34 Comments

This is the BEST Grow edition by far. Why?

Here's a guy who wrote everyday for years, did not have a huge online following unlike many successful authors on this platform with a vast writing portfolio and 10,000 twitter followers before they start their own blog. He represents the reality of a non-writer starting a blog - unknown, unheard and lost in the WWW ocean.

His success is the closest thing to evidence I've seen for the popular aphorism "keep writing consistently and you will find readers". Its easy to say, but bloody hard to do for someone with a career outside of writing. I would so love to pick his brains more! Especially the "Keep Writing for myself" phase. What stories did he tell himself to persevere?

P.S: As a technical professional, even a couple months of writing has radically changed my quality of emails, communications and ideas. I am more thoughtful, concise and crisp. I agree with him that this alone is a good enough reason to write. And so I carry on.

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Two great comments from this:

1. It takes time to find your voice [**couldn't agree more]

2. Writing benefits professionals even if there aren’t as many people reading [**the discipline of writing brings many tacit rewards]

What a phenomenal outcome!

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Very relatable to my present thinking. Thank You for sharing your insight. All The Best.

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Great Post, thanks - lots of concrete advice

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The break down of where the traffic is coming from was insightful. Ideas are brewing for how to drive traffic. Thanks for sharing!

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Excellent reminder of the value of sweat, grit, persistence supplementing well informed skill in a crowded world.

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how people discovered your blog in the first place? did you ever had to use paid ads? thanks in advance :)

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Congrats, but I found your story rather discouraging since I do not have any specialized skills to share.

I looked very closely at the opportunity Substack provides and concluded that I have nothing to offer that is truly unique in any meaningful way ... but let me say it again - CONGRATS!

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Nice article.

Can anyone share thoughts on starting paid from day one vs launching paid after a while?

Maybe @Gergely himself has something to say here... :)

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You lost me at “their.”

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Wow, I wonder what topics he was writing about back when he was only writing for himself

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Gergely, what is your day to day career? If it is now writing only how do you stay in the mainstream of the information you dispense to your readers?

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خوشحال میشم نظر ها و انتقادات شما را بدانم

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Good advice: write consistently and authentically. It seems like a lot of the battle is just writing often and posting every few days or so. I think a lot of SS writers start strong but then slow down and sometimes give up. I started in late August. I have 120 free subscribers and 7 paying. It’s slow going but it is growing. I am very consistent. I try to respond on other Substacks I like. It feels like a part time job, and it kind of is one. I don’t mind that because I love writing more than anything else. I’m currently publishing my ‘fictional memoir’ about living in East Harlem during Covid, on my SS, ‘Sincere American Writing.’

Michael Mohr

https://michaelmohr.substack.com/

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Thanks for such a great read. I found it extremely inspiring and encouraging. ❤️

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"level up their knowledge?"

If the dogs will eat it, it must be good dog food.

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