Based on the attached transcript.
Most Substack growth advice starts with the wrong assumption: that more is always better.
More subscribers. More impressions. More reach. More badges. More algorithmic approval.
But growth for growth’s sake often creates the opposite of what purpose-driven solopreneurs actually want. It attracts the wrong people, dilutes the signal, burns energy, and pulls creators into a game they never wanted to play.
In this episode of Creative on Purpose Live, Scott Perry shares a better way to think about growing a publication, audience, or business.
Instead of chasing vanity metrics, Scott introduces three foundational questions inspired by Seth Godin’s Marketing Trifecta:
What change are you trying to make?
Who are you trying to change?
What promise are you making?
These questions help creators, coaches, freelancers, and solopreneurs build a permission asset rooted in resonance, trust, and service rather than growth hacks, funnels, and digital marketing BS.
Scott also shares the story of leaving behind a financially successful but soul-draining funnel-based business and rebuilding around Substack, conversation, and a smallest viable audience.
In This Episode
Scott explores:
Why more subscribers are not always better
How chasing growth can move you further from the business you actually want
Why someone else’s playbook usually delivers diminishing returns
The difference between reach and resonance
How Substack can function as a permission asset
Why the smallest viable audience is more useful than a large disengaged audience
How to clarify the transformation your publication offers
Why worldview matters more than demographics
How to make promises you can actually keep
The role of generosity, boundaries, and paid proximity
How to transition from done-for-you work toward advisory or publication-based work
Why minimum effective dose matters for solopreneurs with finite time and energy
Key Takeaway
The question is not simply, “How do I get more people?”
The better question is, “Who are the right people, what change am I helping them make, and what promise can I consistently keep?”
When those answers are clear, growth becomes less about gaming the algorithm and more about earning trust, creating resonance, and helping the right people find their way closer.
Notable Ideas
Growth for growth’s sake is a solution in search of a problem.
More of the wrong subscribers can do more harm than fewer of the right ones.
By the time a growth hack reaches your feed, it is probably already delivering diminished returns.
A purpose-driven publication should be built on philosophy and principles before tactics and tools.
Your audience is not just a demographic profile. It is a group of people who share a worldview, a problem, an aspiration, or a belief.
A real promise is specific, believable, achievable, and keepable.
Generosity does not mean unlimited access. Free content can create exposure, while paid community and coaching provide proximity and implementation support.
Listener Reflection
Before trying to grow your publication, list, audience, or business, answer these three questions:
What change am I trying to make?
Who am I trying to change?
What promise am I making?
Then ask whether your current content, offers, and calls to action actually reinforce those answers.
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