Don't Beg. Lead.
How NOT to grow an audience (and what to do instead)
The other day, someone left a comment on my Note on Substack:
“Please read my latest posts and subscribe to my newsletter if you liked them.”
Followed by a link.
At first glance? Harmless. Sweet, even. Polite.
Usually, I politely pass with a like.
But there was something about this, so I checked their profile. This person claimed to be a life coach.
Sleek. Professional-looking. Good branding. The kind of coach you’d almost want to pay.
Then I opened the link…
Poems.
Poems!
No life coaching. No strategy. No positioning. Just…random vibes.
And their growth strategy?
Begging for readers in someone else’s comment section.
And they didn’t even bother to check whether I’d like to read poems or not!
The problem: I see a lot of these recently and it makes me so angry! Such a waste of expertise.
Let’s talk red flags…
Here’s what this screams to your potential audience:
I don’t have a real offer.
I’m not confident in my value.
I need you to validate me before I can lead you.
Now tell me — why would I hire someone to help me “master my mindset” if they can’t even hold their own in the comments?
Coaches lead.
They don’t chase.
The better way to approach it?
I’ve seen this behavior in every possible flavor:
Drop-your-link-in-my-chat hustlers.
Comment hijackers (like this one).
Meaningless mass-tagging masters.
And the usual CTA copycats who end every post with “pls subscribe 🥺”
Yes, you need a “subscribe” button, but don’t beg. Tell them what they’re missing if they don’t subscribe. Be useful, not boring.
Listen.
If you want to build a monetizable audience, you can’t act like a lost puppy hoping someone picks you up.
That’s your real game:
Solve a painful problem.
Showcase your expertise.
Speak every word with confidence.
Take a position and own it.
If you call yourself a coach, act like it.
Stand with confidence behind your methods.
Lead, don’t beg.
It’s not about spamming links. It’s about creating value gravity so strong, people want to follow you.
Attract. Don’t chase.
What happened when I told this person what I thought?
I liked the profile, so I decided to speak directly, saying “If you stop begging and start helping, you’ll gain much more readers and subscribers.”
I got an answer “oh, you’re one of those…” then I got blocked.
But guess what?
This person heard me. I know they did. That uncomfortable twitch in their confidence? That was growth. Maybe next time they’ll think twice before begging for reads instead of building authority.
So I’m happy I helped this time. I’m happy I didn’t stay silent. I’m happy I got blocked.
I changed someone’s life that day.
If you want to lead act as a leader.
The internet doesn’t owe you subscribers.
You earn them with clarity, confidence, and content that actually helps someone.
You want clients?
Show them what’s possible.
Make them feel the shift just from reading your free stuff.
That’s how you grow.
That’s how you convert.
That’s how you lead.
Stay Unplugged!
Yana
P.S. If you haven’t already, join my Substack Quest: It starts with a powerful domain all about building the right Mindset of Achiever.
All great advice! You have some of the best content on Substack and I really appreciate it. However, with all that being said, may I give you some feedback?
I think it's great that you spoke up with the intent to help the woman that wrote that note. Unfortunately I'm picking up from this story that perhaps your message wasn't received positively for a few reasons. Your sentence was short. There was no context of why you were making your statement. The word "begging" has a negative connotation to it, so it doesn't surprise me that it didn't land well. I wonder if she really understood the message you were trying to share or the intent behind your message due to its brevity and word choice. It probably was hard for her to interpret if you were helping or just someone being negative for the "fun" of it hence her response of saying you were "one of those people".
I would suggest that if you were to take the time out again to give feedback, that you include a bit of context and your intent to help. Perhaps you could have said "I noticed your use of the word please in this message. Consider removing it in the future, and instead, use language to demonstrate your confidence in the value of what you provide as that will bring you more subscribers. I've learned this myself so I hope that helps!"
Again I think this post was great, but that story did stand out to me. Consider giving more context next time so that it's not interpreted the wrong way. Giving feedback is always tricky and with us all being strangers on the internet, it may require us taking more time to convey it if we truly want to be viewed as helpful. And with that being said, thanks for reading my feedback!