The fully automated system that sells for me (even when I’m offline)
And how I actually started to work smarter (not harder)
“Work smarter, not harder” is one of those phrases that lost all meaning from overuse.
It’s printed on mugs. Thrown around in podcasts. Used as a polite way to avoid explaining how something actually works.
Most of the time, it’s just a nicer way of saying “I got lucky.”
But this time, I actually did one thing smarter than harder.
When I started on Substack last year, I was convinced I’d sell without having to send any promotional emails.
And in the first 1–2 months I did.
But then my sales flopped.
It was inevitable.
I had to start promoting and actually selling my paid tier.
And so I did.
But it got worse — now I had to create all of the content for paid members, make sure I grow new subscribers AND also sell to free subscribers…on the side of my 9–5 job….
That was way too much.
So made a decision: I automated the selling part.
And this was the best decision I ever made.
So far, those automations brought me 108 paid members.
Just from a system doing what systems are supposed to do.
And yes — it feels very good to wake up to Stripe notifications while making coffee.
The moment I decided hustle was a bad strategy
I don’t believe in hustle because I know what it costs.
I’ve seen it up close in corporate environments. I’ve watched people burn out while building impressive-looking things that collapse the moment they step away.
Or even worse — work too hard but show no results.
I also knew early on that I wasn’t willing to turn my Substack into a second full-time job. I already have one of those.
If this thing was going to work, it had to work with my life, not against it.
That’s when I stopped asking, “How do I post more?”
And started asking, “How do I make this sell without me being present every day?”
That question changes everything.
Automation is NOT laziness
Here’s the thing most creators misunderstand:
Automation doesn’t remove you from the business. It only removes repetition.
And the limitations of the manual work.
Because let’s face it: when you promote and sell manually, you can’t catch every subscriber in the right moment — just after they subscribed.
My data shows that 2/3 of my paid members upgraded within the first 30 days after subscribing.
Which means that if I miss this window, I’m screwed in the 2/3 of the times.
That’s what I avoid with this automation.
The system that sells for me (even when I’m offline)
First, I created a 10-day welcome sequence and reframed it as a crash course, which I presented as a lead magnet.
That framing matters. People don’t want to be “welcomed.” They want to learn something useful FAST.
This crash course became the entry point.
Each email points to one of my strongest paid articles. Not in a salesy way. More like a tease. A preview of how I think, how I structure ideas, how deep the paid content actually goes.
It sets expectations.
It builds trust.
And it quietly answers the question every new subscriber has but rarely asks out loud:
“Is this worth paying for?”
Then comes the 10-day sales sequence.
This is where most people panic. They either over-explain or under-ask.
I did neither.
I built an offer that made sense after the crash course. An offer that felt like the obvious next step, not a random upsell.
Not aggressive.
Not apologetic.
Clear.
After that, I added a 5-day re-marketing sequence for people who clicked but didn’t buy. Because clicking means interest — and interest deserves a second conversation, not silence.
That’s it.
Three sequences.
One simple system.
Why this works (and why most newsletters never do this)
Most writers think growth comes from publishing more.
It doesn’t.
Growth comes from compounding attention.
And compounding requires structure.
Every subscriber who joins my newsletter now enters a guided experience. They’re not wandering around hoping to stumble upon the “right” post. They’re being led — gently, logically — toward value.
That’s the difference between content and a business.
Content hopes people connect the dots.
Businesses connect them for you.
Don’t get me wrong, you stll need content for this to work, but content in itself is not enough.
The best part? This runs while I ‘m on vacation
This system didn’t launch during a productivity sprint.
It didn’t require me to “lock in” for 30 days.
It ran while I was on vacation.
While I was celebrating my birthday.
While I wasn’t checking analytics every hour.
Sales still happened.
Subscribers still upgraded.
The business kept moving.
That’s the moment you realize you’re not running a newsletter anymore.
You’re running a system.
Yana
P.S. I have my entire sales sequence and a way how to replicate it for yourself inside the QUEST LABS.
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