Code:
https://mattgiaro.com/courses/substack/

Dear Friend & Subscriber,


If you want to:


Grow an audience
Build a dedicated readership from scratch…
And add hundreds of new names to your email list (without having to spend a dime on ads)…
Then this page will show how to build your email list your list with Substack… In just 45 minutes of simple work a day.


Can You Answer “Yes” To One of These Questions?
👉 You want to grow your audience without spending hours each day on complicated strategies.


👉 You’ve tried other platforms but building an audience feels like climbing a mountain with no end in sight.


👉 You’re looking for a simple system that lets you build an audience in just 45 minutes a day.


👉 You want to see real results from your efforts, and Substack sounds intriguing, but you’re not sure how it could work for you yet.


If you answered yes to any of the above,
read this page carefully.


The cheat code to audience building
Monetizing your ideas comes down to two things:


Building an email list.
Sending regular offers to your list (courses, coaching, books…)
If you can do that, you’ve cracked the code to make a living with your ideas.


But building that audience is hard.


And if there’s one thing that 15 years of running a business online has taught me…


It’s that you want to capitalize on unfair advantages.


To build an audience, there’s (almost) no way around it: you need to post content on a platform.


And all platforms are ruled by algorithms.


Every now and then, there’s a platform (or feature on a platform) that emerges and gets a massive boost in reach.


The platform wants to get more users. So it makes things easier for creators to reach more people.


It gives you a lot of reach – for a minimum amount of effort.


The word spreads. And more creators jump on the platform. An exodus starts to happen.


Some of them switch with their huge existing audiences. The platform grows.


It’s a win-win.


And it was all triggered by one thing:


An algorithm loophole
An algorithm loophole is a specific point in time where the algorithm works in your favor as a creator.


The first time I witnessed that was when Facebook rolled out business pages.


They lured business owners to be able to directly communicate with their fans. Once they’d established themselves and added millions of new users, Zuckerberg gave them the finger by tanking the reach to 6% and forcing them to buy ads.


The algorithm loophole also existed for:


TikTok
Medium
Twitter Threads
YouTube Shorts
Instagram Reels & Stories
etc…
They all had their golden hour.


Medium launched in 2015. Writers who took that early mover’s advantage built huge email lists and racked up 1,000s of dollars per article.


Today, if you’re lucky, Medium pays you $5 an article. (Still better than nothing, but PEANUTS compared to the gold rush.)


In 2016, Instagram launched Stories to counter Snapchat. If you’d been using Instagram at that time, your feed was FULL of stories. And the creators who capitalized on that got crazy reach.


In 2017, Twitter (now X) launched threads. Threads received, on average, 54% more engagement than standalone tweets. Massive growth opportunity until 2 years back.


Today, everyone who’s writing on X is posting threads. Reach is down the drain. People complain about the algorithm.


In 2020, TikTok became the #1 social media platform with short-form video content.


YouTube saw this as a threat. So they launched Shorts and gave short-creators huge boosts in visibility.


In 2022, Instagram launched Reels to compete against TikTok.


Same story.


Do you recognize a pattern?


Those who can capitalize on algorithm loopholes can build audiences faster simply because the incentives of the platforms and the creators are aligned.


Substack is the new loophole to build your audience faster in 2025
Substack has been around for a few years.


But it started seeing real traction only recently.


Independent thinkers and journalists moved over to Substack because of cancel culture, like:


Glenn Greenwald (formerly of The Intercept)
Bari Weiss (formerly of The New York Times)
or Matt Taibbi (famous podcaster)
Add to this that many other top writers have moved from Medium to Substack recently.


And when people like this move to a platform, their audiences move with them.


As a result, Substack has grown its readers by 150% in just 1 year:


That’s a good sign.


Because it means that the audience you can reach on Substack is getting bigger and bigger as we speak.


Every new content platform follows Roger’s bell curve:


First, you have the innovators: These are the first people to embrace it.


At this stage, there’s not enough audience to make it worthwhile – unless you want to gamble with your time.


A perfect example would be writing on Substack back in 2017 to 2019.


Second, early adopters: Reach is stupidly easy. But the platform is still not big enough to reach the masses.


Third, the early majority: This is where you get a lot of reach BUT with a LARGE amount of eyeballs. Building an audience is easy and relatively fast. It can be achieved within ~3-6 months. It’s the sweet spot between simplicity and maximum reach.


This is where you want to be.


Then, you have the late majority: It gets harder here. Building a significant audience takes longer (8-12+ months).


Finally, laggards: By this point, the platform is saturated. It’s very difficult to stand out and reach new people unless you’re willing to post for at least 12-16 months. That’s the case with platforms like YouTube.


Now, there are always exceptions to this rule.


But in general, this is how it goes.


Do you want to play the game in hard or easy mode?


There’s no merit in playing it on hard mode unless you’re a masochist.


And you know what? That’s fine with me. You’re free to play whatever games you want in the mode you want…


But if you want the easy way…


Then one of the best ways is to identify and use new content platforms when they’re in the “Early Adopters” or “Early Majority” stages.


Why Substack is a game-changer
Substack is a platform built for creators.


Think of Substack as if an autoresponder, Medium, and X/Twitter had a baby.


You can create a free account and:


post short-form content (X/Twitter),
post articles (Medium),
and also build your list (autoresponder) at the same time and take advantage of the early majority momentum.
1. Easy reach
Let me say it again: Substack is in the early majority section. (Got it by now?)


Substack is growing rapidly, but it’s still in its early days.


This is when you have the best chance of growing your audience quickly and easily – which makes it the place to be right now.


The platform is being flooded with new readers every day, and they’re hungry for fresh voices.


That means less competition for creators who start now.


The sooner you get in, the more space you have to stand out before the platform becomes more saturated.


How much longer are you willing to watch others grow their audiences while you’re stuck on platforms that don’t reward your hard work?


2. You own your audience
Substack is built from the ground up as creator-friendly.


You own your subscriber lists and content.


As an example, you can’t export your subscribers on YouTube, Facebook, or whatever other platform.


3. Built-in growth tools (and improvement frenzy)
Substack wants to lure in more creators.


So it’s constantly improving and adding more features almost every week.


As they’re testing new things, they also give you more reach to see whether or not the features pay off.


Back in August, Substack started to push the “media tab.”


What it allows you to do is to publish, well, media like videos or podcasts.


Not only that…


With Substack, other creators can recommend your newsletter so you can grow not only by doing the work with your bare hands…


But also by profiting from what other creators are doing to grow their newsletters.


4. Simple monetization
Substack allows you to monetize your newsletter with built-in features.


Even though I don’t recommend it – for some people this might just be the easiest way to monetize their writing.


5. High-quality subscribers
When building your audience, not all platforms are created equal.


Unlike social media, Substack readers… read.


But that’s not all. Many newsletters on Substack are paid. Which means that a portion of these readers also pay for reading.


So appealing to readers who read… and also are okay to pay for reading makes all the difference. Especially if you want to monetize your work!


Last but not least…
When someone subscribes to your Substack, they are using their REAL email.


Which means that you’re also building a LEGIT email list with REAL emails.


Is this too good to be true? Absolutely.


So in full honesty…


I don’t know HOW LONG this loophole will last
I think we have a good 6-12 month window in front of us.


Perhaps longer.


But as with every algorithm loophole cycle repeating itself, this gold rush will ultimately come to an end.


I created my Substack account back in 2022.


But I only started to take it seriously in July 2024.


In the first days, growth was slow.


I used to get 3 subscribers per day. But still better than publishing into the void like on X or YouTube!


So even if it’s not mind-blowing… still better than publishing into the void like on X or YouTube!


The best part?


It took me perhaps 5-10 mins of ‘work’ per day to post a short piece of content and recycle my Medium articles.


Now, here’s the thing…


Growing on Substack is simple when you know how to do it RIGHT.


Do you know how Substack (really) works?
Learning a new platform is always daunting.


You might feel lost. You’re not sure how to get started, what features to use, or how to make your newsletter stand out in a sea of other creators.


It’s like you’ve been handed the keys to a car without knowing how to drive.


To take advantage of Substack you still need to learn this crucial skill
Even though Substack is a great opportunity right now, the rules of the game remain the same:


You need to know how to post content that attracts an audience.


New writers are jumping on the platform every day. Most of them are newbies.


But if you know how to write content that attracts your audience, you get a head start.


Even though the algorithm rewards you with massive reach, it won’t push garbage.


You also need to post consistently.


But if you’re like any of my clients, your life is already busy. And you’re not swimming in extra time.


So, content creation might be this looming chore that you put off.


And once you start skipping days, it’s easy to justify skipping more.


This inconsistency doesn’t just affect your audience growth — it affects you. You lose momentum. You start feeling guilty for not doing more, and that guilt turns into avoidance.


You won’t build an audience if your content is erratic.


Your audience isn’t going to grow if you show up once a week or every full moon.


The longer this goes on, the harder it becomes to dig yourself out of the hole.


So you need a system.


A system that both allows you to create content that gets you noticed, consistently.


How to grow your email list with just 45 minutes On Substack
Here’s the game plan I want you to follow:


Post 1 note a day
Post 1 blog post per week
& interact with 10 other creators each day
Now let’s break this down even further:


Writing a note takes roughly 5 minutes. That’s 35 minutes of writing per week.


Writing an article roughly takes 60 minutes. (Remember, you only have to write 1 a week.)


And interacting with 10 other creators roughly 20-30 minutes each day.


In total, that’s 3-4 hours of work per week. Or 45 minutes per day.


Do you have 45 minutes to grow your email list?
Perhaps you might be a bit itchy about the amount of time it takes to write a note in 5 minutes.. or an article in 60 minutes.


But these are VERY conservative numbers.


It’s totally feasible when you have the right templates, strategies, and prompts.


Now you could come up with everything on your own, studying other creators on the platform and waste dozens of hours and weeks doing that…


Or you can simply copy my system and have it up and running in the next few days.


And that’s why I’ve created…


That’s Why I’ve Created:


The Substack System
A self-paced online course to help you grow on Substack in just 45 minutes a day and add 300-500 email subscribers to your list each month.




Course duration: ~3 hours


The course is divided into bite-sized videos that show you exactly how to grow your list with Substack.


I’m filming my screen and holding nothing back.


🔥 Module 1: How To Create A Magnetic Substack Publication & Bio To Attract Email Subscribers
👉 How to come up with the perfect name for your Substack publication


👉 The single biggest mistake Substack creators make when naming their publication… (and how to avoid it)


👉The simple rule for creating a professional, polished Substack that looks like it was built by a top content creator… without blowing your budget on design.. and without spending hours overthinking it.


👉How to use AI to generate eye-catching visuals that make your Substack stand out… (and the exact step-by-step process to do it without being an artist)


👉What top Substack creators do to make their publications visually cohesive and impossible to ignore… (and how you can do it without spending hours on design)


👉The totally counterintuitive way to stop worrying about perfectionism and focus on just getting your content out there… even if you’re starting from scratch.


👉 The one sentence you must include in both your profile and publication descriptions to make sure people follow your work (and why it’s critical to keep them aligned)


👉 How to write a Substack bio that grabs attention at the first glance… (and the reason why most bios fail on Substack)


👉 How to make your email subscribers almost instantly hit the “subscribe button” in less than 150 characters.


👉 How to set up your Substack publication in less than 5 minutes… And EXACTLY how to make it look professional and all the best practices literally “copy” and paste (Substack’s “out of the box” settings are terrible and confuse your readers.)


🗒️ Module 2: How To Grow With Substack Notes
👉 How to create short-form content without feeling overwhelmed… (even if the thought of writing short pieces stresses you out).


👉 A sneaky way to turn your articles into notes in 2 minutes (without the need to use AI)


👉 Why most people burn out creating content daily (and the secret trick to avoid it and make sure you post every day… With less than 45 minutes of work each week.)


👉 The dirty little secret to creating five variations of a single post… (that no one’s talking about but everyone should be using)


👉 How to (ethically) turn other people’s successful posts into your own winning variations with a very specific 336-word prompt)


📝 Module 3: Write Long-Form Substack Content (That Doesn’t Suck)
👉 A total newbie-proof way to write headlines that get clicks


👉 How to write better headlines that attract your ideal readers and get more shares (without being clickbaity)


👉 The number #1 mistakes most newbie writers do… that make their articles go unnoticed.


👉 The exact outlining method to turn your articles into emails, book chapters, and even course lessons


👉 How to subtly persuade your readers to read your writing, spark engagement, and ultimately buy your infoproducts by using the IMPACT™ framework


👉 How to turn one article into 3,5 or even 10 articles with the same “ideas” while holding your audience’s laser-focused attention in the process


👉 The easiest (and also fastest) way to outline your medium story for maximum engagement and success


👉 Why you never want to write and edit at the same time (and the exact amount of time you should leave between these tasks to produce content that people rave about)


👉 The 3-step template to write introductions that hook your readers (and increase your read time & earnings)


👉 The 6 elements to weave into your articles to make your writing addictive…so readers can’t put them down and are looking for their next fix


👉 The 5 types of images you can use to illustrate your articles like a pro and stand out


💰 Module 4: How To Monetize Your Substack
👉 The right way to monetize your substack (and why it’s not with paid subscriptions!)


👉 Why you should NOT turn out Substack monetization when you’re just getting started (and what to do instead)


👉 The (probably) untold truth about Substack’s “5-10% conversion rate” claim… and why blindly believing it could cost you thousands in lost revenue


👉 How to avoid the “membership trap” that causes most creators to discount their way into poverty (and what to offer instead that your audience will happily pay premium prices for)


👉 The “insult” hidden in Substack’s membership model that could be driving away your most loyal subscribers (and how to fix it without leaving the platform)


👉 Why treating your newsletter like a book could be sabotaging your income potential (and the simple “repackaging” trick that can 10x your revenue)


👉 The counterintuitive “free content strategy” that builds a more profitable audience than any paid newsletter (even if you’re starting from zero)


👉 The “truncated content” template that turns free readers into paid subscribers (without making them feel like you’re holding back your best stuff)


👉 How to ethically launch paid offers with Substack (without insulting your existing customers or burning out your list)


👉 And much, much, more!