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Are You Building Your Business on Rented Land? Substack & the Future of Your Audience
13 Plays14 days ago
Frustrated that your hard-earned content keeps disappearing in the social media shuffle? This week, we’re asking the tough question: Are you building your brand on “rented land”—and what happens when the rules suddenly change? We’ll unpack why creators (myself included) are making the move to Substack, with honest stories, real-world strategies, and a simple framework to help you future-proof your business and truly own your audience.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why relying on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms puts your community (and income) at risk
- Three eye-opening creator stories that might sound uncomfortably familiar
- My OWN framework for building a platform-proof business (O.W.N = Own your audience, Work smarter, Nail your brand)
- How I’m using Substack for video, newsletters, and true connection—and what you should know before jumping in
- Practical steps to nurture your email list, simplify your workflow, and keep control of your business
- How to make strategic experiments with new platforms—without burning out
Ready to escape the algorithm hamster wheel? Join me for a real conversation about taking back control, building smarter systems, and finding more freedom (and fun) in your content.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome + Why we’re talking about owning your audience
07:08 – Case studies: When platforms pull the rug out
21:30 – The OWN framework to future-proof your content
29:24 – Why Substack? How it works (and why I’m experimenting)
40:58 – Common questions: Video, email, and moving your audience
48:21 – Real talk: What’s working—and where to watch out
57:00 – Recap + Your one next best step
Resources for you:
→ Take the “Discover Your Live Vibe” quiz: https://streamlikeaboss.tv/quiz
→ Join Stream Bosses Academy coworking: https://streambossesacademy.com
→ Subscribe on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@tanyasmith
→ Weekly tips + livestream updates: https://streamlikeaboss.substack.com
If you’re serious about finally owning your audience and want smart, low-stress ways to grow, don’t miss this episode. You’re not stuck—you just need the right map.
Recommended
Transcript
Reaching New Audiences and Being Platform Proof
00:00:21
Speaker
All righty, folks, I'm back. And thank you. I see some folks that are in Substack as well that are typing in hashtag newbie. So I'm super thrilled that we get a chance to reach a new audience in addition to our expanding family that is on YouTube and LinkedIn, as well as those who are coming over from Facebook. And I'll share a little bit why about why I decided No longer to be in the Facebook space when it comes to live streaming. We'll talk a little bit about that because it's part of this topic.
00:00:50
Speaker
Look, if you're just tuning in, what we're talking about is sub stack, but we're also talking about the importance of being what I like to call platform proof.
Quitting Social Media: Case Studies and Risks
00:01:00
Speaker
So here's my question for you.
00:01:02
Speaker
Have you ever quit? a specific social media platform. And if you haven't quit it yet, have you thought about quitting? Because apparently, this is a hot topic right now.
00:01:16
Speaker
This is happening quite a bit. And so what I'm going to do as we break this thing down is I'm going to talk a little bit about three case studies. So three stories that I've seen in the news out in the wild here recently, just within the last week or so, y'all. So when I say that this thing is happening, I'm saying like it's happening. Like people are talking about this because they are sick and tired.
00:01:38
Speaker
Okay. So I want to talk a little bit about the three case studies.
The OWN Formula: A Framework for Creators
00:01:43
Speaker
I'm going to share with you something called the OWN Formula, which I actually got a chance to share with Digital Stage Summit. Shout out to my friend Alec Johnson, because he was doing it big with Digital Stage Summit this week. Three days, chock full of amazing speakers. So if you didn't get a chance to get in,
00:02:03
Speaker
and listen and watch, but you're registered, you should be getting those replays. I know it's limited time access if you don't have a VIP pass, but that was amazing. And so at my presentation, I actually delivered a talk around the OWN formula, and I'm going to share that with you tonight as
Dangers of Platform Dependence and Email Lists
00:02:22
Speaker
well.
00:02:22
Speaker
And then finally, we're going to close out by talking about Substack, and I'm going to share with you what it is because half of you are probably like, wait a minute, what is this? I keep hearing people say, what the heck is Substack? What is this thing?
00:02:38
Speaker
So I do have a couple of slides and things, and and we're prepared. we got some structure, but at the same time, I want to make sure I cover what you want to know. So if you've got specific questions, pop those into the chat.
00:02:51
Speaker
I'm going to try to do my due diligence to take a look over at the Substack crew as well to answer questions from there. I just won't have an opportunity to pop those comments on screen as though you'll see these comments. so I'm going to show you some comments that we've got going on over here.
00:03:10
Speaker
Dr. Vibe is being shouted out by Ari at the Resilient Powerhouse. I love it. I love it. Let me see what else we got
Monetization and Community Impact
00:03:19
Speaker
going on here. John Lacey said Facebook will. Yes.
00:03:23
Speaker
ah Yeah, I'm going to talk a little bit about the whole Facebook thing. yes I'm definitely going to do that. But there's been several things that have kind of really been on my heart and mind. And I want to deliver a message to you that I hope will give you some I always like to share possibilities and hope.
00:03:44
Speaker
Okay. So if you've been feeling a little bit like, you know what, I'm tired of being held hostage. I'm tired of feeling like I have to jump through all of these hoops and then I still don't reap the rewards.
00:03:58
Speaker
You know, I got a $6 and 37 cents check the other day from Facebook and I looked at it and I was like, wow, I can't even buy eggs with that. Like, like what? So so look, we have to take back control.
00:04:13
Speaker
We have to create systems that will allow us to be able to show ourselves as the experts that we truly are.
Platform Dependency: Issues and Case Studies
00:04:21
Speaker
And in the process, also be able to reach and make the impact on the communities and the lives that we're meant to impact.
00:04:27
Speaker
And in addition to that, we need to be able to monetize and to be able to. Support our families, right? Because many of us are not just in this content game just for sake of doing content, although I love it, right?
00:04:43
Speaker
We're also trying to make sure that we're doing something that is really, truly going to make a difference.
00:04:50
Speaker
So I want to talk about that. Okay, I got three stories and I do see some some commentary in here. Let me go ahead and pop some of these up before we dive into key point number one, which is going to be our case studies, okay? Let me do this real fast.
Algorithm Challenges on Facebook
00:05:06
Speaker
John Lacey said, did you get a new chair? No, I had this chair. You just never get to see it from that angle, John, because I'm actually using like angles today. and was trying to show off because, you know, I got people like,
00:05:19
Speaker
Hicks in the house and Jim Fuse. And I see Dr. Sean Shawin Jackson that's in the house on Substack. So I was like, hey, I need to do this right.
00:05:29
Speaker
I need to show up for my people. um Hey, what's up, Michelle? John says people love Facebook groups and pages for communities, but they weren't making money for Facebook. So they're being pruned back dramatically. OK, this is a good lead into my community.
Burnout and Shifting Focus from Social Media
00:05:47
Speaker
First point. So I want to talk a little bit about three situations that I have literally seen over the last three days. This is crazy, y'all, because I've been thinking about this for, like i said, months now.
00:06:00
Speaker
Like, why do I feel like I'm being held hostage by all of these different social media platforms? To give you a specific example, think about the whole idea of, OK, so Meta decided they're going to change up their algorithm. Instagram decided they're going to change their algorithm, which is a part of Meta, too. Right.
00:06:18
Speaker
um TikTok is doing this. Right. If you're still on X, they're doing something different. Everybody's doing these different things. And every time they say jump, you have to jump in order to be able to be effective and to get the results. Right.
00:06:35
Speaker
And so let me share with you a couple of different stories of things that I've heard. So three, I'm just going to give you three, but there's more. The first situation was.
00:06:46
Speaker
that we have a well-known creator, and I'm going to try to keep names out of this just for sake of, I mean, you can go look this up if you want to, but I'm going to keep names out of it. There's a well-known creator who made a, she has a ridiculously large,
00:07:02
Speaker
impact on Instagram. She has 892,000. Okay. okay I'm going to 892, 892,000 subscribers on Instagram. And she quit Instagram completely.
00:07:17
Speaker
and she wrote a video about this on YouTube within the last week. Here's why not necessarily burnout from creating because she loves to create just like you and I do.
00:07:31
Speaker
but it was burnout from battling algorithms. She talked about how they were spending more time
Importance of Email Lists and OWN Framework
00:07:39
Speaker
trying to stay relevant than actually serving their audience.
00:07:44
Speaker
So they moved their focus to email list and to YouTube, so platforms like YouTube, where she was able to see more advantages for herself and for the time that she was spending.
00:07:56
Speaker
She didn't quit creating. She just quit renting the space from Instagram. What she said was visibility shouldn't be a gamble.
00:08:07
Speaker
It should be your right as a creator because you're you're putting this time and this effort in here, right? This is you. They're making money and they're getting more visibility and more people coming to their platforms because of you. It's just facts because you're taking the time to spend energy in that space.
00:08:28
Speaker
So owning your list specifically beats chasing time and chasing algorithms. One of the most important things that I gathered from her, but honestly, again, I've been hearing this all over the place, is that you must, you must, you must build
Freedom and Authenticity in Content Creation
00:08:46
Speaker
your list. We're going to talk about that with the OWN framework in a minute.
00:08:49
Speaker
But just imagine Eight hundred and ninety two thousand people, y'all. And she talked about how she struggled with this idea of leaving because she felt like I've done all this work and all of it. Is it for nothing now that I'm leaving?
00:09:06
Speaker
But just imagine the freedom that she now has to be able to do what she wants to do and not be beholden to this specific platform to keep changing just because they decided, hey, we're going to split off. And instead of Reels being a part of this, we're going to do this. Instead of us having square images, now we want you to have four by five. Wait, we're also going to have you have these broadcast channels over here.
00:09:31
Speaker
So it's like every single time somebody has an idea, you're supposed to be expected to make a shift. Part of this is because we have been trained.
00:09:42
Speaker
And it is a psychological, a mental thing. We have been trained that we must do the things that these social platforms are telling us to do in order to be successful.
00:09:53
Speaker
And what I'm saying is I'm making a decision because I'm a grown woman that I don't want to do that anymore.
Risks of Platform Dependence
00:10:01
Speaker
And I think more of us are standing up and saying, we're tired.
00:10:06
Speaker
We're not doing that. Here's what I'm going to do instead. But I still want you to have the level of success you want. And that's why we were talking about this right now. So case study number two is this.
00:10:21
Speaker
And this broke my heart. I felt like I wanted to cry for the poor guy. This gentleman was on, oh goodness, he was on a Facebook group that I happen to still get pinged about. And by the way, I've limited and reduced the number of groups I've been a part of too, y'all, because many of them, I don't even see the content I want to see.
00:10:42
Speaker
i don't see the people that I really want to see even in my threads and posts and chats, but I definitely am not seeing the content that I want to see in certain groups. So I've kind of pulled back from that, but in this particular group,
00:10:56
Speaker
It was a gut-wrenching story. This creator who spent 10 years building a massive loyal community on Facebook in a group, and one day, he said within the last few weeks, months, the platform just cut his organic reach to almost nothing.
00:11:16
Speaker
He had also been spending money on ads, and even those took a drop. So tens of thousands of followers, but crickets on their posts.
00:11:27
Speaker
He said, I can't believe that I built everything on this borrowed land and now it's gone. He said, I have been working to build this up for years and now everything is gone.
00:11:39
Speaker
And that, my friends, is the danger of platform dependency.
00:11:45
Speaker
That's the danger. As you keep building on rented land, you don't really get a say. And it doesn't, the the key I want y'all to hear here is not even just the stories because this is happening to smaller creators too.
00:12:01
Speaker
But what I want you to really get is it didn't matter that they had these numbers. They're still getting some of the same results and impact that you and I are getting, which is reduced reach.
00:12:16
Speaker
So I'm going to pop in a few comments and I'm going to also see some questions if there are any in here. Let's see what we got going on. Lisa, what's up? she said, hey, everyone.
00:12:28
Speaker
ah love it. I love it. Yes, I got the feeling you moved or I get the feeling you've moved your communities to different platforms. Do you feel like Substack is going to be a stable option for a while?
00:12:40
Speaker
We're definitely going to dive into that question a little bit here because i think that's an excellent question. And so one of the things that I can tell you, John, is that I'm an early adopter, but but actually Substack, I believe has been around since like 2017. They are early, or I'm early adopting in the aspect that they now have video at the forefront of the content. So this is why I'm so excited that I'm able to actually also have conversations with people that are right
Substack: A Stable Engagement Platform
00:13:13
Speaker
now over in Substack as well. I'm looking at this.
00:13:16
Speaker
Hicks actually answered a question that I earlier said. So James Hicks said, yeah, I just recently quit fan base and you know how I feel about Facebook. Yeah. Zach from Substack is here. What's up, Zach?
00:13:29
Speaker
Zach in the house. I love it. Okay. So y'all, when I think about platforms and I think about spaces and John, I'm definitely going to get into your question in just a second and try to answer that as best I can.
00:13:43
Speaker
I'm going to give you one more question. case that I recently read about and saw, and actually is not a case. This particular one is a situation, ah situation. So a dear friend of mine who also is a heavy hitter influencer, she has created an entire course and she is known to be a go-to expert in a certain space, which shall not be named anymore.
00:14:11
Speaker
She has been ringing the alarm bell for the last several weeks. I've been noticing posts that I never would have seen from her before. They're very critical posts. When this has been her bread and butter, she calls, she's been ringing alarm bells around something she calls unconnected content.
00:14:29
Speaker
Posts that never ever make it to your community and in front of the eyes of the people that you want to see it. So now she's even created a course where she's teaching people how to break free from just relying solely on traditional social media platforms.
00:14:46
Speaker
And again, this person, this person is someone who has built her entire brand around a particular platform. So it is a wake up call y'all.
00:14:58
Speaker
It is a wake
OWN Framework Detailed
00:14:59
Speaker
up call. If some of the biggest names in certain ah social media platforms where they're marketing are saying that you need to diversify, it is time for you to listen.
00:15:11
Speaker
It's time for us to listen. It's time for us to take back control. And this is why i think it's perfect timing for me to talk about Substack. Before I do that, I'm going to give you my own formula, my own framework, OWN. And then we're going to dive into the the mechanics of Substack as I see them.
00:15:31
Speaker
And I'm going to give you this disclaimer and tell you I'm not an expert and I don't have 10,000 followers or fans yet in the space, still newer to the space, but I'm going to talk to you about the psychology behind why I made the decision to move there, what I'm doing over there, what the experience has been like, what I'm learning are some of the pros and cons and the things to do and the things not to do in the space.
00:15:56
Speaker
But before I do that, let's go to point number two, which is the own framework. So when we talk about the own framework, I want you to really be thinking about the lessons that were learned from the three studies that I just mentioned to you, the three incidents that I just shared with you.
00:16:12
Speaker
First of all, when it comes to the own framework, I want you to really get this. And this is where I told you, right, you know, get your pen and your notepad out. ah Okay. Own your audience.
00:16:25
Speaker
So you need to be able to engage and understand your audience's needs for better alignment. You need to be thinking about how can I create a community that I own? I'm not renting it.
00:16:39
Speaker
it's ah It's mine. Right.
Understanding Brand and Audience
00:16:42
Speaker
Nobody can easily take this away from me. An email list in particular are a really important space for you to grow and to build, because that is a space where you're able to nurture people through your writing.
00:16:58
Speaker
And also through your videos, if you're choosing to include and incorporate videos and other content. But building on your email list is a way for you to really be able to own your audience. Because what happens with email is even if...
00:17:14
Speaker
Even when YouTube decides to take down a video or Facebook decides to close your group or remove documents, because I've had those things happen too, or LinkedIn, for that matter, whoever, right?
00:17:28
Speaker
You still have the opportunity and ability to be able to reach out to the people who you have spent blood, sweat, and tears creating this list, right? You've been building this, right?
00:17:40
Speaker
So now you get to communicate with them and say, hey, guys, this happened. And so we're not going to be meeting at this place tonight. We're going to be over here. And they see it because they're on your email.
00:17:54
Speaker
Work smarter is about making sure that you're leveraging the tools and the strategies to enhance your efficiency and productivity. So what I'm talking about is strategically repurposing.
00:18:04
Speaker
And when you're creating your content, you're creating it not from a space of, okay, well, what social media platform am I going to be on? You don't start there. You start instead with your audience in mind and your expertise. Okay.
00:18:22
Speaker
Versus starting with, okay, what does the social platform say I need to create today? Did they say I need to go from creating three pieces to 10? Forget that. No, you create the quality content that your audience, that your community demands from you because you've promised them that you're an expert and that you have solutions that will help them with the problems and the pain points they have.
00:18:48
Speaker
The final in the framework is nail your brand. In order for you to be able to do those things, you must understand who you are and create a strong, recognizable brand that transcends any type of platform.
00:19:03
Speaker
So wherever you are, people recognize that's you. That's your content. This is what you do. Look, there was no greater compliment than something I heard the other day from a person.
00:19:15
Speaker
I was completely surprised and shocked. I didn't even know she knew any of my stuff. She said, you know what? Every time I see you, you're still you're always aligned. I know exactly what you
Exploring Substack's Opportunities
00:19:26
Speaker
talk about. I know what you do because everywhere i see you, I still see your brand.
00:19:34
Speaker
I know what you stand for. i know the flag that you're planting. Right. And this is what we must do. We must understand our brand, who we are, who we serve, what we're all about, what our message is. We need to know those things first.
00:19:50
Speaker
And we definitely need to understand our audience because that is where the content is born. not, oh, let me figure out how to create the next dance move so that, you know, everybody on TikTok will love and follow me.
00:20:07
Speaker
I tell y'all this story all the time. So for those of you who are new, you've never heard this from me before, but everybody who's been here, who's an OG, you probably have heard me talk about the whole TikTok trend thing. So I made a decision. I was going to go, was going to go over and just play around for a little bit. And mind you,
00:20:23
Speaker
I'm not downing any particular platform. What I'm sharing is my experience so that this maybe sets a trigger for you or some further understanding of what we're talking about. But I decided I'm going to go over there and and I wanted to build my audience to the point to where I could reach the goal of being able to go live.
00:20:43
Speaker
And so at the time you needed to have a thousand subscribers. I wasn't getting much organic reach because people just weren't interested in what I have to say when it comes to these topics that we talk about here. we i'm I'm really about business.
00:20:57
Speaker
The people who I speak to are either in the coaching field, coaching world, consulting, creators, right? And so at least at this point in time, I hadn't reached people with that particular topic, but I decided to participate in the boat trend, right?
00:21:17
Speaker
because I was like, hey, let me get this thousand real quick. So I jumped on the boat and some of you will know what I'm talking about. If you know what I mean, type in boat, if you know the boat trend.
00:21:28
Speaker
So got on the boat, did the little video clip with the boat and lo and behold, within less than 24 hours, I had a thousand subscribers. I reached the goal, but I realized very quickly that That after that, it was kind of like, okay, 90% of these people could care less about content strategy.
00:21:51
Speaker
They just don't care. They want me to do more boats. They want more trending things. Okay. That doesn't drive revenue for me because that's not what I teach. I don't teach people how to be on boats.
00:22:06
Speaker
You got to think about that. What's the connect? So when you're creating content for a social media platform first, you What happens is there's a disconnect at times between the revenue strategy. If you are a a person who is marketing a business and you have good services and products and programs to sell and you want to serve people, you know, and and make an impact in that way, sometimes there's disconnect when you're starting from that. So you need to start from the brand. You need to start with the own framework.
00:22:39
Speaker
Let's go into Substack and let's talk about why this is a great opportunity in this time. So Substack is my point number three. Let's talk
Substack's Expansion to Video Content
00:22:49
Speaker
about it. Are we ready?
00:22:52
Speaker
OK, so when we talk about Substack, there's a couple of things that I want you to know. And I'm going to pull my little points over here because I do also want to show you if I can, I'm going to show you some things on Substack.
00:23:06
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes. I see some some notes from Thaddeus Howes. He's talking about what he's working on. Okay, so people are having good conversation in the chat. I love it. I love it.
00:23:17
Speaker
And let me let me look over on my YouTube. Yes, so people know the boat trend.
00:23:24
Speaker
I love it. Okay, and I see the note. We ready for the Dr. Vibe show. Okay, so let's talk about Substack. So first and foremost, the question may be, you might be like, okay, but what is Substack?
00:23:40
Speaker
Because I've had a lot of people who are like, okay, she keeps talking about Substack, but what is it? Substack is a platform that lets you create newsletters, publish podcasts, and build paid or free memberships all under one roof.
00:23:57
Speaker
It's designed for creators who want direct relationships with their audience without necessarily having the middleman in the way and without the algorithm walls.
00:24:09
Speaker
So the key benefits, and I'm going to share, I'll show you like what the Substack dashboard looks like. Well, and maybe not the dashboard. I'll show you what the notes threads look like.
00:24:19
Speaker
I'll show you what my page looks like in a minute so that you can kind of get a feel for this. what's the most important thing? It appears to have been originally started as a space for writers.
00:24:31
Speaker
And I say appears because um being fairly new to the space, that's what I'm seeing. That's what I'm reading is that many of the folks who originally showed up for Substack showed up similar to if you're familiar with Medium as a platform,
00:24:48
Speaker
Medium is a platform that was also intended for writers. So more articles, right? And still really is for articles, for newsletters, for that type of thing. And so Substack, from what I understand, was initially launched in 2017.
00:25:06
Speaker
And it was a go-to place for ah authors and writers and some creators, too, who wanted to own their audience and build an email list. What has happened, the reason what, here's what attracted me to it. What attracted me to it is that they added video.
00:25:25
Speaker
They also have, give you the ability to create these like different packages depending on how you choose to create them such that people can either pay,
00:25:37
Speaker
to access certain things behind a paywall, or they can access certain features for free. But you get to design what this looks like. You get to create how this looks and works for you.
00:25:51
Speaker
So there are several different features. One is that they have the space for you to actually create posts. And so I'm going to show you, let me do a quick screen share here.
00:26:02
Speaker
I'm going to pull up my, my sub stack space.
00:26:09
Speaker
um Let's see. Okay, it's funny because you can actually see my video at the very top. So let's let's share screen. This might be a little like that movie Inception, but but I think this will be cool. You can you can see it.
00:26:22
Speaker
Okay, so you're taking a look at my screen right now. I'm actually on Substack Live. So you can see people that are right here watching live, which is really cool.
Community and Monetization on Substack
00:26:33
Speaker
But on a normal day, you'll see my page look like this because I've set it up in this particular style or theme. So you can can create a theme based on the post that you're putting together. Now, my posts are primarily video posts because I mean, that's what I do.
00:26:50
Speaker
But maybe you have posts that are based on articles, right? And so maybe yours are articles. For me, it's video. For others, it's audio. Because when you create a post, and let me just see if I can open up one without causing too much drama Right there.
00:27:08
Speaker
um this was a live stream we did the other day so steve worthy james hicks was with us to corey gums from the black podcast castors association we had a live the other day which was just amazing and fun but when you create these articles right Notice how I have the video at the top because I do video. But if you had a an audio podcast, you could have your audio podcast.
00:27:34
Speaker
Notice how you can actually send people to your audio podcast. So Apple podcast, Spotify, et cetera, all this can connect right to what you're sharing.
00:27:46
Speaker
Additionally, you can. Show your recent episode. So it looks a little like a newsletter. So not only do I have the capability of being able to showcase my expertise through ah articles and posts, but I can also go over into what they call notes.
00:28:04
Speaker
Right. So let me go over into notes. And notes is more like a if you're on threads and any other types of chats and things like that, your notes will be similar to that. They don't necessarily go into your articles or post.
00:28:20
Speaker
And by the way, the articles and posts that you saw when I published them, I have the option of being able to send them as an email to my subscribers.
00:28:33
Speaker
The notes area is more like a thread or a chat feed, right? So this is my personal notes, but I'm going to go. Let me see if I can go to the main feed.
00:28:45
Speaker
let me pause that. Let me go into the main feed if I can do that. And I want to try to navigate this without messing something up. But, you know, I might mess something up. There we go.
00:28:58
Speaker
Okay. So here's notes. And what you'll see, this is something that's really critical. This is part of the reason why I moved here. Why I love it here.
00:29:08
Speaker
You will constantly see people saying things like, I love it here. It's so positive. keep going, encouraging messages, you're doing amazing things, they're supporting each other.
00:29:20
Speaker
A lot of journalists have also moved into this space. Some of the ones that we know and love that used to be on traditional media are now here, but there's a lot of conversations that take place There are notes parties going on where people are sharing each other's content, but here's something else that's really cool.
00:29:42
Speaker
So Anna is someone that I follow on the How We Grow. How We Grow Today, I think is what, yeah, her channel is called. And she has created an amazing following of people who just eat up her post.
00:29:58
Speaker
But while the notes are free, If you go to her post in her articles, she has created a space where you're able to read a portion. And I'm going to show you how this looks on somebody else's.
00:30:10
Speaker
So the online writing club wrote this article, right? And here's what I want you to see. You wouldn't be able to see it if I went to Anna's page because I'm a paid member for her. I'm not on this page, but watch this.
00:30:23
Speaker
So she's sharing with you some information to get you intrigued. And then near the bottom, she says, if you want to continue to read and to learn more, become a paid subscriber.
00:30:37
Speaker
This post is for paid subscribers. And so you can subscribe and read more and get more of the creators and the writers and the authors that are in this space that you want to hear from and learn from.
00:30:50
Speaker
You can also participate in various chats that are going on over here. I have not turned on my chat just yet because I'm making decisions strategically about how i want to leverage that.
Integrated Features of Substack
00:31:02
Speaker
But I'm a member of different chats. And this particular one is beyond the firewall, which I love because he talks about privacy. um Here's the how we grow chat that's going on. And it's constantly filled with just great conversations.
00:31:18
Speaker
But you really have an opportunity to curate your feed in a way that you see the content you want to see. And y'all, what a refreshing thing.
00:31:30
Speaker
Oh, my goodness. I actually see the people that I follow. That's different. Right? I mean, I'm serious. Think about that.
00:31:41
Speaker
So you get to see, you get to curate your feed. You get to curate what you see. You get to own more of the space and control it and create it in a way that is in tune with who you are and how you want to operate your brand on a platform.
00:32:03
Speaker
And if you choose not to ever turn on anything for, you know, a paid value, then you don't have to do that. You can leave everything free or you can turn things on and off. It's totally up to you.
00:32:14
Speaker
But the benefit of something like a sub stack is that we get to build an ah an audience first, content first platform.
00:32:26
Speaker
And the fact that it gives you the ability to actually be able to email people, Goodness, all under one roof. So I can email folks. I can monetize subscriptions if I chose to do that. I can create newsletters. I can create an audio feed, a podcast that then goes out and gets distributed to other major podcasting
Audience Questions on Substack
00:32:48
Speaker
feeds.
00:32:48
Speaker
I can foster loyal community and I can see the people that I wanted to interact with in the first place. It's all in one. And the algorithm wall is gone.
00:33:03
Speaker
And so these are reasons why I made a decision to go and test it out. So I do want to answer some questions. And if you do have questions, pop them into the chat.
00:33:14
Speaker
I see that my friend Jim, who also has Fusion Marketing, is now on Substack. Yeah. Yeah. OK, here's a question from Coach Pam. Is it easy to use?
00:33:29
Speaker
I will tell you it's becoming easier to use because because of the fact that I'm spending time learning how to use it. right And there are there's an abundance of people who are positioning themselves to to be experts in Substack.
00:33:50
Speaker
And there's some really good folks who are who are over there that are teaching. Let me see. OK, I see a lot of questions, so I'm kind of going through to make sure that I can answer all of these. OK, so thank you for sharing this.
00:34:02
Speaker
Jen Hardy show. I cannot wait to see you next week at the 50 over 50 podcast awards. Y'all I'm going to be on the red carpet because I'm one of the judges and I get a chance to go and hang out with my friends.
00:34:16
Speaker
So that's going to be fun. Julie. i typically heard sub stack mentioned when talking about blogs or newsletters for podcasts, but now I'm hearing more about it with video options on it too. Yes, Julie. Exactly.
00:34:29
Speaker
Exactly. That's what drew me is the fact that I was able to live stream and to share my videos and to share them in such a way that they would reach my audience via newsletter.
00:34:40
Speaker
Jen says it's so cool. OK, what would be the benefit of this versus our own site? Excellent, excellent question. This is one of the questions that I definitely want to go into. And there's another one that Paul Gowder has asked as well before i even went live that I've got to address. But Jen, the benefit I think is that when you can leverage a platform like this, I mean, think back to when you first started going to LinkedIn, Facebook, and the rest of them.
00:35:12
Speaker
It wasn't because you wanted to turn over your control from your website. It was because, They already had traffic. You wanted to position yourself in the crowd to be a part of the traffic.
00:35:25
Speaker
Right. You wanted to position yourself so that you could have people see you and get the visibility. Whereas with your own website, you must drive traffic to
Streaming and Strategic Use of Substack
00:35:36
Speaker
that site. And there's an abundance of things that you have to do. And especially because Google has made certain changes. Right.
00:35:42
Speaker
For those of you who are SEO heads, you know this. Google has mark made certain changes and it's made a shift in terms of how easy or how difficult it is for people to really draw traffic to their own site. So when you think about the fact that Substack has a built-in audience,
00:36:01
Speaker
Just like with other platforms, you're positioning yourself to be in front. It doesn't mean you don't have your own site because I'm still all about owning my audience. I'm still all about making sure that I do have a website and a space I can send people to where I promote, exclusively promote my programs, my services and what I can do.
00:36:22
Speaker
You should be thinking about that, too. But there is an opportunity for you to position inside of a space that already has an active conversation going on. And if your people are there. And if you your people decide to come there because of you, then that's all the better because they bring their friends.
00:36:43
Speaker
So it's just that it's just another opportunity. It doesn't mean it's a replacement. Let me see what this question is. Are you using a streaming? Let me pop it up on the big screen. Let's do it this way. Let me do it a little bit differently.
00:36:57
Speaker
Are you using a streaming platform so for Substack or going live directly on their platform? Great question. Great question. Okay. And Thaddeus is over here answering questions too, which I love. I'm going to read some of his answers. So Thaddeus, thank you.
00:37:12
Speaker
um Let me pop that back up, Danny. Dan Marie says, are you using it? So I am using a streaming platform in this moment to go live. But you can go live directly on their platform, too. So let me give you the distinction. There's two different ways right now.
00:37:29
Speaker
um As of just a few days ago, Steve Worthy and Hicks turned me on to the ability to be able to go and request access for an RTMP link.
00:37:42
Speaker
OK, I'm not going to go deep on that. I know some of you are like, what? OK, but for those of you who do live streaming, you know what that is. And so that gives you the ability to be able to leverage like I'm leveraging Ecamm Live right now in this moment to be able to go live in Substack, YouTube and LinkedIn at the same time, which is the bomb.
00:38:01
Speaker
Hey, and so I love that I'm able to do that. But previously, what I was doing is I was popping in because I've been doing a three-month experiment. And I'm a little over halfway point when it comes to my three-month experiment on Substack because I wanted to see.
00:38:19
Speaker
See, what I do as an early adopter is I don't just jump in and say, hey, everybody, come on over here now. What I like to do, and I've done this for 20-something years now, is I will say, let me go test the waters, see what I think. I'm not making a 100% commitment. I'm not getting married.
00:38:39
Speaker
We might get engaged for 90 days. Yeah. So I've been engaged so to Substack for a little bit so that I could see how can I how can this fit into my marketing strategy? Remember what I said? You're starting because of the own framework. You start with your brand.
00:38:59
Speaker
How can I make this thing fit into what I'm doing? How can this help me to reach my goals? And so as I've been spending that time, what I was doing is I was jumping on my phone.
00:39:10
Speaker
So I just get on my mobile device, go onto the Substack app, click the plus sign and go live from the phone, which you can still do. OK, so you can go live natively from within their app. Or you can leverage a third party streaming platform like I'm doing right now.
00:39:27
Speaker
But you must get permission and authorization in both cases from Substack to be able to do so. And I believe with the mobile, you have to have at least 10 subscribers first, much like any of the other platforms in order for you to go live because they don't want you to be like.
00:39:44
Speaker
suspect. They want you to actually be building an audience like for a reason. So they're going to review your, your space and then give you access.
00:39:54
Speaker
Right. Okay. Isn't that that's so hilarious? So let me read. I'm going to read this because I can't pop it up, Thaddeus. But Thaddeus explained, he says, Substack is a content management system which offers an array of services, including newsletters, podcasts, video blogs, and graphically integrated written entries. I love it.
00:40:16
Speaker
You can also monetize your work. Yes, you can. So everything he said, he just said it more eloquently than I did and quicker.
00:40:27
Speaker
So thank you, Thaddeus. I love it. um Here's the other thing um I will mention before we get ready to do a quick really quick recap.
00:40:38
Speaker
One of the things that you also are able to leverage inside of Substack is the ability to build referral programs. So you can reward people for sending other people to your newsletter.
00:40:50
Speaker
So how cool is that? You can do that. So you can, for instance, give people special access to, you know, a particular video or webinar or something that you're doing, or give them access to an article or document that you've put together, some type of PDF checklist or your custom GPTs. Like I'm, I'm getting ready to do more of those and to share more of those as lead magnets because they are amazing for helping people to automate different tasks and content strategies that I teach.
Collaboration and Growth on Substack
00:41:19
Speaker
And so you can reward people through Substack referral programs. All of these things are just, I mean, they have really just been amazing to me. I can't think of a negative thing just yet other than one thing. And that is,
00:41:35
Speaker
I've had a little bit of a difficult time with getting customer service to respond on an issue that I had with syncing Spotify, but it hasn't been a deal breaker. I've been able to do some workarounds.
00:41:48
Speaker
I have heard some people say that it takes a a little bit of time to get access to support. So that's one thing. If I had to tell you one thing that I'm a little kind of like, that would be the one thing that I would say I'm not so in love with.
00:42:03
Speaker
Now, Paul Gowder, Amazing. And he has built an amazing tribe on YouTube. but So an amazing group of people. when I say tribe specifically, he works with indigenous peoples. Right.
00:42:18
Speaker
And so his YouTube channel is off the hook. it's It's great. And so he had a question for me. He's like, yeah. So I think that Substack has a lot of.
00:42:30
Speaker
He said, you're saying it has a lot of potential, but does it have a lot of niches? Can people just go over there and instantly create success? He didn't ask it that way, but that's kind of how I was interpreting. Right.
00:42:42
Speaker
And my answer is this. I think like any platform. Your success will come down to how well you know your audience and your brand and how you're driving and engaging with people.
00:42:55
Speaker
You're driving traffic to your spaces. What's the value that you're offering? What I want to do in this space is I want to, first of all, be crystal clear about what I stand for.
00:43:06
Speaker
So in my About Me page, I shared my rules of engagement. So I can be clear that if I boot someone, they understand why I'm booting them from my spaces.
00:43:18
Speaker
And I can be clear on this is the flag that I'm planting about who I am and how I create safe spaces for the people who have entrusted me Right.
00:43:31
Speaker
You get a chance to do that, too, because we don't. There's a lot of negativity and adversity going on in a lot of different platforms. So I'm very conscientious about that. But your success comes down to how well you know yourself, how well you know your audience and what you choose to do to drive traffic by sharing valuable content.
00:43:53
Speaker
I think that Substack is ideal for creators who want direct ownership of their audience through email, but it's not just about showing up and hoping that people will find you.
00:44:07
Speaker
It literally is about leveraging your existing platforms as well so that you're consistently inviting people to join your Substack list. So what I've done, for instance, is every time I post on Substack, I'm actually taking the images that they provide, which are just really cool. That's another cool thing I didn't even talk about.
00:44:28
Speaker
The images that they provide that are clips from my post or article or video, right? I'm sharing those on other spaces and saying, hey, I just posted a new video over here on Substack.
Nurturing Audiences and Platform Independence
00:44:41
Speaker
So I'm posting them in stories. I'm posting them in my regular feed on other spaces. The other thing that you can do, um i right now with my LinkedIn newsletter, previously my newsletter had the full video with the article written.
00:44:59
Speaker
Now I'm putting a summary with some key points and driving people to get access to the full video and the full article over in Substack. So you've got to get laser focused on how you're trying to build and what your growth strategy is going to be. And for me, it's looking at all of those different ways that I can drive traffic here because my experiment is telling me that the more I do that, the more likely i will be able to grow this space.
00:45:28
Speaker
Also collaborate with other SAP sub stack people. So Steve, asked me to be a part of an amazing conversation the other day. um I'm going to be asking more people to be a part of conversations on Substack too. So collaboration with other writers and video creators and people who just want to share their voice.
00:45:50
Speaker
I think because of the fact that this platform is allowing all types of ways for you to collaborate and communicate, leverage all of that. Use notes to engage with readers natively on Substack. So if you're not if you're not engaging in notes, I think you're missing out on an opportunity because that's another way for you to really kind of get into the conversation and be a part of the conversation by commenting on other people's notes.
00:46:18
Speaker
And then make sure you're optimizing your content for discoverability. So you're writing with strong searchable headlines and tags. You're considering lead magnets and freebies to encourage people to sign up.
00:46:31
Speaker
Do all the things that you would do with any other platform. And I feel like there's a home and a space for you. That's my answer. I know it's long winded, but, but that's where I feel that we have an opportunity to grow.
Community Engagement and Curated Spaces
00:46:43
Speaker
Let me see what other, there's a bunch of comments in here. Let me, let me pop up some of these and I'm checking over here to
00:46:52
Speaker
All right. Yes. Have a space to retreat to. Thank you, Thaddeus. Exactly. You're not, you're still renting space.
00:47:05
Speaker
Don't forget that you're still renting space, but I love that this is yet another opportunity. And, you know, honestly, it's been fun. Like the people over here have a whole different vibe. but And I just, I just, I'm tired of not, I'm tired of having to guard my pearls when I'm on certain platforms and to be super careful that I don't say certain things because it might trigger one person a certain way and then we have to get into debates and all of that.
00:47:35
Speaker
And it probably happens on Substack too, but I haven't seen that yet. I'm mostly seeing and it's because I'm curating and deciding who I want to follow and I actually get to see those people.
00:47:46
Speaker
I love that we're able to create that space, that environment that we want. Let me pop up some comments here. OK. Dr. Vibe, exactly. I am getting engaged.
00:47:58
Speaker
I am engaged to Substack right now. I'm not yet married. I'm on the way, but not quite there yet. um It looks like the Substack RTMP access is in beta. It is.
00:48:09
Speaker
You can request it, John. And what I would do is once you get over here, if you decide you want to check it out and you get consistent and all of those things and you decide you really want to play here, then just go in and request access and see.
00:48:22
Speaker
Right. Just like with anything, just like we all had to do with LinkedIn Live. Remember that?
00:48:28
Speaker
I'm excited, too, Jen. i got I finally bought my dress. And I don't even wear dresses, but I'm wearing one for you and for the red carpet. I'm going to do that. I listened to recordings of those phone sub-sex streams, and I must have missed.
00:48:42
Speaker
I missed your normal mic quality. I know. I'm an audio snob, too. He's talking about when I did some of the videos through, you know, remember I said you can do it on your mobile I didn't love it, but you know what? Worthy taught me something that I think he learned from Corey over in Black Podcasts Association, which is I could have just connected my Rodecaster Pro 2 to my phone and it would have been fine. I just didn't know at the time.
00:49:10
Speaker
Great, great, great quilts and chocolates. Yes, line in the sand. Yes, we get to draw our line and say, this is who I am. This is who I'm going to, you know, commune with.
00:49:22
Speaker
This is how I'm creating the safe spaces. Exactly, Michelle. So I love that. This is super helpful. i have been considering Substack. Laura, girl, come on over. The water's nice.
00:49:36
Speaker
If you know, you can always hit me up if you got some additional questions beyond this show. Sounds like a nice space to test out, learn about and see where it goes. The idea of a space without arguing in girl.
00:49:48
Speaker
OK, Julie. Look, Julie and I are going to be spending some time on her in her community next week. So I'll be sharing out more about that soon as well.
00:50:00
Speaker
Rodecaster to phone is a great option. Yes, it is. Dr. Vibe, I am excited. I like being an inspiration. And you know what? I always love your photo too. Your photo is an inspiration. Y'all check that out.
00:50:14
Speaker
The Dr. Vibe show. He's like, Hey, I'm showing up, show it up and show it out. All right. So let's, let me
Final Reflections and Future Plans
00:50:23
Speaker
kind of recap a little bit. I said three, but it's really four. I guess I need to correct this slide.
00:50:31
Speaker
Here's some takeaways that you can you can write down and and move with, okay? ah Stop renting and start owning. Like you get to design your own space. So whether it's Substack or some other place, it's up to you. But create something that you really can enjoy, be passionate about, feel good about, make an impact with.
00:50:58
Speaker
Stop renting on other people's spaces. And look, I'm not saying don't be there because... I'm still on Facebook. I'm still on, I'm in these places.
00:51:08
Speaker
I've just decided they're not going to come first. They are not the priority. The priority for me is what I know in here is going to be the solution to problems that the people I'm talking to need and want.
00:51:27
Speaker
So audience first, content first. Social media is somewhere down the line. The platform itself is somewhere down the line. Okay. Those are tools and they are vehicles, but you're the driver in the driver's seat, right?
00:51:42
Speaker
So stop renting, start owning. Algorithm dependence is not a strategy. So the folks that keep telling you, okay, y'all, here's the next 10 things that we now have to do because this platform is...
00:51:56
Speaker
I'm just, you get to make your own decision about this. I've made the decision that I'm just, I'm done with that. I'm tired. I'm not doing it anymore. I'm not going to depend on algorithms.
00:52:09
Speaker
I'm going to depend on what I know to be true. I'm going to depend on facts and numbers and metrics and all of those things. But I'm also not going to see algorithm dependency as a strategy. My strategy is,
00:52:23
Speaker
I know that I am a video marketing consultant. Here's my, the things that I do. Here's my audience and their pain points. Like I understand my brand very clearly. So focus on that, spend more time on that.
00:52:37
Speaker
And then the content that you deliver is going to be of more value. Take back control of your time and energy y'all. Somebody said this the other day too. Actually, I think it was the woman in the video that I was talking about.
00:52:52
Speaker
The woman who left Instagram with 892,000 followers, she said, you know, once you get over 50, and I'm with her, once you get over 50, you start realizing, look, my time is very limited here.
00:53:08
Speaker
Like there's only so many things I'm willing to do. We get a bit ornery and that's where I am. I'm i'm a bit ornery now. Now I'm like, no, I run this.
00:53:20
Speaker
I'm grown. You don't get to tell me how to operate this. I'm going to do it this way. Nurture your audience and you can grow anywhere. Nurture the people People first, content first, right? Put all those things ahead of the fact that you are on a particular platform and then you will be platform proof.
00:53:40
Speaker
Then you can move and you can try Substack and see how it works like I'm doing. And if it works great and if it doesn't, it's okay. You move on to the next thing. Position yourself differently, but you get to make those choices.
00:53:54
Speaker
And that to me is what's important. Now, before I go, I'm going to definitely pop in a few more comments. And if any of this felt like it resonated with you, and want you to pop a fire emoji into the chat.
00:54:07
Speaker
Even if you're on Substack, even if I can't pull it up, I can see them. Put a fire emoji in there. Let me see. I follow small lists of creators on Substack, and I love that.
00:54:17
Speaker
On platforms where I follow too many accounts, I end up just avoiding them. It's just too much. Curated spaces are where I am in 2025. Okay, Sarah, I am with you.
00:54:29
Speaker
I stand with you on that. I know he does. Dr. Vibe show has a great photo. Let me pop Dr. Vibe up there. Much thanks, Jen.
00:54:40
Speaker
Love these takeaways. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. i don't think there's a problem with also being on social media, but I think you need to set your expectations accordingly. Exactly.
00:54:52
Speaker
Set your expectations and know, again, who's in control. Stop allowing other people to take over the driver's seat for you. Sharon says, I agree. I'm testing out email platforms and you've inspired me to take a serious look at Substack. Thank you, Sharon.
00:55:10
Speaker
And I loved, loved, loved having you in the multiplier method. It was wonderful. You are so right. Loving this. Thank you. Opportunities are everywhere, but opportunity cost.
00:55:23
Speaker
Oh, you know what? You're always dropping nuggets. Yeah. Always. I need to have let me do. I have my DJ horn. John, I didn't do the right one, but, you know, you get it.
00:55:36
Speaker
That was that was gold. Actually, let me do this. I'm going to pop that back up again and we're going to do going to do my blog. Hey, opportunity cost. It's very real.
00:55:51
Speaker
Thank you for the fire, the fire, all of the fire. Yes, the goal is to be platform proof. Look at you, Miss Twig. It's wonderful to see you here tonight. Thank you. always love your positive vibes. I love yours too.
00:56:08
Speaker
Look, it's been my pleasure, everyone. Thank you for spending the time with me. We are at the top of the hour, but it has been so much fun. And if you have not already liked, subscribed, and followed, you know, all the things.
00:56:23
Speaker
Make sure you go ahead and do that because I would love to see you in some future streams. I would love that. And also some of our programs that we have coming up. As
Conclusion and Community Engagement
00:56:32
Speaker
a matter of fact, I'm going to be because I keep getting asked about Cast Magic.
00:56:37
Speaker
I sent a note to Blaine the other day and I said, look, I'm going to have to host a workshop and I'm going to make it free the first time. So I'm going to do a free workshop on how to leverage Cast Magic to repurpose your content because part of the own formula was what?
00:56:52
Speaker
Work smarter. And so when we work smarter, we're leveraging AI tools and automation and apps. We're leveraging the tools that we need to help us to be smarter. That way we can put this effort into this like amazing piece of content and then we can multiply ourselves.
00:57:09
Speaker
Right. So cast magic workshop coming. I just need to find a date. I'm looking for one now, but I'll make sure everybody knows. Thank you. And John says, smash that like button or whatever you have on Substack.
00:57:24
Speaker
Thank you. Thanks, John. ah love it. I know. i can't wait. So I'll be I'll be sharing out the news. I just need to pick a date where I'm not traveling or doing speaking or whatever. Right. I need to do that. So it's coming.
00:57:39
Speaker
But have an amazing evening. Please make sure that you take care of yourselves. Remember to take control and not only scheduling the time to create content, but also schedule time to simply relax and just be.
00:57:54
Speaker
Because Lord knows we all need some time to just relax and just be with ourselves and with the people that we care about the most. So I will see you next time in the stream, y'all.
00:58:07
Speaker
Have a good one.