asked my audience what they wanted… They said, “Show me how to monetize.” So that’s exactly what I did.

Now it’s my complete framework: how to validate what to create, how to build it in an afternoon, and how to deliver it without any fancy tech.

It’s designed for Substackers who don’t want to overthink it.

Your first product doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to solve a real problem for your readers. If you want the complete system, it’s all in there.

Get The Subliminal Selling System

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