I recently went Live with Philip Hofmacher, one of Substack’s leading experts, to talk about one of the biggest questions coaches, healers, service providers, and expert based business owners have right now:
How do you actually monetize your Substack?
Not just in a “make a few hundred dollars a month” kind of way, but in a way that supports your bigger business model, nurtures your audience, creates premium buyers, and helps people take the next step into your world.
We talked about:
paid subscriptions,
pricing,
what to include inside a paid Substack,
how to avoid overwhelming your people,
how to use Substack as a pathway into higher ticket offers, and
why community may need to live somewhere beyond Substack if you want true transformation.
Here are the main takeaways from our conversation.
Your paid Substack is not just a membership, it is a hand raiser
One of the most important things Philip shared is that a paid subscription should not only be seen as recurring revenue.
For coaches and experts, especially those already charging premium prices for their work, a $10 or $20 monthly subscription is probably not going to change the entire business financially on its own.
The real power of a paid Substack is that it acts as a hand raiser.
When someone becomes a paid subscriber, they are crossing a bridge. They are no longer just consuming your free content. They are making their first investment with you, even if it is a small one.
That matters because once someone has invested in your world, they are not only giving you money. They are giving you attention, trust, and energetic buy-in. They are showing you that they are interested enough to take a step closer.
From there, your job is to nurture that relationship and help them get results, so the paid subscription becomes the first step on the staircase toward deeper work with you.
The goal is to create buyers, not just subscribers
We also talked about how a Substack membership can be designed to “create” your future clients.
For example, if you run a group program, your paid Substack can help people build the foundation they need before they are ready for that bigger container. It can include beginner-friendly teachings, mini trainings, prompts, workshops, or experiences that prepare them for your deeper work.
This is powerful because you are not just throwing random content behind a paywall. You are intentionally guiding people through a journey.
Your paid Substack can help them understand your method, experience your leadership, get quick wins, and start seeing themselves as someone who is ready for the next level.
That is where the paid subscription becomes more than content. It becomes client creation.
The first experience after purchase matters most
Philip shared something that really stood out: most people who buy online courses do not even watch the first lesson.
That means the moment right after someone buys is incredibly important.
If someone joins your paid Substack and immediately feels lost, overwhelmed, or unsure where to begin, they may never fully engage. But if you help them take action right away, they are much more likely to stay, trust you, and eventually buy again.
We talked about creating a strong welcome experience, such as:
A welcome email that tells people exactly where to start.
A simple resource hub or Notion board that organizes everything clearly.
A personal message asking what they want help with first.
A direct link to the most relevant training, prompt, or experience based on their goals.
Philip also shared that he uses personalized welcome videos through Bonjoro, where buyers receive a short personal message after purchasing. That kind of touchpoint helps people feel seen immediately.
The point is simple: do not just celebrate the sale. Support the person who just said yes.
Paid content should not mean “more content”
One of the biggest mistakes people make with paid Substack is assuming that paid subscribers need more articles, more emails, and more information.
But most people are already drowning in content.
Your audience probably does not need more noise. They need clarity, support, shortcuts, structure, and a simple path forward.
Philip emphasized that the best paid offers do not simply give people “more of the same.” They give people the next level of support.
That could look like:
A mini course that solves one specific problem.
A monthly workshop.
Templates or implementation tools.
A community touchpoint.
A live experience.
A curated pathway through your work.
A paid subscription should help people achieve their goals faster, not give them a giant library they will never open.
Mini courses and monthly themes can keep your membership fresh
One idea we explored was using your paid Substack to host small, focused monthly experiences.
Instead of trying to build a massive membership full of endless resources, you can focus each month on one topic, problem, or transformation.
For example, you might create:
A monthly EFT tapping experience.
A live activation call.
A hypnosis or nervous system workshop.
A mini course around one specific problem/transformation.
This gives your people something fresh to engage with, and it also gives you something new to invite people into each month.
Even better, these monthly experiences can become a testing ground for future digital products. You can run something inside your paid Substack, gather feedback, refine it, collect testimonials, and later turn it into a standalone offer.
That way, your membership becomes both a revenue stream and an offer incubator.
Experience based memberships can work beautifully
Not every paid Substack needs to be built around written content.
For coaches, healers, EFT practitioners, hypnotists, energy workers, and transformational guides, the value is often in the experience.
That might mean live tapping sessions, activation calls, guided practices, reflection prompts, workshops, or facilitated emotional work.
This is especially important for people whose magic is not just in what they teach, but in how they hold space.
A content based membership gives people information.
An experience based membership helps people shift.
For many experts, especially in the healing and coaching space, the second one may be much more aligned.
Simplicity is what creates retention
Another major theme in our conversation was retention.
Philip talked about the idea of a “retention point,” which is the moment when someone has engaged with enough of your work that they become much more likely to stay.
But the thing that kills retention faster than almost anything is overwhelm.
If someone joins your paid subscription and sees hundreds of resources, too many options, and no clear pathway, they may disengage completely.
More is not always better.
In fact, many people would rather pay more for a simple, curated, straight-to-the-point experience than pay less for a giant library of content they will never consume.
As the leader of your business, your job is not to dump everything you know into your membership. Your job is to simplify the journey.
Tell them what matters.
Show them where to start.
Help them focus on the 20% that will create 80% of the results.
I have an example directly from the Stellar Content Club » HERE «
Small digital products can support your Substack ecosystem
Philip also shared that many creators successfully monetize their Substack by linking to small digital products.
This is a beautiful strategy because your content becomes part of your sales ecosystem.
Every time you write about a topic, you can link to a small resource that helps your reader implement what they just learned.
For coaches and experts, this could look like Journals, Workbooks, Mini trainings, EFT tapping videos, Podcasts as mini-classes, Live energy activations, etc.
These tiny offers may not be the highest revenue source in your business, but they can create buyers, build trust, and lead people toward your deeper paid work.
Here’s more on that:
Your Substack can help you write and validate a book
We also talked about how Substack can be used as part of the book writing process.
Many people in my audience have a book inside of them, especially if they have a unique method, a body of work, or a transformational story to share.
Substack can help you write that book in public, one chapter, concept, or story at a time.
Your paid subscribers can become part of the process. They can read early pieces, give feedback, vote on topics, and help you see what resonates.
In that way, you are not writing in isolation. You are validating your ideas as you go.
Philip also shared that in today’s publishing landscape, having an audience is becoming more and more important. A book is not always what makes you famous anymore. Often, you build the audience first, and the book becomes a powerful authority piece that deepens your positioning.
For coaches and experts, a book can become a beautiful thought leadership asset. It helps people understand your method, your story, your values, and the transformation you guide people through.
Pricing matters less than strategy at the beginning
Of course, we also talked about the question everyone asks:
What should I charge for my paid Substack?
Philip’s take was clear. In the beginning, the difference between charging $6 or $8 per month is usually not the most important thing.
If you only have a small number of paid subscribers, that tiny pricing difference will not dramatically change your business.
What matters more is your larger strategy.
Are you using your paid Substack to create buyers?
Are you nurturing people into your deeper work?
Are you building trust and authority?
Are you helping people get results?
Are you creating a path toward annual subscriptions or higher ticket offers?
Philip also recommended thinking strategically about annual pricing. For example, if your monthly price is $20 but your annual price is $80, the annual option feels like an obvious yes.
Annual subscribers also give you more time to nurture the relationship, create touchpoints, and turn readers into true fans.
Substack is not always the best place for deep community
We also had an honest conversation about community.
Substack is powerful for publishing, paid subscriptions, visibility, and email based connection. But when it comes to building a true transformational community, it may not always be the best place.
The chat features can be useful, but they are still limited. It can be hard to create the kind of focused, intimate, interactive environment that deeper coaching communities often need.
For higher touch memberships or premium communities, platforms like Circle, Telegram, or other dedicated spaces may work better.
Philip shared that his team uses Circle for their communities because it creates a more professional, focused environment with fewer distractions.
This is especially important when people are not only paying for content, but also for the room.
In a higher level space, the quality of the environment matters. Who is inside the room matters. The energy of the community matters.
Substack can be the entry point, but your deeper community may need a more intentional home.
Your paywall strategy depends on your business model
Someone also asked whether a Substack should be 100% paid, mostly free, or a mix of both.
The answer was: it depends.
Some creators paywall articles a few days after publishing. Others release paid content first and later make it free. Some keep most content free and only paywall specific resources, templates, workshops, or experiences.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer.
Your paywall strategy should depend on your niche, your audience, your offer ecosystem, and the role Substack plays in your business.
If your content is timely, like investing, news, or AI updates, it may make sense to release it in a different way than evergreen coaching content.
For coaches and service providers, the real question is not “how much should I hide behind the paywall?”
The better question is:
What does my free content need to do, and what does my paid content need to do?
Free content can build trust, show your worldview, and attract aligned people.
Paid content can create deeper support, faster implementation, stronger connection, and a pathway into your higher level work.
Email sequences and automations can support your Substack strategy
Finally, we talked about Substack’s email features and how they compare to more advanced email marketing tools like Kit.
Substack is starting to offer more email marketing functionality, but if you want advanced automations, tagging, segmentation, and customized sales sequences, a dedicated email platform can still be incredibly useful.
This matters because when someone joins your free Substack, you may want to nurture them intentionally.
You may want to send them your best content.
You may want to invite them into your paid subscription.
You may want to tag them based on what they click or buy.
You may want to avoid pitching people offers they have already purchased.
Philip shared that there are ways to connect Substack with other email tools through automations, although it can require some technical setup.
The larger point is that your Substack audience is valuable. These are people who have given you permission to stay in touch.
So it is worth thinking about how you are nurturing them, not just what you are publishing next.
The bigger picture
The biggest takeaway from this conversation is that Substack monetization is not really about throwing content behind a paywall.
It is about designing a relationship.
Your free content attracts the right people.
Your paid Substack invites them to take the first step.
Your welcome experience helps them engage.
Your paid content or experiences help them get a result.
Your small offers create buyers.
Your deeper programs create transformation.
Your community creates belonging.
And your larger ecosystem turns attention into trust, trust into investment, and investment into long term client relationships.
For coaches, healers, and service based entrepreneurs, Substack can be so much more than a newsletter.
It can become a soft, aligned, relationship driven pathway into your body of work.
Not through hard selling.
Not through content overload.
But through clarity, intimacy, leadership, and the kind of value that makes people feel:
“I want to go deeper with her.”
