two years on substack: lessons, challenges and how much i’ve really earned so far

if you've ever thought about starting your own substack newsletter, this is a very transparent look at my journey so far + screenshots!

Nov 14, 2025

Have you ever considered starting your own Substack newsletter? I am here to share my open and honest perspective on my journey so far over the last two years.

You can expect to read about:

my pivots and lessons learned.
how I pushed through when motivation was low.
my honest tips for anyone just starting.
the numbers - subscribers, money, everything.

Back to the beginning…

I first heard about Substack in August 2023 during this episode of the Letters from a Hopeful Creative podcast with Sara Tasker and Jen Carrington. Fun fact,

LFAHC

was actually the first podcast I ever started listening to back in 2018. In the podcast episode, Sara introduced a shiny new platform - something like a newsletter crossed over with a blog. It was called Susbstack — I was intrigued.

Back in 2023, I was deep into running my community Sober Social Ireland where I was hosting regular in-person meet ups for anyone in Ireland who was alcohol-free. For anyone new around here, I’m five years sober and the first few years of sobriety I went all in on building a sober community and making like-minded friends in Ireland where I live.

Things were really taking off. I even made an appearance on Ireland AM (a national breakfast show) and the growth of the community exploded. I held weekly Zoom calls for the community to connect virtually, since everyone was spread out all over the country. I was looking for a way to create a membership site or something more private than just sharing the call links on Instagram. When I heard about Substack, I thought it was the perfect platform to host the calls and build more of an online community beyond Instagram.

I’ve always enjoyed writing and was looking forward to putting out a weekly newsletter to update people in my community about new events and share stories of my sobriety journey. I got to work setting everything up. It took hours to navigate this new, mysterious platform. I poured myself a strong cup of coffee and got stuck in. I created the branding, copied a few blog posts I had written over on Medium, and set up the systems to be able to host the Zoom calls for paid subscribers. I decided on charging €5 per month, simply because that’s what everyone else was doing at the time.

Substack allows you to directly import your email list, so I wrote a little email notifying my approximately 100 subscribers that they were being migrated over and no hard feelings about opting out. Everything was good to go. I wrote my first introductory post and clicked send (read here).

I was so incredibly excited and proud to get things going. That excitement carried me through an entire year where I got to meet some incredible people who subscribed and joined our virtual calls (if you’re still here, thank you so much 🖤).

Two weeks after I sent my first newsletter, I got engaged! I also started a new job in October of 2023, so life felt like it was going a mile a minute. For the next year or so, I poured into this newsletter. I sat on community calls where sometimes it was me and only one other person. We always had incredible conversations, but after the initial buzz of the launch, it became harder and harder to maintain a posting schedule and host the calls.

I was a maid of honour, deeeeeep in the burnout trenches from previously being self-employed, I was planning my own wedding, and still doing some coaching on the side. Also, I began learning more about Substack as a platform and it became clear that people were a bit confused by me using it as a ‘membership site’ with calls.

Still, I carried on writing and hosting calls. Then, late 2024, I knew it was time for my first pivot. I was coming up on five years of sobriety. Personal circumstances meant that my sober community had to take a backseat. I felt myself called to be more creative and write about more than just quitting drinking. I was so afraid to pivot, but it would have been worse to carry on when something felt so out of alignment.

In February 2025, I stopped writing only about sobriety. You can read more about this shift in this newsletter. It felt freeing to be able to write about other things that interested me. I also started co-hosting my podcast with

Amanda Grace

called

We're Sober, Now What?

right here on Substack where we discuss life AFTER quitting drinking.

I gave myself permission to just write. Sure, I was worried that people who signed up to read about sobriety might not care about other things I have to say. I’ll be honest, my subscribers dipped when I announced this and I’ve been slowly growing my numbers up ever since. More about numbers later…

Then in April, I got married! I paused the newsletter for a month — my only ever break in two years since starting this! I honestly missed writing so much during that time and couldn’t wait to start posting again in May.

I then finally decided on a new name for my publication - keep this in mind. I go into more detail about this pivot in this newsletter, but one of my very first online ventures was a self-development podcast I released in the first half of 2022 called ‘Keep This In Mind’. Even though the podcast (thankfully) no longer exists, I always loved the title and had been hoping to use it for something else later down the line.

Today, this newsletter is an open conversation with you all about building a meaningful life and the lessons I want to keep in mind along the way.

Pivots can cost subscribers

I’m not going to lie, after rebranding my Substack away from sobriety I did lose subscribers and it hurt. It was a big lesson for me. When building something, niching isn’t always the best idea.

Even though I knew logically that this was a consequence of making such a big change, it still made me feel a bit defeated.

My total subscribers didn’t change that much, but I did lose a good few paid subscribers because I was no longer offering calls. There’s always a trade off. Even though my numbers changed since the rebrand, everything has felt so much more in alignment. That means something.

I honestly look forward to making time to sit down and write these newsletters. I’ve been more active on Notes (a.k.a. Substack Twitter). I’ve found other newsletters that inspire me. I’ve really used Substack as a place to disappear and escape when life feels a bit wobbly.

My advice for anyone thinking about starting a Substack today

Do it! But have a good reason to do it.

Substack is a great place to self-discover. It’s a place to share and find connection. I’ve learned so much about myself by writing almost weekly for the last two years.

Before you start, ask yourself WHY. Why Substack? Why now? What do you want to share with people?

Also… if you’re starting for the money, I’ll tell you straight up that it’s not worth it. The money I’ve made with my Substack has been great, but it’s not been anything crazy. I’m not out here buying an Hermes bag.

All the social media gurus have started migrating over to Substack preaching about explosive growth and strategies to get 1000 subscribers in a week. My opinion? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I have yet to come across a Substack that was an overnight success. And if it was an overnight success… it’s most likely that person already has a large audience and email list and just migrated over.

My best advice?

Be consistent. Enjoy the process. Practice writing. See what lands with people. Emotional connection beats going viral, always.

OK, let’s talk money

Below you can see my subscribers and revenue over the last two years of being on the platform. The annualised revenue is a ballpark estimate as well, because you still need to take into account payment processing and accounting fees. There’s a big dip in April of this year, but that’s just when I paused paid subscriptions for my wedding month.

overview of my substack subscribers and ‘revenue’

The thing is, with this Substack, I’ve made so much more than revenue. I’ve been a part of something. I started writing here relatively early. According to Chat GPT, “Substack grew rapidly from 2023 to 2025, expanding from roughly 2–3 million paid subscriptions to over 4 million, with overall readership and platform traffic climbing into the tens of millions.” This is just the beginning and I’m looking forward to being here for many years to come.

Writing for Substack is part of my routine now. It’s how I process what’s going on in my life. I always hope that in pressing ‘send’, one person feels seen because they can relate to the emotions and experiences I write about.

Sometimes it can feel like I’m screaming into the void. Then I’ll get that one private email that says, ‘Thank you so much for sharing about this. I’m glad I’m not the only one going through it’ and everything suddenly makes sense.

So long story short? Start your Substack. The time is passing by anyway. Substack is still just a baby platform with so much growth potential in its future.

Go and write. Click send. See what happens 🖤

p.s. - I’d love to hear from you! Are you planning on starting a Substack? Let me know what you plan on writing about in the comments and ask any questions!

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