There's a lot of new subscribers lately. Many of you may be confused as to what you signed up for. This post gives you an overview and your path forward.
Does general purpose SEO apply to driving traffic to a Substack? If someone were starting a Substack what steps would you recommend to start driving traffic there?
Second, be a great writer, have specialized knowledge that people want, already have a following, or be very interesting.
If you can't max out at least one of those, you're not going to get traction. If you do decide to start, go where your audience is and get in front of them there. That could be a specific social media platform, forums, etc.
Side note after reading your article RE: what happens if Substack goes down the tube? There is this alternative called Ghost - https://ghost.org/vs/substack/ that's open source and apparently uncensorable and anon friendly based around Bitcoin. So if Substack were to ever screw you you'd have some recourse.
I'm familiar with Ghost. You can switch but you'll take a big hit. Subscriptions don't transfer over and it's always a pain to get people to resubscribe again. You'd at best get 75% to resubscribe.
If it's the payment gateways, then a large share of any audience won't use crypto.
There's always risk of centralization and being canceled in todays world. It even happens in ecom with Shopify on *legal* products that the payment gateway doesn't want to deal with.
That leaves 194 countries that are vastly different in terms of wealth, cultural, internet access, etc. Do you want to narrow it down a little bit? Specifically, what is it about your situation that's different than the US?
I am from Latin America and want to set up an online business in the the US.
Would assume for an affiliate or service business I would have to set up a VPN to reach american customers. How would you go about selling a physical product to a US market while not leaving in the US?
You'd likely need a US LLC and bank account to sell product in the US. Not a lawyer though so idk. I'm based in the US so never had to deal with those issues. Then you'd have to get a US based shipper, and a US manufacturer or deal with customs.
Probably just easier to go the Amazon FBA route. Look at what asia is doing in terms of Amazon FBA.
That or do affiliate in the US or sell digital products to US customers.
I recently started my own project management and CRM database consulting business after reading through your newsletters. I have relevant experience working within government institutions, non-profits, and a tech-healthcare start-up.
Would love to speak with you about my services and possibly work out a referral structure for new clients. Let me know if this is something that you would be open to doing. If not, any and all advice to bring in new clients would be much appreciated.
Thank you for your hard and for motivating me to get this far!
If you're not trying to hide it from your job, utilize your network. Email, message, LI post, etc. everybody in your network. Not to sell to them but to just let them know that you're starting a business and "their advice from blah blah helped you do it". It'll keep you top of mind to them if an opportunity for a referral comes across their desk.
Your entrepreneur friends will be more likely to support you and send you referrals but they can come from anywhere.
If you are trying to hide from your job, do the same but with your extended network. Make sure they have no connection to your current job.
If you're *really* trying to hide from your job, you're left with cold email, ads, and SEO.
One thing I forgot to mention. Build a network of other professionals in *similar* fields. That's going to get you the most referrals. These can be friendly relationships or they can be 10%-20% of the cut relationships...
2. Taking those designs and downloading them into Printify, specifically using Monster Digital as my manufacturer
3. Linking Printify to my Etsy Store
I’ve successfully sold 12 shirts from my designs. Feel so close to breaking out...
Don’t know exactly what I’m doing yet, but I feel like I’m on the right track... comes down to design, finding a manufacturer, listing the product, and then marketing to connect customers to products they “NEED”...
A lot to learn but thanks for the inspiration so far! Feel like the skills I’m gaining are extremely transferable to almost any business I would want to create
100%. It’s a good start to get the “feel” of things though it seems.
Then can niche down into unique products and target certain individuals (those with $$$)... can apply to anything (Christmas ornaments, supplements, etc)
All of the hard work seems to be “creativity”, marketing, writing good copy, etc to be truly elite... can still make money without it tho
Does general purpose SEO apply to driving traffic to a Substack? If someone were starting a Substack what steps would you recommend to start driving traffic there?
First is answered here already. https://bowtiedopossum.substack.com/p/july-qa-roundup
Second, be a great writer, have specialized knowledge that people want, already have a following, or be very interesting.
If you can't max out at least one of those, you're not going to get traction. If you do decide to start, go where your audience is and get in front of them there. That could be a specific social media platform, forums, etc.
Thanks for sharing.
Side note after reading your article RE: what happens if Substack goes down the tube? There is this alternative called Ghost - https://ghost.org/vs/substack/ that's open source and apparently uncensorable and anon friendly based around Bitcoin. So if Substack were to ever screw you you'd have some recourse.
I'm familiar with Ghost. You can switch but you'll take a big hit. Subscriptions don't transfer over and it's always a pain to get people to resubscribe again. You'd at best get 75% to resubscribe.
If it's the payment gateways, then a large share of any audience won't use crypto.
There's always risk of centralization and being canceled in todays world. It even happens in ecom with Shopify on *legal* products that the payment gateway doesn't want to deal with.
Thank you Based BTO
Hi Opossum,
Do you have any additional advice for the best path to follow if not american nor living in the US? Thanks
That leaves 194 countries that are vastly different in terms of wealth, cultural, internet access, etc. Do you want to narrow it down a little bit? Specifically, what is it about your situation that's different than the US?
Let me try again.
I am from Latin America and want to set up an online business in the the US.
Would assume for an affiliate or service business I would have to set up a VPN to reach american customers. How would you go about selling a physical product to a US market while not leaving in the US?
You'd likely need a US LLC and bank account to sell product in the US. Not a lawyer though so idk. I'm based in the US so never had to deal with those issues. Then you'd have to get a US based shipper, and a US manufacturer or deal with customs.
Probably just easier to go the Amazon FBA route. Look at what asia is doing in terms of Amazon FBA.
That or do affiliate in the US or sell digital products to US customers.
Hi BTO, what do you mean by “look at what Asia is doing re: Amz FBA?
A large percent of the FBA products on Amazon are from Chinese sellers.
Hey Opossum,
I recently started my own project management and CRM database consulting business after reading through your newsletters. I have relevant experience working within government institutions, non-profits, and a tech-healthcare start-up.
Would love to speak with you about my services and possibly work out a referral structure for new clients. Let me know if this is something that you would be open to doing. If not, any and all advice to bring in new clients would be much appreciated.
Thank you for your hard and for motivating me to get this far!
That would dox me...
If you're not trying to hide it from your job, utilize your network. Email, message, LI post, etc. everybody in your network. Not to sell to them but to just let them know that you're starting a business and "their advice from blah blah helped you do it". It'll keep you top of mind to them if an opportunity for a referral comes across their desk.
Your entrepreneur friends will be more likely to support you and send you referrals but they can come from anywhere.
If you are trying to hide from your job, do the same but with your extended network. Make sure they have no connection to your current job.
If you're *really* trying to hide from your job, you're left with cold email, ads, and SEO.
Definitely not trying to dox you!
I appreciate the breakdown and will get to work. Will be happy to report back once I land a few new clients.
No worries!
One thing I forgot to mention. Build a network of other professionals in *similar* fields. That's going to get you the most referrals. These can be friendly relationships or they can be 10%-20% of the cut relationships...
Noted! Once again, thank you. I will take this to heart and get to work!
Recently, I’ve started creating
1. Designs on canva for T-Shirts
2. Taking those designs and downloading them into Printify, specifically using Monster Digital as my manufacturer
3. Linking Printify to my Etsy Store
I’ve successfully sold 12 shirts from my designs. Feel so close to breaking out...
Don’t know exactly what I’m doing yet, but I feel like I’m on the right track... comes down to design, finding a manufacturer, listing the product, and then marketing to connect customers to products they “NEED”...
A lot to learn but thanks for the inspiration so far! Feel like the skills I’m gaining are extremely transferable to almost any business I would want to create
You are likely learning a ton that's transferrable to any digital business.
The T-Shirt game is hard to scale profitably without a "brand". Always chasing the newest design, etc.
100%. It’s a good start to get the “feel” of things though it seems.
Then can niche down into unique products and target certain individuals (those with $$$)... can apply to anything (Christmas ornaments, supplements, etc)
All of the hard work seems to be “creativity”, marketing, writing good copy, etc to be truly elite... can still make money without it tho
Exciting times ahead. A ton to learn