I like being with interesting people.
Not “interesting” in a performative, hyper-articulated way. Just people where the conversation actually lands.
You leave feeling a little more like yourself.
You laugh.
You build on each other’s ideas.
You notice something you didn’t before.
That’s the bar.
I started writing on Substack for a similar reason I seek out those conversations. I genuinely like writing. I like sharing what I’m thinking about and seeing if it resonates. It’s a creative outlet for one of my fascinations (I’ve been trying to retire the word “passion,” which has been so overused it’s lost it’s meaning). And it lets me evolve how I think in public.
What I’m going for is honest, thought-provoking writing that makes someone stop and think I’ve felt that too. Some posts are more essay. Some are more framework. But the realization I keep coming back to is that I’m not one thing.
I don’t want to be one-dimensional online when I’m not one-dimensional in real life. I don't want to write about one topic forever, because what makes me me is the overlap of all the things I'm curious about.
Of course, I’ve thought about growth. It’s fun to have something to push against, and see if what you’re putting out there is actually connecting with people.
But pretty quickly, you run into the Substack playbook:
Niche down.
Pick a lane.
Write the same type of thing over and over.
Optimize your subject lines.
Gate the “good stuff.”
And to be fair, it works.
There are entire ecosystems of newsletters about growing newsletters. People making real money teaching other people how to make money on Substack by writing about making money on Substack.
It’s a little circular. And I get the appeal. I really do.
I genuinely considered it. Do I go all in? Niche down aggressively, push content harder, optimize everything. But something about it felt off.
The whole reason Side Note exists is because I wanted a space that could hold all the things I’m thinking about — not just the most marketable one. Career and identity and motherhood and the in-between moments that don’t have a specific category. The range is the reason.
So I’m intentionally not niching down. And I’m not trying to monetize this right now. Not because I think there’s anything wrong with making money from writing. But because the second I start optimizing for growth, the writing changes. And the writing is the thing I actually care about.
I’d rather have a smaller audience that reads something real than a bigger one that clicks on something engineered to perform.
I started this because I like interesting conversations. The kind that leave you feeling more like it mattered. And that’s what I want this to be!