3 Things Top 1% Substack Creators Don’t Do

If you’re ready to turn your Substack into real income and not just a growing list, that’s the work we do inside the ⁠Substack Accelerator⁠.It’s direct coaching from the Write • Build • Scale team, built around one outcome: ⁠Becoming a Substack Bestseller and building a real business on top of your publication.---There are really only 3 ways anyone becomes an overnight success:The first is nepotism, the door that opens because of who your family is.The second is a lucky break, the moment someone powerful decides you’re next. Both are real, and neither is available on demand.The third is distribution: The slow, email-by-email way you build an audience that’s actually yours. It’s the only one of the three you can choose, and it’s the one nobody can take away from you.That’s the real difference between buying attention and building it. You can buy reach, and it’s fast, but it evaporates the moment you stop paying, and you never owned the people it reached.When you build it, it takes far longer, but every subscriber is a person who chose you, on a list you can take anywhere. Building has leverage. Buying is a rental.----🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit⁠⁠⁠⁠📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://writebuildscale.substack.com/

If you’re ready to turn your Substack into real income and not just a growing list, that’s the work we do inside the Substack Accelerator.It’s direct coaching from the Write • Build • Scale team, built around one outcome: Becoming a Substack Bestseller and building a real business on top of your publication.-----You’re a business owner or a creator with something real to sell, and your Substack is growing but the income isn’t following, this episodes is for you.Most people publish on Substack and quietly wait to get paid. They show up, they post, they pile more behind the paywall, and they hope the money follows the effort.It rarely does, and the reason usually isn’t the writing.Here’s what you’ll walk away with: A clear picture of why publishing and selling are two different jobs, and the specific habits that turn a growing list into actual income.The short version: Stop treating Substack like a place to post, and start treating it like a place to sell.-----🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: ⁠⁠⁠https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit⁠⁠⁠📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale: ⁠⁠⁠https://writebuildscale.substack.com/

Between being on Substack almost every single day for the past two years and working with 100s of coaching clients and course students, I’ve had the chance to look closely at a lot of Substack publications.More than a thousand by now.And the patterns are clear…The newsletters that grow, that build loyal audiences, that actually make money, they do certain things differently than the average Substack publication, in particular in three key areas.Let’s dive straight in.----💰 Want to Become a Substack Bestseller?You’re invited to our brand-new masterclass, How to Become a Substack Bestseller in Less Than 12 Months.During this live training, I’ll share the exact system behind attracting paid subscribers, becoming a Substack Bestseller, and using the platform to grow your business.You’ll leave the Substack Bestseller Masterclass with a clear roadmap to turn your publication into real income.

Most Substack creators are sitting on a goldmine of growth tools they’re barely using.They publish their newsletter, maybe post a Note here and there, and then wonder why growth feels so slow.Substack has built some genuinely powerful features specifically designed to get your work in front of new people. The problem is that most creators either don’t know about them or don’t use them consistently enough to see results.At Write • Build • Scale, we’ve used these features to grow our publication to over 48,000 subscribers, so everything I’m sharing here is backed by real experience, not theory.Let’s dive straight in.----🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: ⁠⁠⁠https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit⁠⁠⁠📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale: ⁠⁠⁠https://writebuildscale.substack.com/

I’ve spent a lot of time studying the top Substack creators — the people in the top 1% of the platform, both in terms of audience size and paid subscribers.What’s interesting isn’t just what they do. It’s what they don’t do.Because eliminating some of the habits and behaviors that keep you stuck is often one of the fastest ways to make progress.Here are the three things the top 1% Substack creators don’t do, and what they focus on instead.----🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: ⁠⁠https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit⁠⁠📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale: ⁠⁠https://writebuildscale.substack.com/

For the past 365 days straight, I’ve done one thing without exception:I published a Substack Note. On most days, I’d publish three. But always at least one.After publishing so many Notes, I learned a lot about what actually works when it comes to publishing Notes that get good engagement and bring in new subscribers to your publication.In today’s episode, I want to share the three biggest lessons I've taken away from a full year of posting Notes - and how you can apply them to your own Substack right now. 🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: ⁠https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit⁠📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale: ⁠https://writebuildscale.substack.com/

In this episode, I’m joined by Mandeep Kaur, who spent 30 years in Fortune 500 companies before reinventing herself as a transformational coach and founder of Awaken • Align • Ascend on Substack.In this value-packed episode, we cover:The hidden blocks (fear, trauma, self-sabotage) that quietly hold people back from their next chapter (04:39)Why Mandeep decided to go all-in on Substack - and get coaching from us (06:16)How overthinking keeps creators stuck - and how to start taking fast action (09:09)The simple Substack growth strategy: consistency, notes, and daily engagement (13:48)Why community-building is the real growth engine - and how to build it (17:02)The 555 Method: a step-by-step framework to create deep identity transformation in 5 weeks (20:08)What Mandeep recommends to new Substack creators who are still on the sidelines (21:29)And much, much more…-----⚡ Stop Guessing. Start Growing.Your Substack has more potential than you’re currently unlocking.Our coaching gives you the strategy, systems, and direct support to:Attract new subscribers every month with actionable growth systemsTurn your audience into real revenue — paid tiers, digital products, and moreLock in your positioning and content strategy so every post builds momentumNo figuring it out yourself - but hands-on guidance from people who’ve actually done it.Apply today: https://substackcoaching.com/

Together with my two co-founders, Sinem and Philip, we’ve grown our Substack publication, Write • Build • Scale, to over 45,000 subscribers and 1,500+ paid subscribers in about two years.In this episode, I’ll break down exactly which strategies and Substack features made the biggest difference in our growth, so you can focus on them and speed up your own growth.🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale: https://writebuildscale.substack.com/

For the past two years, I’ve been going all-in on Substack. Together with my two co-founders, we’ve grown our publication to 44,000+ subscribers and 1,400+ paid subscribers - and leveraged Substack to build a $50k per month digital business.So, it’s safe to say I believe Substack is one of the best platforms out there right now for creators, professionals, and founders who want to build a real audience and a real business.But here’s the thing: I see a lot of people flocking to Substack right now with expectations that don’t match the reality of the platform. And when reality doesn’t match expectations, people quit — often right before things were about to actually work out.That’s why I wanted to share four things you need to understand before you go all-in on Substack, so you’re approaching it with the right mindset and strategies.

What separates the Substack creators who build real audiences from those who struggle, stall, or quietly give up? Having worked with hundreds of successful creators, I can tell you it’s rarely just tactics.The biggest differences almost always start with mindset and belief — and only then show up in tactics and results.So whether you’re brand new to Substack, you’ve been at it for a while, but growth feels slow, or you’re already doing well and want to reach the next level, here are the 10 habits I see consistently in the Substack creators who succeed.