Look dad! I'm a paid writer.

A transparent first year on Substack

Hello beautiful people, and anyone new here.

I can only assume you’re finding yourself here because you’re either

A) Interested in earning an income on Substack … though possibly have no clue who you’re reading about… (Hi, I’m Kat, Here’s my About page.)

B) Or you’re already apart of my community here and you like me enough to want to read what I have a say regardless of your interest (Thanks)

C) Possibly a mix of both.

I invite you to stay a little while…. Mainly because I’m celebrating one whole year here on Substack, as a writer, community gatherer and a mama of two tiny boys.

THIS POST IS IN TWO PARTS:

PART ONE: A FREE ESSAY ON MY TRANSPARENT YEAR HERE ON SUBSTACK

PART TWO: A LIVE VIDEO QNA and REPLAY to answer any questions commented below or you’re welcome to jump on live and come hang out. This will be available to my paid community here in November.

It’s been a big year. We put our stuff in storage, moved out of our house on the Sunshine coast of QLD Australia, went and traveled different parts of Aus for 2 months with our toddler and while pregnant with #2. Slept in many different beds, lost all routine, had a great time, ate incredible amounts of sourdough, had many meltdowns (my toddler had a few too), found a new house and flew back to the Sunshine Coast. Moved into said house - furnished from scratch to match my pinterest boards as quickly as time and finances allowed, birthed our second baby.

Tully O'Connor

(My legend of a husband) Worked in his relationship and mens coaching business, I ran this substack as my way to link myself to some sort of stability and creative outlet.

And here we are. A year in.

Over that time - I’ve published almost 80 posts, had many, many creative releases, studied Substack as a platform as much as my hyperfocus would allow, met and made many beautiful friends here on this platform, been blown away by the depth and connection possible here, played a lot on notes, refined my message and purpose for this space, been featured on a Substack leaderboard (only a couple of weeks ago, so only just scraped that into the year), helped organise a gathering with other local Substackians (we are a breed? Right?) and honestly have just had the best time. Like a big breath of fresh air that has pulled me from over a decade on Instagram writing and creating for free.

Though, MOST of that would all fit into the second half, of my first year on Substack.

The practicalities I know many of you are curious about - I’m finishing my first year here with 2644 free subscribers and 265 humans in my paid community here.

So In this post I’d love to share with you a transparent, time stamped (sorta) insight into my time here on Substack so far.

I have a love hate relationship with these sorts of posts. I always read them because I’m genuinely so interested in what others do and how to grow here. Let’s be honest. We all want to grow here…. to be seen, and recognised for our art in whatever form it expresses. Otherwise we’d just be writing our essays in our journals and keeping them under our pillow instead of publishing them on the internet.

It’s also somewhat uncomfortable and I feel resistant because I don’t want it to be a “look at me post” and “this is how to perfectly do substack” (Cause it’s not. I only kinda know a little bit about what to do here, I’m a baby Substackian… or maybe a toddler.) I don’t want to also promote this “Go bigger, Go bigger” mentality that can begin to bleed into our art when we mix business with it.

However, I’m also a fan of the belief that business can be soulful, and that our art can and should (often though not always) make money and be a circulation channel for resources without sacrificing how genuine it is. Many of us have families to support, and creating art, writing, whatever you want to call it - takes time, expertise, focus. Therefore it becomes a family affair, everyone works around each other to make it happen.

I don’t believe in the starving artist and I absolutely don’t believe in the starving mother (Which as you will likely learn, is a big focus of my publication here - The mother creatives…)

I prefer a matriarchal perspective on business and allowing something to pulse, eb and flow with natural seasons. Especially as women. You’ll see below that even though I’ll be listing things (For ease and simplicity), I absolutely have not been consistent for the year. I have moved through many seasons, and honoured wherever I was at.

This post is likely a long one. Sorry not sorry,

I’ve been typing dot points in my phone of everything I’ve done on Substack since DAY ONE, with anticipation for my end of year post. *Holding the vision of actually wanting to celebrate something*.

-If it doesn’t appear in your email browser as a full post, head over to the app for a complete read-

I hope that you’ll make yourself tea, get cosy and read.

You may need to pause (‘Cause kids, responsibilities, adulting etc) but substack (on the app) will bring you back to the point you stopped reading, when you do return - which is such a blessing thank you

Substack

for making our lives easier when reading.

---

Firstly, I hope this goes without saying… but I’ll say it anyway… This post is simply my story so far. It’s not to be prescriptive, it’s not the right way or wrong way, it’s simply A WAY.

I encourage you to minimise any comparison, and approach thoughts with curiosity rather than judgement. People grow Substack in all sorts of ways. Nothing is really as it seems. Some bring over big email lists on day one. Some are big writers with successful careers, though starting here from scratch. Some are squeezing essays in around kids and busy lives, writing sleep deprived in the early hours of the morning, others may have all week to craft, edit, re-edit stunning posts. Some have been building communities on other platforms for years who have developed trust. Some are right at the beginning of that journey. It’s important to stay in our own lane. Of course - take what resonates with you, but please… leave what doesn’t.

So, My dad told me I should be a writer. Actually, when I reminded him of this on the phone the other day, he corrected me and said

“Kaitlin” (Cringe, yes, my real name. I still prefer Kat - Which is why I put it on my high school leavers jacket at 17 and everyone was like… who’s Kat?. Surprise, it’s me and my new identity. It worked. Now, ten years later everyone calls me Kat)

“Kaitlin, I never said you SHOULD be a writer. I said you ARE a writer and that you SHOULD write books”

This was when I was a child. Failing my creative writing tests, and feeling as though the world (my teachers) were absolutely against any sort of boundary pushing when it came to writing.

He saw it in me, and would bring it up often once I jumped on social media a few years later, beginning with the classic facebook, and moving to instagram not long after. I was your big caption, continued in comments, part 1, 2, and 3 type. It’s just my thing. Biggest irk with instagram now is caption sizes. If I have to delete one more sentence and dilute my writing I will stomp my foot and delete the app. (A threat I still have never followed through with unfortunately. Instead I’ll more likely continue to complain about it).

The cool thing though was people enjoyed my writing. It was mainly musings back then, which expanded into teaching points and poetry when other parts of my career grew.

I had a mini creative revolution when my first son was one, I stepped back from all my work as a relationship coach, and decided I would, actually claim the fact I was a writer. (Thanks dad).

(Mum, myself and dad, before I had to share them with 6 other siblings)

This is where Identity becomes important.

TO CLAIM “I am a writer” long before I had hit publish, or received a book deal or even had been paid for any writing at all. I am a writer. It had felt foreign in my mouth and often got stuck on my tongue but it felt important to own it as apart of who I am and then reflect on what it meant to me.

Did being a writer automatically put me inside the box of the starving artist?

Was I signing up for a lifetime of internal pressure and resistance, only cured by creative pops, where I’d have a moment of relief before needing to create again? (Maybe…)

Did I even believe writing was a valid career to pursue, or did the back of my mind still believe it was a childlike dream and a fantasy of sorts.

I didn’t just claim “I am a writer” secretly to myself, just as I would have liked. My husband also started telling everyone I was a writer while I would aggressively blush and seek revenge at a later date.

I also internally claimed… “I am a paid writer. An honest writer. A “I’m having lots of fun” type of writer. A Creative and curious writer. An uplifting, optimistic and overall thriving type of writer. A mum writer.”

Eventually I needed to take an instagram hiatus and during that time I came here to write on Substack.

I joined Substack simply to read a friend of mines newsletter. I had just subscribed through her Instagram Link. I didn’t know there was even an app.

OCTOBER 29th 2022.

I then decided to start my own. I’d wait each day for my husband to finish working with the laptop (I have no idea why we still share a laptop… It feels like a self imposed impractical joke) then I’d jump on and start writing (Again, yet to find the app).

I had no idea how to navigate substack, how to meet new people here, I just thought it was an alternative to mailchimp. I had no email list, but it needs to be said that I had built a beautiful community and network of like hearted friends over on instagram over years and years of showing up there consistently and openly. When I logged off, some of them trusted me enough to come and read what I had to say here, while I wasn’t playing over there.

For transparency - out of my 40K “following” on instagram…

I would normally have between 1000-3000 people engaging on my account there, though more often than not I was restricted or shadow banned and it sat on average around 800-1200 views on stories a day. Sometimes less, sometimes more.

October 29 2022 - I started substack with a post here. I promoted it in my stories there - and it brought 613 free subscribers over to substack initially. I say “free subscribers” but honestly, they were my friends and community who had been supporting me for years on instagram.

My intention was to document while I was off instagram, stay connected because I couldn’t ‘not write’ … and build an email list because I had fear that my account there would be taken at some stage. I was, in the back of my mind, also trialing substack as a possible exit strategy from my mainstream social media “Career”.

October 29.

I did 5 free posts over two weeks to start giving people a taste of my writing style in long form.

November 12.

I tuned on a paid subscriber option at the two week mark.

For no reason other than I was curious. I didn’t assume it would turn into anything. I honestly would have just been happy to have a weekly coffee paid for when I went to a local cafe to write.

That would have been more than enough.

Or maybe have my publication pay for 90 min of my time minimum wage?

Which is so unlike me as I’m an advocate for $ and being paid well for our time and energy as artists.

But, because writing feels natural and like self care - I didn’t focus like that on the income. I just wanted to celebrate the fact I was writing in the first place and putting myself out there. I didn’t want the pressure to show up and write. I just wanted to play.

Just over one week after turning on paid, I had 1 paid subscribe and 6 on a free trial.

The little number 7 popping up. My heart skipped a beat.

I knew that 4 paid subscribers (not on trial) a month would cover my coffee once a week.

That was my first goal.

November 29

After my first month I went from 613 FREE subs to 741.

Two weeks later, exactly one month after turning on the paid option, I had 30 people existing within my paid community

and one month after that (Dec 29) it dropped back down to 22. This is important to note, because it’s really, really normal to fluctuate here. Almost all of us will.

I knew that 22 paid subscribers a month would pay me about $50 AUD a week, which had me feel like a two hour writing session a week and a coffee was being honoured in a financial exchange. Honestly I was over the moon and would absolutely still be writing (a little less) if I was still being paid $50 a week.

It’s important to recognise where things ARE working and growing. Maybe it’s subscribers, but maybe it’s your skillset, or ability to hold yourself when it all feels quiet. Maybe it’s learning the back end or your ability to show up and write.

February 29

My paid community was back up to 40 legends, it would grow, then drop down, grow then drop down and by a march it was down to 37.

Keep in mind, this whole time - I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was writing about topics that excited me within the realms of motherhood and life. No set “writers voice”. Mostly musings at the time (Sorry

Writers at Work with Sarah Fay

#nomusings).

My writing was inconsistent. I would publish maybe once every two or three weeks… on random days, at random times. I would share more vulnerably to my paid community because that’s what felt right. I was doing my best to do one paid post out of every 2-3 posts at this stage. I didn’t know about notes, or chat, and I felt super in the dark about how to create community on substack outside of those who were commenting on my posts (The real MVP’s).

Though I did notice that people were drawn to longer comments and so I’d engage back with more thought and heartfelt messages, and therefore building a stronger community and connections. This was incredibly nourishing and a far contrast to the emoji comments that instagrammers are accustomed to.

Once I got back on mainstream social media I believe in February 2023 after a few months off, I began sharing every post I’d publish on Substack - In my instagram stories in creative ways. This would absolutely bring readers over to my work, thankfully… (Think reels, stories with screenshots of my writing to give people an insight etc. I would contemplate doing a training on this if theres enough interest…)

I found Substack to be overwhelming for most, not due to the app itself, but moreso the thought of downloading and keeping up with another app. That was the resistance of many. I didn’t just want people to read my work in their email inbox, I wanted them to come be apart of the community… So I wanted to make it easier for them and began researching substack, and educating my Instagram community on what substack even is and help demystify it.

May 2

Which also happens to be my first sons 3rd birthday, I hit a personal goal of 50 paid subscribers

This had me LITERALLY happy dancing around the house and my heart swelling so big with pride telling Tully.

The irony was, in my past lives before my creative revolution, I was a relationship coach and it wasn’t uncommon to do 30k, 40k, 50k months.

But for some reason, this felt more special as a personal achievement. I felt blown away that people actually wanted to read my writing? I genuinely felt proud of myself and like I was devoted to something important to me.

The 8 months after starting, I had fallen pregnant, early miscarriage, fallen pregnant again with my second son, I had shared openly about these experiences (As I normally do) and then, on…

June 7

There were 100 people from around the world who had joined me as part of my paid community here. This gave me a little orange tick

I had no idea what the orange tick was, I simply got an email saying

And I jumped straight on google figuring out what a badge is. To me it’s less of a status symbol and more so an indication of the hours of building trust and community. It’s an element of social proof to newcomers to say “Hi, this writer is showing up here AND they’ve done it for long enough that people want to stay”.

I had 1538 free subs at this stage also. This all meant close to $900 AUD a month (BEFORE fees, substack takes 10% then card fees and stipe takes a percentage too, so unless I go through stripe and add up every individual payment, I wont know actual figures.)

In June, I think around early June, I got excited. I felt like maybe - just maybe, Substack could really “Be a thing”. I mean, I’m writing here anyway now. Whst if I went all in? I began researching.

I began watching youtube videos of how others had grown their substack, (before I found

Sparkle on Substack

and

Writers at Work with Sarah Fay

who made self study way more seamless)

I spent a LONG time in my back end, studying my own analytics, and noticing patterns of engagement etc. I knew I would always honour whatever was real for me - to write about, and always trust my curiosities and relevant important topics (ok, what I believed to be important and relevant based on my communities needs - which I would ask them!), Though I also noticed patterns in specific posts and it gave me great feedback as it was in the direction I wanted to take my writing anyway (Away from “musings” and more topic based. My community preferred writings around creativity, home and motherhood. Less so random thoughts living rent free in my head. Fair enough. I was more than willing to pivot slightly.

I went through all of the substack free resources about the platform.

I read the Grow interview series on

Substack

. I heard story after story about how people were making it work for themselves here as writers - but also creatives, with the introduction of podcasts, photographers, illustrators, coaches etc.

Substack Writers

Is great also!

I’m a big advocate for surrounding yourself with possibility and evidence that your dreams are possible. Maybe it’s a form of exposure therapy…

I truly believe it’s worth our time to get in proximity of those doing what we want to be doing and learn from them. I felt like I took myself through a private mentorship of sorts.

I offered a free zoom call to my instagram for anyone interested "substack chats replay" which has me cringing now, (I was a substack noob.) and will likely re-record as I understand the space better now… but at the time I was excited and just wanted to offer value to help it be easier for others to enjoy this space, and it was really well received.

I also wrote Cathedral library & a garden party which was a story of the hyperthetical world of substack. It was to paint the vision of whats possible here and give people a felt experience. (You’re welcome to use those resources for yourself or your community if you want, I know not everyone wants to put their face on the screen).

During this time I also discovered the community of Substack.

So, a whole 8 months into my Substack experience, I realised I could comment on peoples notes that I didn’t already know.

I didn’t realise that I could find new friends through notes, engage in other peoples conversations, and contribute myself in that way.

Community is my thing and I was overjoyed to be able to feel apart of something bigger on the app, outside of my own writing.

By finding writers similar to me, and engaging in their communities - not just in response to the author but ALSO responding to their community and having meaningful conversations in the comments and connecting with new people, I, firstly - felt a lot more emotionally connected here, then secondly - found that my Substack began generating up to 70% of all my new subscribers.

Instagram wasn’t the source of my community growth at all anymore, and I honestly felt LIBERATED that a platform could be so creatively nourishing and also ticked the connection box, and was growing like a little ecosystem.

*Begin fantasising about Instagram exit strategy again*.

My next personal goal was to make $500aud a week. It actually felt big, for some reason, to be paid that way for writing. It felt like a beautiful nod to my 19 yr old self working at a surf shop from 9-5, 3-5 days a week. That would roughly match that income. The surf shop job is the one I walked away from to become self employed at 20 and I had nothing to fall on, but complete trust that I’ll always be caught if I took a leap of faith. (See this post $100,000 intuitive hits )

I learned about Re-stacking, and basically invested time into re-stacking amazing writers I enjoyed. I found more and more, that as I developed as a writer and felt invested in the community here - people would also begin restacking my work too - and it felt so beautiful to be recognised in that way.

I also learned about recommendations and LOVE how Substack is a recommendation based platform. That through word of mouth, we each find and support each other. It feels wholesome and honest. It’s my preferred way to be found and I love connecting others to each other.

I began celebrating those who would take the time to recommend me, and I’d take the time to recommend others. I would fill out the little recommendation caption for each person and I loved the process of supporting each other in that way.

I genuinely believe it would be awfully lonely at “the top” (whatever that looks like for you) unless we share that journey with others. My mentality (and emotionality) is that if you win your game, we all win, and I’d MUCH rather all grow and thrive together, so that we can have epic celebrations when all reaching our personal goals and intentions. It feels so much more wholesome and I think that’s why I’m so passionate about community focused growth here and (*without taking too much responsibility for others journeys) (*personal mental note) doing our best to hold hands as we all expand into our Substack visions.

I started using the chat feature and really engaging my community in upcoming posts. I really, really enjoy getting feedback and feeling like my presence here was becoming more of a co-creation with my subscriber community too. I think it feels amazing to be able to contribute to other peoples creative processes, so I wanted those opportunities for those in my corner. Plus, my community there are all really expansive and creative and I so appreciate those perspectives.

In July

I offered 20% discounts on subscriptions for the first time, just for a week, with the intention that the month of August profits would be donated towards mothers in need of some support and nourishment. I had my second son right at the end of august, and we raised just over $1000 AUD in August to be able to gift. THAT to me honestly made things feel more expansive here. As a mother, I believe mother creatives should ABSOLUTELY be paid for their work - and to be able to create meaningful work that can give back to the community is the icing on the cake.

That money has so far gifted a handful of mothers events or therapy sessions to help process and deal with birth trauma, that then impacts their ability to show up for themselves and their children. Substack did that. We all did (You know who you are.)

THANK YOU

I would do my best to engage with other peoples publications, take the time each night to read a few posts with tea, and leave meaningful comments and start conversations. I’d almost always get back to comments left on my posts and really appreciated people going above and beyond with the types of comments they’d share. I find substack to be a lot more conducive to creating depth.

** Reminder, I didn’t start off with this amount of time investment, I started reading ONE friends post ONCE a month. I grew, alongside my substack.

It’s been a slow build as I became more emotionally invested in the home here.

I trusted my goal of $500 a week would happen, so I didn’t think about it too much, I just “Got into the garden, tended to the roots, appreciated flowers” and had fun here. I began noticing more natural momentum happening since reaching 100 paid subscribers.

It was a slow move up to 100, and then after… it began growing like a happy seed with sunshine, water and fertile soils.

My substack income doubled in three months and on September 22, 2023 I had the mentally soothing number of 222 people in my paid community here and reached my personal intention of $500 a week (Again, before Subby fees, card fees, stripe fees, and tax *sigh* ). HOWEVER my past 19 yr old self was doing a happy dance on the inside.

I felt like I was following along with about 10% of my free audience on substack would would choose to become apart of my paid community and become more intimate.

I would have honestly been happy with 5% haha but I’m grateful it’s been 10% as I believe that’s pretty standard for this sort of thing. Between 3-10%? Can anyone confirm?

I think it was about this time I became more committed to publishing weekly, though still on random days and sometimes I’d publish a couple of times in a week if the energy was there. It felt inconsistent even though I was writing more, and always at least once a week. I was a little attached to the identity of someone who just goes with the flow of creative surges. (Only later have I introduced a beautiful structure to hold my creativity better. I’ll share further down)

After a whole 9.5 months on Substack I (finally) for the first time, revisited my bio, redid my welcome emails and made some banners. This to me, felt like I was setting up the foundational fertile soils, ready to seed and grow into my next chapter with substack. It was all the BTS work, that felt incredibly important now.

In August 2023,

I pinned 3 or 4 of my top posts, that I was either most proud of or had been well received by all my Substack friends. Mostly free, though one or two paid. These are changed around regularly now, But I do encourage you having some of your favourite work pinned so it’s easier for new people landing to get an honest feel for what you offer here.

I would also put a post recap BEFORE putting in a paywall on my paid posts. That way when people received my email, they had a full rundown of the key points in the post and could then decide if they’d like to upgrade to paid. I don’t think “mystery” is enough for people to choose to come see what you’re writing about. Most want to know what they’re going to receive.

September 21

I Published Ways we reject the village (We say we want) which was well received here, restacked and enjoyed. It brought in 109 free subscribers, with 4 of those upgrading to paid.

I signed up as a paid subscriber for

Writers at Work with Sarah Fay

, and began her workshops.

Honestly, this last month I’ve really understood what substack has to offer. I realised how much of a professional platform it can be and that building a career here is just as valid as getting a publishing deal.

I realised how many different ways there are to use Substack, and how as a platform, it’s in their best interest to support writers - not ads, so the space feels a lot more slow and nourishing… less stimulating.

Doing Sarahs work, I learned more about offering some of my best works for free, and also getting a lot more clarity on my offerings and people I want to serve here. I feel like I also just had the light bulb moment of wanting to take this space more seriously (Of course, in a playful, lighthearted and explorative way).

My mindset has shifted from when I first begun on the platform from simply a place for me to document life while offline, into an opportunity to really cultivate community, share my work, feel connected, support others and slowly build a writing career I’m proud of.

I’ve really sat with who I want to write for (mother makers, mother creatives, mothers who are entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, writers, photographers, homemakers, intuitives, the self employed, creatively exploring in whatever form… alongside motherhood… and figuring out their own rhythm in that dance. I do believe Substack can be and is “for mothers” in many ways, and is incredible supportive of the mothering lifestyle).

I’ve gained clarity with welcoming in some healthy structure to hold my creative offerings here too, though trialling a schedule of an essay going out on a Wednesday, And Sundays looking like "Sundays are for mothers" Interview series, Mother Maker Cauldron and Guest Posts .

A handful of local Substackians (do we go there?) and I all met up on the weekend as our first meet up. It was a womens circle mixed with Substack chats - and we all loved it. Bringing the community together in the 3D not just online.

The vision is that a year from now there will be 50+ of us gathering, sharing ideas, collaborating etc. (If you’re close to South East QLD, Australia and want to come, let me know. These are monthly, Next one NOV 5TH x

Oct 5th

A friend

Sophie May

sent me a screenshot of my publication as number 20 on the leaderboard in the ART category. I was over the moon. This was thanks to my An open letter to mother creatives post. What she didn’t know was that it was a tiny little secret goal I set months and months prior. I had written that post with the intention to resonate with the hearts of my community here. I published it free because I wanted it to be shareable. I’m unsure if it would have done so well had it been a paywalled post.

Mid Oct

Officially booked myself in for a 1:1 with Sarah Fay as a gift to myself and initiate me into my second year on substack. Also to essentially have her audit my Substack and guide me into what’s next. (She’ll prob say, Kat, You gotta write less. I’ll look at her confused and say, Sarah, this IS my “less”. )

I also officially started my paywalled interview series for the mother makers called Sundays are for mothers. So far I can see these being received well also.

And that brings us to HERE!

So- as a little recap as to practical things I’ve done:

1. Consider identity as a creative.

2. Small tiny but meaningful goals.

3. Sharing to instagram often (Regardless of audience there. You never know who’s watching.)

4. Check my energy and make sure I’m having fun here. It can be felt.

5. Study analytics

6. Set up fertile grounds (Welcome emails, back end, set it up as if I had 10,000 subs already)

7. Community community community. Restack others, comment and engage, be apart of subconversations, celebrate and recommend.

8. Chat feature for more intimate community engagement. Ask them what they want.

9. Discounts when appropriate

10. Mainly paid posts (2/3 paid) (moving to 3/4 paid)

11. Be generous with free content.

12. Noticed a BIG difference when I became consistent and went from posting once every 2-3 weeks, to consistently weekly or more.

13. Pinned best posts.

14. Educated others on what substack was to demystify it.

15. Be active in notes, posting there mostly daily and interacting with other relevant notes. (Having fun).

16. Recommending others, monthly celebration post, a note with a shout out gratitude thread monthly.

17. Post insight/recap BEFORE the paywall.

18. Get in proximity with those who inspire you - go learn from those doing the thing and be committed to learning.

19. Celebrate yourself for all the little steps as they are actually the big steps. Happy dance every subscriber that gifts you their time (and email address).

20. Be clear on the bigger picture, then release the pressure and have fun.

Thank you for taking the time to read and digest!

I want to acknowledge that substack is typically a slow burn kind of love. I believe that to be incredibly healthy here. In a world where the focus is viral content and quick hits of dopamine, it’s good for us ALL to grow here intentionally.

Yes, posts that are about growing to 6 figures really fast are super inspiring (and have definitely inspired me). It’s important to hold those gently as an example of what’s possible rather than what’s needing to happen asap or using them as weapons of esteem destruction.

I see Substack as a long term relationship. The honeymoon phase is moving on, and I’m entering a time where I have to intentionally show up daily and work on what is here. Some days it will feel smooth. Other days, I may need to work on my communication skills. Some days feels a bit boring, so I’ll go to the beach and sit in my life, and come back with fresh eyes.

A long term relationship where I want to look back on this time years from now and whisper “Thank god I chose this” rather than reminiscing on a summer fling.

I will tend to it accordingly, with no rush. Just presence and meeting it where it’s at, while holding a vision for what’s to come.

THIS POST IS IN TWO PARTS:

PART TWO: A LIVE VIDEO QNA and REPLAY to answer any questions commented below or you’re welcome to jump on live and come hang out. This will be available to my paid community here in November.

So please, feel free to join the conversation below, and I’ll gather any questions for a live QNA Early November. Please let me know if you’re interested in simply coming to view but may not have a question yet, so I can get an idea on numbers and desire. The replay will be sent out within 24 hours. Upgrade to paid below ($2.25aud a week) to come xx