I cannot believe you chose my question! I feel honoured. Thank you so much!
So, the reason I didn’t mention what I do is that it’s quite unusual and hard to explain concisely (yes, I’m failing at the elevator pitch, lol). It involves art, storytelling, and self-transformation through the heroine’s journey. It’s basically my passion project for healing myself first, and a business second (hopefully, eventually). I am building towards having art prints, illustrated stories for adults (soothing, with messages of self-acceptance), and a story journaling course for people who want to create their own illustrated stories and maybe share them with others who are struggling with similar issues. I would love to one day have a community where people are just sharing healing stories with each other. It’s a bit abstract, but I hope it makes sense. It is kind of a weird intersection of creativity and psychology/self-help. I don’t have much on there yet, but my website is www.alchemyofthought.com
As for this episode, I took so many notes! You’ve given me so many great ideas to consider. A few that stood out:
- I definitely need to figure out where my kind of people like to hang out. This seems tricky since there are several different elements to what I’m creating, and someone may be interested in one but not the others.
- I also need to work on the nurture phase since I don’t have much for people to engage with on my website yet if they found me right now. I have so many ideas, but such a slow creative process. I think I need to either focus on creating my course with maybe a mini free version so that people have something to engage with when they arrive at my website (but that will take many months) or start a Substack (!) so anyone who’s interested can follow along the journey as I slowly build the imaginary world I want to create.
- I think the most important takeaway is that it is allowed to feel creative and joyful, so maybe it’s okay to just try something, see how it feels, and then adapt it as needed.
Thank you so much for all the tips! You’ve made my day! 😊
I only finished listening to the podcast on my walk through the woods today and just had to come back to see if you had shared what you actually do! Your art is beautiful and I love what you are planning to build and grow with your work. Sounds fascinating, and extremely worthwhile. What amazing possibilities it all has for helping people relate to and express themselves through art.
I've been on Substack about a week. Haven't got a clue what I'm doing but I just love it! It might be the perfect place to share your creative journey as you develop all the facets of what you will do.
Hope it all flows for you into a fulfilling and lovely whole.
Thank you so much, Lou! I have no idea how Substack works either. I ended up here unintentionally after 3 newsletters I was subscribed to moved here, and I haven’t quite figured out how to navigate it, but I think I will be exploring further in the near future!
I love your work, you will have to put one of your illustrations on a mug for Sara, they are beautiful I think it would work, in my clinical work I write a lot about journalling and self compassion such powerful tools, look forward to following where you go.
Claire, I’m so pleased you shared what you do here in the comments.
As I was listening to this episode, I was thinking ‘make a Substack, make a Substack!’ But now that I’ve seen what you do, and the different aspects of your business, I feel like Substack would be the perfect place to explore all of them further.
You could separate each one into sections if you wish, but I don’t think you need to. I think SO many people will resonate with what you have to share that they’ll flood to subscribe and comment on your posts. I personally want to know so much more!
Good luck with everything that you decide to do! 🤍
Thanks, Sophie! I am seriously considering starting a Substack, but I haven’t yet figured out exactly how to do it. It seems like most people here write essay-like posts on various topics, which isn’t really something I would enjoy creating. I was thinking of maybe doing something more community-based, like an archetype prompt that people could then create something from (like a piece of art, a poem, creative writing, etc.), but I’m not sure if that would work on this platform.
If you have any suggestions for what kind of Substack posts you’d be interested in, I’d love to hear them. It sounds like you can see it all very clearly, so I’m curious what your thoughts are. 🙂
If you wouldn’t enjoy writing then don’t do it. It’ll soon feel like a chore and you’ll grow to hate it.
You don’t have to write essays either. You can do a podcast, short form writing, and video (this isn’t available to everyone just yet, they’re beta testing it right now).
You say your business involves art, storytelling and self transformation through the heroine’s journey. These are great starting points for posts!
You could write about how you got into these, how they helped you, why you decided to focus on those for your business. What sort of art? What stories do you have to tell? What transformation have you been through? What exactly is a heroine’s journey? How can these all help your audience?
You can then talk about the benefits of each one and what impact they could have on your readers. You speak about your business quite generally, but you could use Substack to really delve deeper into more detail.
I’m so passionate about what I write about that post ideas come fairly easily. That’s not to say that writing the actual post is easy 😅. I would brainstorm a list of things you could talk about and then they are your ideas for a post.
Substack is quite forgiving I’ve found. You don’t have to post weekly, you can absolutely post monthly and still build an engaged audience.
Whatever you’d decide to do, make sure you’re passionate and motivated by it as this will keep the momentum. I’m not very passionate about Instagram right now, and that’s fine. I am really motivated by Substack and so I continue to write every week because I enjoy it and it’s not draining my energy. You do what’s right for you and your energy levels 🥰
Thanks so much for your suggestions, Sophie. You’ve given me a lot to consider. I enjoy creative writing, but not essay writing, so that’s my main conundrum with Substack. And figuring out what belongs on my blog or newsletter and what would belong here without repeating myself is tricky. I will definitely start an idea list for all three and see if I can sort it out. It’s nice to know that monthly posting is enough, though. That actually sounds possible for me! 😊
Oh Claire, I had to come here to see if you were indeed a ceramicist! It was such a helpful question to ask and I found Sara and Jen's exploration of it genuinely uplifting for me. My time and energy are limited due to parenting and health issues and, at times, it has felt very frustrating. I really needed this new way of thinking so thank you for your part in it. As a coach who has journalling as a key element of my work, I absolutely love your ideas. The power of storytelling is so integral to our humanity and your imagery is just beautiful. I'm glad to have found your work!
Thank you so much, Katie! Having limited energy is definitely frustrating. Jen and Sara's answers gave me so much hope too! I completely agree that storytelling is integral to our humanity. 💙
Not yet listened to all of the episode but just wanted to say, your concept sounds amazing - following along with excitement to see where your journey takes you!
Your art is beautiful Claire, I’m so glad you commented and shared what you do in the comments and for such a great letter. I got so much value from listening to Sara and Jen answer your question 💛
Listening and already had to shimmy in here to say thanks ladies for the conversation around Substack v email as a marketing endeavour!
I’ve been bumbling about trying to decide. Jen, you’ve made my mind up. I’m going to create an email newsletter for marketing my interior design biz. And use Substack to get my writing kicks. And let me tell you, despite them being high Moulin Rouge style kicks I don’t give myself a chance to even toe tap!! It’s time. 🤣
Thanks Jen. As ever, you two wonderful humans show us the way in such a lovely way! My energy levels fluctuate thanks to 💩’y endometriosis and peri-menopause so this was such a ‘you can do thisssss’ episode. And I will hold ‘delight them’ even closer to my heart in my marketing from now on. Have a great day. 🩷
I really enjoyed this episode and was nodding along to so much of the advice. I have very little engagement on Instagram, despite having a reasonable following of 6ish thousand and have been trying to follow all of your advice. I also joined substack earlier this year and have been posting weekly. I have been holding on to the concept of showing up and doing the work and within time some magic will happen.
I have to share that whilst listening to this very episode a tiny bit of magic did happen and I have been invited to host a pop up of The Tiny Department Store in one of my favourite stores. This has only happened as I have been putting myself out there, little by little each week. I hope this will give others a boost as I really do know what it is like to show up to crickets 💚
Just catching up on this episode and I’m absolutely blown away by how much knowledge and experience you both share! Thank you so much. I’m really enjoying these episodes.
Also, can we take a minute to appreciate how passionate Jen is when she’s on a roll with an explanation? 🤣 I was chuckling along listening to you explain your points in this episode. I love it 😂
Emily’s illustrations are gorgeous! She’s such a talented artist and I’ve really enjoyed discovering her work here in Substack.
I’m heading into the comments now to see if Claire has posted! This episode has given me so many ideas so I can’t wait to see how it has helped Claire too 🥰
Thank you soooo much for the shoutout! I was a little scared to send the illustrations but I’ve been so inspired listening to these new LFAHC here and discovering your more vintage episodes. It’s a joy listening to you both together and this podcast is such an act of generosity.
I’m so glad to see the podcast back. I’ve joined Sara’a last Insta Retreat and listening to you two along side it is making me feel empowered to enter a new season in my business. I’ve been in Winter for a while after having a baby in 2021 so I relate to so much of this episode about ramping up after a period of low energy. As a ceramicist I did enjoy Claire’s assumed business too 🤭
Typing as I listen! But thanks so much for the chat about Substack vs Newsletter! I had mulled around whether to have one or both! And while I’m nervous about adding Substack onto my todo lists this has helped clarify that my newsletter is for selling and Substack will be for community building! Literally only 20 minutes in so... sorry if I later add MORE comments! ❤️
Thanks for another great episode! You both speak with wisdom and experience and are so generous with sharing what you know. I’ve been enjoying these new episodes as much as I have going through the archives :)
Loved this episode. I feel like I could have written the question myself as there have been so many times already where the task has just seemed to big, and impossible for the energy and time I have. But, there was so much really great advice and it has reminded me of all the things I am excited to explore and play with.
Thank you for this episode - so generously full of ideas! The thoughts that particularly caught my attention to carry forward were the emphasis on delighting your audience and the recommendation to approach marketing as a creative enterprise. This really resonated with me, as my primary marketing endeavor, Instagram, has most often been a disheartening undertaking (posting consistently for over 3 years, barely 400 followers, little reach or engagement overall). But the idea of approaching it more creatively sparked a bit of enthusiasm, and feels like a mindset and method that would be good for me to pursue more.
Discovered you yesterday and just finished listening to this podcast as I did chores and took care of my two little ones. Thank you for your clarity and giving me hope to keep working on what works for me 💕
Really enjoyed this episode. Feel like I’m still figuring out what the right marketing strategy is for me with limited time and energy!
I’d been thinking about joining Substack for awhile and it does seem to be gaining popularity again at the moment. I’ve now moved my podcast over for a few reasons but the potential for interaction is really cool. Now I need to figure out what I want to write here too. But have to say it’s so nice to read long form content as I used to be into blogs and bloglovin back in those days, social media feels draining in comparison!
This was a really lovely episode and I so appreciate your takes on email list vs Substack and how you can use both.
I have a question about that when it comes to Subscribers on both platforms. What do you do if someone is subscribed to you email list but not to Substack? Or if someone subscribes to your Substack but is not on your email list, because say they found you on Substack first?
Is there a way of navigating this with ease if you’re planning on using your email list mostly for the odd sales offer, and Substack as your main sharing platform.
Like others have commented, this episode gave me great clarity on the Substack v. Email list question. I've been procrastinating with starting an email list because it feels exhausting to research different providers. I have a MailChimp account from an old blog but I'm starting over and this is an opportunity to reconsider. Does anybody know where I could find a reliable resource that outlines some of the pros and cons of the different options? Eg, convertkit, flodesk, MailChimp etc
Hey I hope it’s ok to share a link of some reviews I did as I happened to read your comment and think of it. I think it depends on your budget, business model and preferences. I was using Flodesk when I wrote it but I am switching to Mailerlite (which has lots of functionality for a low price) - https://elmleafstudio.com/which-email-marketing-software/
I cannot believe you chose my question! I feel honoured. Thank you so much!
So, the reason I didn’t mention what I do is that it’s quite unusual and hard to explain concisely (yes, I’m failing at the elevator pitch, lol). It involves art, storytelling, and self-transformation through the heroine’s journey. It’s basically my passion project for healing myself first, and a business second (hopefully, eventually). I am building towards having art prints, illustrated stories for adults (soothing, with messages of self-acceptance), and a story journaling course for people who want to create their own illustrated stories and maybe share them with others who are struggling with similar issues. I would love to one day have a community where people are just sharing healing stories with each other. It’s a bit abstract, but I hope it makes sense. It is kind of a weird intersection of creativity and psychology/self-help. I don’t have much on there yet, but my website is www.alchemyofthought.com
As for this episode, I took so many notes! You’ve given me so many great ideas to consider. A few that stood out:
- I definitely need to figure out where my kind of people like to hang out. This seems tricky since there are several different elements to what I’m creating, and someone may be interested in one but not the others.
- I also need to work on the nurture phase since I don’t have much for people to engage with on my website yet if they found me right now. I have so many ideas, but such a slow creative process. I think I need to either focus on creating my course with maybe a mini free version so that people have something to engage with when they arrive at my website (but that will take many months) or start a Substack (!) so anyone who’s interested can follow along the journey as I slowly build the imaginary world I want to create.
- I think the most important takeaway is that it is allowed to feel creative and joyful, so maybe it’s okay to just try something, see how it feels, and then adapt it as needed.
Thank you so much for all the tips! You’ve made my day! 😊
I only finished listening to the podcast on my walk through the woods today and just had to come back to see if you had shared what you actually do! Your art is beautiful and I love what you are planning to build and grow with your work. Sounds fascinating, and extremely worthwhile. What amazing possibilities it all has for helping people relate to and express themselves through art.
I've been on Substack about a week. Haven't got a clue what I'm doing but I just love it! It might be the perfect place to share your creative journey as you develop all the facets of what you will do.
Hope it all flows for you into a fulfilling and lovely whole.
Thank you so much, Lou! I have no idea how Substack works either. I ended up here unintentionally after 3 newsletters I was subscribed to moved here, and I haven’t quite figured out how to navigate it, but I think I will be exploring further in the near future!
I love your work, you will have to put one of your illustrations on a mug for Sara, they are beautiful I think it would work, in my clinical work I write a lot about journalling and self compassion such powerful tools, look forward to following where you go.
Thanks so much, Sarah! It’s great to hear input from an actual therapist. About the mug - I’m not sure that’s what Sara had in mind! 😂
Claire, I’m so pleased you shared what you do here in the comments.
As I was listening to this episode, I was thinking ‘make a Substack, make a Substack!’ But now that I’ve seen what you do, and the different aspects of your business, I feel like Substack would be the perfect place to explore all of them further.
You could separate each one into sections if you wish, but I don’t think you need to. I think SO many people will resonate with what you have to share that they’ll flood to subscribe and comment on your posts. I personally want to know so much more!
Good luck with everything that you decide to do! 🤍
Thanks, Sophie! I am seriously considering starting a Substack, but I haven’t yet figured out exactly how to do it. It seems like most people here write essay-like posts on various topics, which isn’t really something I would enjoy creating. I was thinking of maybe doing something more community-based, like an archetype prompt that people could then create something from (like a piece of art, a poem, creative writing, etc.), but I’m not sure if that would work on this platform.
If you have any suggestions for what kind of Substack posts you’d be interested in, I’d love to hear them. It sounds like you can see it all very clearly, so I’m curious what your thoughts are. 🙂
If you wouldn’t enjoy writing then don’t do it. It’ll soon feel like a chore and you’ll grow to hate it.
You don’t have to write essays either. You can do a podcast, short form writing, and video (this isn’t available to everyone just yet, they’re beta testing it right now).
You say your business involves art, storytelling and self transformation through the heroine’s journey. These are great starting points for posts!
You could write about how you got into these, how they helped you, why you decided to focus on those for your business. What sort of art? What stories do you have to tell? What transformation have you been through? What exactly is a heroine’s journey? How can these all help your audience?
You can then talk about the benefits of each one and what impact they could have on your readers. You speak about your business quite generally, but you could use Substack to really delve deeper into more detail.
I’m so passionate about what I write about that post ideas come fairly easily. That’s not to say that writing the actual post is easy 😅. I would brainstorm a list of things you could talk about and then they are your ideas for a post.
Substack is quite forgiving I’ve found. You don’t have to post weekly, you can absolutely post monthly and still build an engaged audience.
Whatever you’d decide to do, make sure you’re passionate and motivated by it as this will keep the momentum. I’m not very passionate about Instagram right now, and that’s fine. I am really motivated by Substack and so I continue to write every week because I enjoy it and it’s not draining my energy. You do what’s right for you and your energy levels 🥰
Thanks so much for your suggestions, Sophie. You’ve given me a lot to consider. I enjoy creative writing, but not essay writing, so that’s my main conundrum with Substack. And figuring out what belongs on my blog or newsletter and what would belong here without repeating myself is tricky. I will definitely start an idea list for all three and see if I can sort it out. It’s nice to know that monthly posting is enough, though. That actually sounds possible for me! 😊
Oh Claire, I had to come here to see if you were indeed a ceramicist! It was such a helpful question to ask and I found Sara and Jen's exploration of it genuinely uplifting for me. My time and energy are limited due to parenting and health issues and, at times, it has felt very frustrating. I really needed this new way of thinking so thank you for your part in it. As a coach who has journalling as a key element of my work, I absolutely love your ideas. The power of storytelling is so integral to our humanity and your imagery is just beautiful. I'm glad to have found your work!
Thank you so much, Katie! Having limited energy is definitely frustrating. Jen and Sara's answers gave me so much hope too! I completely agree that storytelling is integral to our humanity. 💙
Not yet listened to all of the episode but just wanted to say, your concept sounds amazing - following along with excitement to see where your journey takes you!
Thank you so much, Rach! 😊
Your art is beautiful Claire, I’m so glad you commented and shared what you do in the comments and for such a great letter. I got so much value from listening to Sara and Jen answer your question 💛
Thanks so much, Emily. Your art is beautiful too. 💙
Listening and already had to shimmy in here to say thanks ladies for the conversation around Substack v email as a marketing endeavour!
I’ve been bumbling about trying to decide. Jen, you’ve made my mind up. I’m going to create an email newsletter for marketing my interior design biz. And use Substack to get my writing kicks. And let me tell you, despite them being high Moulin Rouge style kicks I don’t give myself a chance to even toe tap!! It’s time. 🤣
So glad this helped you make up your mind Bex and sounds like an awesome way to use each platform! :)
Thanks Jen. As ever, you two wonderful humans show us the way in such a lovely way! My energy levels fluctuate thanks to 💩’y endometriosis and peri-menopause so this was such a ‘you can do thisssss’ episode. And I will hold ‘delight them’ even closer to my heart in my marketing from now on. Have a great day. 🩷
I really enjoyed this episode and was nodding along to so much of the advice. I have very little engagement on Instagram, despite having a reasonable following of 6ish thousand and have been trying to follow all of your advice. I also joined substack earlier this year and have been posting weekly. I have been holding on to the concept of showing up and doing the work and within time some magic will happen.
I have to share that whilst listening to this very episode a tiny bit of magic did happen and I have been invited to host a pop up of The Tiny Department Store in one of my favourite stores. This has only happened as I have been putting myself out there, little by little each week. I hope this will give others a boost as I really do know what it is like to show up to crickets 💚
Just catching up on this episode and I’m absolutely blown away by how much knowledge and experience you both share! Thank you so much. I’m really enjoying these episodes.
Also, can we take a minute to appreciate how passionate Jen is when she’s on a roll with an explanation? 🤣 I was chuckling along listening to you explain your points in this episode. I love it 😂
Emily’s illustrations are gorgeous! She’s such a talented artist and I’ve really enjoyed discovering her work here in Substack.
I’m heading into the comments now to see if Claire has posted! This episode has given me so many ideas so I can’t wait to see how it has helped Claire too 🥰
Sophie this really made me laugh 😂
I’m so so glad you’re enjoying the show - we’re having so much fun recording again! :)
Thank you soooo much for the shoutout! I was a little scared to send the illustrations but I’ve been so inspired listening to these new LFAHC here and discovering your more vintage episodes. It’s a joy listening to you both together and this podcast is such an act of generosity.
I cheered when I heard you mentioned! 🙌🏼
Ah thanks Andrew! 😊😊
I’m so glad to see the podcast back. I’ve joined Sara’a last Insta Retreat and listening to you two along side it is making me feel empowered to enter a new season in my business. I’ve been in Winter for a while after having a baby in 2021 so I relate to so much of this episode about ramping up after a period of low energy. As a ceramicist I did enjoy Claire’s assumed business too 🤭
Typing as I listen! But thanks so much for the chat about Substack vs Newsletter! I had mulled around whether to have one or both! And while I’m nervous about adding Substack onto my todo lists this has helped clarify that my newsletter is for selling and Substack will be for community building! Literally only 20 minutes in so... sorry if I later add MORE comments! ❤️
Thanks for another great episode! You both speak with wisdom and experience and are so generous with sharing what you know. I’ve been enjoying these new episodes as much as I have going through the archives :)
Loved this episode. I feel like I could have written the question myself as there have been so many times already where the task has just seemed to big, and impossible for the energy and time I have. But, there was so much really great advice and it has reminded me of all the things I am excited to explore and play with.
Thank you for this episode - so generously full of ideas! The thoughts that particularly caught my attention to carry forward were the emphasis on delighting your audience and the recommendation to approach marketing as a creative enterprise. This really resonated with me, as my primary marketing endeavor, Instagram, has most often been a disheartening undertaking (posting consistently for over 3 years, barely 400 followers, little reach or engagement overall). But the idea of approaching it more creatively sparked a bit of enthusiasm, and feels like a mindset and method that would be good for me to pursue more.
Discovered you yesterday and just finished listening to this podcast as I did chores and took care of my two little ones. Thank you for your clarity and giving me hope to keep working on what works for me 💕
Really enjoyed this episode. Feel like I’m still figuring out what the right marketing strategy is for me with limited time and energy!
I’d been thinking about joining Substack for awhile and it does seem to be gaining popularity again at the moment. I’ve now moved my podcast over for a few reasons but the potential for interaction is really cool. Now I need to figure out what I want to write here too. But have to say it’s so nice to read long form content as I used to be into blogs and bloglovin back in those days, social media feels draining in comparison!
This was a really lovely episode and I so appreciate your takes on email list vs Substack and how you can use both.
I have a question about that when it comes to Subscribers on both platforms. What do you do if someone is subscribed to you email list but not to Substack? Or if someone subscribes to your Substack but is not on your email list, because say they found you on Substack first?
Is there a way of navigating this with ease if you’re planning on using your email list mostly for the odd sales offer, and Substack as your main sharing platform.
Like others have commented, this episode gave me great clarity on the Substack v. Email list question. I've been procrastinating with starting an email list because it feels exhausting to research different providers. I have a MailChimp account from an old blog but I'm starting over and this is an opportunity to reconsider. Does anybody know where I could find a reliable resource that outlines some of the pros and cons of the different options? Eg, convertkit, flodesk, MailChimp etc
Hey I hope it’s ok to share a link of some reviews I did as I happened to read your comment and think of it. I think it depends on your budget, business model and preferences. I was using Flodesk when I wrote it but I am switching to Mailerlite (which has lots of functionality for a low price) - https://elmleafstudio.com/which-email-marketing-software/
Hope you enjoy the episode on your dog walk Luisa!