Your Substack DNA Pathway for 2026
How to avoid the top 5 Substack mistakes, the tech essential most get wrong, and how to stop feeling like you're posting into the void on Notes, your Substack DNA
You’re here!
It’s really, really easy to get overwhelmed by/on/near Substack.
These four guides will save you so much time, energy, and (yes) money and get you headed in the right direction in 2026:
How to avoid the 5 mistakes most people make on Substack
The tech essential most people get wrong, even people telling you what to do on Substack
How to stop feeling like you’re posting into the void on Notes
What the algorithm actually favors: Your Substack DNA
HOW TO PROCEED:
I suggest doing them in order. Skip any that aren’t relevant to you and move to the next.
Everyone moves at a different pace, but the estimated time to complete all of them is 20 minutes.
1. How to Avoid the Top 5 Mistakes Most People Make on Substack
I’ve been behind a lot of Substack dashboards. My 1:1 clients (1000+ of them) are a beautiful cross-section of the different types of people with different interests and specialties, who are using Substack primarily for the same reasons—to get devoted subscribers, earn an income, create incredible opportunities, and produce their best work.
About 99 percent of them have made the same mistakes before coming to see me.
Here, I show you exactly how to avoid the top 5 mistakes people make on Substack. I’ve included a PDF as well.
2. The Substack Tech Most People Get Wrong
Most people make the mistake of getting bogged down and distracted by Substack’s tech.
Substack is not an intuitive platform.
Plus, they change it—often. As Linda from Substack once said: They’re building the plane while flying the plane, and we are on the plane. (The plane is Substack.)
You don’t need to be a Substack expert. (That’s my job.)
People typically get these aspects of Substack’s backend very wrong:
3. How to Stop Feeling Like You’re Posting into the Void on Notes
Okay, Notes can be overwhelming and (perhaps) demoralizing. Some people love it, of course, but it’s just social media—which means it should be taken with the biggest grain of salt imaginable.
Notes is mostly old-school Twitter with a dash of Instagram, a dose of Facebook, and a drizzle of LinkedIn.
Just write your Notes according to what’s in this post. Four types of Notes get traction. Just do these four. Please. You don’t need templates. It will just feel and read as false. I say this with so much love.
4. What the Substack Algorithm Actually Favors: Your Substack DNA
You’ll hear a lot of people trying to tell you how to hack or beat the Substack algorithm. The truth: No one knows how it works. And thinking that way will deplete your energy, waste your time and money.
You’ll hear me talk a lot about your Substack DNA.
Your Substack DNA—and only your Substack DNA—is what makes a Substack succeed, no matter what your goal is (paid subscribers, building a platform, getting engagement, etc.).
The algorithm favors what people want more of, and people want a Substack with substance, one that’s human and familiar and essential.
This is the start. Remember: Substack is a long game.
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I purchased two courses from you earlier this year. How do I access them now that I am ready to begin? Thanks so much for your help.