1,000 Subscribers in My First 45 Days on Substack: What Worked

Right, second instalment, as promised. If you missed the first one: I started this whole thing with 2 subscribers (one was me) towards the end of June, and hit 400 in 4 weeks. Today I’m sat here at 1,240, and I said I’d do one of these every 3 weeks, so here we are, numbers and all, including the embarrassing bits - which as I’m new here, there are a few.

The growth, week by week: 400 around the 19th of July, past 500 by the 23rd, past 700 by the 30th, past 900 by the 3rd of August, and 1,000 landed on the 7th.

Nearly every day since I started I’ve grown by double digits. And even though I’ve got 20k followers on LinkedIn, only 20 people have subscribed from there. So almost all of my subs have come from inside Substack, not including my brother, and a handful of real life friends.

(As an aside, here’s my Linkedin profile, some people have found me on there already, but feel free to connect with me there if you want to. You don’t have to follow, tell me Substack sent you, ask to connect, and I’ll accept!)

Also flagging, that I’ve been co-hosting Mambition Podcast, for 2 years with my bestie Tiffany Scott Sanya. Over that time I’ve gone from feeling very weird about people reading/listening to stuff I say online to really not caring if you hear my oversharing. Unless I know you in real life and then, the worst thing you can say is “Ohh, I’ve been listening to your podcast” it makes my blood run cold, wondering what the hell I might have said, and how you might have been offended...!

I mention both of these things, to point out I’ve learnt a lot about online growth from growing 20k followers on Linkedin - (who I’ve frankly neglected a bit since finding Substack) and our 4k regular listeners. Which means I’m starting from a different place to most people, but, as I haven’t imported my mailing list, you can do the stuff I’m doing and see growth here too.

I have an idea of what sort of stuff gets traction, which you’ll learn too over time, but most importantly having a good hook in your title is the difference between people opening your emails and, well, not…

I’ve also developed a whole other level of shamelessness. I’m over the ick of self-promotion. If you want to grow? My advice is get over that quickly. And how do you do that? By feeling the fear, and doing it anyway. And then doing it again, and again. Rip that bandaid off. Honestly, before long you won’t care. Post the stuff, say the thing. It’s not that deep. Soon, you won’t care if a post flops, you won’t care about baring your soul, or being embarrassing, or not getting trends. I don’t, and frankly, not caring is an asset!

What actually worked

Posting ‘connection’ notes. I wrote one 3 weeks into being on substack, asking where the ambitious mothers were at, and it is still, bringing in subscribers. That one note has brought me 238 subscribers. The funny posts get me likes, maybe some followers, not subscribers - but I like being funny, so I’m fine with that. The more reflective ones bring me a handful of subscribers. Notes where I’m actually looking for people to connect with, specifically, honestly, not just fishing, those are the ones that have helped me grow.

I know it feels cringey doing it. But if you want your work to be seen, then I’m here to tell you, you have to ask people to see it. You’re not going to grow quickly otherwise.

Being specific about who I want here helped a lot. I write about motherhood, ambition, career, identity, (and I like reading about the same, plus culture, writing, and growth) so that’s who I’m looking for.

I follow back generously, because I only had a couple of subscribers, mere weeks ago, but I’m not chasing every single person who replies to a note either. I also post weekly sharing links to other people I’m reading, and why you should follow them. These have actually brought in some subscribers too, but they’re mostly about building community, which is what I’m after more than anything. And who doesn’t like a shout out?

I also went to an in person networking event near to me, and luckily for me the guest speaker turned out to be Claire Venus ✨ of Sparkle on Substack. Claire’s from my neck of the woods and a legitimate Substack superstar, as the UK’s first Substack coach. She started speaking and I sat there in the audience with a big grin on my face, thinking of my 300 subscribers and drinking in everything she had to say.

We chatted at the end, and I’m excited to say she’s coming on Mambition Podcast, when we get over the madness of the summer holidays and the kids are back at school. Not only does Claire know her stuff, she’s also LOVELY. Small world, and a good reminder to do in person stuff too, you never know who you might meet.

The flops

I lost my first subscriber this month. Not gonna lie, it stung a bit, but I’ve told myself, it’s something everyone has to go through. I posted about it, and lost a few more. Ah well, onwards!

I wrote a post about growing from 2-400 subscribers, explaining in there how had taken me a long time, but I’d finally understood the whole publication thing, then I was rushing to post it, to go and do bedtime for my son, and posted it on my personal profile, like a complete newb. The irony.

I got nice comments almost straight away and then had to post it again on my publication. In order to not be annoying, I didn’t email people about it from Shy Bairns Get Nowt, which messed up my stats completely. What’s worse is I didn’t even learn my lesson, and did it again, with a post I was really proud of; Don’t Tell Me to Cherish Every Moment. Wah, wah, wah. I’ve learnt my lesson now. I think. Soooooo annoyed with myself.

My other flop was turning on paid at 500 subs, then panicking and turning it straight back off again. Literally had to delete Stripe to do so.

But at 900-ish subscribers, two separate people tried to become paid subscribers before I’d even switched it on. One of them, Mei, messaged me directly to say she couldn’t find the button, but could she upgrade to paid. Someone else pledged. Both of these lovely people made it very hard for me to keep making excuses.

I’d planned to turn paid on at 1,000 subscribers, hit the number, and then didn’t, for a few days. I hate asking people for money, it makes me feel a bit gross if I’m honest, even though I’ll happily tell you all the reasons you should ask your boss for a pay rise. Funny how that works.

It also turns out you also can’t appear on Substack’s “rising” lists without paid switched on. So it’s on now. I have 4 paid subs, one of them’s my bro - (I’ll return the favour when he turns on paid).

So the moral of the story?

If you don’t ask, you don’t get, if you don’t turn on paid, no one can pay you, even if they want to… And even if your numbers don’t move fast? Keep plugging away. We found with the podcast, you just need to keep doing it for long enough, and it compounds, you start to get traction. It might not happen overnight, but if you quit? It won’t happen at all. Just try and remember that.

And on that note, if you wanna subscribe great! I love that for us. Almost everything will remain free here, but if you want to go deeper? If you want more of, well, me? Or access to coaching I do to help women achieve their ambitions after motherhood? Or the resources and guides I’ve put together on a good return to work or figuring out what next? There’s the paid tiers.

Buy Me a Coffee

If you’ve enjoyed this, and want to support, without the commitment? I get it, we can see other people. But you can always help keep the lights on by buying me a coffee (I’ll love you forever.)