Every week on Substack there’s a few brilliant writers who publish Notes “threads” where you can share your Notes with a community of dozens of writers.
It’s meant to give your Notes a bit of a boost.
For some, these work! Absolutely.
But for others, these won’t work.
Sure, your likes might improve and you might get a few nice comments..
But if WHAT you’re writing about is unfocused and unplanned, you’re just wasting your time.
You might get 30 likes, but nobody will subscribe. Because we only subscribe to people with a clear and focused blog.
The Fatal Mistake Bloggers Make In The First 10 Minutes Of Their Career
Most writers fail to build a blog online and then think to themselves, “I’m just not a good writer.”
No. That’s wrong.
The actual problem stems from a mistake they make in the first 10 minutes of creating their blog. Most people get an unclear idea for a blog, run with it, write a billion articles, then get confused when nobody reads their work.
Then writing experts swoop in and say “You just need to improve your writing! Here’s how!”
No. Writers need an entire overhaul of their strategy. And that’s not easy!
I’ve been blogging for 8 years and taught 1,000’s of students, and it’s impossible for me to explore, diagnose, and fix a strategic problem someone’s having in 10 minutes.
It takes time. And exploration. And testing. And feedback.
And loads of 1-1 time with an expert.
When workers build a house, they first make sure the foundation is perfect. Without a perfect foundation, well, they’re gonna have problems later on. It’s the same with blogging—getting the foundation right is essential.
And bloggers never think to blame their blog’s foundation for some reason.
Feedback Is Essential To Find Your Blog’s Direction
Another thing bloggers lack is feedback. Ever heard of the Substack void? Yeah, that’s the black hole your writing gets sucked into where nobody can find it. There’s no feedback in the Substack void.
Nobody even knows you exist there!
You never get someone to sit you down and say “Your writing is good, but it’s just a little unfocused.”
Furthermore, most people don’t have the time to sit with a stranger and help them discover a focused niche for their blog. It takes hours and hours of time!
You need feedback—both positive and negative.
The problem is, 99% of the feedback you get online is negative. No likes. No comments. No subscribers. ‘I know this isn’t working, but why not?!’ you think.
I’ve Created A Focus Group For Your Blog
Online courses sell you on the idea that you just need more information to succeed.
But that’s not the case in blogging.
You need feedback, and LOTS of it. It’s hard to get feedback on your own, which is why I’m bringing the feedback to you.
Our next cohort of the Substack Campfire is like a focus group for your blog.
I’m putting 30+ writers into a Slack channel and locking the door for 4 weeks. Inside we’ll:
Write 10 of the most important stories from our life.
Get feedback on what our best 3 stories are.
Choose 1 story to base our blog on.
Write a new hero post for our publication with that story.
Clarify our niche and direction for 2025 with the help of our small groups.
We start on October 26th and end on November 22.
Get Put Into Small Groups With 3 Other Writers
I’ll be breaking everyone into small groups of three, where you’ll share your 10 stories with each other, get + give feedback, and make suggestions on which stories everyone should base their blog around.
Enjoy Feedback From 30+ Writers
Outside the small groups, we’ll share our ten stories with each other as Substack Notes. The additional feedback from the larger community in the form of likes, comments, and even private messages will give us further social proof as to which stories are resonating the most.
Get 1-1 Feedback From Me
After you’ve gotten feedback from your small group and our community, I’ll take a look at all 10 of your stories, and suggest my favorites, too.
With the help of our larger community, small groups, and me, it’s a certainty you’ll have chosen the best story to base your blog around for 2025.
Establish Your Blog With A Hero Post
Next, we’ll write a hero post together, which establishes the whole foundation for your blog. Hero posts get pinned to the top of your publication. Here’s mine:
Hero posts typically accomplish two key goals:
They tell the audience who you are and what your blog is about.
They help YOU focus your blog.
Most people just slap an “About” page together and call it a day. This leads to an unfocused blog. It’s like building a rocket ship without any schematics. What we’ll do is write a Hero Post together in a structured, purposeful way that helps you get clear on your blog’s direction in 2025. We’ll also use the 1 story you selected above as the foundation of this post.
On Monday, November 11th at 10 AM EST, I’ll teach a 2-hour training on how to write your hero post step-by-step.
Brainstorm Your Niche, Audience, And Next 20+ Blog Posts With AI
In that same training, we’ll also cover how to define your niche, audience, and topics for your next 20+ blog posts with ChatGPT. I know, I’ve been a staunch opponent to using AI in blogging at all, but this isn’t a training on how to write with AI.
This is a training on how to use AI as a writing assistant.
We’re going to take your core story and use ChatGPT to:
Define who’s in our niche from a demographic, behavioral, and interest perspective.
Define our 5 core pillars—or topics—for our blog.
Create a list of 20+ blog post ideas for 2025.
Explore niche + topic expansion ideas for our blog in the future.
Recommend us ideas and strategies we haven’t yet considered.
I’ll also teach you how to use ChatGPT to help you solve future problems that might come up in 2025.
This Will Help You On Medium, LinkedIn, And X, Too
Many of you Substackers also write on Medium, or LinkedIn, or X. And guess what? You might be struggling everywhere, too, right? It makes sense.
Getting your blog’s foundation wrong sabotages your writing everywhere.
Repairing your blog’s foundation will immediately improve your Medium earnings, LinkedIn impressions, and X impressions.
It’s 100% a magic bullet.
Your Story Is The Key To Standing Out In An Increasingly AI World
A 2023 Statista Report showed that 10-15% of social media content is AI generated, and that number is expected to rise significantly in the coming years.
You might get depressed reading that, but I actually think it’s a huge opportunity for you. Your unique story will allow you to stand out in this mess.
This program will help you get clear on your 10 core stories so you can use them again, and again, and again. I’ve written about my journey from broke recent grad to freelancer to blogger to famous vlogger for the last 6 years on Medium, LinkedIn, X, Youtube, Facebook, and now Substack. It’s my bread and butter, and helped me generate millions of views online.
Your story is your bread and butter, too. If you aren’t utilizing it, prepare to become irrelevant in the next 2-5 years when AI content takes over.
When We Start + What’s Included
We get started this Saturday, October 26th, at 10 AM EST. I’ll teach a LIVE 3-Hour workshop on how to write great stories on Substack Notes.
Then from October 28th - November 8th, we’ll write 10 personal stories together on Notes, and get feedback.
Then on November 11th, I’ll teach a LIVE 2-Hour workshop on how to choose your 1 core story, write your hero post, discover your niche and audience, and use AI as a writing assistant to discover your next 20+ blog posts.
Then from November 11th - November 22nd, we’ll write, edit, get feedback on, and finalize our hero posts and be completely set for 2025 and beyond.
That’s what’s included in this great program.
Get $500 Off Until Tomorrow At 5 PM EST
There is only 20 $500 off coupon codes in existence, and X of them have already been used! If you want to get $500 off this program before this coupon expires, sign up now!
Use discount code STORY at checkout to get $500 off this program.
Here’s how to input the code. 👆
Again, there’s only 20 STORY discount codes available, so get them while they’re hot.
The discount code also expires this Friday, October 25 at 5 PM EST.
I hope you can join us! Cheers.
Tom Kuegler