Why most Substack advice was never meant for someone like you

If you’re reading this I’m guessing you are not 20 years old. You probably have a decent job, maybe a family and a mortgage. You have a burning desire to create something of meaning and value. You want to make a difference. You’ve consumed countless articles on how to grow on X platform but something still isn’t adding up.

In my experience this is mainly because that kind of advice was never meant for you in the first place. It assumes you already have a clearly defined path. You know exactly why you’re here and what you want to achieve and so all you need are the growth tactics.

You are no doubt trying to build something part time on the side. You’re writing in lunch breaks after work and late at night. You don’t have it all figured out and don’t have hours to spend commenting, DMing and posting. Not only that but you refuse to outsource your thinking to machines or other people.

The reason why most growth hacks and tactics fail you is obvious when you think about it. They are based on a simple premise. They assume you have existing positioning and absolute certainty on what you are trying to achieve.

The irony is that if you do have clarity and strong positioning then the usual tactics and strategies that you hear repeated ad nauseam can actually work quite well. Specifc tactics can amplify clarity but they cannot create it. Clarity has to come first.

That is where a lot of people get stuck, myself included. I thought that all I had to do was just post, comment, network, keep showing up and growth would happen. But when you do not have that essential clarity more tactics, instead of creating momentum, will just create more confusion.

You can post three Notes a day and still feel scattered. You can comment relentlessly and still attract the wrong people. You can send DM’s, join engagement pods, Notes boosts and follow every growth strategy on the platform and still inadvertently feel like none of it is building toward anything meaningful. This is why I focus so much on identity, world view and clarity.

I can usually tell within a split second who is a genuine human being in the comments section and who is simply trying to gain exposure…I’m sure you can too.

You can feel the difference almost immediately. The way the comment is structured gives it away. There is this kind of generic praise. It references something in your post but only in vague general terms and if you look closely, it is often your own note or post with the same words rearranged differently.

And I understand why people do it. It is probably the number one tactic out there.

Comment 30 times a day. Engage hourly. Send 1o DM’s after every post. Increase surface area. Be everywhere.

But if you are trying to do this strategically at scale, you do not have the time or attention to properly read what people are writing.

The interaction is performative…very often it feels like it is machine generated automations which also is not surprising given that this is how many people make money right now. By selling A.I. agents to 10x your growth in 30 days.

I think this matters here on Substack more than elsewhere because we are no longer living in the early internet where anonymity was part of the culture and nobody expected much depth.

The digital and physical worlds are increasingly feeding into one another. People are meeting in person. Writers are hosting live events. Communities are becoming tangible. Readers are becoming collaborators, customers and real relationships.

The internet at large is becoming both more alien and more human at the same time. I know that sounds like a paradox…because it is, but it changes the kind of work that actually resonates.

Last week I met another Substack writer — Philipp who writes Serapex — in person for the second time. We geeked out over substack for about 3 hours. I cannot adequately express what this was like in words, all I can say is that the human face to face experience cannot be, and will never be replaced.

Even if you are both wearing VR headsets and touch sensors it is just not the same as casually meeting for a walk in the park on an early summers evening. Neither of us felt the need to get our phones out.

We did not take a selfie of scroll through substack. We met outside in the park which borders the University campus were I live. It was full of students drinking cheap Vodka and coke. The sun came out after an early summer shower and the air smelt so fresh you could almost taste the sense of promise and potential in it.

This is the kind of experience that makes life worth living. Not spending 10 hours a day in front of a screen, desperately trying to get noticed.

People are increasingly overwhelmed by automation and surface-level engagement. There is more content than ever, more synthetic interaction than ever and more pressure to stay visible than ever.

But underneath all of that there is also a growing hunger for signal, sincerity and real thought. I know that I am craving real perspectives that feel embodied and earned…so I’m sure others are as well.

This is why I think so much of the old optimisation advice feels incomplete now. You do not need to become louder than everybody else.

You do not need to automate every touchpoint. You do not need to force constant visibility. What people remember is still surprisingly simple.

A clear point of view. An unapologetic and embodied take, and a sense that there is a real person behind the words.

That evening reminded me why I still care so much about the culture on this platform. It still creates opportunities for real connection and real world relationships to emerge, but only when you have clarity on what you are building and the patience to let it compound.

That is exactly why I wrote How to Build a Coherent Online Identity When You Have Too Many Interests for paid members. If you are struggling to gain clarity (most people are) you can access that guide with a free a trial below

In my experience making Substack work—whatever that ends up meaning for you—starts with clarity of voicer, message and long term goals.

Once that becomes clear, the tactics finally have somewhere meaningful to land.

Greetings from a sweltering Germany.

Cheers,

Ben

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