How to start a Substack (the real steps).

Pick a topic you could talk about every day, post like a human, and test your niche before you spend months on it.

Most people start a Substack the wrong way.

They show up as a business. They post advice. And nobody follows.

Substack wants your humanness first. Advice comes second.

Want the whole system now? Here’s where I wrote it all down.

I tell stories. This is what I did, where I failed, what I figured out, and where it got me. Soul first. Then strategy.

Here are the real steps I’d follow:

1. Pick one topic you could talk about every single day. If you can’t, it’s the wrong topic.
2. Search Substack’s explore page for your niche. See what already exists.
3. Find three publications already winning in it. Real subscriber counts, not just activity. Can’t find three? Don’t do it on Substack.
4. Post three short Notes a day. Morning, noon and night. Keep what gets traction, delete what doesn’t.
5. Write one or two full articles a week. That’s where the story and the strategy come together.
6. Turn on paid subscriptions the day you get your first free subscriber. You can’t collect what you don’t offer.

That’s the whole formula.

Notes drive followers. Followers become free subscribers. Free subscribers become paid ones.

Here’s a little story about how well that works.

I was stuck at 97 paid subscribers. I needed 100 for the Bestseller badge. Someone would leave, someone would join. Up and down.

So I emailed only my free subscribers. I told them the truth: I’m a few people away from Bestseller, and if you upgrade by Friday, I’ll send you the Substack 101 guide free.

15 people upgraded. I hit Bestseller four months after my first paid subscriber.

That’s one piece of it. I run 22 income streams on my own, after 40, and I wrote down every one of them, step by step, so you can pick the one or two that fit you and stack them.

Pick your topic.

Find your three models. Start posting.

Lori

P.S. Substack is one of my 22 streams. Here’s the whole playbook.

Earnings disclaimer: Any income or results I share are my own and are not typical. Your results will depend on your effort, experience, niche and the market. Nothing here is a promise or guarantee that you’ll make money.