5 Lessons After 1st Month on Substack
• Resonance is the best metric.
• Streaks are powerful. They drive me.
• Substack's editor has limitations.
• Algos don't like links but native content.
• Sharing gems from letter > sharing a link.
👇 Here's what I intended to do
My objective was to create an actionable newsletter that resonates with curious people in their 20s.
I knew I have ADHD and I'd lose interest soon. 🤔
So I tried to game myself by making INTERNAL resonance my top metric. And external resonance my second.
Internal: Rate how I feel after publishing each piece
External: Measure how initial readers react after reading
It worked great. So far, I have...
• 5 published essays
• Internal resonance: 8/10 😇
• External resonance: 2 readers emailed for meeting 😃
• Vanity engagements: 4 comments, 5 shares
• 35 subscribers (40% friends)
🔥 8/10 IR & 2 people reaching out is very good result.
For next month, I'll try a bottom-up approach.
If content has value, existing readers should share with friends. Only that would validate the value.
Might save time / budget on marketing.
But all remains to be seen...
If they share, subscriber density improves. Chances are external resonance grows too.
If they don't share, no point in promoting the newsie. I'll know I'm simply targeting the wrong audience.
Here's what I'll do for now 👇
Commit 6 months of building time. Sabotage growth. Limit sharing to persona lookalikes in network only.
Goal: Send 25 issues to see if I can:
- Get internal resonance to 10 / 10
- Grow external by 5x (10 emails a month from readers)
If internal stays consistent, but external is low. I can use surveys to work on content-audience fit later.
If internal + external both are sorted on 25th issue. That will be success.
Maybe then I can make it paid, sponsored, or do it full time for fun. We'll see.
I hope you too learned something from my 1st month of building on Substack.
Tell me what you think below.
