Thank You!

by Nick Laight | Apr 3, 2026 | Blog | 0 comments

On Monday, I sent you an email, asking for your feedback.

Did you read it?

If not, I revealed my big idea.

I want to start a premium What Really Makes Money publication on Substack.

Every fortnight, you’ll get an in-depth blueprint on a specific money-making opportunity…

Then on alternate weeks, I’ll do a deep-dive into practical marketing strategies you can use to grow a home business and make more money (for less time and effort).

I asked in my email if you thought it was a good idea… and I’m delighted to say I got an amazing response!

(A big thank you if you responded.)

Here are just a few of the comments that pinged into my inbox…

….”Yes I would absolutely sign up and pay for that subscription….”

…”This is weird — I was going to contact you this week and ask if you could do something like this. Deep dive blueprint with online income/AI based income would really hit the spot.”

…”A big yes from me mate. I absolutely loved your monthly letters, read them from the start.”

…”I like the idea of a premium subscription based version of WRMM and would be more than willing to pay such a small monthly fee.”

….”Yes, I would be happy to pay a subscription of £6 per month for more in-depth content.”

…”I would pay £6 per month for online income ideas, AI based income, and low-cost/start from scratch ideas.”

Anyway, I’m very encouraged by the feedback and I’m putting plans in place to make this new service happen.

There’s going to be an extra benefit to this, too.

Because I’m setting this up on Substack, I’m going to share my journey of discovery as I use this platform to grow my service and find new readers.

I’ll test out AI shortcuts, marketing strategies and lead-generating techniques.. then pass the best ones to you.

Which means you get an inside track into how you could use Substack to start and grow your own digital publishing business from scratch!

In fact, I’ve already started the process…

As with any new project, I like to do some research and see what successful Substackers are doing.

So this week I bought a course about building a following on Substack – and today I’m going to share some of the strategies with you.

First, a quick recap…

What Is Substack?

If you haven’t read my previous emails about Substack, here’s what you need to know.

It’s a digital publishing platform where you can post online content that also gets emailed to your subscribers.

So it provides you with a combo of classic blog and email newsletter formats – all through one system.

Substack gives you the option of putting some – or all – of your content behind a subscription paywall.

Which means you can set up a digital publication almost instantly and get paid directly for your content… with no need to create your own website, sign up to an email broadcasting system, or use a payment processing service.

You can also use it to sell your own backend products – for instance eBooks, PDF guides, digital courses and subscription services.

Even better, Substack is a thriving marketplace of ideas, with lots of users actively looking for help, insights and entertainment.

It has a social media-style element in the form of ‘notes’ which allows you to post short nuggets of content on a publicly-viewed feed.

This means you can attract subscribers and followers through the platform itself, rather than relying on Google algorithms, Google ads and Facebook ads.

If you want to know more, then here are two previous issues I’ve written about Substack:

Today, I want to share a strategy that I’ve learned from successful Substacker, Matt Giaro.

A 45-Minute Per Day Substack System

Matt launched his first niche website in 2010, built multiple e-commerce businesses, then turned to teaching others.

He now shares advice to other writers about earning money online through his Substack, which has over 10K subscribers.

Because he clearly knows what he’s doing, I decided to check out his course, The Substack System. It aims to help creators grow a Substack business in just 45 minutes a day, adding 300–500 email subscribers per month.

Now, I won’t give away all his secrets.

But I was fascinated by one particular strategy that he uses to find most of his new subscribers.

It involves Substack ‘notes’.

These are, effectively, the in-built social media wing of the platform.

And it works a bit like Twitter/X…

The idea is that you regularly post short, helpful pieces of content related to your niche subject.

They could include commentary…. insight… ideas… observations…photos… quotes from experts.

Because they can appear in the general ‘Notes’ feed to people who don’t follow you at all, these give you reach beyond your existing followers

Which means you can use them to advertise yourself and your publications for free – known as ‘organic’ marketing.

If your note gets lots of engagement (likes, ‘restacks’, comments), the algorithm shows it to more people, which is how writers report picking up large numbers of new subscribers from a single short post.

You can also interact, comment and reply to posts and notes by other like-minded publishers.

This makes you even more visible, because it gets you in front of THEIR followers, driving visitors to your Substack.

Now, I can guess what you might be thinking at this point.

“UGH! I don’t like the idea of doing social media.”

But here’s the interesting thing…

In his course, Matt admits that he doesn’t particularly enjoy the short-form social side of Substack either!

How Notes Can Grow Your Substack Business

Substack notes are short, usually no longer than 250 words, and around 3-5 paragraphs, tops (although bear in mind there is NO limit to how long they are).

Using AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT, you produce one in about 5–10 minutes without needing any writing skills once you have the classic formats down.

These include:

Nugget of Wisdom – One to three lines delivered like a quote or proverb, eg, “Most people don’t have a [X] problem. They have a [Y] problem.”
Thought-Provoking Claim – challenge a common assumption, then provide a brief explanation, eg. “Everyone says [common advice]. But here’s what actually happened when I tried it. [Counter-evidence]
Q&A – A series of questions or a mini dialogue that leads to an insight. eg. “Would you do X for them? Would you do Y for them? Would you do Z for them? Then why won’t you [specific thing]?”
Micro-Story – a short anecdote that has tension in it, and which ends with a revelation or insight eg… “This week I almost did [action]. Because I was struggling with [problem]. But then I realised [solution] and suddenly I [enjoyed result].
Feedback Question – Ask readers one clear, concise question to spark conversation, eg They say that [insert common wisdom]. But what would you do?
Reflection – this works like verse or prayer, where you build on an idea using a rhythmic style. eg “May this week bring [insight]… May you remember. [important thing].. May you find [outcome]…”

You can paste these formats into an AI tool and then ask it to come up with the content for you.

Giaro suggests that to keep the notes flowing, without being stuck for ideas each day, you can try the following:

Reverse Engineer What Already Works On Substack And Create Your Own Variation

Follow lots of publishers in your niche, or who create content that dovetails in some way with the subject matter of your own publication.

Track their posts and notes and look closely at what is getting liked or restacked.

Browse popular notes in your niche, study what gets restacked and commented on, then model the structure (not the content) for your own ideas.

Again, you can feed them into an AI tool and ask it to suggest some versions.

Restack Other People’s Content

Share someone else’s post and add your own comment, known as a ‘restack’. Here’s an example of how Matt does this:

This way, you’re piggybacking on an existing note while adding your own voice – and it can take seconds to do!

If the original creator engages with your restack, their audience will see it too.

Turn Other People’s Notes Into Your Own Notes

When you see a note or a Substack post by someone else, and there’s an idea or tip in there that you like, you can use it yourself.

Don’t plagiarise or take it wholesale, but instead extract one or two points, then feed it into AI with a prompt like this:

“I love these ideas I saw in someone else’s Substack note/post. Please re-write this as a post in my own voice which is [insert your style and voice] and with my own perspective which is [insert your point of view or approach].

You can also do the same with any blog posts, newsletter content and articles you find outside of Substack.

Turn Your Long Substack Posts Into Short-Form Notes

When you start posting long-form pieces on Substack, you can cannibalise them for your short-form notes.

Every article will probably contain around 3–5 standalone ideas that can each become a Note.

Just feed the post into AI and say: “This is a Substack post that I have written. Take 3 ideas , tips or insights from these and turn each one into a short-form note under 250 words that I can post on my feed. Use a different format for each”

This multiplies your reach from the same work.

Use AI to generate content variations

You can feed old notes into an AI tool and ask it to come up with different variations that you can then publish.

For example: “Help me write 5 variations of this [INSERT NOTE] that sound original and fresh. Use a different format for each.”

Turn Replies Into Standalone Notes

When you write a reply to someone else’s note that gets liked a lot, or says something valuable… post it as its own Note!

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Okay, so that’s a quicker primer on Substack notes.

While I’m lucky that I have an existing list of email subscribers I can push to my future Substack to get up and running, most people don’t.

So I hope you can see the potential here…

Because this is a fantastic way to organically build a list of subscribers using ONLY the Substack platform.

And once you know the basic strategy, it’s not a lot of hassle to do – and there’s no need to make videos, show off on screen, or share your intimate personal details.

Certainly, I’ll be using notes myself.

In fact, one of the main reasons I have chosen Substack as a for What Really Makes Money is that it’s such a great lead-generation platform.