Overview
The Substack Campfire is the first writing challenge specifically designed to help you break through on Substack Notes.
Created by Tom and Michael, the four-week writing challenge is designed to help you take the first steps to earn a side income on Substack via Notes.
During the challenge, you do two things every weekday with expert support as part of our deep community:
Post one Substack Note per day that introduces you to the broader Substack community.
Comment on 10 other Substacks that you deeply resonate with.
The Campfire
We use the campfire metaphor because it perfectly highlights our values:
Building collaborative relationships with other creators
Communicating online with your authentic voice
Consistently sharing posts you’re proud of
Having a creative process you love
Our approach is contrasted against the achievement approach to writing based on:
Discipline rather than devotion
Transactional relations vs deep relationships
Process that turns writing into a chore rather than a joy
Templates that make you sound like everyone else rather than building on your authentic voice
Why Tom & Michael
Tom and Michael have each been online creators for 10+ years, reaching 10+ million people on 10+ platforms, including the Harvard Business Review, TIME, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Fortune.
Tom’s Substack Notes make him one of the most engaging Notes creators on the platform…
Tom’s writing style is based on processing and expressions his emotions in order to help readers do the same.
Michael’s blockbuster approach has helped him consistently create high-quality, viral posts:
His approach to Notes has helped him:
Test and promote ideas for longer posts
Leverage research that didn’t make it into longform posts
Michael loves going deep down rabbit holes and marrying analytical with intuitive approaches. For example, has spent 2,000+ hours analyzing the patterns of viral online content in spreadsheets. Then, he performed 4,000 A/B tests to see what patterns worked the best.
Benefits Of Participating
Together, we have individually facilitated 10+ 30-day challenges over the last three years. Tom facilitated LinkedIn Sprints. Michael facilitated Month To Master challenges. From this experience, we’ve learned how to help participants:
Overcome procrastination and build the habit of publishing your ideas online.
Get feedback, encouragement, and engagement from a community of like-minded Substackers.
Find potential collaborators who help you grow beyond the challenge.
Improve at the fundamental skill of online writing.
Build a following on Notes that you can turn into a paid newsletter.
Have fun.
Dates
The heavily discounted annual membership includes three challenges. The first challenge takes place from July 1 - August 5.
IMPORTANT: We actually start writing together on July 8. July 1 through July 8 includes a masterclass and an interview with
, so you can hit the ground running.How To Participate
Free subscribers
To kick off our first 4 week Note-Writing challenge, we’re offering you free access to our Masterclass, How To Get Your First 100 Subscribers On Substack With Notes, and an exclusive interview with
. All you have to do is sign up as a free subscriber to this publication to get links to the events.Here’s what you’re getting:
Free Training #1: Reservation to How To Get Your First 100 Subscribers On Substack With Notes (2 Hours)
Takes place on Monday, July 1, at 11 AM EST
Commenting Mini Class: Learn how to use daily commenting to get 5+ new subscribers every day.
Connoisseurship Mini Class: Learn how to analyze existing Substack Notes to become a Note-Writing expert.
Note Writing Miniclass: Learn a few tricks of the trade to start writing better Notes that get more traction.
Co-Working: We will each write a note live on the call and share it with the community.
Relationship Building: Includes 20 minutes of time in small breakout rooms to meet other Substack writers.
Q/A session included
Free Training #2: Access to a live interview with (1 Hour)
Takes place on Tuesday, July 2nd, at 11 AM EST.
Ask someone at Substack your burning questions.
Understand the platform you’re posting on on a deeper level.
Listen to an exclusive interview with Substack royalty.
Enjoy a deeper understanding of what Substack wants to see from their creators in the future.
Paid subscribers ($1,500 value)
Annual paid subscribers receive full access to three annual challenges. For each challenge, paid subscribers get the following benefits:
Receive a daily prompt with instructions to help you create authentic content that helps you tell your story, get engagement, and spark relationships.
Receive ten 90-minute live training sessions. Gain access to live training sessions and interviews with Substack experts led by Tom & Michael.
Be featured in our daily Notes Roundup newsletter. Have your notes featured in a daily newsletter roundup of everyone’s posts. Being featured helps you get discovered by other challenge participants.
Share your Notes daily with the community. Every day we will post a Thread where paid participants can share links to their Notes. Enjoy initial traction on your Notes and find other great writers in this challenge.
Be featured in our directory. You’ll be added to a directory of challenge participants so you can find people who write about the same topics, at the same stage in their career, or who live close to you.
Get unlimited questions answered in the community. Tom & Michael will personally make sure that every question is answered.
25 Substackers to Follow. Receive our vetted list of 25 great Substack Note Writers to follow.
Below is a deeper breakdown on what challenge participants receive:
LIVE TRAINING CALLS
Here’s a list of what we’ll cover in our ten 90-minute training calls:
Monday, July 1: How To Get Your First 100 Subscribers On Substack With Notes / Informal Campfire Breakouts
Tuesday, July 2: Guest Interview with
, a leader of Writing Partnerships at SubstackMonday, July 8: How To Write The Perfect Note (Training with
)Thursday, July 11: Panel Interview with
, , andMonday, July 15: How To Become A Substack Notes Connoisseur (Training with
)Thursday, July 18: Guest Interview with Gurwinder one of the most viral and thoughtful Notes creators on Substack
Monday, July 22: How To Write What You Want Without Fear (Training with
)Thursday, July 25: Guest Interview with Sarah Fay
Monday, July 29: How To Communicate Your Expertise As A Thought Leader (Training with
)Thursday, Aug 1: Guest Interview with Substack Notes royalty (to be announced)
All classes are recorded.
MENTORS
Get access to these incredible mentors in our live interviews.
Note: We’re updating live as we land new mentors!
Linda works at Substack, helping writers and creators of finance, investing, business and economics content to grow their audiences and make money.
Writes
, where 3,000 subscribers gather to get advice from Veronica on writing, mindset, and well-being. You might have seen her in your Notes feed recently. 😊
Writes
, where 41,000 subscribers gather to deconstruct popular beliefs that lie behind today's most alluring narratives—including the ones we tell ourselves.
Author of
, where 6,000+ subscribers get weekly writing advice from David. Also, he’s one of the most popular Note Writers on the platform right now.
Sarah Fay
Writes
, which boasts over 10,000 free subscribers. Sarah is THE go-to Substack expert with over 1,000 paid subscribers and a boatload of experience on the platform. We’re privileged to have her in this program.
Writes
, which helps 6,000+ writers start, grow, monetize and market their writing and newsletter online. She has more than 180 paid members, and is a global Top 30 education publication on Substack.
BONUS CURRICULUM ($300+ value)
To help after the challenge, participants receive two additional on-demand trainings:
#1: Curriculum on video curation (Michael)
Michael teaches a $10,000 year-long program on thought leadership. One of the modules teaches participants how to curate, edit, and post video clips.
Video clip curation is a powerful way to breakthrough the noise because:
Videos are a proven format.
Videos are a unique format on Substack.
You can clip video clips that have already proven to be engaging.
You can add your expertise and personality to the text you use to contextualize the video.
#2: Note-Writing Masterclass (Tom)
Get immediate access to a 40-minute Note-Writing Masterclass that Tom recorded earlier this year. This Masterclass examines:
3 rules of Note writing the best creators follow
A handful of different templates and strategies to write viral Notes.
DISCOUNTS
Participants receive a 10% discount on Michael and Tom’s newsletters:
Blockbuster Blueprint (Michael)
Mind Of A Writer (Tom)
3 WHYS:
Why Substack? Why Notes? How Now?
#1. Why Substack
Substack isn’t just another social media platform. It’s a creator platform. This is a big deal on a few levels…
On social media platforms, creators are the commoditized supplier. On creator platforms, creators are the customers. Substack takes 10% of whatever creators earn on the platform. This means that Substack ONLY makes money when you make money. This is a big deal and famous investor Charlie Munger explains why with a timeless quote, “Show me the incentive, and I will show you the outcome.”
Substack is the only creator platform designed to foster community among its creators. While other social networks are like a loud town square, Substack is designed for community. Tools that enable this include direct messaging, Notes, directory of top publications, recommendations, cross-posting, multi-creator posts, and more to come.
In the end, on social media platforms, many creators have to start from scratch every few years as the platforms change their algorithms and features. But with Substack, you can ALWAYS reach your audience directly, because you have their email address. Therefore, it’s a more stable foundation to build on.
#2. Why Notes
Notes are a powerful tool to:
Test out early-stage ideas before you spend dozens of hours expanding on them
Share digestible snippets from my longform posts on your newsletter
Build relationships and eventually collaborations with other creators on the platform
Easily get started with sharing your ideas online
Tom grew his newsletter by 6,000 subscribers in three months writing viral Notes that got thousands of likes, like this one:
Notes are the most powerful mechanism on Substack for growing a newsletter, and it might be the most powerful mechanism on the internet for growing a newsletter, too.
#3. Why Now
Tom & Michael have each successfully grown on 10+ platforms over 10+ years. By being on so many platforms for so long, hidden patterns become clear. One of those big patterns is this…
Timing is everything!
The internet is changing rapidly. What works now will not work for long. Therefore, strike while the iron is hot. And harvest when the fruit is ripe. Timing is an incredibly essential part of success as a creator, and it’s often underestimated.
If you use the right feature on the right platform, breaking through is easy. If you use the wrong features on the wrong platform, almost nothing you do matters.
Our experience tells us that the timing is ripe for both Substack and Substack Notes. In short…
Substack is here to stay. Substack was started in 2017, and it reached takeoff velocity in the last year. There are now millions of paid subscribers on Substack and the numbers are growing.
Substack is not crowded. At the same time, Substack hasn’t been overtaken by trials, polarization, marketers, pay-to-play, or crowdedness. Rather, conversations are almost entirely nuanced, open, and generative.
Substack Notes has gained traction. Substack Notes were launched in April 2023. They didn’t get much traction at first, but in 2024, when Substack introduced an algorithmic newsfeed, engagement increased dramatically.
Notes aren’t crowded. Both Tom & Michael were able to gain traction in a matter of months.
Finally, the timing is right for this program.
We have run 10+ challenges between us, and we each charged about $500. Because this is our first program on Substack, we’re charging significantly less. We plan to significantly increase the price in the future.
IS THE SUBSTACK CAMPFIRE RIGHT FOR ME?
Who It’s For
All types of creators (text, video, audio)
All levels of creators:
People with an existing newsletter
People who don’t have a newsletter yet
People who want to earn a significant income from Substack
People who want to create high-quality content they’re proud of
People who want to have a writing process that brings them joy, makes them feel alive, develops them as a human being, and makes them feel like a kid in the candy store
People who want a strategy that works better and better over the long-term
Experts who have something rare and valuable to share with others
Who It’s Not For
People who primarily want to hustle and use discipline
People who are optimizing for the short-term
Marketers who primarily care about getting new customers
People focused on transactions rather than relationships/impact
GUARANTEE
We’ve all bought products that promise the moon but don’t deliver. We want to take all the risk away, and make this truly a “no-brainer” for you. If you aren’t satisfied with the results you got after 30 days, just let us know, and we will happily give you all your money back.
WHAT STUDENTS HAVE SAID
“The single most clever decision I've made.”
It's not only the golden, distilled bits of practical and actionable knowledge you share, it's the habits and attitude transformation I'm experiencing. I'm getting much more and much faster than I expected!
Alex Mera
Analyst at Tango/04 Computing
“My business to the next level.”
I built an event management company in Madagascar with multiple employees within three years. However, over the last year I hit a plateau that I haven't been able to overcome.
I was losing hope. But using Michael's course and coaching helped me see this challenge from a different light and opened my eyes up to new ways of learning, Now, I'm on my way to taking my business to the next level, and I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Sanda Solofoson
COREALI Event Management
“The best teachings in 25 years.”
It’s the best teachings I have gone through in the last 25 years… And I have studied and learned from some of the best minds over the last 50 years... people like Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy, Brian Tracy, and so on.
Michael’s teachings have stimulated me into action like I have not been in since 1990.
Nate Brooks
Sales and Business Coach, Nate Brooks Coaching
“It was transformative!”
Michael’s course was transformative for me...Both the welcoming environment that Michael created and the openness of the others who participated really made this a life-changing event. It was amazing!
Kate McKinnon
Consultant
“I grew my network and improved my writing habit exponentially.”
Tom is an honorable, down to earth leader who brings his all through his delivery, instruction, and mentorship. I enrolled in Tom's 30-day Linkedin Sprint program after reading his work for 2 years on Medium. I learned SO much, grew my network, and improved my writing habit exponentially.
Susie Pinon
Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator
“One of the most rewarding experiences I've had in a long time.”
Tom is a master at writing content and teaching others how to improve their own content and grow their following. Not only that, he has an approachable, fun and down to earth style that is incredibly inspiring for others who want to share their message with the world. His 30 day LinkedIn Sprint was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in a long time. With Tom's expertise, guidance and generous spirit, I was able to push myself to be a better creator, and writer, and have a bigger impact in the world.
Matt Mills
Leadership Coach
“Tom genuinely wants his participants to succeed.”
Tom’s enthusiasm is infectious. I admire Tom’s openness to feedback, and his willingness to adapt to ensure his program has the most impact on those participating. Tom genuinely wants his participants to succeed. His innovative mind and kind spirit make him great to work with and I am excited to see what he does next!
Jennifer McCloskey
Career Coach
“The engagement on my posts has increased significantly.”
Thanks to Tom, the engagement on my LinkedIn posts has increased significantly. I’m getting more views, reactions and comments. The trend has been upward as the program has moved along as well. I’ve learned enough that I'm sure I can keep the trend going in the future.
Irene Marshall
Career Coach
SUMMARY
Our aim with Substack Campfire was to put together an irresistible offer that would be a no-brainer and provide 3x the value of what we’re charging. To summarize what you get…
Three Note-Writing challenges in 12 months ($1,500 value)
Bonus trainings & discounts ($300+ value)
Since this is our first Substack challenge, we’re offering a dramatically low price, which will increase in the future. You can get three challenges and all of the bonuses for just $595 annually.
If you just want access to this first 4-week challenge, sign up on our monthly plan for $299. We will comp you on the backend until August 6th to make sure you don’t get double charged for two months.
Scholarships Available: We want the challenge to be a gift to the overall Substack community while earning enough income for us to fully invest in delivering a transformative program. Therefore, we are also offering scholarships for individuals who really want to participate in the challenge, but can’t afford it. To get the scholarship, please complete this form.
HOW TO SIGN UP FOR JUST ONE COHORT
Unfortunately, Substack doesn’t allow you to offer one-off products. This makes it hard for us to offer you access to just the July cohort.
But, we have a workaround. You can sign up for just one cohort by signing up for the monthly option on the subscription page:
Once you sign up for the monthly option, you will receive access to the cohort until it ends on Monday, August 5. To prevent being charged again, you will need to cancel your monthly subscription before 30 days. Then, we will manually extend your subscription to August 5.
STILL GOT QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions, feel free to DM Michael or Tom directly.
Up at 4am researching why my note postings end up in the void and the universe shows me this! A sign? A coincidence? A working algorithm? Internet goblins or… is someone watching me??
Excited for this!