She Turned Down Paid Subscriptions. Even When Everyone Said It Was “Easy Money”

Everyone told her to launch paid subscriptions. She said no.

You don’t want greasy tactics. You don’t want pressure or hype. You just want earning to feel normal. This masterclass shows how to earn calmly, ethically, and predictably from writing. Click to see how it works.

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Everyone told her she was “leaving money on the table.”

She’d finally started to gain traction. People were replying to her posts. Sharing them.
Telling her, “This really helped me.”

So naturally, the advice appeared.

• You should start paid subscriptions.

• You’re leaving money on the table.

• Just charge $5 a month — everyone does it.

What no one mentioned was the trade-off.

She wasn’t afraid of charging. She was afraid of building something she couldn’t step away from. She came to our coaching session half-excited, half-uneasy. Like she was standing in front of a door everyone insisted she should walk through, even though something in her gut felt off.

So we slowed it down.

I said, “Let’s run a tiny thought experiment.” She laughed nervously.
“Okay.”

“How many subscribers do you think you might get?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe… 100? If things go well?”

“Great,” I said. “That’s $500 a month.”

Then I asked the question that changed everything.

“How many hours a month will it take you to serve those 100 people?”

She paused. Did the maths in her head. Thought about writing, engagement, comments, expectations, pressure.

“…Not enough to make it worth it,” she said quietly.

Cheap subscriptions don’t just cap income. They stretch responsibility.

One hundred people at $5 a month isn’t just “extra income.”

It’s a permanent obligation.

Every month, forever, you’re on the hook to:

• create new content

• keep it “worth paying for”

• stay mentally available to people you don’t control the timing of

The part people never price in? Paid subs don’t end. They quietly reshape how you think, write, and plan even when you’re not working on them.

All for $500.

Now compare that to this.

My most recent live cohort was 30 people. Six live sessions. A clear outcome. A defined end date.

Total revenue: just over $6,000.

No endless expectations. Real impact. And when the work was done, it was done.

The cohort was the Substack Growth Map. Giving people the clarity they needed to grow on Substack. We worked through positioning, posts, Notes, and homepages. Making changes people could actually see, not just talk about.

Here’s the part most writers miss.

The problem isn’t subscriptions. It’s ongoing obligation.

When your offer has no end date, the value has to stay diluted. You can’t concentrate effort. You can’t raise intensity. And you can’t ever really finish the work. And you make a lot less money.

Cheap, recurring offers quietly train you to deliver less not more. In contrast, time-bound work forces clarity. A start. A finish. A specific outcome everyone agrees on.

When there’s a finish line, effort sharpens. Decisions get easier. And the work gets better. That’s not a preference. It’s an economic reality.

How to run a live cohort

Length matters more than you think.

Too short and nothing sticks. Too long and people drift, stall, or drop off. In my experience, six sessions over six weeks is the sweet spot. Long enough to create real change. Short enough to keep momentum alive.

Each session should be a clear step in a single process. Not six random workshops. Not a content buffet. A transformation.

When I ran Substack Growth Map, every session built clarity on what works on Substack. When I ran Digital Product LaunchPad, each week moved people closer to shipping their first product.

People don’t want information. They want progress.

The outcome comes first — always.

Ask yourself one question:

What outcome can I genuinely help my readers achieve?

Then work backwards. Break it into steps. Give them one clear focus each week. One thing to learn. One thing to do.

Share real examples from your own work. Not theory. Not fluff. Be practical without overwhelming them. People don’t need every tactic. They need the essential ones that move the needle.

Teach less, land more.

The tech should never be the bottleneck.

You don’t need a fancy setup.

You need:

• A simple sales page (even a Google Doc works)

• A payment tool

• A Zoom link

• Replays unlisted on Youtube

That’s it.

You can add a bump offer extra resources at a discount. I’ve done this with toolkits that later became standalone products. Around 75% of people took the bump.

But don’t let tools delay action.

You already have everything you need.

If you want income and impact, start with a small, time-bound cohort. Fewer people. Clear outcome. A defined finish line.

You can build a business that owns your calendar. Or one that rents it out in $5 increments. Both look sensible at the start. Only one still works when you’re tired, distracted, or want to step away.

Choose the model that doesn’t punish you for succeeding.

If your writing feels solid but strangely ignored. Subscribe and I’ll show you what actually creates traction.