Do you ever go through times when you have so many ideas you have to have a conversation with yourself about not acting on them all? Sigh - yeah for those of us with that bent - the struggle is real. I've been having all the fun with the hobo homesteading publication, Pinterest and the little pop up Printify shop. The Intentional Pin Tool makes creating pins that are actually pins to things people are looking for so fast to make. To actually seo a pin properly the old way - often called the Bubble Method - takes a bit of know-how and finesses - the tool does it in about a minute. All you do is add your url (or if it's new - copy and paste the content - even the product description) then paste in your board list and presto whamo up to 7 pin ideas with the image headline, title and description along with the best board to pin it to. By day 3 of a brand-new Pinterest account setup the way I share (just 7 boards) Pins are already getting views and likes. Normally, new accounts languish with no views on their pins forever unless they play the Pin Swap game which I actually think hurts your account more than helps it. And how frustrating is that to go look at your Pinterest account and think I did all that work, and no one is seeing my pins? That's what the Intentional Pin community exists to help with. I'll be making videos later today showing how the tool works and how I use it. In the meantime, if you think you'd like to leverage Pinterest to get traffic to your content (that you've already created) in a way that is quick, easy and effective... dm me and I'll hook you up. (And yes, you can use the images & shorts Substack makes as pins! You really just need to get the seo part right for them to be effective and that's what the tool will do for you) 🌷🍁🌺🔥🌺🍁🌷 Coming up this week... Tomorrow we will do the Q&A /SOCIAL HOUR at 1pm mtn - come join us for the hour or stop by for 5 minutes - it's very loose and not recorded. Bring your questions, share your wins or just chat about what's happening in your life.

Today is Labor Day here in the US - to me this is a silly holiday - maybe because I didn't grow up in the US it never really made sense to me. Though weirdly seems like there are several significant events in my life tied to this date. On this day 4 years ago, I embraced sobriety. It wasn't the white knuckle gotta do this sort of thing - there was a decision and an encounter with a hawk. At the time I felt the hawk was telling me it would work out and it was the path I should take. Seems like he was correct. Apparently, I have Ravens and Hawks for guides. I had never seen the Hawk in the neighborhood before or after that even, though the Ravens come to visit for a bit each spring. 🌾🌷🌼🌻🌼🌷🌾 Okay - let's talk notes - specifically how to find the analytics of notes. First, you go to your dashboard then click analytics>growth>new subscribers Then under the Substack option click the little down arrow and you will see all the parts of Substack that have brought you subscribers. If you click notes you can see the individual notes that have brought in subscribers. You can also click on the individual note and look at the notes analytics. 🌾🌷🌼🌻🌼🌷🌾 One of the biggest benefits of participating in the daily notes boost thread over here is that it gets us talking on Substack to each other and to others not in the community - it allows the platform to find people who might be interested in us and follow and subscribe to us. Consistency is important with notes, chats, lives and articles on Substack - but really, I think the biggest driver of engaged subscribers is to be engaging yourself. Not only with content from other members here but also on the platform in general. You don't have to go "viral" with notes to grow your subscriber base either. You just need to post and interact with others. Be you - give people things they can relate to about you in the notes and chats. You don't need to be all business all the time - people like to connect with people - even if you think of yourself as a leader - get personal - tell your story - be the hero in it.

Lessons from a 31-year relationship ... Today marks the beginning of 31 years I've shared with my husband. Some of the most important lessons he and the relationship have taught me. I don't always have to be right or have the only way things can be done. If you can't find something - look up. Things can be allowed to develop they don't have to be finished right after they are started (though we don't also have to live in a mess) Laughter makes life more fun - we're never too old to be silly. I bought him a love fern (if you know you know) and an anniversary card - we both signed it - I think we'll give it to each other next year too. ☘️🌺🌸🪴🍁🪴🌺🌸🍀 Substack likes to hide stuff to I thought I'd take a minute today and share where you can find a copy things over there. Podcast stats - now moved to dashboard >publish>podcast Followers - dashboard > analytics > stats > audience Surveys - dashboard > analytics > stats > surveys (you can create them here too!) ☘️🌺🌸🪴🍁🪴🌺🌸🍀 5 Things to Check on Your Substack Right Now 👀 Before you learn another strategy, download another guide, or decide you need to completely rebuild your publication, let’s check the foundations. These five things may seem simple, but they can make the difference between merely publishing on Substack and building something that actually grows your audience, strengthens relationships, and generates income. 1. Have you connected Stripe? 💰 Even if you aren’t planning to launch a paid subscription right now, connect Stripe. You should always give people the opportunity to give you money if they want to. You do not need thousands of subscribers. You don’t need an elaborate paid-content calendar. You simply need a clear way for someone who values what you’re creating to support your work or take the next step with you. Don’t make people wait until you feel “ready.” 2. Does your wordmark blend - or does it look like a stamp stuck at the top? 🖼️ Take a look at the top of your publication. Does your wordmark feel like it belongs there, or does it look like a rectangular logo was pasted on top of your header?

Here we are barreling towards fall. I've officially broken out the pumpkin pie spice and am sitting here with the windows open and a sweatshirt on. Fall is my very favorite season. 🎃🍂🍁 What's your favorite season? 🪸🌺💧🐚💧🌺🪸 Let's chat about posts for a minute, shall we? One of the things I see people struggle with on Substack is knowing what actually needs to go INTO a post. It's easy to think: Write something → hit publish → hope people find it. But if you're using Substack to grow an audience - and especially if you're eventually hoping to make money from that audience - there are a few more pieces worth thinking about. Things like: → How your post is formatted → What makes it easy to read → Where your CTA (call to action) belongs → What you actually want someone to DO after reading → How audience-specific content works → When you might want to send something to only part of your audience → How your posts connect to your perks and paid offers I've been using Yoast's blogging SEO recommendations as a foundation for some of the formatting principles I teach, and I've also built the Substack Post Builder to help make putting all these pieces together easier. If you're looking for a simple place to start, you'll find the Creating a Substack Post checklist and guide in the classroom. Use it before you hit publish and see what you might be missing. We will be talking about this in the Monetize Your Mission Mastermind on Thursday at 2pm mtn mark your calendar 🪸🌺💧🐚💧🌺🪸 🧩 Want Help Putting Your Substack Together? We're running the Substack Setup Intensive this Friday at 10 AM Mountain. If you're creating content on Substack and want that content to turn into readers, subscribers and eventually revenue, this Intensive can save you days - if not weeks or months - of trial and error and Googling: "How the heck do I do this on Substack?" Because getting started on Substack can feel a lot like dumping a 2,000-piece puzzle onto the table...

@Alice Hlidkova messaged me this morning asking some questions about framework for creating posts - I found it synchronous as I was JUST looking at emails from best sellers over on Substack and considering HOW they put their posts together. Don't you love when the Universe sends you messages like that? Confirmation to keep looking in that direction... And one thing is already becoming very clear: A post that converts isn’t just a well-written post. It’s a piece of the client journey. Before you worry about hooks, headlines, CTAs, or whether your post is “good enough,” ask: Where is this reader right now - and where do I want to help them go next? The strongest posts I’m looking at aren’t simply dumping information. They create movement. They help the reader recognize themselves in a problem or desire. They create a shift in how the reader sees that problem. They give the reader a reason to trust the person writing. And then they offer a logical next step. That next step might be subscribing. It might be commenting. It might be downloading something. It might be becoming a paid subscriber. It might be working with you. But the invitation makes sense because the POST has already helped move the reader toward it. That’s the piece I think we miss when we start with: “What should I write about today?” A better question might be: “What does my reader need to see, understand, believe, or do next?” Then write the post that helps them get there. I’m going to keep digging into these best-seller emails and pulling apart what they’re doing because I think there’s a really useful framework emerging here. I'll bring more as I get it and it will probably be a mastermind or even a standalone workshop - I'm leaning toward the workshop Going through the 9 Day Challenge will help you build a firm foundation - Start here #Welcome to the 9-Day Substack Momentum Challenge!