22 Comments
User's avatar
CareeRoots's avatar

This part:

I want to give Substack Notes the finger

Yes, Notes are a formidable way to grow.

Everyone’s raving about their growth potential.

“Engage more!”

“Just comment more!”

“Join the conversation!”

”Connect with other writers!”

Yeah… that’s a full-time job pretending to care about strangers’ hot takes.

I've worked as a full-stack digital marketing professional for 17 years and laughed so hard that my lavender/chamomile tea almost came out through my nose. What you wrote was a part of my first digital marketing job and I appreciated the paid for on the job training.

Also, many career coaches tell candidates to follow the framework you've outlined. I'm not saying it can't or won't work, but how fast and far will it move the needle in the right direction so that you get the results you want?

Plus, boring businesses are some of the best to create because they're not flashy and the revenue can be steady MoM and YoY, if you know how to grow a business.

-Amandah

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

That makes a lot of sense

I’m advising and posting note myself but not enjoying it!

But as for now it seems to be part of the growth process on this platform

I accept the trade off because growth is still easy here compared to other platforms

Expand full comment
Mario Da Silva's avatar

I have been sporadically showing up and issuing two newsletters a week. Some weeks goes better than others, but you’re right on Notes, Matt.

I don’t like the way it’s turning out to be.

I think your approach has more depth into it.

Looking forward to seeing how it goes

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Glad it resonated Mario

Just reminds me of my Medium days where I used to publish 5 times a week!

Let’s see how it goes :)

Expand full comment
richardstevenhack's avatar

I've been on Substack since July 2021.

I've only posted 48 times. I currently have 809 subscribers.

Posting a long article daily would kill me. Probably literally.

I do intend to speed up the rate of posts - especially now that AI will enable me to do better "deep research" and organize things better than collecting a folder full of Web pages and PDFs.

Most of my subscribers were gathered while I was doing a lot of foreign policy analysis. I've stopped doing that since the Syria debacle (see my past posts for why.) I actually never intended to do any of that, but things were heating up (Ukraine and the Middle East) and I had thoughts on the matter which were wildly contrary to the mainstream media, so I felt I had to.

Now I'm returning to my original vision for my Substack and for which it is named: "The Five Essentials", i.e., Philosophy, Attitude, Knowledge, Skills and Technology. Hopefully this will be motivating for me to increase my rate of production.

I don't mind posting Notes or responding to Notes, although it does take time away from other endeavors. But I don't post huge numbers of Notes like some people. I also don't restack my articles ten times a day like some of the people I subscribe to do. I hide notes once I've viewed them, and having to hide a dozen restacks a day is irritating. I also don't see the point of trying to beat the algorithm by doing so.

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

It's a balancing act.

Expand full comment
Anfernee's avatar

I have been toying with this idea of writing daily for a month as well.

Perhaps I should just do it!

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

You should.

Expand full comment
Anfernee's avatar

It's scary...

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

what's the worst case scenario?

Expand full comment
Anfernee's avatar

Yeah you’re right. Let’s do it!

Expand full comment
Alberto Cabas Vidani's avatar

Loved the tone of this!

And kept nodding all the way.

I've been thinking of publishing daily since... forever.

I'm curious: will you start a new publication or not? Why?

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Thanks Alberto.

Glad it resonated.

I'll NOT start a new publication.

All my efforts into 1.

Expand full comment
Alberto Cabas Vidani's avatar

Thanks for sharing.

I see many writers publishing far more often that the "1 per week" gold standard.

When are you going to start. Very curious about the results.

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

started yesterday :) the next one drops in a few minutes

Expand full comment
Daniel Ionescu's avatar

I do three a week: book insights Weds, special features Fridays, and podcast episodes Sundays.

I have a big bag of ideas going, but from my experience daily newsletters (except the news roundups which I scan) tend to linger in my unread folder for days before I get the time/mood to dig in.

Looking forward to hearing how it works for you.

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

I'm writing daily emails.

I don't expect everyone to read them daily.

But it has been a great factor in building an engaged audience.

Expand full comment
Pastor Bob Thibodeau's avatar

I've been considering this for the past three or four weeks... after reading your take on it - I see myself "thinking" through your words! Amen!

Sooooo.... April 1st is a great day to start! I'm right there with you, brother!

Expand full comment
Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Sometimes you just have to stop thinking and start doing (great reminder for myself too!)

💪💪💪

Expand full comment
Chris Harrison's avatar

I’ll be watching man 🌈

Expand full comment