Feeling Overwhelmed on Substack?
Here is a simple path to help you get started, stay consistent, and build your Substack without trying to do everything at once.
If you’re new on Substack, you may be feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start.
Substack has so much potential and so many possibilities and is probably a great fit for you, but when you try to start something, or you open up your dashboard you feel overwhelmed by all the options and settings.
It’s not just you, I promise.
I see this all the time with my clients. They’re excited to get started, but at the same time they feel paralyzed by all the settings and decisions in front of them.
Do you start with your logo?
Your publication title?
Your About page?
Should you be using tags?
Writing essays?
Or using Notes?
What is Substack Notes, anyway?
The list could go on.
Substack gives you access to all the tools, all the features, and all the possibilities at once. Many layers to add to our Substack publications to make them beautiful and functional.
Even though everything is available for us to use, we don’t have to start with all of them.
You don’t need to do everything on Substack.
You just need to do the right things in the right order.
So if you’re just getting started on Substack, what do you need to do before you start writing, and where do you go from there?
Foundations
There are a few foundational elements every Substack needs in place. These are the pieces that are immediately noticeable when they’re missing, and when they’re done well, they signal that your publication is intentional, complete, and worth subscribing to.
Start Writing
Once your foundations are in place, the next step is to begin publishing your content. At this stage, the goal isn’t perfection, it’s simply to start building a habit of consistent writing.
Structure
Once you have a body of work—around 8–10 posts—you can begin to structure your Substack.
This is where you step back, look at what you’ve created, and organize it so your readers can easily find their way through your content. Your homepage layout, tags, and sections all play a role here.
Discoverability & Growth
With consistent content and a clear structure in place, the next step is helping people find you. Substack Notes plays a key role here. It’s where visibility, interaction, and connection begin to happen, and your audience begins to expand.
Discoverability brings people in, and growth is turning that new attention into subscribers.
Successful growth is where your content, your calls to action, and your reader experience all start working together. The goal isn’t just to be seen, it’s to give people a reason to stay.
Monetization
Monetization is optional, and it doesn’t need to happen right away.
You can use Substack as a free platform for as long as you need. When the time feels right, you can begin to introduce paid subscriptions in a way that aligns with your content and your audience.
Rhythm
Over time, Substack becomes a rhythm: your long form posts, your Notes, your engagement, and perhaps collaborations as well. Week in and week out,with your efforts producing the results you want and your work reaching an audience.
Start Writing
Before you try to build all of this out—before you worry about structure, growth, or monetization—there’s one step that matters most:
Start Writing.
Once your foundations are in place, you don’t need a perfect plan. You don’t need everything mapped out, you just need to begin.
The process of writing, publishing, and seeing how readers respond will naturally shape your direction. It will help you refine your ideas, your voice, and your approach far more effectively than trying to plan everything in advance.
At this stage, the only real decision you need to make is this:
How often do you want to publish?
Choose a pace that allows your readers to get to know you and is also sustainable for you. Consistency matters far more than intensity.
My strongest advice for anyone starting on Substack is simple:
Get the foundations in place.
Then start writing.
Everything else: your structure, your growth, and your monetization, can come later.
And if you’re reading this and thinking, “Okay… but I still don’t know exactly how to put this all together,” you’re not alone.
That’s exactly why I created my upcoming cohort:
Launch Your Substack in 3 Weeks (starting May 7)
This is a small, guided program where I walk you through:
setting up your foundations
starting your writing practice
and building a structure that actually works for your readers
So instead of trying to figure it all out on your own, you’ll have a clear path with support along the way.
You can learn more and join here: