Stop Building a Following: Build the 1 Audience No Algorithm Can Take From You

📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale on Substack: https://writebuildscale.substack.com/🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit📈 Want to turn your Substack into real income without wasting any time? Get direct coaching from the Write • Build • Scale team and apply to the Substack Accelerator today.----If you're a teacher or coach and aren't sure how Substack could fit into your existing business or ecosystem, this conversation is for you.We started working with Katarzyna Ciszewska 🇮🇹 in our private coaching program earlier this year, and she recently received her first Bestseller badge with more than 100 paid subscribers.

📙 Subscribe to Write • Build • Scale on Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://writebuildscale.substack.com/⁠🧰 Grab your FREE Substack Starter Kit: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mwa.kit.com/podstarterkit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📈 Want to turn your Substack into real income without wasting any time? Get direct coaching from the Write • Build • Scale team and apply to the ⁠⁠Substack Accelerator⁠⁠ today.----We recently sat down with Virgil Brewster, a member of our Substack Accelerator, to unpack how he turned a brand-new publication into a source of real clients in a matter of weeks.Full disclosure: Virgil has spent over a decade in marketing and built a real business long before he touched Substack. But when he arrived here three months ago, he was a skeptic who wrote the platform off as just another place for writers.What changed his mind is worth your attention, because the moves behind it are ones you can copy: The mindset, the mechanics, and the specific steps that turn a publication into a business.

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/