Emma Gannon, an absolute super star on Substack recently posted, “we all know 1k Substack subscribers is worth 100k in IG followers.”

Emma is right.

You can follow 2,000 people on Instagram, but it’s near impossible to subscribe to 2,000 newsletters – your inbox would explode! The people who subscribe trust you with their email address, and that’s a big deal in 2026.

But don’t get it twisted – they’re not your Substack subscribers, they’re your email subscribers.

Platforms come and go, but your email list lasts (almost) forever.

This from Aral Balkan on Mastodon (via Pixel Envy):

When you post things on Instagram, Facebook, and X, this is what they look like to people who don’t use those platforms.

Take note restaurants and coffee shops and tattoo shops, etc. Folks who don’t use those platforms anymore might not be able to see your hours of business, your location, or your contact info.

A domain name from Hover (affiliate link) + a one page website can cost less than $200 a year, and it’s viewable by anyone with a smart phone.

I’m not on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Bluesky, Mastodon, or LinkedIn.

How will I ever meet new people?

Yet a few weeks ago I spoke with an interesting designer on Zoom because their LinkedIn request ended up in my email inbox.

Instead of reactivating my LinkedIn account, I did some detective work, found their email address, and we planned a call.

How will you ever meet new people or find new things?

Stop scrolling and pick up a magazine, a book, watch a YouTube video, subscribe to a newsletters, a blog, a zine, a radio station.

Behind every cool thing is a cool person.

And you can send them an email.

I spoke with Cody Cook-Parrott ahead of the release of their new book, The Practice of Attention. We also talked about the messy and imperfect journey we’re all trying to figure out, too. Buckle up.

Cody deleted Instagram, and they also left Substack for Buttondown, returned briefly, then left again and lost their paid subscribers in the process.

“I felt a little flippant, almost. Like, oh, I can just build it back. And it’s like, it took me four years to build that many paid subscribers. It wasn’t like it just happened one day. And so I’ve been really thinking about how precious it is to have — I would like to think I would never delete my email list as a whole. I see people making quick decisions without really realizing how it might affect their self-employment landscape.”

We talked about social media, of course, but arrived in a new place.

(more…)

Don’t rely on one platform for all your growth.

“it’s up to us to grow our own publications, and that’s true whether we’re using Substack, Ghost, Beehiiv, Buttondown or anything else.” Simon K Jones

Once we start blaming an algorithm or a platform for our “lack of new subscribers,” we’re in trouble.

Get on podcasts, attend IRL events, get on other people’s newsletters – putting all your growth into Substack’s hands is risky business.

TOMORROW!
◾ MINI ESCAPE POD Q&A #32
Got two spots open – come ask me about websites, sales pages, building an email list!
Friday, March 13 from 9:00 AM – 9:45 AM EST: (Members only, start your first month here)

NEXT WEEK!
◾ CO-WORK ESCAPE POD
Work on taxes, your website, your scales, your paintings, your opera, your ballet.
Tuesday, March 17 from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST: https://luma.com/74xh39db

◾ SUBSTACK LIVE WITH MAX PETE

“The tech dream is a nightmare… more people I talk to that are in this industry want to leave and do something else—like work at the coffee shop, work at Trader Joe’s—but don’t know how to do that or feel like they can’t.”

That’s from my talk with Max Pete last year – tune in next week!
Wednesday, March 18 from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST (just be on Substack)

(more…)

If you want to get started making a simple landing page, a Linktree clone (like this one), or a portfolio sites, InfinityFree might be good if you’re just getting started.

A website doesn’t need to cost $25/month via Squarespace, or bog you down with admin duties tending to a dozen plugins.

Let your website tell your story. People hate being sold to, but they love buying.

Let people buy in to what you’re doing with your website.

A very common set of benefits kick off this post, “Is Social Media a Necessary Evil?”

• It’s where my friends are
• I have a community I’m a part of through a few different groups
• I can keep up with some extended family members easier
• Groups are a great tool for my personal business
• We can share our travel adventures and build a community for not only friends/family but other travelers as well

It’s great until its gone.

It’s great until you get locked out your account, or your friend’s account gets hacked, or a family member falls down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole because they spend too much time on a platform.

If you lost access today, you’d have to come up with a plan real quick to replace all that, so plan your escape from social media while you still have access.