From Journals to Public Platforms

My Journey of Sharing, Engaging, and Growing an Audience

This past month has been an interesting new place to me. Maybe it’s a work-life balance thing.

I started writing in February of this year, but posting it online for people to read. While I’ve been writing for years, either in a journal or on a corporate website where it wasn’t actually “me” writing.

In the past four months, I’ve realized how much I care if people read what I’m saying. More importantly, I also care what they think. So I’m paying a lot of attention.

Unfortunately, while my efforts started off great, my growth has slowed in the past month. The reach (or lack thereof) has started to effect my motivation. So, it was a perfect time to reflect on why I started it, what I’m doing now, and if I’m still on track with my business plan.

The Business Plan

When I started, I laid out a 12-month plan, quarter by quarter. The goal was to create and grow multiple streams of income.

My initial plan was to create them one at a time, with some overlap. However, I hadn’t really considered how my plans would shift, or my energy level, or my audience. In short, I created a plan in a vacuum and didn’t adjust it mindfully as I progressed.

I laid out three streams, all of which were dependent on having a following, an email list and user engagement. I’m happy to say that one audience grew quickly! The others didn’t grow at the rate I’d hoped.

The good news? I’ve earned more in Q3 than I had originally projected.

The bad news? Only one of the 3 streams is really doing anything so far, and its monthly output appears to be inconsistent.

I dig into the nitty-gritty of business in the ‘Business Report’ section of this newsletter, it’s available for paid subscribers.

The Reality about Growing a Following

My initial plan was to grow Medium to 1000 followers, which I blew past, though I’ve learned a bit about how valuable a Medium following can be.

I had planned to have a similar growth rate for my newsletter, and that appears to have missed its mark.

Because Medium is its own walled-garden, I could market within that platform and get good results. Substack is more wide open, so need a more ‘aggressive’ marketing strategy, which is where I’m at now.

Moving Forward

If you’re considering writing for an audience, especially on a platform like Substack, you should identify your audience as quickly as possible. Be clear and committed to that demographic, and then spend your time talking TO them. Write for that audience without ambiguity.

In addition to having more clarity as I’m writing my newsletter, I’m also looking at other places that I can post that are related, encouraging readers toward my newsletter.

My business plan is actually still looking realistic after tuning some numbers.

I mentioned my disappointment with my audience growth, that remains true. It still produces sadness and anxiety as I consider that I’m writing to a small group of people that might not even be interested. The challenge is going to be for me to create a reason for people to read and for people to reach out to me.

I will also be more active in reaching out and looking for collaborations.

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Are you listening?

I mentioned above that there is now a ‘Business Report’ section. That section will be available to paid subscribers and includes my business plan, my monthly and quarterly strategies and any kinds of one-off analysis. If you have questions about creating or running a one-person, content based business, by all means let me know!

Thanks!