What's your excuse?
Isn't it time you pulled your finger out*...
Are you a lurker?
Are you hanging out on Substack week after week, thinking “I’m going to start a publication one day”?
One day. Soon. Next week. Next month. Next year.
Why not today?
You’re not ready now; I get it.
Newsflash: you’ll never be ready. It is literally never the perfect time to launch a Substack publication.
Now I hear you making excuses…..
The timing is wrong.
You’re busy. There’s family stuff happening. Work’s nuts right now. It’s vacation time. You’ve got that thing you have to sort out first.
I get it.
Thing is, stuff will always be happening. Things will always come up. Life will always be throwing curve balls and hiccups and unexpected work at you.
My first launch was so cringe
I launched my first Substack publication with zero subscribers, a half-baked idea about hitting six figures in six months, average writing skills and literally no actual idea about how to be a newsletterer.
All I knew was that I was going to send one issue per week for 6 months, tell people about it on LinkedIn and see what happened.
My first 30 issues were riddled with typos, and didn’t have images or proper headlines!
That newsletter, which is for food safety professionals**, is now at $111,999.82 lifetime earnings - that’s net of Substack fees and earnings from subscription fees alone.
It has brought me the most incredible opportunities: lucrative consulting clients, keynote speaking engagements, paid training gigs, and (perhaps best of all) international travel to events where I get to meet my subscribers in real life, share my knowledge from the podium and expand my brain.
My second publication (the one you’re reading now) earns good money too, and helped me launch a book that hit the bestseller charts on Amazon within a few weeks of publishing.
My point? Substack can take you to amazing places, even with a messy start. But you do need to actually start.
The timing will never be perfect. But it’s okay to launch when it’s not perfect. In fact, you must launch when the timing isn’t perfect. You must launch when you’re not ready.
It’s not the perfect time now, and it never will be. You’re not ready now, and you never will be (fully) ready.
So here you are, and you still haven’t launched your publication?
What’s your excuse this week? Why haven’t you started yet?
Stop, don’t tell me. I don’t care.
Fact is, there is never a perfect time to start. And there is no such thing as a perfect start. Your first attempts will be less than perfect. No matter how good you think they are, you’ll look back on them and cringe (I promise!)
I’m telling you now: as imperfect as it might feel, just start anyway. Choose a publication name, write a post, press ‘Send’. Repeat.
My new free resources page has everything you need to get started. Today. Start today. There will never be a better time.
And I’ve got you covered.
On the resources page you’ll find:
🚀 How to Start a Substack
🎯 How to Choose Your Substack Niche
💰 How to Get Your First 100 Subscribers
📋 Free Substack Launch Checklist (downloadable)
+ Much much more…..
As the gurus say: “The best time to start a Substack is last year. The next best time is today.”
The best time to start a Substack is last year. The next best time is today.
Don’t stay in the ranks of the ‘I’ll do it one day’ lurkers. Become a do-er and start your publication now. And use my free resources to make it easy.
Get free instructions for starting, growing and setting up your publication on my resources page and boot your excuses to the curb.
That’s it from me today. See you next week,
P.S. If you’re a paid subscriber of Pubstack Success, your perks are about to multiply. Here’s what’s coming:
More templates, mini-guides and quick-fix tools to save you time
A monetization course to help you earn more with your Substack
A program to show you the holes you can’t see, so you know exactly what to fix next
+ a few extras I’m holding back for the people who are already in
Every time I publish something new, the price for new subscribers goes up. If you’re already in, you keep the price you joined at, no matter how many benefits get added in future. Lock in now, and keep today’s price forever.
*”Pull your finger out” is an Australian and British expression that means “stop fiddling about and do something useful”
** My food safety publication is The Rotten Apple, published under my real name (Karen Cherry is a pen name)
Just showing up consistently has been one thing that’s helped me grow organically. And agreed the first 100 subs = difficult!
I was looking to launch a Substack newsletter and came across Pubstack Success. Karen's free resources were extremely helpful -- clear, well-written and practical. I also had three Zoom consults with her (via Zoom) which shortened my start-up time and got me fully familiar with the platform. I've had long experience with graphic design and technical writing, but there's a lot to know about Substack that is not immediately evident. Karen's been great to work with, and her subscription fee and consult fees are well worth it. After two months, I'm nine posts in with 85 subscribers. My next task is to grow the subscriber base.