Welcome to the seventh episode of my Ask Me Anything podcast.
Today we’re gonna talk about all things business, Substack Notes, selling and growth.
Every month I collect pressing questions about growing and monetizing a newsletter on Substack, and I answer them here.
If you want to have your question answered, reach out to me in the chat or send me an email.
So let’s do this.
Here are the questions for today:
What was the real reason you decided to become a solopreneur — was there a defining moment or breaking point?
How did you decide what kind of business to start, and did you feel “ready” when you started?
What surprised you most in the first 6 months of building your business?
How do you turn the Substack button pink?
Which one do you prefer: substack subscription or affiliate network?
How do you sell when you have no clue what you have to offer?
If I shouldn’t sell on Notes, how to promote my writing?
I’m interested to know what your free to paid ratio recommendation is here on Substack.
What if I sell but no one buys?
I have tried Notes but fail to get subscribers.
And here are the answers in case you want to read:
Question 1: What was the real reason you decided to become a solopreneur — was there a defining moment or breaking point?
The real reason?
I just wanted something that was mine.
I’ve been chasing that since 2010.
Tried everything—FX trading, crypto, NFTs, dropshipping, self-publishing, ads, affiliates, design, photography.
Some worked. Most demanded more time than I had.
Then I found writing.
And specifically, newsletters.
It’s the only model that checks all the boxes—low overhead, high scalability, personal, creative, and independent.
And now, with AI and automation, it’s not just sustainable, but it’s powerful.
Just me, my words, and the people who choose to read them.
Question 2: How did you decide what kind of business to start, and did you feel “ready” when you started?
I didn’t start with passion. I started with math.
I had a 9–5 and five non-negotiables:
1. Less than two hours a day.
2. Scalable to millions.
3. High margin.
4. Almost no stakeholders.
5. A product no one could easily copy.
I ran every idea through that filter. Only one survived - a newsletter with digital products behind it.
It’s lean. Personal. Infinite in scale.
And no, I didn’t feel “ready.”
I just felt certain it fit the rules I refused to break.
And confident that I’m gonna find a way to make it work for me.
Question 3: What surprised you most in the first 6 months of building your business?
Good question.
Myself.
I thought I’d be sprinting.
Instead, I spent most of those first six months thinking, building systems, not chasing quick wins.
All the time I needed to shape my long term growth strategy.
I didn’t expect strategy to take that much space.
But it did.
And that’s what made everything sustainable later.
Question 4: How do you turn the Substack button pink?
Ok, that’s techy. Hopefully not boring, but here it is:
You turn it pink in your Design Settings.
Go to your publication, then Settings, then Design.
Pick your custom color.
That’s it. One simple tweak.
Question 5: Which one do you prefer: Substack subscription or affiliate network?
Both.
You don’t build freedom from one income stream.
You build it from momentum, and real momentum needs layers of income streams.
Subscriptions give you stability.
Affiliates give you scale. And maybe instant cash when you need it.
Together, they compound.
Question 6: How do you sell when you have no clue what you have to offer?
If you have no clue what to sell, stop looking at yourself.
Look at people.
What are they struggling with?
What’s the problem you can help them solve faster, easier, or better?
Start there.
That’s your offer.
You won’t find your offer by thinking.
You build it by listening and observing. Every problem has a solution and every solution can become a product.
Question 7: If I shouldn’t sell on Notes, how to promote my writing?
You don’t promote on Notes. You connect.
Write for your ideal buyer. That’s how you make sure you attract the right people in your audience. Then you sell to them on the backend. With emails.
Your Notes aren’t ads, they’re magnets.
You already have the channel that sells: email.
That’s where your writing converts.
Use Notes to grow your list.
Engage. Recommend. Be seen.
More Notes mean more visibility, more subscribers, more readers on your posts, and more buyers of your products.
Question 8: I’m interested to know what your free to paid ratio recommendation is here on Substack.
From my experience—and the data backs this—the more paid, the better.
But not 100%. You still need oxygen in the system. Free posts are going viral now, much like Notes, so you need those as a growth lever.
For me, healthy ratio sits between 50/50 and 80/20 (paid to free).
That’s how I reached a 7.2% conversion rate.
Free builds trust.
Paid builds business.
You need both.
And you also need to be consistent. More paid posts more often will convert more.
Question 9: What if I sell but no one buys?
Great question.
One of my favorites.
It’s all in your head. That’s your greatest showstopper that keeps you stuck - that very same question.
Once you start selling, you’ll improve with time. Like every skill.
You don’t get good at selling by waiting for confidence.
You get confident by selling.
So sell anyway.
Test. Adjust. Repeat.
I’ll answer your question with another question: What if they actually buy?
You won’t know until you try.
Question 10: I have tried Notes but fail to get subscribers.
I hear that from many people. The thing is: you fail only when you stop trying. If you focus to make this work for you, it will.
Most common problem is the skill of short-form writing.
That’s what you need to master.
And in order to do that, you need to lazer-focus on it. Test, adapt, repeat. Until you go viral.
It’s not luck.
It’s skill.
Alright! That’s it for today! I hope you enjoyed it!
See you next time!
Stay Unplugged!
Yana
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P.S.S. I professionally cloned my voice so that I can create podcasts in minutes without worrying so much about recording and editing.
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