The Substack Small Creators Workaround Hotline Is Now OPEN!
The investigative series that's uncovering strategies, solutions, and duct-taped workarounds that'll make Substack work better for YOU.
Some things in life are simple—like french fries + ranch dressing.
Other things—like getting Substack to do what you actually want—require a little more finesse. And that’s exactly why I’m collabing on a brand-new investigative series where me + my two besties are hacking, testing, duct taping, and figuring out the best Substack workarounds—so we can help more small creators like ourselves make Substack work for them! Hit the "comment box” below to submit your ladies-can-you-get-to-the-bottom-of-this-for-me workaround requests…
Three creators. One mission. Extra sauce. No B.S. Lands this month.
You know how when you ask Chad (oh sorry, that’s what we call the Substack Support chatbot) how to do something even slightly out of the box, all it can do is spit out help articles that answer everything but your actual question?
Yeah, we’re tired of it, too.
So instead of waiting around for an answer that’s never coming, we’re rolling up our sleeves, Voxering (messaging app) every day, and doing what small creators do best—figuring this shit out ourselves.
We are The Substack Investigative Series, and we’re here to uncover the strategies, solutions, and duct-taped workarounds that Chad (the chatbot) won’t show you.
MEET THE CREW: The Newsletter Nerds You Never Knew You Needed
There’s yours truly. 👋 I write with a stiff middle finger + have a real obsession with knack for wiping out the extra steps to get from “I want to do this!” to “I’m DOING IT!” Show me a 6-figure blueprint, and I’ll show you 600 ways you can rob yourself of everything you really want.
There’s , who writes with the passion of a thousand creative sparks that dance like wildfires but still respect the structure of a well-built spreadsheet + tech stack. Show her a creative abyss you wandered too far into, and she’ll show YOU a shortcut back—with a fully optimized workflow in hand.
And then, there’s , who writes with the comedic swagger of a midlife mom who can’t even run errands without accidentally starring in her own sitcom episode. Show her a woman in (or approaching) midlife, and she’ll show you a woman who’s in dire need of a safe place to let the TMI flow.
OUR MISSION: Making Substack Actually Work For YOU (and US)
Between the three of us, we’ve spent a scandalous amount of time trying to bend Substack to our will. And in doing so, we’ve had to accept some truths:
Substack is amazing for writers but a total head-scratcher when it comes to workflows, integrations, and common-sense systems that make running a PAID newsletter more successful, fun, and feel-good.
Substack is getting inundated with celebrities + big-name media personalities. If we don’t figure out how to make this platform work for small creators, we’re going to get edged out of the pie-eating.
To claim our equally important camping chairs at the table, we need to hack the system.
Some things on Substack should be intuitive, but they’re not.
Other things work great—until you try to integrate them into your daily workflow + realize there are gaps.
We’re here to patch those gaps with duct tape, chewing gum, tampons, sheer determination… whatever the investigation calls for. 🤷♀️
HOW THE INVESTIGATIVE SERIES WORKS: Frequency, Requests, and Access
Every month, we're going to tackle one frustrating AF Substack problem and share three different workarounds (live on Zoom)—one from each of us—that have either saved us time, money, energy, or straight-up prevented an apocalyptic dumpster fire down the road.
These are real solutions we’ve tested on our own Substacks + businesses.
Some are elegant. Some are held together with metaphorical Gorilla glue. All of them are designed to make Substack work better for YOU.
MARCH = BRANDING: Workarounds, Date, Replay
DETAILS FOR THE 3 CASES WE’LL BE INVESTIGATING ARE COMING SOON.
DATE IS BELOW 👇👇👇
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📅 Date + Time for March’s Live Session: We’ll be hosting our 2nd workshop on 3/13 @ 10 AM PST–the session will last 30-40 mins.
🌭 Reserved For Our Paid Members ONLY: Come hang out, learn a workaround, commiserate about Substack weirdness, and maybe witness some live problem-solving. If you can’t make it, the recording will be available for paid members only. Upgrade your membership to make sure you don’t miss out on these sessions—live or recorded.
** Zoom login information for this investigative session will be posted in The Hot Dog Cart private chat.
🥳 The Entire Archive Will Be Available: Like an all-you-can-eat condiment bar for your substack strategy – dig in. Access every session, every workaround, every hilarious tech struggle. Catch up on every past session at your leisure.
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WE DOUBLE-DAWG-DARE YOU to submit your own gripes, too!
If Substack had a comment box (like, a real one where they actually listened), what would you drop in there? What’s the thing that drives you bonkers about trying to make Substack work for YOU?
Drop your gripes in the comments below.
We’ll take the ones with the most ❤️ and investigate workarounds in future sessions. Because Chad (the chatbot) won’t help you, but we sure as hell will!
Come hang out. Bring your gaps. Let’s duct-tape Substack into something even better—together.
Let’s show Substack + the world that small, anti-capitalist creators stand united!
Boom shalakalaka boom! Here we goooo!!!
Love this idea! My number 1 tip for folks starting newsletters is to write as if you have 10k people reading. It'll help you to create something meaningful, and build a robust archive for when the crowds to come!