A year on Substack - an honest look at what I've actually achieved

I failed my goal of 1000 subscribers, but gained so much more in the process.

Hi, I’m Sophie and I write about how to slow down and live a simple more calm life. I’m passionate about slow living and I truly believe that we don’t have to live busy stressful lives. I’d love it if you could subscribe and join my community, it really is a beautiful space to be.

Yesterday (5th November 2023) was my 1 year anniversary on Substack. I completely forgot about it until just now, but I think it’s important to recognise and celebrate the milestone.

At the start of this journey, I set myself a goal of reaching 1000 subscribers within my first year. It didn’t happen. I didn’t achieve that goal. But I achieved something else instead. Something even better. I achieved connection.

I came to this platform not knowing anything at all about it, but something felt just… right. A quick search of something that interested me - ‘simple living’ brought me to Molly from

Hippy Highland Living

- my first ever subscription. I remember reading her latest post at the time, and then finding myself diving into her archives to consume the rest. It was glorious, and I’ve been hooked on Molly’s writing, but also Substack ever since.

After I found Molly, I soon found others too. There was

Claire Venus

,

Charlene Storey

,

Mackenzie

and

Hunter Burgtorf

who I connected with straight away. And others who came later, but are equally as much of a blessing in my inbox -

Nadja de Oliveira

,

Becky Handley

,

Lyndsay

and

Kat River

to name a few.

Some people are true gifts though. Those people are like rays of sunshine through the cloudiest sky. They are selfless and supportive and go above and beyond for strangers. I’m so incredibly lucky to have found those people here on Substack, and that’s what I’ve truly achieved here this year.

I’m talking about

Claire Venus

who has gone from being a complete stranger on the internet, to a wonderful friend. Lots of you who know Claire know just how incredible she is. I’m so lucky to have ’met’ Claire here because she opened up so many doors for me. She believed in my message and my passion, and supported me when I lost my job whilst on maternity leave and went out of her way to help me. She’s introduced me to so many talented people on this platform, and many of those have then gone on to become my very own clients in my own VA business.

From Claire I’ve been so lucky to work for and get to know

Laura Oldfield

, yet another wonderful human being to whom I owe so much. Laura is my VA client, but she’s also grown into a dear friend and coach who had the heart to listen to my business idea and actually help me, practically and mentally, figure out how it could work, and then help me to physically make it work. And it has worked! In fact, I achieved a massive, huge, ENORMOUS milestone this month. For the first time in my entire adult life, I’m debt free*. I’M DEBT FREE! All thanks to connection, friendships, and talented, hard working, generous women with beautiful souls.

You see, it’s all about connection. I would not be where I am right now if it wasn’t for the connections I’ve made here in the last year.

So, no, I haven’t achieved my 1000 subscribers goal. I haven’t got thousands of paid subscribers, and I haven’t been able to make a living from my writing (yet!), but I have connected with some utterly beautiful human beings here. I’ve not only read deeply intimate and heart wrenchingly vulnerable posts here, but I’ve connected with, formed relationships with, built a business with and grown as a creative, a writer and a business owner with women for whom my words just don’t do justice.

I feel like that is worth celebrating more than 1000 subscribers. What do you think?

Who have you made a special connection with here on Substack? Tag them and tell me all about them in the comments.

*I am personally debt free as in I don’t have any debt in my own name anymore, after paying off my credit card this month. I still have a mortgage with my husband though, but I’m not counting that in my personal debt.