✨ the SPARK 205 ~ Substack is Proof that Minimal Viable Works

Even with horrible onboarding

Oct 17, 2024

I’m sure I’m dating myself here, but I’ve felt a little like “Tim the Tool Man Taylor” in the past week - minus the grunting.

I’ve had a few DIY projects around the house, the most important of which was setting up my new desk.

This is the second time I’ve bought this desk.
(I love that electric standing desks have gotten pretty cheap compared to what they were a few years ago).

Fortunately, because I had already built and assembled this desk in the past, I could knock this one out fairly quickly.

My desk should have been here a week prior and was delayed, so I chatted with Amazon, and they reshipped it (chat with Amazon is easy to find when you have an outstanding order… not so easy otherwise).

However, after working from my laptop or sitting on a bench at a table in Costa Rica with my desktop for the last 2.5 months, I was desperate to get my arse in a good chair (I seriously don’t know how people work from couches for prolonged periods… maybe if I was younger 😜).

So I set everything up on a card table, knowing I’d have to take it down when my desk arrived.

The card table was my “minimum viable” solution so I could get back to work.

I’ve taken the same approach with Substack.

And I think Substack itself is still in “minimum viable” product mode (but I’ll get to that in a minute).

I signed up for Substack a few years ago but didn’t do anything with it.

My minimum viable happened recently when I moved everything to Substack (I’m working on a post “From the WordPress Chick to Substack”).

I was more intentional about what I was doing when I started “Women, Wisdom, & Wealth,” - but I was on a bit of a time crunch when I moved this newsletter over from beehiiv (I haven’t gone back to all the issues on ConvertKit/WordPress, I’m not sure I will).

I imported the content from beehiiv (super easy) and that was pretty much it. The goal was to cancel beehiiv before it renewed 😉.

I hadn’t realized everything would be published right away (as much as I love Substack, there are sooooo many UI/UX things that leave much to be desired… this is why I’m writing “The Visual Guide to Setting up Substack” - hope to be done next week).

This publication's “short description” for the last week was “My Personal Substack.”

Awesome, right?

Hardly, but the world didn’t end.

No one trolled me, and it’s since been updated. But that’s all I’ve updated under the “Kim Doyal” Substack. (Did you know you can merge a publication with your personal profile? Yea, I didn’t either. Maybe you didn’t even know you had a personal profile you could write under on Substack.)

So many people spend far too long planning things out before taking action, and then they get stuck in the planning phase.

I love a good plan as much as the next person, but you have to pull the trigger at some point.

It would be phenomenal if the moment you hit publish, you were flooded with new subscribers, readers, and fans who loved your work… but it doesn’t work that way (although I will say Substack feels a little magical with the traffic when you show up, publish, and engage).

Back to minimum viable.

I doubt Substack would say they’re in the ‘minimum viable’ stage of business. With over 20 million active subscribers and 3 million paying subscribers 😂, I know I’m not alone in saying the setup process is pretty wonky.

Check out this conversation I had with a friend over text (This is what reminded me to change my short description):

Of course, you could probably say the same about a lot of online platforms - but when you’ve been in the digital marketing space for a while, it should be reasonably easy/intuitive to find your way around.

Here’s the thing with Substack though…

Regardless of the wonky onboarding/setup process - it’s good where it matters most.

Writing, traffic, and community.

I love that they’re regularly adding new features (live streaming is a recent addition, but I’m sure there are more; I just haven’t been here long enough to know).

When I think back to getting started with WordPress (2008), I had to install a plugin simply to rearrange the page order in the navigation… I can certainly find my way around Substack. 😉

But I’m not in a rush.

I’ll continue with a few ‘housekeeping’ items here, but I’m having fun going deeper and trust I’ll find what works for me.

All this is to remind you that what matters is getting started.

Not getting it perfect.

SPARK Spotlight 🔥

This is an oldie but a goodie.

My “Visual Guide to Setting up Substack” requires a ton of screenshots. I currently use Cleanshot for the Mac, but I knew I wanted more options for annotating screenshots that Cleanshot provides.

So, I decided to go back and take a look at Snagit again (this used to be my ‘go-to’ screenshot tool).

WOW! It’s really improved- so many new features and options.

Try Snagit free here

A Little Brainpower 🧠

Look no further if you’ve ever thought of creating a journal and selling it on Amazon. Read

Jamie Northrup

’s “How to Create a Journal for Amazon KDP in 5 Steps.”

This is interesting. Content being labeled as non-AI on YouTube. “YouTube takes a baby step toward labeling authentic video.”

How to get the most out of notes on Substack, from

Sarah Fay

. “How to Stop Feeling Like You're Speaking into the Void on Notes.”

Tool Time 🛠

I wonder when the slew of new AI tools focusing on one thing you can do within another tool will fade away. In some cases, it makes sense, but for the most part, I stick with the big guns (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, etc.). <end random thought>

Here are this week’s tools, and one is just for fun.

Icons: You'll love this if you don’t need to use icons often but need high-quality vector or SVG icons. Use SVG repo free here.
FAQ: I tested this and while I don’t really need it, I may in the future. It scans your site and generates an FAQ widget! Try FAQwidget free here.
Social Media: Another option for generating content with AI and posting it on social media. View comments & DM too! Try Followr free for 3 days.
Notes App: I was pleasantly surprised by this app! Apple notes is “ok,”… but this takes it to a whole new level. I did a screenshot below (before turning on the ‘Echo version’ where it cleaned up the text!). Get Echo Notes free for iPhone here.

Here’s my “Just for fun” tool…

Enter your text, and it will instantly create a satirical version.

My text: We're entering a renaissance in the digital marketing space where bro-marketing is on its way out.

SatirifyMe: The digital landscape, once dominated by testosterone-fueled tactics, is undergoing a glorious rebirth, where the era of "bro-marketing" fades into the annals of marketing history, like a faded muscle car sputtering its last.

HAHA… I love it.

Try SatirifyMe free here.