The Network Effect and a reminder to 'Bring a Friend for Free'!
Looking to enhance your experience and knowledge on Substack? Let's talk about the spirit of generosity and a reminder invite to join my paid community with a friend today!
Hi ✨
How are you? Happy weekend to you all. It’s my birthday this weekend and in the spirit of birthday gifts I’m giving myself the gift of time and I’m re-sending last weekend’s email (slightly edited) and reminding you I published a new post mid week on podcasting;
I also published this ‘page’ called The (incomplete A-Z) of Substack. I had fun with that one - let me know if you have anytime to add?
Sparkle on Substack Podcasts are coming! I invested some time with a dear friend, colleague and musician and she is editing my guest posts for me so I’m pausing on releasing them until mid September. If you want a sneak peak of my interview with the WONDER that is Leonie Dawson reply to my email and I’ll ping you the video link of our chat!
Remember, you can visit my old ‘Stay Creative on Substack’ and the ‘Slow Lived Growth on Substack’ podcast content here if you’d like to.
Over to you…
I’ve been thinking about the network effect and the ‘spirit of generosity’ this week. It’s something a dear colleague of mine references a lot and I need to keep bugging her to send me the original article but what I do know is that generosity has a huge influence on our wellbeing.
There are many ways in which we can be (and embody) generosity from giving our time (in being of service), our treasure (materials or other wealth) and our talent (by sharing our gifts).
I'd like to think my business is set upon all three as is
and that’s why I wanted to gift you something today (valid for the WHOLE OF AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER).✨
The Gift of Service
- You are welcome to invite a friend for free to
for three months.They can shout you some coffees in return and we can all work on our Substacks together. Yay! ✨ All you need to do is sign up as a paid subscriber then drop me a note with their email address and I’ll comp them 3 months. What a GIFT!
Sparkle on Substack membership currently costs £70 per year or £8 per month. My plan is to put those prices down when I have more members to cover the cost of my time. I set my prices in line with Substack’s recommended rate to support other writers doing the same. We have to change the cultural economy together!
- You can also sign up for a group subscription with another person or more than one and you’ll both benefit from a 50% discount. ✨
Applies to existing members (paid and comp) too! 💜
The Gift of Treasure
There is a reminder of the benefits of being a paid Subscriber in my about page.
Paid Subscribers to get;
Paid subscriber only chat box right here on Substack where I answer questions 4 days a week. This is a wonderful space of shared learning and we encourage all questions - there are literally no silly questions we are all learning!!
Twice monthly ‘coffee and creativity’ sessions (and recordings) where we trouble shoot, get unstuck and work on our Substacks. It’s my aim that we do at least 20/30 minutes work in the 80 minute session so still lots of time for questions and answers and screen sharing into the depths of our ‘settings’ here on Substack. Times are global friendly and influenced by where you are in the world - it will be coffee drinking time somewhere!!
Access to members only videos - walk throughs, how to’s and more as I build them for you. There’s currently one live which is a whislte-stop tour of ‘settings’ because that is a BIG LONG list of settings in anyone’s book! There’s also a video walk through of my Substack Newbie checklist! Download the PDF here if you’d like to.
Access to all my archive Substack masterclasses and my 4 week drip fed course Substack Course - Stay Creative on Substack. (there are no live calls in the course). This course is currently on sale for £200 but you get it FREE! Whhhhat! I know! It’s my birthday month and I just feel generous.
Lastly but most importantly, a growing community of supportive souls who are also doing what you want to do here and questioning the things you are! We are nearing 40 members from all over the world and it’s just so exciting to me.
Ooo also - and this is where I feel like I’m the airport scene in Home Along - a Christmas card from me and my family from the Northumberland Coast! I’m working on print for the UK and digital for the rest of the world. I love Christmas time! 🎁
Other ways to learn Substack (for free)
An archive of posts over called ‘Stay Creative on Substack’ I’m just in the process or re-categorising these as they are just one long list at the moment because it was part of my strategy to ‘just show up’ every Friday and work out what that all meant later.
Join my linked in group for writers and creatives on Substack.
Watch one of 11 short YouTube tutorials I’ve made - everything from using Notes to making a post.
Head to my Substack Resources or Writery Groups page and see what you can find there. There are a few of us teaching Substack now. I would say my skillset lies more in strategy and growth from within the Substack network as I’ve grown my audience here and here alone. I think it’s such a hard thing to categorise but that’s my title claim for now.
Why learn Substack with me?
Ok (deep breath) - I find self promotion really difficult. 🥴 I’m a Substack Enthusiast. Many have called me an expert but I’m just deeply uncomfortable with that. (I’m working on it).
A lot of the words I’m about to use are words other’s have shared about the way I’ve helped them find and grow their creative voice here.
You can also read testimonials here.
What I’d actually say I do is act as a Substack Strategist and Mentor.
That’s not my job but it fits within the other work I do. That’s to say I can help people in a person centred way with STRATEGY here - that’s my best shot at explaining how I can be of service in your Substack journey;
I can de-mystify Substack for you, I can help you unpick and understand what’s important in setting up your publication and growing your connection to your subscribers from both within and outside of the Substack network.
I can problem solve for you and with you and I’ve been here since April ‘22 - there are many many creative ways to approach writing/ creating content on this platform - I think I’ve tried all of them!!
I grew my own mailing list here (from 300 to 1300) and I did that in a slow and sustainable way. I don’t chase virality simply because I don’t want ‘followers’ to manage - I want depth of connection and a space that feels like real community. I’ve proven I can curate that here and I’m excited to show you how!
I’ve helped hundreds of Substack users find and use their creative voice and start to make plans for sticking around here making it a key part of their business/ content creation eco-system.
Here is a stats shot from a client I’ve been working with (one to one) who was brand new to Substack a month ago…that grey bit in the pie chart means over 1000 subs didn’t have
accounts before they found my client.I’m sharing this because I want to share what’s possible - we don’t all want 10s of thousands of subs but for some of us this un-censored, un-algorithm-ed, generous place to write and share and be with all the lovely people cheering us on our best shot at having people read (and care about) what we have to say and share with the world…
It’s really really generous here!
What I’ve learnt over my 20+ year career in arts and community participation work is your individual voice is a direct connect to your source power, your heart centred work in the world, your true North. You can choose to listen and nurture it with me if you’d like. I’m here whenever you’re ready.
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Any questions, do let me know in the comments which I hope are open for all subs today! Fingers crossed!
Claire
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PS - If you refer two friends here you get a month’s free access to my membership as part of the ‘Substack referral system’!
I love the term “Substack Enthusiast”! You have helped so many of us Claire, thank you for your generosity! 🤗💕
I really like your ideas on generosity and how supportive this is. As ever we’ll written and helpful. 😁