19 Comments
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Salem's avatar

Great post. Learn a lot. Thanks.

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

Glad to hear it Salem! Happy to help

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Pavel Burian's avatar

Well, this was quite interesting and surprisingly even contained some useful tips, which usually articles speaking first three paragraphs about how successful you are usually don´t. So yeah, thanks:)

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

Thanks Pavel glad to hear it! I don’t see myself as successful yet, but I sometimes need to add proof/results to add credibility. I don’t like it, but it is what it is :)

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Pavel Burian's avatar

I guess you understand what I mean - this kind of initial "lure". I understand it is somehow needed, but I find it usually deterring. So glad I decided to keep reading in your case. Seems that half of Substack writes about how to be successful on Substack:))

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

Thanks man! Totally get that, will keep it in mind. Yes you're right, "during a gold rush sell shovels."

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Sara Benna's avatar

Thank you for this clear blueprint (the color coding was a nice touch haha). I will taking your advice when I modify my Creator CV.

Would you recommend expanding my brand to Twitter, or Medium, for maximum exposure to my writing? Or building my homepage on here first?

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

Happy to help Sara! Glad it was useful. Let me know yours once you created it!

I wouldn’t go to medium, not worth the effort anymore. If it were me, I would do Twitter + Substack. Altho you probably need comments to grow on both, so maybe best to pick one first if you have limited time (so Substack for now is fine, you can repurpose your high-performing content later)

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Jenni Majumdar's avatar

Wow, this was such an insightful post. I’ve read so many truly great pieces on Substack and always wondered why the writers didn’t seem to be growing — and this finally made it make sense.

I also really appreciate that you called out something most people gloss over: the content is good and still matters, but you also need an actual strategy. This really resonated with me!

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

Thanks a lot Jenni! Yes you need both. Too many great writers don’t grow because they ignore that side of the equation

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Felix's avatar

When did you start your journey, Stijn?

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

About 4 years ago on YouTube.

Started my writing journey 2-3 years ago on Twitter

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Pavel Burian's avatar

And here?

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

About 6 weeks ago

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Pavel Burian's avatar

Impressive!

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Cashflow Chaos's avatar

As a new creator this is the best article I’ve seen so far with true in depth knowledge and advice. Thank you for sharing!

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

Happy to help, I’m glad to hear it! Let me know if I can help

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YAFTEA's avatar

Just make the best content possible. Everything else will take care of itself.

I'm working on this, only best things I knew

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Stijn Noorman's avatar

Content is key, good luck!

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