Successful solopreneurship has less to do with how many things you get done and more to do with getting enough of the right things done at the right time and in the right order. Thanks for the reminder to craft our journey with intention and integrity, Katja.
Thank you Katja for this inspiring post. As a new french writer here on Substack, I’m wondering if I have to switch my publication in english or if I have to propose some post in english. Plus, my english isn’t very fluent. 😅🤔 Big challenge ! 🙃
Yes, I know the process you are in! I felt the same. But English is the best way to get connected and grow here. Start writing small posts in English, use AI Tools to let control your writing. The more you write the better you get :) We all are not perfectly in English writing and we don´t need! You can use your About page or welcome email to explain this. Nobody will judge you!
Thanks for the encouragement Katja! I'm going to use tools to help me write posts in English. And thanks for the idea of mentioning it in my "About" page. I’ll try it ! 😊
I’m still so happy that I could inspire you! As a Hungarian, I completely understand your feelings. There’s always a battle in my soul between my Hungarian content and my evolving business and content in English. But I’m confident that what we’re doing serves as a great example and motivation for many non-native English speakers 💪
Yes, you’ve encouraged me a lot, and you continue to do so. It’s a bit bittersweet that we can't reach more English-speaking readers with content in our native languages, as they are so beautiful.💜
Altough I had my blogs in Serbian for years while I was living in Serbia, the moment I moved to Australia, I realised my Serbian blogging days are over. Too small market, too far away from my country to stay relevant - although I had a big audience (given the country size) and great community, I had to leave it. Unlike Katja, I never deleted my subscribers (still have 3000+ on my list), and blog is still there, domain www.maminsvert.co is live, but the project isn’t.
Hey Katja, now I see the bigger picture! Would you mind writing writing a guest post where you explain this move and add some screenshots from you old one and your new one with stats?
I haven't heard this from someone else.
I love it that you're a German writer writing here. So I'm happy to support you. 💜 With a guest post. We're gonna have a recommendation session tonight. Maybe you wanna join
Thank you so much for your kind support 💜. It would be an honor to write a guest post to explain my move. There is just one problem, I do not have any screenshots from my old publication. I wished I had taken some before deleting 😞. What do you think?
I will join the recommendation session, if our internet is working tonight 😀
I admire you for taking that decision and focusing your energy.
A little tip from me: even though my Substack is in English, I now offer my Founding Member sessions in different languages. That allows me to connect with a broader pool of writers.
You could do the same with German and offer some services in German even though your content is in English.
Thank you so much, also for this great advice 💓... I didn't thought about it. That's what it is when someone outside my own bottle looks on the label 😀.
Yes, that’s in our nature :) We see so many options and get flooded with ideas and big promises about what works best. That’s why it’s essential to get clear on our priorities and envision what we want our business to look like. Then, we can integrate what truly helps us get there.
They don’t leave, but they don’t subscribe either. I’ve received many requests to offer the option to sign up through PayPal. So I had to change something. And I did. Now most subscribers are via PayPal.
Maybe we can set up an ecommerce service (like ecwid) with many payments options (including Google pay, Mercadopago, etc), at least for annual payments:
1- The subscriber use its preferred method of payment.
2- We give free access a year to the content to such subscriber.
I used to collect the payment first directly through PayPal on my website. But then I always had to update their subscription as compound so that they had access to the paid content on Substack. It was to much work so I decided to have a self hosted membership which is easier and even cheaper 😅
you bet. Lots of blather on social media about ‘audience’. Sometimes we need to be our own audience of one and do things that work best for our own self. :)
Thanks for the insigh! Curious to hear how ConvertKit and Substack are complementing each other for you. Feels like the only added value on ConvertKit's side is that you can send email chains and program different release for different groups of emails? But also no social aspect/community etc...
I’ve stopped using Substack for my German business because it didn’t provide much value, even in terms of community building. Since I send newsletters for my membership program via ConvertKit, I’m all set. Plus, my platform offers a space where students can connect and exchange ideas if they wish to.
I really enjoyed reading this article. It can sometimes feel like you’re missing out if you’re not posting on every platform, but consistent efforts focused on one or two platforms can bring similar results at the end of the day. Nothing wrong with changing your path and trying new things.
I think it is not that they are conservative, in Germany it wasn't usual to pay with credit card. That's why PayPal enjoys a high reputation as an online payment method. Slowly the banks give a credit card rather than a bank card, so that people start using it more and more. That's the difference between the German market and the American market 🙂
Successful solopreneurship has less to do with how many things you get done and more to do with getting enough of the right things done at the right time and in the right order. Thanks for the reminder to craft our journey with intention and integrity, Katja.
Yes, that we should always remind ourselves while working :)
Thank you Katja for this inspiring post. As a new french writer here on Substack, I’m wondering if I have to switch my publication in english or if I have to propose some post in english. Plus, my english isn’t very fluent. 😅🤔 Big challenge ! 🙃
Yes, I know the process you are in! I felt the same. But English is the best way to get connected and grow here. Start writing small posts in English, use AI Tools to let control your writing. The more you write the better you get :) We all are not perfectly in English writing and we don´t need! You can use your About page or welcome email to explain this. Nobody will judge you!
Thanks for the encouragement Katja! I'm going to use tools to help me write posts in English. And thanks for the idea of mentioning it in my "About" page. I’ll try it ! 😊
Fantastic!!
I’m still so happy that I could inspire you! As a Hungarian, I completely understand your feelings. There’s always a battle in my soul between my Hungarian content and my evolving business and content in English. But I’m confident that what we’re doing serves as a great example and motivation for many non-native English speakers 💪
Yes, you’ve encouraged me a lot, and you continue to do so. It’s a bit bittersweet that we can't reach more English-speaking readers with content in our native languages, as they are so beautiful.💜
Altough I had my blogs in Serbian for years while I was living in Serbia, the moment I moved to Australia, I realised my Serbian blogging days are over. Too small market, too far away from my country to stay relevant - although I had a big audience (given the country size) and great community, I had to leave it. Unlike Katja, I never deleted my subscribers (still have 3000+ on my list), and blog is still there, domain www.maminsvert.co is live, but the project isn’t.
Yes, sometimes even if our hearts are feeling different we have to make rational entrepreneurial decisions 😊, but it’s okay. This is part of growth 🙌
Hey Katja, now I see the bigger picture! Would you mind writing writing a guest post where you explain this move and add some screenshots from you old one and your new one with stats?
I haven't heard this from someone else.
I love it that you're a German writer writing here. So I'm happy to support you. 💜 With a guest post. We're gonna have a recommendation session tonight. Maybe you wanna join
Today I found an email Substack sent out with my sats for July for my old publication, so I have left one screenshot :)
add it to the guest post :)
Thank you so much for your kind support 💜. It would be an honor to write a guest post to explain my move. There is just one problem, I do not have any screenshots from my old publication. I wished I had taken some before deleting 😞. What do you think?
I will join the recommendation session, if our internet is working tonight 😀
I admire you for taking that decision and focusing your energy.
A little tip from me: even though my Substack is in English, I now offer my Founding Member sessions in different languages. That allows me to connect with a broader pool of writers.
You could do the same with German and offer some services in German even though your content is in English.
Keep it up!
Thank you so much, also for this great advice 💓... I didn't thought about it. That's what it is when someone outside my own bottle looks on the label 😀.
Thanks for sharing your thought process! As a creative, I always find it hard to focus on one idea or project. This helps.
Yes, that’s in our nature :) We see so many options and get flooded with ideas and big promises about what works best. That’s why it’s essential to get clear on our priorities and envision what we want our business to look like. Then, we can integrate what truly helps us get there.
I can see why many people thought that you were mad to delete the substack. But sounds like a sensible decision.
After all, we are defined more what we say no to.
Yes, it was definitely not an easy decision, but intentional 😉
That makes a lot of sense. Sometimes you just have to take the path of least resistance, whether the resistance is from within or from without. Kudos
Thank you 😊
Leave German mainly because PayPal?
They don’t leave, but they don’t subscribe either. I’ve received many requests to offer the option to sign up through PayPal. So I had to change something. And I did. Now most subscribers are via PayPal.
Maybe we can set up an ecommerce service (like ecwid) with many payments options (including Google pay, Mercadopago, etc), at least for annual payments:
1- The subscriber use its preferred method of payment.
2- We give free access a year to the content to such subscriber.
What do you think?
I used to collect the payment first directly through PayPal on my website. But then I always had to update their subscription as compound so that they had access to the paid content on Substack. It was to much work so I decided to have a self hosted membership which is easier and even cheaper 😅
Thanks. I will think about it.
I am in a similar situation as you. I have 9 newsletters in Substack, all in Spanish. More people, much less disposable income than in German.
Many Italian, French and Spanish people here have newsletters in English.
Yes, that's why I made my decision as I wrote in my newsletter
Brave move, but I’m sure well-thought. I wish you all the best in your new endeavour and I’m positive you’ll thrive.
Thank you so💓
Brave move - nicely done!
I've regularly deleted 50-100 subscribers on my Substack (and have less than 1,000). Often find it's a follow-for-follow world...
Thank you. Yes, sometimes these moves are necessarily.
you bet. Lots of blather on social media about ‘audience’. Sometimes we need to be our own audience of one and do things that work best for our own self. :)
Thanks for the insigh! Curious to hear how ConvertKit and Substack are complementing each other for you. Feels like the only added value on ConvertKit's side is that you can send email chains and program different release for different groups of emails? But also no social aspect/community etc...
I’ve stopped using Substack for my German business because it didn’t provide much value, even in terms of community building. Since I send newsletters for my membership program via ConvertKit, I’m all set. Plus, my platform offers a space where students can connect and exchange ideas if they wish to.
I really enjoyed reading this article. It can sometimes feel like you’re missing out if you’re not posting on every platform, but consistent efforts focused on one or two platforms can bring similar results at the end of the day. Nothing wrong with changing your path and trying new things.
Thank you for your kind words. It feels good to know that I am not really alone with my decision 😌
I agree, we constantly need this hard decisions in our businesses. And lives too!
The limitation with the payment system resonated a lot. I'm Italian and I repeatedly had to jump through similar hoops.
Why do you think some European audiences are so conservative?
I think it is not that they are conservative, in Germany it wasn't usual to pay with credit card. That's why PayPal enjoys a high reputation as an online payment method. Slowly the banks give a credit card rather than a bank card, so that people start using it more and more. That's the difference between the German market and the American market 🙂
Good luck