No.
And neither should you.
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Wait, you expected more meat on the bone?
OK, here goes…
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Recently everyone seems to be getting on Substack.
Weird, I thought.
After all, hasn’t Substack been around for a while?
Didn’t it already “blow up” around 5 years ago?
Hey, even I had a Substack once.
True story…
It was called “The Daily Jazz”, and my idea was to help the world learn about great jazz by posting a short newsletter every day about a classic recording and what made it great.
It went nowhere.
Why?
Because I didn’t keep it up.
Schoolboy error.
Anyway…
Seems like Substack is back.
And, for whatever reason, everyone in the online business world seems to have discovered Substack like you discover Jesus during tax season.
And so come the quesitons:
“Olly, should I start a Substack too?”
My reaction?
Meh.
Just… meh.
I don’t think it makes sense for virtually anyone reading this to start a Substack. And here’s why:
You’ve already got an email list. Focus on that instead.
One of the fundamental skills for online educators to learn about is building an email list.
It’s not particularly hard.
But it takes time.
And it’s “quality over quantity” all day long.
The idea of splitting your focus by building another email list makes no sense.
“But it’s a good idea to diversify from my email list!”
What?
Email lists don’t need diversifying.
Your traffic sources do.
“But you can get discovered on Substack!”
So, are you saying that Substack is your next big traffic play?
Alright.
Are you sure?
And do you really want to play the social butterfly game of jumping from one platform to the next, following the crowd and subjugating yourself to yet another algorithm?
Haven’t you learnt your lesson from the death of Twitter, the collapse of LinkedIn company pages, and the evaporation of large-scale SEO?
The truth is:
If your traffic depends on social algorithms, you’re never going to be able to sleep easy.
You can win big one year, but next year you’ll be right back to the start, like a New Year’s resolution in February.
There seems to be a corner of the internet that thinks that social media is the only way to grow a business.
I’ve literally had people ask:
“You don’t do social media? So where on Earth do you get your traffic from?”
I think it’s silly.
Use it, by all means.
But don’t rely on it and don’t make it your main thing.
Much better to find dependable, repeatable ways to grow your email list.
At the very least, favour long-form, evergreen searchable content – YouTube, blogs, books – that attract higher quality audience.
Even better:
If you can learn to use advertising, partnerships or referrals, you can exit the social media equation altogether and own your own algorithm.
And then the world looks like an altogether happier place.
Remember:
Renting your audience from someone else’s platform is always, always dumb.
Short-term thinking at best.
Fatal at worst.
If you think Substack is somehow different, and that you don’t run the risk of being shut down one day because you said the wrong thing about the political hot button topic of the day… you’re not thinking straight.
Heck, last I looked it was against their terms of service to sell your own products on your Substack.
That might have changed, but jeez… if this isn’t a gigantic reminder that you are NOT in control, I don’t know what is.
Look…
I’m not saying that Substack isn’t a good idea.
I don’t know.
I just think you should be asking different questions.
The basic principle is (and always will be):
Build an email list that you own, using a variety of dependable, high-quality traffic sources.
…stay focused, shut out FOMO, and for heaven’s sake avoid switching to a new platform every time there’s a buzz in the air.
Focus and fundamentals.
Wins every time.
Namaste,
Olly