This Is What One Year On Substack Looks Like From Out Here In The Wild
Just joking. I'm not out in the wild, I'm on my couch and I've been writing this newsletter for one year already!!
I had mixed feelings about writing a first-anniversary post because the typical “statistics” version of a milestone post doesn’t really fit with the vibe of Wildhood Wanted. However, I’m not about to deny myself a celebration!
Milestone posts aren’t just for spouting off about how robust your subscriber list is or how vertical your stats graphs are.
If you’re only here for the numbers, anniversary posts can come across as braggy if you’re doing well and pan-handle-ish if you’re not. As they say in advertising, "Results may vary," and nobody’s journey on Substack is linear nor typical.
I’ve been searching for some Wildhood for ONE WHOLE YEAR now!
But alas….the Wild still eludes me! I’m sitting on a couch in a house, not in a seaside villa or an RV in the middle of a cross-country trek.
August 28th (tomorrow) is the anniversary of the first REAL post I wrote. I don’t count the lame “Coming Soon” default post included with the free starter package here on Substack. I changed my coming soon headline to “Currently Eating a Sandwich” because that’s exactly what I was doing when I opened this account.
Pretty wild, hey?
When I travel back to my first post, do you know what was the very first sentence I typed? It’s a fortuitous foreshadowing of what would ultimately become my biggest success here:
“People love relatable human stories.”
That was legit the first sentence of my first post. A post where I talked about throwing things (and people) off cliffs and dropping Elizabeth Gilbert off at Little House on the Prairie.
Here’s the post:
I very generously gave myself a 5-star rating for that first post. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
So, what have I done in one year on Substack?
For starters, I didn’t do AT ALL what I had planned to do! But I did manage to gather 5.4K of you around a fire to sing Kumbayah!
And I did manage to drive myself insane by launching not one but THREE Substack publications within my first year. That was not intentional but I confess that I’m a bit of a chronic starter.
Just ask
who has been following me since my early days on Medium. She has watched me launch and quit plenty of Substack things since 2020 and I’m downright honoured (and utterly mystified) that she’s still straggling along with me.I didn’t want this to be about the numbers.
But let’s face it…everyone secretly wants to know how fat everyone else’s dashboards are.
At the time of this writing (last night) I have 3086 of you on my Wildhood Wanted subscriber list and less than 1% of you are paid community members. The remainder of the 5.4K I mentioned above stem from my other two pubs, Unstack Substack and Dog Snobs.
I didn’t start Wildhood Wanted for the money. I’d much rather be a creator of highly engaged communities and I can safely announce:
You all are the most engaged, fun, inspiring, hilarious, and talented community members I could have ever asked for.
The most important thing that has come out of this first year on Substack.
Hands down, it’s the human connection. Whether those be personal, professional, whimsical, or even silent…ALL are equally as important.
I’ve bonded on a soul level with some of you (
I’m looking at you!)I’ve bonded through life journeys with others (
, , )And I’ve even bonded on a grassroots Canadian level with plenty of you!!!
, , , . I can safely say that aside from Donna, the rest of you Canadians are a bit OFF 😂And last but kind of funniest…I regularly have Zoom meetings with
- a guy I’ve known about and disliked from very early on in my Medium days 😁 Turns out he’s pretty cool, very generous and smart, and super willing to share notes about Substack stuff.What I came here to do that I haven’t done yet.
One of my main purposes for launching this publication a year ago completely fell by the wayside.
Aside from my regular posts, I’ve had a strong desire to start teaching others about the craft of destination writing. If you’ve been here for more than a minute, you’ve no doubt learned about my very successful (and long-term) soiree in the travel/destination writing arena.
Your Other Passport is a separate (and lonely) section of this publication. It’s where I was going to roll out my teachings but I quickly realized that Substack is not the best place to execute the type of coaching I want to do. So I let the idea lapse into a deep sleep.
However, Substack has definitely been the right place to build the community that I could eventually introduce an actual coaching program to. It has even been the place where I found my first coaching client behind the scenes.
I don’t have a formal program developed yet but she was willing to accommodate for us to both to learn as we go. She coached me as much as I’ve coached her.
All thanks to Substack.
I’m positive other coaches here can attest to this platform being an absolute goldmine for connecting with like-minded wisdom seekers. I’m about to create the program, just not directly on here.
One thing I did that I DID NOT come here to do…
I certainly didn’t come sliding into Substack to show people my non-makeup-wearing, 51-year-old talking face but it happened anyway.
Earlier this month, Wildhood Wanted engaged in our first official “Where The Wild Things Are.” It was a Zoom link-up that felt more like a casual and comfy meet-and-greet in a coffee shop.
Not once did I think I’d be leading a live meeting of the minds when I first came here and yet…we did it!
For all who attended, did you guys know I was nervous as hell to meet you and attempt to lead a group without a script? I made that whole thing up on the fly but you all made me feel super comfortable so THANK YOU!
Weirdest accomplishment in my first year on Substack?
Posting the most viral notes I’ve ever seen on the entire platform. I don’t know why they keep going viral but I have never seen anyone else’s notes rack up 5K - 6K likes before.
Why does this keep happening to me? Maybe I need to stop driving behind Unicorns.
Generosity is bursting at the seams here on Substack.
The one thing I DID NOT expect when I came here is the kindness and generosity of this community. Not once have I felt like I’m in competition here. It feels more like one big team of happy writers throwing flower petals and sparkles in the air as they walk along pathways paved with multi-colored candy sprinkles.
Okay, so that was a lot 😂
All sprinkles aside, here are a few special shout-outs to some Substackers that have made a difference with their generosity:
- Because she sent a kick-ass parcel to my dog 😁 I’ll be writing a post about what was inside it soon! - I’ll be reviewing her book, Work That Matters, soon! In the meantime, maybe you should buy it because we ALL want to do work that matters! - Because receiving literally anything in the mail from a human on Substack is the most pleasant surprise!My three favorite posts I’ve written:
Trust me, it’s difficult to choose only three. Most people might boast ones with the highest stats but I’ve chosen my favorites based on either the journey or the laugh factor.
The Greatest Comeback Stories of All Time Begin in Places Like This
We Have All Been an Unforgettable One-Night Stand In Somebody’s Story
This Is What Happens When People Cheer For Each Other
Do you ever go back and read your old posts and give yourself a good, old pat on the back? You should.
The 3 posts that have generated the MOST new subscriptions:
Bringing in 61 new FREE subscribers and 0 paid, this post wins by a landslide:
If Your Hotel Isn’t Free, You’re Paying Too Much
Bringing in 44 FREE subscribers and 7 paid…
How To Cleanse Your Life With Unemployed Holy Water
Bringing in 37 FREE subscribers and 2 paid…
Those Who Die With The Most Toys Are Still Dead
The post with the most likes and comments, by far:
How To Cleanse Your Life With Unemployed Holy Water
I almost used the headline, “This Newsletter Failed Right Out Of The Gate,” but decided against it because I think we all need to reframe the way we think about failure.
The truth is, I could go on for days about my first year here on Substack. This anniversary post didn’t even include my wild success with my business pub, nor my dog pub, because we’re here for the Wildhood today.
Since this is approaching the 7-minute mark and Substack has given me the “Near email length limit” warning, I’ll cut this off by saying THANK YOU.
You guys have been incredibly supportive and my year would have been nothing without you. Literally. Readers are the reason we write so if y’all weren’t here there’d be no point!
I’m grateful for your presence and here’s to ANOTHER YEAR of finding our Wildhood, however that may look to YOU!
And last but not least, no Substack newsletter would be complete without shamelessly plugging a paid subscription option with the largest button on the platform 😂😂
We are all SO glad you are here. Why, you might ask? We are glad you're here simply because you make our lives better. You lighten the load on things that are heavy (unemployment), you remind us that mishaps happen (travel) and it's ok to laugh at them, and you help us do hard things (Unstack Substack), and so much more.
Keep on rocking Kristi, and showing us how it's done!
Lastly, I appreciate being called the only normal Canadian🤣 Paul Macko might disagree...if he's reading this comment!
Congratulations. 🍾 you are simply brilliant. I am so happy for all that you have accomplished. Mores that you opened up without makeup to share the ins and outs. Cheers to a double successful year.