Hitting send isn’t the end and other bits of guidance from the group calls

A little catchphrase I came up with: When you hit send, it’s not the end. Maybe I invented it, maybe someone else did—but it’s true either way.

Right now, it’s summertime—open rates are down, comments are down, “likes” are down.

But when you hit send, that doesn’t mean you’re done, especially if you’re on Substack! You have the direct URL for every post you send. Yes, those posts land in inboxes, but that’s just the beginning.

Take that link and bring it somewhere else. And I don’t just mean posting it on Twitter or Facebook and hoping the algorithm does you a favor—because honestly, it probably won’t.

Be direct. Send that link to someone. Maybe it’s someone you haven’t talked to in a while, or someone you connected with through your newsletter.

Pick up your phone—text it to them. Drop it in a message. Make a quick Loom video talking about it and share that. Post it to your YouTube channel, your Facebook, wherever. Talk about what you wrote. Give it more life.

Don’t feel weird about sharing something you published five days ago—or five months ago. What’s old to you is new to someone else. When you hit send, it doesn’t end. Keep that post alive.

During our weekly Escape Pod video calls, we figure out a lot of stuff together. Like, (maybe) don’t make two separate newsletters, two separate Substacks, two separate websites – especially at the start. Show up fully as you first, before you go chopping yourself up into all these little pieces.

Then also, if you’re starting to move your Substack archive to your own website (just in case, ahhhh), take your time. It’s hard work moving everything over manually, and reformatting images, and cleaning up links. Find a pace that works for you.

These ideas and guidance flow from working in groups, like Cassidy Frost mentioned in a recent podcast interview.

“I feel like working in a group is so much better — people can learn from each other and gain support from each other. It becomes something bigger: someone can watch another artist’s struggle and gain so much from it, realizing that the blocks in your head are universal, not just special to you. If someone else can overcome that, you can overcome it too. It’s like seeing to believe.”

I feel this in my bones, which is why I added Mini Escape Pod Q&A sessions to my weekly stable of calls with paid members. These smaller gatherings (limited to just me and three members) helps you realize that not every challenge is totally unique.

The Social Media Escape Club membership is so varied and able to contribute and expand on ideas, to offer how they handled similar experiences, no matter their background or art form.