#248: Substack For Coaches: My Honest Take After 30 Days

Everyone is telling you to get on Substack. Gary Vee. The big-name coaches. All of them.

But should you?

Here's the thing. Most coaches hear "get on Substack" and think it's the answer to getting clients. It's not.

Substack is a place to get found. That's it. It's not where you keep people. It's where they meet you.

I spent 30 days on it. This episode is what I learned.

You'll hear why there's no algorithm fighting you like on Instagram. 

Why you don't really own your Substack list (and where to send people so you don't lose them). 

And the one mistake that keeps coaches busy, liked, and still broke.

About the host:

Michelle Kuei is a business and marketing coach for coaches. She helps women coaches across all niches stop chasing clients and start attracting them using her Client Enrollment Method. She's the founder of Elevate LifeCoaching, the creator of Coaching Biz Builder, and the host of the Make It Visible podcast.

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Transcript

Substack Buzz And Episode Setup

Michelle Kuei 0:00

Everyone is talking about Substacks right now. Even Gary V had a video that was released about a week ago, and he was talking about how everyone needs to be on Substack. And when you look around in the coaching industry, there's a lot of coaches or people who are making eight figure, seven-figure coaching business. They're all encouraging people to go and check out Substacks. So let's talk about what Substack is and whether or not you should or should not be on it. And I'm gonna tell you my experience of what I have learned from Substack in the last 30 days. So let's get right into it. Hey coach, welcome back to Make It Visible Podcast. I'm Michelle Kwei, business and marketing coach for coaches. And if you're new here, I teach coaches how to build a coaching business and get their first and next paying clients. You became a coach because you are good at this. Really good. And the world needs what you have. But being a great coach and knowing how to build a coaching business, well, those are two complete different skill sets. That's what we fix here on this podcast. Every week I'm breaking down the what stops you from being visible in front of your audience, giving you simple marketing strategies that works, and showing you exactly how to show up so the right client feels like, well, you're already reading their mind. If you're ready to start building your coaching business that pays you back, grab a drink and let's get into it.

Why No Algorithm Feels Better

Michelle Kuei 1:38

So everybody and their mother is telling you to start SubSet right now. They're all telling you that, hey, Subset is great because it's a platform where there is no algorithms. The social media platform doesn't decide for you whether or not your content is getting seen. And that was one of the biggest drawbacks from being um Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn. Because when these hot topics happened, it was during the time when Twitter became X. And if you recall, there was a lot of like politics, people deciding your content, your opinion get shared or not get shared. So that was the whole reason for what makes SubSec so attractive. Because there's no one deciding what your content is getting seen by whom. So a lot of writers started on SubSec because it's a great platform. So if you're a writer, it's great. Being on uh SubSec, you can publish, it's like a blog and newsletter. So you publish newsletter, and your follower or your subscriber will get a copy of that newsletter that you publish on SubStack in their inbox. There's email that's tied to the newsletter that you publish on SubSec, which is becoming more attractive and it's a great way of marketing your coaching business. So you started to see a lot of coaches, seven-figure or eight-figure coaches starting leveraging that platform to build their coaching business because now the algorithm doesn't decide who their content is going to be seen

Interest Based Feeds And Message Clarity

Michelle Kuei 3:14

by who. Now, on the other hand, when you are on Facebook or LinkedIn or Instagram, a lot of how your content is getting seen and found is interest-based. So if someone, let's say your prospect decided to look up what is imposter syndrome, then suddenly imposter syndrome is a topic of interest for your prospect. So all these topics about imposter syndrome is suddenly going to show up on your prospect's social media platforms and also their email. Now, if they come across your topic, your content of imposter syndrome, then you bet there's a good chance that they're also seeing your competitors' content on imposter syndrome. So you get this fighting and back and forth attention to grab that prospect who's interested in the imposter syndrome. So your message needs to stand out, your message needs to be on point, which is why I keep telling all my clients that your message needs to be on point. Otherwise, you're fighting against all these other competitors and messaging. And if their message is more on point than you are, guess where their prospect is going to go? They're going to go to the coaches who have their messaging all clear. And that's been a constant battle for anyone who's in this coaching industry to build coaching business. Because all these platforms are interest-based. So you are essentially fighting the tension of that prospect against all these competitors, which makes subsex a great attraction because now that since there's no algorithm, the subscriber subscribed to you is always going to be subscribing to you. Maybe there's other content that comes around that this person is interested to subscribe. So that person may end up subscribing to all these different coaches who talk about the same thing. But now you don't have to fight against their content because it's based on what they put out and what your prospect wants and whether he or she will subscribe to the content that she comes across. So the algorithm intentionally showing your content to a certain individual, maybe because that person has a bigger account and you have a smaller account, there's none of that anymore. This is why it is big. It's over the so the data came from months ago or maybe years. And so you can imagine now that more and more people are talking about it, the number probably have grew tremendously. But there's about 5 million pay subscription on Substack and around 50 million active subscriber total. So that's near nearly a hundred thousand publication right now, and that's where the money is. And that's why a lot of coaches firmly believe that you need to spend a lot of energy or more energy on Substacks and any of the social media platforms.

Substack Is Not The Destination

Michelle Kuei 6:10

It's great, it's fantastic, but here's my take on it. Substack is a free discovery engine right now, and you can spend all your time on Substack. You can make the announcement on Instagram and say, hey, I am leaving Instagram, or you can do the same on Facebook. You can make a public announcement about how you're leaving Instagram or you're leaving Facebook or you're leaving everywhere else and going to Substack. At the end of the day, I want you to think about what's happening. And the platform is still, whether you like it or not, it's still a social media platform. Substack is it's one of the discovery channels that you put your business in, and it is not the ultimate destination where you'll keep your subscriber or client on. Yes, there is a lot of potential that you can do with the platform, but at the end of the day, it's a discovery channel. It's a place where your brand new audience, they're going to find you. But the only advantage of it is that you're not begging and fighting attention against anyone. Your message needs to still be on point in order for you to be discovered. So that's the opportunity that I want you to think about is that if you don't love creating shorts, creating videos, and thinking about what do I need to put out as my reel and constantly having these creative ideas, then I want you to think about SubSat as a potential place where you can create a long form content.

One Long Post Then Repurpose

Michelle Kuei 7:51

So when you use it as what is intended for you to do, then what you have essentially done is creating an ecosystem where you create that one, and I've been using this across all social media platforms, not just on Subsect. So the last 30 days that I have been on Subsect, I continue to create long form content, which will allow me to repurpose to my short form content, which are the real, the social media posts, and maybe even an email that I'm going to send out. So it's a great way for me to create one long piece of content, just once. And it could be a podcast episode like this. So if you are into creating podcasts, you could create podcasts. If you like video, you can also do video. Basically, you want to treat subsect almost like it's a blog that you own and repurpose all the content multiple times: the email, the LinkedIn post, the clips. So it allows you to streamline the time that you spend to create shorter, more impulsive videos that you put out on Instagram. And one of the other reasons why coaches find this very attractive is because now instead of thinking about what real do I create every single time, I just need to focus on one platform and do well on that platform, providing resource, and that people would discover me. Which is a great point. And that was a whole discovery engine that it serves its purpose. But you gotta think about, okay, so now that people are discovering me, what do I want to do with them? So earlier I told you about how it is a social media platform, meaning you don't own that platform. And if you are so into creating content and you have no idea of where to back up and how to back it up, then God forbid, one day when the platform decided to charge a membership from you in order to be on that platform, or if suddenly something happened to that platform and it changes and you no longer have control of what's going to happen to your content that you have put onto that platform. So, in other words, you still want to have something that you own that you have full control of in order for this big child discovery engine

Own Your Audience Outside Substack

Michelle Kuei 10:25

to work. So here's my thinking, and here's my process. So the way that I'm using SubSec is the same way that regardless of what platform I'm on, I would create one piece of long-form content to publish on SubSec, and then I would repurpose it in multiple different ways: email, social media, posts, or maybe it's a real. And everywhere I go, no matter which platform I'm on, I'm going to drive the traffic back into my business. So I would have a link to a lead magnet, or maybe I would encourage someone to download stuff. Or maybe it would be inviting someone to come in and join me inside my Facebook group. So I always want to bring the traffic and direct the traffic into something that I can control. So instead of creating content all the time and just leave it there and hanging there, there is actually a purpose that I'm using my content for to drive the traffic into my business. So again, you want to think about Substack as a discovery channel, as a discovery engine. And at the end of the discovery, you need to take your audience to somewhere that you have control of. And honestly, yes, you could have subscriber and you could use the email function in Substack. However, if the platform doesn't exist, neither will your email list. So the way that you want to think about it is what is your ultimate goal for publishing content? If you're publishing content because you simply just want to be helpful, then you wouldn't have to think about whether or not I need to own the email list that I have collected on Substack. However, if your ultimate goal is to actually grow your coaching business and use Substacks as one of the ways that you are creating visibility, then you want to think about where my clients or where my prospects need to go in order for them to stay in my world. And honestly, I don't see any other way except the email list

Align Content With Your Paid Offer

Michelle Kuei 12:31

that you have. Now, the second thing that I think is important for a lot of coaches to think about before they jump into Substack is that no matter which platform that you are on, you want to make sure that your core message needs to be aligned. Which means that every piece of your content needs to carry the same message. And you want to make sure that every piece of your content carries the same message that will drive the traffic into your signature coaching package. Otherwise, you just have a great message, very inspirational, but no paying clients. Someone discover you, they discover what your core message is, and that core message is leading to your coaching offer. So until you have those clear, I would not recommend that you abandon Instagram or Facebook and just dive all in onto Substacks. How I would use it again is it's a discovery channel. So creating long-form content that allows you to repurpose into short form content, which allows you to post on Instagram or Facebook. So you're not losing any visibility on any of the platform. Plus, you have a specific goal that you're driving your traffic to. Changing a different platform and using the same strategy, it's not going to lead you anywhere. It's just another address and that's going to add to your to-do

Listener Prompt And How To Work

Michelle Kuei 13:57

list. So I want you to comment down below and let me know have you been thinking about moving to Substack? And if so, how is that working out for you? Thank you for listening to Make It Visible Podcast. If you love this episode and want deeper support for your coaching business, head over to elevate lifecoaching.org and see how we can partner together to turn your passion into a profitable business. I help female coaches launch and scale their coaching business faster than ever without wasting time and money, filling the gaps in your marketing strategies, creating a simple and easy to follow system so you can accelerate on the path of coaching business that you love to wake up to. Head over to elevateelifecoaching.org and grab a free strategy out of it today.