Saturday Morning Coffee ☕ #70

Start your weekend right.

➡️ My 1K Daily Writing Challenge - a 30-day email course designed to get you writing 1,000 words a day, every day - is here! Grab it now at 50% off (ends TODAY!).

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Hey friend!

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⬇️ In case you missed it:

Why is everyone coming to Substack right now?

The #1 habit that changed my entire writing career

213: How (and why) to treat Substack like a business (featuring Yana G.Y.)

The simple $173 tech stack powering my entire solo writing business

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👀 Something you might like:

If you’ve been thinking about launching a product but don’t know where to start, this free masterclass is for you.

Derek Hughes shares the exact steps he used to go from stuck in a day job to earning money online with simple products that actually sell. Built from experience—not theory—and designed to get you moving. 👇

Want to work with me to grow your audience and generate more income? Here’s how.

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💡 Your questions, my answers:

I received some questions in this week’s Q&A Chat thread - here’s my stab at answering a couple of them:

How do you push yourself to write about a certain topic that isn't really in your interest nor your expertise? (from a struggling copywriter)

I’ve definitely been there - I was a freelance writer for years and spent my days writing about all manner of topics I had zero interest in (at one point I was writing, in excruciating detail, about hemorrhoid treatment).

As someone else suggested in the chat thread, context and real-life application are key to understanding a topic. You might not especially care about, say, the best sleeping positions for people with lower back pain, but if you gather some stories from people who’ve been relieved of that pain and how their lives have changed as a result, it’ll make it easier to structure your work.

Honestly, if you’re not sure where to start, try researching the topic with AI and use it to help create a framework, and go from there.

How do you write about something you haven't experienced in a story? [paraphrased]

Research, research, research.

Most of my stories involve plot elements I’ve never experienced (often because they’re set in fantasy worlds) so I have to spend a good deal of time preparing the context in my head before typing it up. But the key aspect here is how your characters feel in the scenario you’ve cooked up for them, because you can understand that too.

For instance, is your main character being chased through the jungle by a zombie dinosaur? You (hopefully) won’t have experienced that, but you’ll likely have been in a similarly-terrifying situation at some point in your childhood, when monsters felt decidedly more real. Reflect on your past feelings, transfer them into your character, and build the rest of the scene from there.

Research. Reflect. Write.

Any thoughts on these questions/answers? Do you have any of your own?

Drop them in the comments! 👇

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📖 This week’s juicy reading material:

• Is Your Pacing Off or Is Your Novel Just Bored? by

  Beth McMullen

• Stick with your story, even when you hate it by

  Alyssa Matesic

• The Surprising Power of Doing 1% Better Every Day by

  Tim Stoddart

• The Surprisingly Simple (But Ruthless) Routine Behind My Substack Growth by

  Claudia Faith

• The Creator Business Blueprint: How to Build a 6-Figure Writing-Backed Business on the Internet by

  Sinem Günel

• 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Side Hustle by

  Robin Sanah Kai

• Inside The Substack Tools That Fueled My Best Month Yet by

  Derek Hughes

• You’re Not A Failure. You’re Just Waiting For Success by

  Matt Lillywhite 🇬🇧

• Not Justin Welsh? Good. That’s Your Edge by

  Andi Bitay

• A Catalog for Books on Substack? Great Idea! by

  Kathleen Schmidt

• How to pivot your career without blowing up your life by

  Anna Mackenzie

• 4 Things to Stop Being Invisible on Substack by

  Frey

• What do you want, right now? by

  Annie Ridout

• Escape the Niche Trap: One Creator Fix, Every Day by

  Mike Thomson

• I'm adding a "Buy Me a Coffee" button and why you should too by

  Sunday Ripley

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📺 Something from YouTube:

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🗒️ Something from Notes:

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☑️ Go deeper:

• 10 things I'd do differently if I started over as a writer

• How to know when it's time to throw out the old playbook

• Your next post might bomb without these 4 headline components

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Have a brilliant weekend, gang! ⌛

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🤷‍♂️ What’s next?

I’m ready and waiting to support you in the next stages of your creator journey. Here’s how I can help:

1. Start Your Podcast on Substack: A complete course guiding you from concept to launch, based on everything I’ve learned so far during my own podcasting journey. Learn to plan, brand, record, edit, publish, and promote your podcast while building an audience. Perfect for creators eager to share their voice with the world.

2. Sustainable Scalable Social Strategy: This 6-part, online, self-driven course will guide you through the same process I used to develop a strategy for my social media management. When you finish, you’ll have a sustainable social strategy in place that will help you scale your business properly.

3. One-To-One Coaching: A live coaching session over Zoom plus a full video audit of your Substack publication. Ideal for those who want to grow their online presence, identify their key strengths, and develop a long-term business strategy. Upgrade to VIP Membership for full access.

4. Promote to 21,000+ readers: Get yourself in front of a highly-engaged online audience via email, podcast and social media.

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