9d • General discussion
From today’s Office Hours Re: Substack
Substack is actually one of the simplest ways to build an email list because your subscribers become both:
- Email subscribers (they receive your emails)
- Substack followers/readers (they can discover you on the platform)
Here’s how it works:
When someone subscribes
A reader enters their email address on your Substack page.
They are automatically added to your email list.
Every time you publish a post, you choose whether it:
- Goes out as an email
- Stays on your Substack page
- Both (most creators choose both)
Your subscribers belong to you
This is the part I like for your business.
You can:
- Export your email list anytime
- Download all subscriber emails
- Move them to another platform later (MailerLite, Kit, ConvertKit, etc.)
- Import existing subscribers from another platform
Unlike social media followers, you actually own the list.
Free vs Paid Subscribers
You can have:
Free subscribers
- Receive free newsletters
- Read public content
Paid subscribers
- Pay monthly or yearly
- Receive premium content
- Access private posts, chats, podcasts, workshops, etc.
Many creators do:
- Free newsletter
- Paid deeper content ($5–20/month)
Discovery is better than traditional email platforms
With MailerLite or ConvertKit, you have to find every subscriber yourself.
With Substack:
- Readers can discover you through recommendations
- Other Substack writers can recommend your newsletter
- People can share your posts inside the platform
- Your audience can grow organically
Think of it as:Email list + blog + social platform combined.
For your business specifically
I would not use Substack as your entire business platform.
I would use it as:
The Remembering Her Newsletter
- Weekly visibility lessons
- Shadow work reflections
- Golden Shadow stories
- “There She Is Again” essays
- Personal stories from your nursing journey and becoming visible
Then funnel readers into:
- Business Alchemy Lab
- Workshops
- Retreats
- 1:1 Shadow Coaching
- Your future app
A model I could see working for you
Free Newsletter
- Weekly “Remembering Her” letter
- Shadow work prompts
- Visibility insights
- Personal stories
Paid Substack ($11/month)
- Monthly live coaching call
- Deeper shadow work exercises
- Guided audio reflections
- Behind-the-scenes business lessons
- Archive of all premium content
This could become a recurring income stream while also feeding your higher-ticket offers.
For you, I actually think Substack has more potential than trying to revive a cold 200-person email list because people join expecting to read and engage, not just receive marketing emails.
The question I’d ask is:
Do you want Substack to be primarily:
- A newsletter that feeds Business Alchemy Lab?
- A paid community/membership?
- A public thought-leadership platform for “There She Is Again”?
Those are three very different growth strategies.
For a small business like Robyn Rich, I would not start by asking, “How do we get more Substack subscribers?”
I’d ask:
“Why would someone interrupt their day to read Robyn Rich every week?”
The biggest mistake businesses make on Substack is treating it like another email list. People subscribe to people, perspectives, stories, and transformation—not promotions.
Step 1: Find the newsletter’s “addiction factor”
Pick one:
- Industry insights nobody else is saying
- Founder stories and lessons learned
- Behind-the-scenes access
- Curated resources that save people time
- A specific transformation
Examples:
❌ “Robyn Rich Monthly Updates”
✅ “The Weekly Wealth Shift: What Smart Women Are Doing Differently Right Now”
✅ “Behind the Brand: Lessons Building a Business From the Ground Up”
✅ “The Hidden Cost of Playing Small”
The title should make someone think:
“I don’t want to miss next week’s email.”
Step 2: Create a signature weekly series
People subscribe to consistency.
Examples:
Monday
- One insight
Wednesday
- One story
Friday
- One practical tool
Or:
The Rich Reflection
Every Thursday:
- A story
- A lesson
- One question to journal on
Simple.
Predictable.
Easy to share.
Step 3: Use existing channels to drive subscribers
Most small businesses already have audiences hiding in plain sight.
Pull subscribers from:
- Existing email list
- Website
- Podcast appearances
- Speaking engagements
Don’t say:
“Subscribe to my newsletter.”
Say:
“Every Thursday I send one idea that helps women stop playing small with money, business, and visibility. Join 500+ readers.”
People subscribe for outcomes.
Step 4: Turn every post into a Substack teaser
Instead of posting complete content on social media:
Instagram Post
“Last week I realized the reason most women struggle with visibility isn’t confidence.
It’s grief.
I wrote about it in today’s newsletter.”
Link.
Done.
Step 5: Partner with complementary creators
This is where Substack shines.
Find 10–20 creators with similar audiences.
Not competitors.
Examples:
- Coaches
- Authors
- Wellness practitioners
- Entrepreneurs
- Financial educators
- Speakers
Do:
- Newsletter swaps
- Interviews
- Guest essays
- Recommendations
A recommendation from the right Substack can bring hundreds of subscribers.
Step 6: Create one irresistible freebie
Something tiny.
Not a 50-page ebook.
Examples:
- Visibility Archetype Quiz
- Wealth Blocks Assessment
- 5-Minute Business Audit
- The Hidden Shadow of Success Guide
The goal isn’t information.
The goal is getting the email.
Step 7: Use the “3-2-1” content ratio
For every newsletter:
3 insights2 stories1 invitation
Most businesses do:
- 1 insight
- 1 sales pitch
And wonder why nobody stays.
If Robyn Rich were your client…
I’d aim for:
First 90 Days
- Publish 2x weekly
- One signature series
- One lead magnet
- Four collaboration partners
- Weekly social media promotion
Goal:
- First 250–500 highly engaged subscribers
Then I’d introduce:
- Paid tier
- Community
- Workshops
- Products/services
The secret is that Substack growth usually doesn’t come from Substack itself.
It comes from becoming so consistently valuable that people start forwarding your emails to friends.
That’s when growth compounds.
For someone like you, this is exactly why “There She Is Again” has potential. It’s not just a newsletter. It’s a movement people can identify with and share. The same principle would apply to Robyn Rich: create something readers feel seen by, not something they simply consume.
Ohhhhh. This is actually much more interesting than a typical small business.
After looking through Robyn’s work, I don’t think her audience is subscribing because they want art updates.
They’re subscribing because of what the art represents. Her work is about being seen, connection, memory, identity, loneliness, emotion, story, and the symbolism of the eye. The art is simply the vessel.
That’s the difference.
What I would NOT do
❌ Monthly studio updates
❌ New work available
❌ Exhibition announcements
❌ “Here’s what I’m painting this week”
People don’t subscribe for that.
What I would do
Newsletter Name
The Seen
Which she already owns as a project.
Or
What the Eye Remembers
Or
Seen
Simple.
Elegant.
Memorable.
Best Freebie
“What Do Your Eyes Say?”
A short, beautiful PDF.
Not an art PDF.
Not a sales PDF.
A reflective experience.
Inside:
- What people notice first about eyes
- Why we seek eye contact
- What eyes reveal beyond words
- Reflection prompts
Questions like:
- When did you feel truly seen?
- Who sees you now?
- What part of yourself remains unseen?
- If your eyes could tell your story, what would they say?
At the end:
“Join The Seen for weekly reflections on art, memory, connection and what it means to truly see another human being.”
This is aligned with her entire body of work.
Even Better Freebie
I think this would outperform a PDF:
The Seen Project Companion Journal
7 days.
One prompt per day.
Very simple.
Day 1:“What do others see when they look at you?”
Day 2:“What do they miss?”
Day 3:“What have you hidden?”
Day 4:“Who taught you to hide it?”
Day 5:“What wants to be seen?”
Day 6:“What would happen if it was?”
Day 7:“Look in the mirror for one minute and write what you notice.”
This is deeply tied to her eye paintings and the anonymous eye project.
Content Pillars
Pillar 1: The Stories Behind the Eyes
This is gold.
Each week:
Show one eye.
Tell a story.
Not necessarily who the person is.
But what the eye evokes.
Example:
This eye reminds me of the people who carry grief quietly.
The ones who still smile.
The ones who answer “I’m fine.”
The ones who haven’t been asked the second question.
Pillar 2: The History of Seeing
She already references Georgian Lover’s Eyes.
Topics:
- Why Lover’s Eyes existed
- Secret messages in portraiture
- Memory and keepsakes
- Why humans collect objects
- The psychology of being observed
This audience would eat this up.
Pillar 3: Studio Reflections
Not:
“Here’s what I’m working on.”
Instead:
“This spoon belonged to someone.”
“This tin has scratches.”
“This object had a life before it reached me.”
She sees beauty in forgotten objects and memories.
That philosophy is the content.
Pillar 4: The Art of Being Seen
This is where the emotional connection happens.
Topics:
- Loneliness
- Connection
- Visibility
- Chronic illness
- Being misunderstood
- Human observation
Her story of living with chronic illness and isolation is incredibly compelling and directly informs her work.
The Real Lead Magnet
If I were consulting her, I’d build this:
“Submit Your Eye”
People upload a photo.
Join the newsletter.
Receive:
- Weekly updates from The Seen project
- Stories from participants
- Behind-the-scenes creation process
- Exhibition journey toward 2027
Because people don’t just subscribe.
They become part of the artwork.
And that is far more powerful than a downloadable PDF.
The strongest angle I see isn’t “buy my art.”
It’s:
“Help me create the world’s largest collection of anonymous human eyes and explore what it means to truly be seen.”
That’s a movement.
And movements grow newsletters.
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From today’s Office Hours Re: Substack
Leaderboard (30-day)
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