Editor’s Note: This article is the companion piece to Episode 22 of Unstuck to Finding Your Edge, my weekly Live series with Robyn Levin.
After doing about eight Lives between us, we sat down to compare notes and pull out the lessons actually worth carrying forward. Consider this the condensed version, but if you want the stories, side conversations, screen shares, and our very different takes on LinkedIn 😂, watch the full replay below.💜
Robyn and I have apparently decided sleep is optional.
Between the two of us, we did about eight Lives recently.
I talked with Virgil Brewster about repurposing content, Rob Riker about relationships, and Chris about what consistent publishing had taught us.
Robyn talked with LinkedIn expert Melanie Goodman about what’s changed on LinkedIn and how creators can use it alongside Substack.
Then there were all the things we were testing ourselves: Subscriber Perks, Creator Match, Recommendations, paid offers, and collaborations.
A LOT.
So for Episode 22 of Unstuck to Finding Your Edge, we decided not to add another strategy to the pile.
We compared notes.
And after all those conversations?
The tools keep changing. The fundamentals really don’t.
1. Stop Creating More Work Than You Need To
This was my biggest takeaway from my Live with Virgil Brewster:
Use what you already created.
An article doesn’t have to disappear after you publish it.
Pull ideas from it for Notes. Talk about it on a Live. Turn pieces of the conversation into something new.
Same with a Live.
One conversation can become an article, a Note, a podcast episode, or the spark for a completely different piece.
The point isn’t to squeeze 42 pieces of content out of everything you make.
It’s to stop starting from zero every damn time.
2. A Collaboration Doesn’t Have To End When The Live Ends
Chris B. Writes and I proved this without really planning to.
We did a Live together.
Then we kept talking and realized something: I’d been publishing every Sunday for roughly three years, while Chris had published every Monday for 52 weeks.
That became:
What 52 Mondays & Three Years of Sundays Taught Us About Substack.
It wasn’t a recap of our Live. It was a completely different article that existed because we collaborated.
→ That’s the bigger opportunity.
A good collaboration can create the next idea instead of ending with the first one.
3. Stop Looking At Everyone As A Potential Customer
My second Live with Rob Riker was about what happens after you make a connection.
You nurture it and you stay open to what it might become.
Someone you meet on Substack could become a customer. Sure.
They could also become a friend, collaborator, peer, mentor, or someone who introduces your work to an entirely new audience.
Robyn Levin and I are a pretty good example.
She responded to one of my Notes. That became DMs.
DMs became a phone call and somehow we’re now 22 episodes into a weekly Live together.
I definitely didn’t post that Note thinking, This is how I’m going to find my future co-host.
→ That’s the point.
You don’t know where a genuine relationship will lead.
4. Make Your Paid Offer Easier To Understand & Use
One of the newer Substack features we talked about was Subscriber Perks.
I recently set up the Perks page for Unstuck to Published, but I didn’t create random extras just because Substack gave me another page to fill.
I matched it to what I already promised paid subscribers.
My Beginner’s Blueprint.
My foundational checklist.
My paid community chat.
My Substack Masterclass.
Now there’s one place where paid subscribers can find what they’re paying for and that’s the actual lesson here.
→ A paid offer isn’t better because it has more stuff. It’s better when people understand what they get and can actually find it.
And when you change that offer?
Update it everywhere.
→ Your publication settings. About page. Welcome email. Perks page.
Your subscriber shouldn’t need a treasure map to figure out what they bought.
5. Let Substack Help You Find The Right People
We also looked at Creator Match.
For me, some of the recommendations were almost funny.
Substack suggested Vinayak Ramesh as one of my top collaboration matches.
I’d already been on his podcast.
Other people I’d collaborated with appeared too.
Apparently the algorithm and I agree, but I think this feature is far more interesting for someone who’s new.
Instead of wandering around Substack wondering who you should talk to, Creator Match can give you somewhere to start.
Look at the suggestions. Check out their work. Decide whether the person makes sense for you.
→ Then talk to them.
Use the algorithm for the introduction. Use your brain for the relationship.
6. Recommendations Are Quiet Growth
During the Live, I called Recommendations the dividends of Substack.
When we looked at my dashboard, 176 of my roughly 430 subscribers had come through recommendations.
One publication, The Dinner Done Club, had sent me 31 and there’s another relationship story hiding there.
The creator behind that publication originally paid me for a one-on-one session.
That could’ve been the entire transaction.
Instead, she later recommended my publication and introduced dozens of people to my work.
→ Which brings us right back to Rob’s lesson.
You have no idea what one relationship might become.
7. Substack & LinkedIn Don’t Need Separate Content Factories
Then Robyn brought us into LinkedIn.
Which was hilarious considering I admitted I’ve basically never used it.
Robyn?
She was teaching people how to use LinkedIn in 2009!! 🐐
Her old YouTube tutorial has accumulated more than 26,000 views, so she recently went Live with LinkedIn expert Melanie Goodman to talk about what’s changed.
One of the bigger lessons was how LinkedIn and Substack can work together.
You don’t need to write something for Substack and then stare at LinkedIn thinking:
Crap. Now what do I post here?
Take the core idea and adapt it for the platform.
Robyn and Melanie discussed using searchable language on LinkedIn, making your expertise clear, and repurposing ideas from Substack instead of building an entirely separate content machine.
Which sounds suspiciously familiar. We’re right back to Virgil.
Use what you already have.
Click here to view Robyn’s YouTube video about Linkedin from 2009
So What Did 8 Lives Actually Teach Us?
This was the funny part.
We talked about different platforms, different features, different creators, and different strategies, and somehow we kept landing in the same place.
Create useful work.
Reuse good ideas.
Build genuine relationships.
Collaborate with people who make sense.
Make it easy for people to understand what you do.
Use the tools instead of letting the tools create more work for you.
Substack will add another feature and LinkedIn will change something.
A button will move, an algorithm will change, and three months from now, Robyn and I will probably have another eight Lives to talk about.
But the fundamentals?
Those aren’t moving nearly as fast.
The tools change. The fundamentals don’t.
This companion article comes from Episode 22 of Unstuck to Finding Your Edge, my weekly Live series with Robyn.
Watch Episode 22 above ↑
Which lesson are you actually going to use?
Because collecting another 14 strategies isn’t the assignment.
Pick one. Use it.
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The tools are here. Let’s build the damn thing. 💜
Resources From This Conversation
Follow Jess at Unstuck to Published →
Follow Jess at NP Fellow Become The CEO of Your Health →
Follow Jess at Nurse in the Market →
Follow Robyn at Finding Your Edge →
Follow Robyn at Rare Finds - Luxury Travel →
Scan Robyn’s QR code to access her Youtube channel →
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!
See you next Friday at 12pm ET for our weekly show, stay tuned!
-Robyn Levin & Jess, The Creator
