I'm Making Something For You

And I need to pick your brain about it.

Mar 07, 2024

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I’ll keep this brief today.

I’m going to make something for you, and I need your help.

Let me explain.

I’ve been on Substack since last summer, but I only started taking it seriously in late November. At the time, I had fewer than 200 subscribers.

Today, I have a community of over 2,800 readers across three publications.

That’s the background.

Here’s the thrust.

I’m a nerd. I love figuring out what makes things tick.

I especially love educating myself about why online platforms work the way they do. It’s why I’ve been able to grow the social media presence for my business to over 45,000 followers, and my personal online following to 30,000+.

Quick caveat: I can generally only do this with platforms I enjoy spending time on, particularly in terms of my personal brand. It’s why my Instagram following is so titchy.

But I’ve come to love Substack. And I’m getting a good handle on how to grow here.

Like I said: nerd.

I could easily talk about it for days (my long-suffering, extremely patient wife can confirm this), so in order to stop myself from regurgitating everything I’ve learned into a series of posts that could disappear into the ether, I’ve decided to condense it all into one downloadable resource.

It definitely won’t be a complete, comprehensive guide (I’ve got a long way to go before I have the right to attempt that sort’ve thing), but it might help other Substackians find some footholds on the sheer and often perilous cliff face that is audience growth.

In short, it’ll be something I wish I’d had last summer when I was just starting out.

Here’s where you come in.

I’ve created resources in the past that I thought people would want. I thought the topics were great. I assumed my followers would gobble them up.

Robot Narrator: David assumed incorrectly.

So this time round, I want to build it alongside you. I want your input, your valuable feedback. I want you to tell me what you want, and how you’d most like to take it on board.

If you can spare a couple of minutes this week, click some buttons in this survey and help me craft something cool:

Take the survey

I’ll keep in touch with everyone who takes part, and you’ll get first dibs on the final product.

Thanks for your help, everyone! I’ll keep you posted.

~ D