It was December 2024.
Four months after I went all in on Substack.
One month after I became a Bestseller.
And the exact same time when I got stuck.
My paid subscriber growth flattened.
My new subscribers growth was stable on 300 per month and not increasing.
No matter what I did, it was not increasing.
Everyone was going viral on Substack Notes.
I wasn't.
I felt I was falling behind.
Except I had so much knowledge about AI and technology that it felt so frustrating to not be able to put it to work for my growth.
People say I'm a nerd and I love it.
I'm obsessed with data, AI and automation so much that I'm about to graduate as a full-stack Python programmer. I just had to utilize that for my growth.
And so I did, hands-on, all in again, this time on AI and automations.
And so in January 2025, I implemented an automation between Substack and Kit, which helped me start selling my paid subscriptions again, this time on autopilot.
No need to run promotions anymore.
This doubled my paid subscribers' growth rate:
I didn't have to think about promotions or how to sell more of my paid subscription. I outsourced that to automations so I could finally focus on delivering great value to my paid members and work with clients.
In February, I upgraded my custom GPT, the notes writer with hundreds of viral notes data and implemented a new content strategy. It tripled my new subscribers growth with multiple viral notes and tons of highly engaging ones, which by the way are more important:
By May, I was ready with an automation powered by AI agents that takes my Substack post, turns it into multiple social media posts adapted for each platform, and posts it automatically.
By July, I was ready with my professional-looking AI clone with my real voice and my real face that allowed me to create multiple video content formats in minutes, like the one you're watching right now.
All done in minutes, no shooting with a camera, no recording of my voice, no complex video editing.
Not anymore.
Think YouTube videos, Instagram reels, Facebook stories, paid ads.
Yes, paid ads too.
Substack is technically not very friendly to paid advertising.
Landing pages suck.
And the tracking is kinda limited and the subscriber flow is not optimized for high conversion from external sources.
But in September, I finally found the key elements I needed to fix in order to start growing with paid ads.
I only gained a couple of hundred subs ever since I started testing back in December (I used low budgets), but look at the conversion rates!
They're pretty decent.
So now I have the complete foundations to scale. I have fixed free subscribers growth, both organic and paid.
I have fixed the paid subscriber growth.
Both conversion and retention.
I have automated social media and video creation.
I'm set to scale.
Oh, and in the meantime, I've built an army of AI agents, custom GPTs helping me with time-consuming tasks.
I call them my minions.
And this is exactly what I'm about to show you in the QUEST LABS!
This took me months to build, but you don't have to invest that time.
It's all in the labs now, ready for you to implement.
It's the AI and automation's hands-on extension of the one and only Substack Quest.
You'll find all of the settings explained step by step, with templates for you to plug and play, also with all of my minions.
Plus, all of the AI training data files, I reveal these for the first time, just in case you want to play around and build some agents for yourself.
So here’s how to join the QUEST LABS:
What’s included?
We’re gonna have 6 sessions till the end of November - every session will be followed by Q&As and a live hands-on call with you (optional, read below).
And here’s what I’ve prepared for you in the training videos:
Sell on autopilot - Import Substack subscribers -> Kit and build nurturing & sales automations - so that you sell on autopilot. Plus all the templates to plug and play.
Grow on autopilot - Social media automation with AI agents turn your Substack Notes / posts / emails into:
Social media posts and automatically post them on social media (so that you grow beyond Substack)
Talking head YouTube videos & Shorts (you can post these to TikTok as well) using AI to clone yourself and your voice, professionally (so that you enable another monetization source)
Build your own custom GPT, so that you write 99% human content without worrying too much about prompting. We cover: long form (posts), short form (Notes), sales emails, CTAs, Titles, and anything else you ask.
Turn AI into your strategy & implementation advisor - in two options:
Use standard AI - a set of prompts for each domain of SUBSTACK QUEST + how to use them, and
Use my brand-new custom GPT, trained on everything in the QUEST. We'll cover: positioning, building products, pricing, growth, and sales tactics.
Create a professional-looking video course with AI without the need to record yourself talking in front of a camera.
Build a paid advertising funnel that feeds your growth beyond the limitations of organic content creation.
How much is it?
It’s included in your paid subscription (as always). No extra charges.
When does the QUEST LABS start?
We start next week, BUT! It’s gonna be
How long it takes?
I’ve structured it to finish by the end of November 2025.
What’s the schedule?
I structured the LABS this way:
→ I’ll deliver a weekly training video as a recording only, hands-on with all templates you need.
→ I’ll then start a Q&A chat thread with Q&A valid for a week, where we discuss and I help you with implementation.
→ ONLY if there are a lot of questions and/or you want me to, I’ll schedule a live Q&A & Hands-On Zoom call - NOT ONLY to answer your questions, but also to DO IT WITH YOU hands-on. We’ll decide in the chat together.
I decided to structure it this way because of a few reasons:
The time differences - because of my 9-5 I can’t make it in two sessions in order to cover all of you, and one is not enough.
I know that each and every one of you is not on the same pace. Some of you haven’t even launched a Substack, and some are still on the SUBSTACK QUEST.
But I hear you, and that’s why I added the live Q&A & Hands-On option - that’s only if you need it. We’ll decide in each chat.
I see you inside!
Yana
P.S. The most committed of my paid members who use it report similar results:
