12 Things I Learned in 2023 (What About You?)
Unexpected reader friendships and old knees...
Hey, how are you at this kerrayzeeeeeee time of year?
In my part of the world, today is the summer solstice, a day to celebrate high energy and prepare for a slow winding down into the lazy days of summer. It feels apt that my day will be a blizzard of chores and last-minute pre-Christmas preparations.
If you are in the winter solstice, I hope you find a moment to celebrate the dark, quiet and stillness of the day.
I learned so much - as usual - in 2023, about Substacking, about online business and about the wider world. Some of my learnings relate to my paid publication, and some from this (free) publication. Here are my top 12 learnings from the year.
The best subscribers are not the ones you expect. In my paid publication I have dozens of people who pay to subscribe but never read my emails, and hundreds of free subscribers who read every word, click every link and share my work with their networks like true fans.
Making genuine friendships with readers - friendships that extend beyond the email inbox - is possible (and beautiful), even with a professional ‘for work’ publication.
Showing up on social media every day does actually get results: more readers, more revenue. I wish this wasn’t true.
Getting water from a fire hydrant is elegantly simple but somehow still feels miraculous. In August I learned how to tap into a fire hydrant (“ship a standpipe”) as part of my volunteer bush firefighter training. It’s such a privilege to learn brand-new skills while helping the community.
Youtube commenters are absolute nimrods. Give me Substack comment-writers any day of the week.
Readers love mistakes. If I ever make a mistake with any of my technical writing or leave a typo in my Pubstack Success or Medium stories, readers respond more, and usually in a positive way. Subscribers will write to me to share their knowledge and correct my mistakes. Posts where I correct errors from past stories have the highest open rates.
Fifty-one-year-old knees need training to enjoy a hilly 17 km (10 mile) hike. Ouch.
The views from the top were pretty special, but my (usually healthy) knees did not enjoy the last few miles of descent... (Warrumbungle National Park, NSW, Australia, September 2023) Getting to 17,000 subscribers in my paid publication will take 8 more years at my current rate of growth. Double ouch.
Working one-on-one with other Substack creators is super-rewarding. In September began offering 40-minute video calls to creators who need help with Substack and I love it. Callers seem to love it too, and I now have multiple returning callers.
Headlines and post-previews really matter. Okay, we all knew this already, but now that my social media audience is bigger, the data is better.
Being in a park with young kids (re)opens your eyes to everyday wonders you had forgotten how to see. This year I have been taking my nighbours kids to school two days per week, and we usually stop at the park on the way. The other day we saw a cranky duck swim up to a pelican while it was fishing with its head underwater, and peck it in the bottom. Delightful!
Writing a book about Substack is even harder than I imagined it would be… (but also kinda fun)
It’s been a fantastic year for me, and one of the highlights has been meeting all of you. I hope you have had a good year too.
What about you, what are your biggest learnings of 2023?
Congratulations on your success. I loved your comment about paid subscribers and getting to 17,000. A good reality check but I hope it happens sooner for you.
The best thing that has happened business wise and happiness wise is that I've fallen back in love with writing. I'm so grateful that I started my journey on Medium and Substack this year. I feel like I've found my happy place. This has also had a knock on effect with my blog and other areas of my business.
My biggest learning of this year is how engrossing writing a blog can be. I started my Substack in April with the intention of publishing two posts a month. However, I'm finding that to gain the traction you need to build a Subscriber list, or community, from zero you have to put in the hours to connect. I'm now publishing one post a week and I'm actually enjoying the planning and writing of them! I've found your newsletters very helpful.