Editor's Note: Conversations spark ideas. Field Notes are what happens next. They're not a transcript or a recap—they're my reflections on the ideas that stayed with me after we pulled away from the Publisher's Desk. Conversations explore ideas. Field Notes capture what was worth remembering.
The Publisher’s Desk · Conversation 002 | Rob Riker and I talk about what happens after you make friends on Substack—and why the people who never buy from you might still change your business.
📓 Field Note
The Creator Who Never Bought From Him Brought Him $30,000 in Clients
Imagine looking at someone you’ve become friends with online and deciding they’re a waste of time because they’ll never buy from you.
No coaching package. No paid subscription. No sale.
So you move on.
Except that person might become the one who recommends your work to someone who desperately needs it.
That’s exactly the kind of relationship Rob Riker and I wanted to talk about in Conversation 002 of The Publisher’s Desk, recorded during our second Live together on The Creator’s Edge.
Our first conversation was about building relationships on Substack.
This time, I wanted to ask a different question:
→ Okay, you’ve made the connection. Now what?
How do you keep that relationship going?
How does it become a collaboration, a referral, a friendship, or something you couldn’t have planned?
And how do you make room for business opportunities without turning every person you meet into a potential transaction?
The $30,000 Relationship That Never Became A Sale
Rob told me about a friend he met on Twitter when they both had small accounts.
They supported each other and grew alongside each other.
That friend never hired Rob. Rob knew he probably never would.
However, over time, whenever someone needed help with their coaching business, his friend kept sending them Rob’s way.
Those referrals eventually brought Rob more than $30,000 in client business.
Now, here’s the part you need to hear before you start mentally assigning dollar values to your Substack friends. 😂
Rob wasn’t expecting that outcome. And he was clear that most relationships won’t produce anything like it.
He wasn’t sitting there thinking, This guy looks like a $30,000 opportunity.
They were friends. The referrals came later.
That story got me thinking about how quickly creators can dismiss a relationship when there’s no obvious business benefit attached to it.
Someone might never buy your offer, but they might read every article you publish.
They might recommend you to a friend.
They might invite you onto a Live.
Teach you something.
Introduce you to another creator.
Or simply make this whole experience more enjoyable.
And sometimes?
They’re just your friend.
That’s allowed too. 😂
You Can Be Intentional Without Making People Feel Hunted
During the conversation, I asked Rob:
How do you intentionally build relationships that could lead to clients, collaborations, and opportunities without secretly treating every relationship like a business strategy?
Because there’s a difference between being open to opportunities and entering every DM with a hidden sales pitch.
You know the type.
They comment on three Notes, tell you they love your work, and suddenly you’re being invited to a “quick chat” that turns out to be a sales call.
Sir. We were discussing newsletters 45 seconds ago. 😂
Rob’s answer challenged the idea that creators should spend their time exclusively on people who might buy from them.
He explained that buyers find him in different ways. Some discover his content. Others come through referrals from people who have never purchased anything from him.
So if he only built relationships with obvious prospects, he’d miss a lot of the people who help his work reach those prospects.
That doesn’t mean you should befriend people for their referral potential.
It means you can’t predict the entire future of a relationship from its first interaction.
Sometimes The Opportunity Is Already Sitting In Front Of You
Rob also asked me about connecting with larger creators on Substack.
One example was my Live with Yana G.Y. from Unplugged with Yana G.Y.
I’d followed her work for roughly two years. When she earned her bestseller badge, she asked people in a Substack group chat if they wanted to join her for a Live to celebrate and talk about the platform.
I said yes.
That was it.
I hadn’t spent months DMing her to secure a collaboration. I saw an invitation and responded.
And that’s an important part of this conversation for creators who feel like they need an elaborate networking strategy.
Sometimes someone is already asking for collaborators.
Sometimes a creator you admire is looking for Live guests.
Sometimes a conversation opens a door.
You still have to walk through it.
I could’ve seen Yana’s invitation and talked myself out of responding because she has a much bigger publication than mine.
→ Instead, I raised my hand.
There’s no guarantee that saying yes will lead to some massive opportunity, but saying no because you’ve already decided you don’t belong in the room closes the door before anything happens.
Relationships Need Room To Become Something
A lot of creator advice focuses on the first move.
→ Leave a thoughtful comment. Send a DM. Introduce yourself.
Fine, but what happens after that?
That’s where this second conversation with Rob began.
A relationship might develop because you keep talking about a shared interest. You start exchanging ideas.
You notice an opportunity that suits the other person and send it their way or you realize you genuinely enjoy talking to them, regardless of whether you ever work together and sometimes a relationship changes.
A reader becomes a customer.
A customer becomes a repeat buyer.
A fellow writer becomes a collaborator.
Someone you met in the comments becomes a friend.
→ You don’t have to force every relationship into one of those categories, but you do have to pay attention to the people you’ve already met.
If you’re constantly chasing the next creator, the next introduction, or the next subscriber milestone, it’s easy to overlook the relationships sitting right in front of you.
A Bigger Audience Isn’t The Only Thing You’re Building
One of my favorite parts of the conversation was talking about Virgil Brewster.
Rob described Virgil as a friend and someone he learns from.
I could relate.
We’ve both connected with him through Substack, and those conversations have given us ideas and perspectives we might not have encountered otherwise.
That’s another outcome you can’t measure by looking at your subscriber count.
Someone helps you think through an offer.
Someone shares what worked for them.
Someone challenges an assumption you’ve been carrying around.
Someone makes the work more fun.
→ None of that shows up as a neat little number on your dashboard, but it can change what you do next.
If you’re building a publication that you want to keep writing for years, that matters.
So What Should You Actually Do After Making The Connection?
Start with the people you already enjoy talking to.
If someone mentioned a project in your DMs, ask how it went.
If you come across something that would genuinely help them, send it.
If you see a collaboration opportunity that makes sense for both of you, suggest it.
And if you have an offer that could solve a problem they’ve actually told you about? You can talk about it.
Being a decent human doesn’t require pretending you don’t have a business. 😂
The point is to give people room to decide whether they want to work with you, while allowing the relationship to exist even if they don’t.
That’s a very different experience from feeling like every friendly message comes with an invoice hiding behind it.
From Comments To Clients: What Happens After You Build The Relationship?
Rob and I went further into building relationships beyond the first interaction, finding collaborators, dealing with negative comments, publishing schedules, and how creators approach their businesses differently.
The conversation also took an unexpected detour into email marketing, Kit, and what people think they’re signing up for when they subscribe to a publication.
(We had THOUGHTS. 😂)
If you haven’t watched the full conversation yet, you can catch it at the top of this article.
And if you missed our first conversation together:
Now we want to hear from you:
Has someone you met through Substack opened a door you never expected?
Maybe they referred a client, invited you to collaborate, taught you something, or became a friend.
Tell us what happened in the comments. We want to hear the stories that started with one tiny interaction.
— Jessica & Rob 👑👑
Conversation 002 Takeaway
→ You never know what a creator relationship can become.
Someone who never buys from you might become a friend, collaborator, mentor, or the person who sends your next client your way. 👑
We must stay open to receive new possibilities and opportunities.
Continue The Conversation
Thank you for pulling up a chair at The Publisher’s Desk.
If today’s conversation sparked a new idea or perspective, I’d love for you to continue the conversation by sharing your biggest takeaway in the comments.
↑ Listen to Conversation 002 of The Publisher’s Desk:
From Comments To Clients: What Happens After You Build The Relationship?
One of my favorite parts of The Publisher’s Desk is introducing you to thoughtful people whose work I genuinely admire.
I’m super grateful that Rob’s the second person to pull up a chair at The Publisher’s Desk.
About Rob Riker
Thank you so much to everyone who tuned into our Live!
I appreciate you spending part of your day with us. And to everyone watching the replay, thank you for being here too! 💜
Rob Riker is the creator of The Creator’s Edge and Make Friends Get Clients.
Through his writing and coaching, Rob helps creators build genuine relationships that can lead to friendships, collaborations, referrals, and clients—without treating every interaction like a sales opportunity.
If today's conversation resonated with you, I think you'll really enjoy Rob's work at The Creator’s Edge. →
Scan the QR code below to subscribe to The Creator’s Edge →
Scan the QR code below to subscribe to Unstuck to Published →
Thank You
Thank you so much for everyone who tuned into this live, your presence is truly appreciated, and to the people who are watching the replay, thank you!
-Jess, The Creator & Rob Riker
