Just Getting Started - Learning from one year writing online
One year ago I started a journey - this is what I've learned along the way.
One year ago I started a journey.
It began as a little experiment following a YouTube video I watched by Ali Abdaal with the title “Why you need to start an email newsletter”.
He recommended starting on Substack.
I googled it.
Looked interesting and here we are. A year later I’m still going.
So, given this milestone, this week I’m going to dig into some of the lessons I’ve learned over the past year.
Have I ever missed a week?
What’s the best way you found to grow?
Who did I meet on the journey?
How many people read Never Stop Learning?
What’s your writing process? Oooo, good question!
How do you see it evolving in the future?
And, what is Never Stop Learning anyway!?
All great questions. Let’s dive in.
What is Never Stop Learning?
Ok, with all good writing let’s start with Why.
As I say above, I started Never Stop Learning as a bit of an experiment to see what the Substack platform was all about and whether it was really possible for someone without any experience of writing online to grow a newsletter. I’d watched all the YouTube videos about how writing online is a massive opportunity.
So, I decided I’d give it a go.
The next task was finding a subject to write about. Much of the advice, especially in the blogging space, is that you should look to niche down as much as possible to stand out. This is where I struggled.
How would I know if my niche was something I would enjoy writing about until I’d given it a go?
So, I went relatively broad with my category. The thought behind the title is around ensuring we all have a growth mindset and being open to new ideas. Hence my strap line which has survived the full year!
“Join me in learning how to take simple ideas and use them to improve your life.”
And then, around that I have three pillars or buckets of content that are important to me and areas where I feel I have expertise to share:
Mental Health
Personal Development and Productivity
Leadership
What’s your writing process?
My writing process has changed slightly over the course of the year but the basics have remained relatively stable.
I spend a maximum of three hours on each post. If I took any longer I would see that as encroachment into other areas of my life that would mean I was falling down elsewhere.
From the start I knew I had three hours available each week to spend on this.
Deciding on a title each week has been tricky in some weeks but easy in others. I have a bank of ideas that I scan through at the start of the week and see what gets me excited in that particular week.
Usually something jumps out.
However, in some weeks I’ll be reading an article or watching a video or just out on a run and an idea will come to me that I just have to write about. Sometimes this can happen after I’ve started the week’s post which is kind of annoying but you can always return to the other post in another week. Follow your energy. Those often are the best weeks.
After deciding on a title, the three hours break down into clear chunks:
Hour 1 is about getting some ideas down in bullet form or just writing whatever I’m thinking about on a particular subject. A steam of consciousness to some extent but at this stage it’s about writing something. After that I feel much better.
Hour 2 is about arranging and editing. Then, filling in any gaps. Possibly doing some research if it needs it at that point.
Hour 3 is then about the finishing touches. Adding photos, refining the title, adding recommendation links and proof reading. Don’t underestimate the final stage. It can make all the difference to the quality of the post. I think people notice that.
Have you ever missed a week?
If you look back across my archive and you will see I’ve never missed a week. I’m pretty proud of that but I did employ a few tricks to ensure that happened.
I’m happy to share those with you now.
Don’t get me wrong, most weeks are fine. But, there is always going to be the odd week where you were super busy at work, you were ill or just simply away on holiday.
Life happens.
In these situations there are a few things you can do:
Re use an old post. You can take a post from your early days when you had single digit subscribers and repost it with a few edits. And anyway, it’s a shame your current readers missed it!
Cross post a great article from a Substack you admire or enjoy. This is good way to build goodwill with other Substacks and foster that community.
Do a recommendation post brining other Substacks, YouTube videos or articles to the attention of your readers.
Write a best-of post. You can do a round up post of your best articles from the last few months.
So there’s lots you can do to keep the momentum going. No excuses really!
How many people read Never Stop Learning?
We currently sit at 445 subscribers. Thank you to every single one of you. It means a lot for you to allow me to send you an new email every week.
Most posts are now getting around 400 views but this continues to grow each week.
Who have I met on the journey?
Writing Never Stop Learning started off as quite a lonely experience. I was a little nervous about sharing my thoughts online so I didn’t immediately reach out to my friends and family and ask them to follow.
However, what I quickly learned was that you really cant do this alone and with the great tools within the
platform you will quickly connect with some amazing people.So this gives me the chance to thanks some of the people who have inspired and helped me along the way.
Firstly,
who writes . We have regularly shared ideas and progress while recommending each others Subtacks. who writes . Winston writes regularly about the trials and tribulations of writing online. He has provided inspiration in those moments when you think “what am I doing here?!”Here are some of the Substacks that I also enjoy reading:
by who covers a range of subjects that is always a great read. by often has some really interesting ideas on making money online. Some are a little out there but always an interesting read.And, in one of the newer Subtacks I recommend a look at
by .What’s the best way I’ve found to grow?
Ok, firstly, the best way to start is to write good content. Nothing else will work unless you have some solid writing to push out there. There has been a direct correlation between how happy I am with a post and the engagement.
Second, don’t worry about the likes, engagement or number of subscribers. You need write because you are doing something you enjoy writing.
If you don’t enjoy it then you wont continue with it long term and that wont get you anywhere.
Third, extend the hand of friendship to other writers. You can all grow and share together. You can do this through Recommendations, Substack Notes and Cross Posting articles from other Substacks.
Remember you are building a community and not a following. It’s a two way thing.
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Great post as always and I think you nailed everything for that can help someone else kick off.
This is a great post that will be very helpful for new writers to Substack. It's great how you outlined your process, right down to the difficulty with titles. I share that challenge in a big way, my brain always comes up with funky, nonsensical titles that I'd rather use and sometimes I have to remind myself that other readers will have no clue what I mean so I choose the 'boring' one!