The goal isn’t to become good at “growing on Substack.”
The goal is to become so good at creating value that growth becomes a natural consequence of the work.
Since joining on August 1, I’ve watched this play out in real time.
Yes, I care about subscribers. I care about reach. I care about Notes, recommendations, restacks, discovery and distribution.
But none of those things are the actual mission.
The mission is the value.
If someone reads something I wrote and thinks differently, takes action, makes a connection, gets clarity, discovers an opportunity, or feels less alone in what they’re building — that’s a win.
That’s what I’m trying to build with Growth OS.
Not just an audience.
A network of people building things.
Founders. Creators. Operators. Career builders. Ambitious people figuring things out in public.
And I think that distinction matters because you can absolutely manufacture growth.
You can follow people because they followed you.
You can participate in growth challenges.
You can optimize every post for engagement.
You can chase whatever format the algorithm seems to reward this week.
And you can end up with a very impressive number attached to your profile.
But numbers don’t automatically equal influence.
Attention isn’t trust.
Followers aren’t community.
Subscribers aren’t relationships.
Reach isn’t impact.
The real question is:
What happens because you showed up?
That’s the part of your argument I keep coming back to, Jess.
I don’t want to simply become a bigger creator.
I want to become a more valuable creator.
And if I do that consistently enough, I trust the growth will follow.
Build the value.
Build the trust.
Build the relationships.
Build the network.
Then scale the distribution.
That’s a much better game than chasing the number.
Before you publish your next article or Note, ask yourself:
Did I create content… or did I create VALUE?
There’s a difference.
What’s one thing you could do to give your readers MORE than they expected this week?
I want to hear your answer. 👇
This is exactly how I think about Substack.
The goal isn’t to become good at “growing on Substack.”
The goal is to become so good at creating value that growth becomes a natural consequence of the work.
Since joining on August 1, I’ve watched this play out in real time.
Yes, I care about subscribers. I care about reach. I care about Notes, recommendations, restacks, discovery and distribution.
But none of those things are the actual mission.
The mission is the value.
If someone reads something I wrote and thinks differently, takes action, makes a connection, gets clarity, discovers an opportunity, or feels less alone in what they’re building — that’s a win.
That’s what I’m trying to build with Growth OS.
Not just an audience.
A network of people building things.
Founders. Creators. Operators. Career builders. Ambitious people figuring things out in public.
And I think that distinction matters because you can absolutely manufacture growth.
You can follow people because they followed you.
You can participate in growth challenges.
You can optimize every post for engagement.
You can chase whatever format the algorithm seems to reward this week.
And you can end up with a very impressive number attached to your profile.
But numbers don’t automatically equal influence.
Attention isn’t trust.
Followers aren’t community.
Subscribers aren’t relationships.
Reach isn’t impact.
The real question is:
What happens because you showed up?
That’s the part of your argument I keep coming back to, Jess.
I don’t want to simply become a bigger creator.
I want to become a more valuable creator.
And if I do that consistently enough, I trust the growth will follow.
Build the value.
Build the trust.
Build the relationships.
Build the network.
Then scale the distribution.
That’s a much better game than chasing the number.
I totally agree, Chad!!
And hopefully people see that question, and give it an honest response.
Great article Jess,
I’ve been trying to work on this with my case studies.
This makes me think that I also should clearly outline the steps someone else can take to achieve their personal success story.