I did it! 1,000 paid subscribers on my Substack. 1,147 as I write this, to be exact:
And I added more than $10k in ARR to my Substack in the last 30 days. It’s the first month to cash out $10k from paid subscriptions only. It’s now a $50k/year recurring revenue paid newsletter - that’s only from paid subscriptions.
And $240k/year in total when I add all of the other sales I make. It’s now a six-figure business I run entirely on the side of my 9-5 job.
I finally reached the next Bestseller level and got my orange badge.
And I sooooo love how it looks on my profile.
But I honestly thought this would take me much much longer…That’s what the data said for months. If you look at the chart above you’ll see it.
My estimations showed a minimum of 3 years (if not more) to reach 1,000 paid members. It depressed me every time I did that estimation.
With every churned subscriber this period became longer and longer…
Until I wrapped up my scaling strategy, implemented in April this year and voila!
Things happen when you make them happen.
Now. This might look like a huge success.
You might think it’s easy for me, but not for most people - after all, I do product, sales and marketing at work. I’ve been in telecom 15+ years, so I know the ins and outs of a paid membership business.
Easy?
It’s not.
It took me almost two years to get here.
Two years of doing all sorts of things wrong before doing a few things right.
So before you even think about scrolling past this as another “look at my numbers” post (I know, I know I have a lot of them), stay with me on this one, because the beginning of this story probably looks a lot like where you are right now.
So tell me, I’m curious:
How it all started
I started with zero external audience.
No huge email list, zero followers, not famous on the TV.
My social media accounts barely have 500 followers now. Back then they didn’t exist. I never fixed that part, I didn’t want to. Just the thought of it made me frustrated.
And it turned out I never needed to.
I had zero experience in online writing.
Just my boring corporate style, absolutely no one wanted to read. 15+ years in product and marketing, and every draft still sounded like an internal memo.
Correct, structured, and plain boring.
I barely knew how to use AI.
I learned everything on the go.
And it was all messy.
I probably changed my about page and welcome emails that were supposed to sell more than 10 times. Every version felt like THE one. Until I saw the stats and decided it’s not working. Again.
My Notes barely passed 20 likes, for months. Months, not weeks. I wrote something I was proud of, posted it, and watched it flop while someone else’s two-line note exploded.
At some point I almost quit.
I actually wanted to quit every time my growth charts flattened as I watched others explode, but somehow pushed though it.
Lesson learned: Compare yourself with yourself from yesterday, not with someone 10 steps ahead. It will only distract you from the right path.
I almost did quit one time. It was the month after I hit 100 paid subscribers and after the promotion I did to celebrate, growth slowed down. At the same time I had a very intense 2 weeks on my job - had to prepare and present a strategy to the executive board of the group for 6 countries in our footprint.
They tear you apart on those meetings, and for a good reason - after all I was aiming to set their targets. So I had to prepare.
You can guess - I had zero time to write or answer comments or engage. Even though I managed to at least post a bunch of things, just for the sake of posting.
And I can tell you, this never works.
Lesson learned: Content doesn’t build a business unless you design it to do so. You have to post intentionally. Every post needs a purpose - mostly to convert, but also to help your people. Not just say “hi”.
And so it hit me…
The wall that every new writer faces.
“It doesn’t work for me” I thought.
“I have my job, I can quit”
But that’s a lie. An excuse most people tell themselves.
You’ll never be free on a salary designed to be intentionally low. Just enough to cover your monthly expenses, but never enough to build financial freedom.
It’s a false feeling of “security”.
As you grow older you’ll see it more clearly.
Corporations want slaves they can control more easily. People with families and huge debt, who have no choice but to work for a salary that barely covers it. And comply with stupid “internal policies” that literally tell you they own you.
You have to report if you do something on the side, sometimes it’s even considered a conflict of interest. You can find all sorts of fancy words in your employment contract.
But this is your life.
You don’t owe anything to anyone.
You should use your salary to build something on your own. Not just consume it.
I knew that.
So I didn’t quit.
I also didn’t quit because I saw progress. People were engaging, my conversion rate was above average, I got my first viral Note in that very same month.
Lesson learned: When you think of quitting, focus on the small wins you already have. Acknowledge the progress, don’t think how far away are you from your goal. You’re one step closer than yesterday.
So I kept pushing.
I kept looking for the way to make this work for me.
Even when it felt impossible.
Even when I had to write at night.
Even when I had to skip dinner.
Even with my dog begging to take her out for a walk.
Because it’s f*cking hard to build a paid newsletter after a full day of work. Nobody says that part out loud.
Everyone shows you the badge, nobody shows you the 11pm drafts that never met the public.
I just kept pushing.
Until I finally figured it out.
And I built a paid newsletter that converted at above-average rates, brought me to consistent $5k/months and I finally saw exactly how I could scale it.
And so I did.
If you’re curious, it’s quite simple to scale - you just need to figure how to get more new subscribers and the ways are only two - organically or paid ads. I did both.
I described in these two how I did the organic part:
how to write posts intentionally to grow subscribers
how to engage intentionally to grow subscribers
And so I started growing with 100+ paid subscribers per month. Making $20k a month in total revenue.
I broke down a full month of that, number by number, here:
But his post is for the part before the scaling.
Because you can easily scale something that works. The hard part is to make it work.
The ONLY 3 things that grow your paid subscribers on Substack
And it all boils down to three things:
1. Make sure you grow new subscribers.
This is where I see most writers stuck: they publish good posts to the same 200 people and wonder why nothing moves. Your posts or Notes don’t grow your list, your new subscribers do.
If Notes and posts don’t work, you focus to make them work. Do something differently. Experiment.
What worked for others might not work for you, but the opposite is also valid. So don’t always listen to what others say. Experiment.
Notes are Substack’s built-in growth engine, and most writers use them like a diary instead of a doorway. I use them as data points.
Here’s my latest analysis with 5 templates that WILL bring you subscribers:
Don’t stop with Notes.
Collaborate, grow your recommendations, engage with others - stay active on the platform. Unlike social media, Substack grows you a real asset - an email list you own. Take advantage of it.
Here’s my engagement protocol again:
2. Make sure you convert them to buyers.
One of the biggest pains of most Substackers - convert to paid.
Free subscribers convert when your content shows them what the paid side does for them. You don’t have to hard sell, just show them the next step and tell them what problem it solves.
The key here is that you have to sell.
I know you might not like the word, so you can call it whichever word you want - ask, offer, promote - but the truth is you have to SELL.
And you have to do it FAST.
Why?
Because (as I said above) when someone joins your list they’re most likely to convert within the first 30 days. That is where my free-to-paid automation came to play.
Running promotions on top of paid content, community, engagement and Notes was way too much for me, so I automated it.
Now 50% of my paid members come from that automation. In this guest post I explained exactly how you can implement it, and you have the templates in the QUEST LABS here:
3. Make sure you show up for your buyers.
The part everyone skips.
Retention. Retention. Retention.
That’s the name of the game with paid subscriptions.
That’s how you keep them paying.
If you overlook it when you start (which is completely normal for all newbies), you’ll face it hard at month 12 (if not earlier).
What works really well to keep them paying is this (and that’s also why I say you have to start with retention):
create a strong paid membership that solves a recurring problem
make that solution tangible - give them tools, templates, workbooks, chat sheets, you get the idea
create a community around that solution - this creates a sense of belonging. It’s in our human DNA - people might leave you but they won’t leave the group they belong to.
Your paid subscribers didn’t buy your archive, they bought YOU showing up regularly.
Answer their questions. Look at their Substacks. Give them the next step when they’re stuck. My churn stays low because my paid subscribers get me, not just my PDFs and courses.
How long did it take? (the question I get most)
From launch to the orange badge? 23 months exactly.
From launch to scaling readiness? 19 months exactly.
See, it’s not about the number.
It can be much faster - if you’re full time on this, if you get a crazy viral post or Note, if you figure how to get external traffic - social media or SEO or both or even paid ads. I did none of that in the beginning.
But it can be also much longer - three years, five maybe, never?
Most people never get there.
Because it’s all about WHAT you do to make it work, how fast you implement, and what decisions you make.
It’s true that I have decades of experience from my 9-5 so I do this almost intuitively.
But now anyone can do it.
Because I added ALL of it in the QUEST.
And people who implement it see real results:
The QUEST goes LIVE
In September I’m starting QUEST Lives - the next chapter of the QUEST program.
Live group sessions for VIP Members only where we work through the QUEST together, on real Substacks. I’ll share more details very soon.
For now just know that my V.I.P. membership becomes my group coaching, and so the price will rise with it.
Here’s everything a V.I.P. member gets:
full access to the Quest, including bonus courses that are for VIPs only
full access to the Viral Notes Writer system - some videos are for VIPs only
full access to the Quest Labs - some videos are for VIPs only
full access to all of my growth content, including the Write2Sell column
full access to all of my AI tools - some are for VIPs only
full access to the growth challenges - for Notes and Posts, monthly
VIP member benefits:
a video review of your Substack from me, per year
30-minute call and a 60-minute additional call with me, per year
access to me in the Substack chat - you can DM me for Substack help anytime
access to me in WhatsApp / Signal app - you get my mobile and if you need we can talk on a phone call
access to the Unplugged community chat on Substack
I build a personalized custom GPT or a Claude skill that writes like you (or teach you how to do it)
the QUEST VIP experience - I can be your sparring partner
[NEW] the QUEST LIVES - starting in September, we meet in Zoom to optimize Substack for high conversion rate
monthly live Mastermind calls with all VIPs
private WhatsApp group with all VIPs
be the first to know what I’m launching next
Join as a V.I.P. member before the price goes up here:
I can’t wait to see you inside!
Yana
P.S. If you want to take the fastest route to a high converting Substack that brings you consistent revenue, this is where it starts.