I’ve had probably fifteen of you message me in the last month asking the same question.
- How do I monetize my Substack?
- How do I know when I should I turn on paid subscriptions?
- What’s the strategy?
At the exact same time, my own feed is flooded with people teaching exactly that, how to get your first paid subscribers, how to price your Substack. The Substack gold rush is officially on.
Here’s what I notice happening in your brain when you see that.
“Oh my gosh, this is it. This is the thing. I can write and people will pay me. This is what I’ve been waiting for!”
I get it. I really do AND I want to slow you down for a second before you follow the crowd into this one, because I’m not convinced it’s going to go the way you’re hoping.
I’ll be honest with you. I haven’t monetized my own Substack yet. I’ve got the paid subscription toggle sitting right there in my dashboard and I still haven’t flipped it. I’m close but still not quite there yet. I’ve sold over 4000 courses. I know how to build an offer, and I’m still sitting here doing exactly what I’m about to tell you to do, which is checking whether the foundation is actually built before I add weight to it.
So here’s what I’d ask you first.
Do You Already Have a Rhythm?
Are you already publishing free content on a regular rhythm? I don’t mean “I post when inspiration hits.” I mean an actual rhythm, one people can set a clock to. Paid subscribers don’t show up for a platform. They show up because they’ve been getting something valuable from you consistently, and they want more of it. If you don’t have that rhythm built yet, and you’re not sure you could keep it up on top of everything else you’re already carrying, you’re not ready to add a paid tier. You’re ready to build the free rhythm first.
Is This a Shiny Object to Avoid Something?
The second thing I want you to ask yourself: is this is a shiny object that is helping you avoid the very thing you know you need to do? The allure of passive income from people reading, watching, or listening to something you created is incredible. Some of you have tried this exact move before, on a different platform. Instagram was going to be the thing that was going to get you making more money. Then it was Facebook groups. Now there’s a new platform, and there’s a decent chance your brain is doing the same lap it always does, thinking this one might finally be the one that sends you the bank account and satisfied clients you dream of!
I have to be honest with you in that it’s typically not the platform. If you struggled to get clients from posting on social media, or meeting people at networking events where you’re sharing what you do, moving to Substack isn’t going to magically fix what’s broken. You’ve got an offer clarity problem or a confidence problem, and it’s possible it’s BOTH. A new platform doesn’t fix either one of those. You’re just moving the marbles around on the table.
Who’s Actually Teaching You This, and Why?
The third thing I want you to consider (and this is the one that actually annoys me a little) is this: a lot of the people teaching you how to monetize Substack right now are doing it because teaching you how to monetize Substack IS their business model. Their whole offer is “I’ll show you how to do this one specific tactic.” Which means they’re not particularly invested in whether it fits your actual strategy. They’re invested in you buying the course.
There will always be someone willing to take your money to teach you how to do a thing that only works once you already have the foundation underneath it. That doesn’t make them bad people. It means it’s not their job to tell you you’re not ready yet. That’s my job, apparently 😂!
The Boring Questions Win
So before you turn on paid subscriptions because everyone else is talking about it, ask yourself the boring questions first. Do you have a rhythm? Is your offer actually clear, and is this decision coming from strategy, or from watching everyone else move and not wanting to be left behind?
Substack isn’t going anywhere. It’ll still be there once you’ve built the thing that makes it work.
xo, Krista
