The Truth About YOU, The Starving Writer - And How To Fix It.

Hey, it’s Les.

Look, I’m a nice guy, but something got me riled up today, and not for the first time.

Why oh why do some people buy my courses and never even start them?

I can see it all in the dashboard of the software suite I use to host them.

It can’t be the quality of the materials because they never even opened the course!

I try really hard to help as many people as possible, but at some point, you’ve got to help yourself, right?

I’m even building mini-courses now that you can consume in 1-2 hours - now that’s not a huge commitment in anyone’s book.

I don’t get it.

I have to conclude that many writers are in love with the idea of being successful, but want it to fall in their lap with little to no effort.

Spoiler alert - that’s not the way it works.

I genuinely want to help you. If you don’t believe me, hit me up with a message.

I’m a real person and respond to everything.

Do I have all the answers?

Nope, never said I did.

But I have 15 years of experience and have lived all the pieces of the puzzle necessary to be a successful (and well-paid) writer.

I’m here if you need my help - anyone can do this with the right system.

Start here: Grab my collection of 100 Substack Notes Opening Hooks for free over on this post.

"100 Substack Notes Opening Hooks" FREE

Can you handle the truth?

Let’s get an uncomfortable truth out of the way right up front.

If you’re staring at your Substack dashboard wondering why the money isn’t rolling in, it’s probably because you’re playing a game that ended years ago.

Just to be clear, there’s the old way of doing things - bleeding onto the keyboard for pennies, and the new way can actually pay your bills. Sorry but the “starving writer” is a cop out that stems from the lack of a system.

Here are 5 things you need to think about when it comes to building a system that brings you in automated sales 24/7:

1. You’re Paying a $500/Week “Writing Tax”

Most writers I talk to are currently losing at least 10 hours a week to grunt work. This isn’t the brilliant creative spark that makes you unique - it’s the structural heavy lifting: organizing outlines, formatting, and summarizing research. I call this the Writing Tax.

If you value your time at even a modest $50/hour, you’re literally throwing $500 away every single week.

You’ve fooled yourself into thinking that working harder is the price of being a writer.

Come on now, be honest. You aren’t being artistic when you spend four hours struggling with a layout; you’re being inefficient.

2. The AI Slop Bubble Has Burst

When ChatGPT hit, everyone thought the game was over. It wasn’t. What actually happened was the creation of a digital tsunami of “AI Slop” - bland, robotic garbage that people recognize instantly and scroll past without a second thought.

If you’re churning out unedited AI content, STOP immediately.

You’re destroying your reputation.

However, savvy writers, the ones who are winning, understand the “Human in the Loop”.

AI is a high-powered research assistant, not a replacement for your creative soul.

What AI does incredibly well.

Overcoming the Blank Page.

It’s the ultimate cure for writer’s block.

Make sure to exploit this in your writing.

3. Stop Selling Hours, Start Selling Outcomes

Here’s a hard truth.

No one gives a damn about your process.

Copywriting clients (for example) don’t care if you used a quill pen or a prompt to write their copy.

They care about outcomes.

Stop being a grunt worker and start being a Solution Director.

4. The Follower Myth vs. Real Community

For years, we were taught that followers were the scoreboard.

That old model is dead.

Passive followers are worthless.

You don’t need a massive audience of 10,000 people to make a living; you need a community of people who actually care about what you stand for.

An audience built purely on attention is unstable.

An audience built on connection can survive quiet periods and algorithm changes.

Don’t let the crowd decide who you are.

You decide, and let the right people opt in.

5. The Simple Four-Step Automated Sales Funnel

If you want to make passive income from your Substack, you need a system that works while you sleep.

Most writers waste thousands on shiny tools they don’t need.

Important: Don’t overthink any of this, I can guide you on how to do it quickly and easily, just ask.

You only need these four pages:

An Opt-In Page: Give away a valuable “freebie” (like a checklist) to capture emails.

A Sales Page: Tell people why your digital product (ebook, course, coaching) is great and show the price.

A Checkout Page: A secure place for the money to happen.

A Thank You Page: Tell them the purchase worked and what’s next.

Don’t duct tape ten different tools together.

That’s a nightmare. I’ve used almost every tool out there - ClickFunnels, Kartra, HubSpot, and most are overpriced and over-complicated for what you need.

That was fun!

I had a lot of fun writing this post - I wasn’t in the mood to be boring today!

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