9 reasons why Substack will set us free and make us human
Welcome home to the platform for you 💌🪶
Welcome to my newsletter.
Yesterday I had a great conversation with a couple friends and fellow freelancers.
@58:35 - Shayna Grajo
You've been set free.
@58:37 - Lourdgina Cordero
You're set free.
@58:38 - Monagin Detablan
I know, I love it. I really hope that I don't get sick of the feeling, because it is an amazing feeling.
What this AI notetaker transcript doesn’t capture is the ebullience emanating from Monagin’s face, which is that of one set free.
My intrepid “OG” OBM friend Mona D. has set herself free in a big way. Today she jets to Thailand from Iloilo, a coastal city in the Visayas of the Philippines.
Since Mona was 20, for almost a decade, she has worked virtually as an online business manager for overseas clients. Yet she yearned from the depths of her soul—and from her comfy couch—to leave home.
(Which she documented well in her Substack, as seen below.)
Now that she is finally living her dream—of island hopping and exploring farther from home while her clients fund the travels—she appreciates it like a beautiful sunset sky filling her heart.
Sure, as a veteran of the online world, she knows that seeing fellow virtual assistants and digital nomads in the local coworking spaces and cafes has now become the norm and not the exception.
Yet she has good WiFi, good food, and a good hotel for the day-to-day commute—until it’s time to catch the next flight or ferry. Even as the Philippines has gotten more expensive, particularly in the touristy areas.
She is no longer commuting from her couch to her desk to work from home, and that for her is peace.
And something she’s waited a long time for.
Oh hey, how’s it going…?
Why this, why now
So who are you? And who am I? I’m the new one around here. This is my first Substack.
My name is Shayna and among all the things…
I’m a letter writer at heart. 💌🪶
With a soul for newsletters.
And a faithful pen pal.
…A writer, in so many words.
It’s my hope and hypothesis that Substack may set me free.
Free to use my voice, to play with it, to flex it and to soften it.
Free to flow, to be.
And free to not have to convince and convert anyone with offerings and funnels that promotional email marketing newsletters often exude.
Because traditional marketing newsletters don’t use words like “exude” that probably rank too high on the Hemingway Editor.
My hope and hypothesis is that Substack can be a place to also be at peace. To just relax. To just be.
A haven for writing, of expression.
A redefining or even a returning to what a good letter can be…
But enough of all that.
Lemme put back on the copywriter cap.
This is also a place where problems can be solved and addressed.
Sure, selling and monetization is or can be a beautiful service to the world. One that provides value.
For this, let’s get into Substack. Here’s why I’m here, and why Substack may even be a very good fit for you…
Can it set us free?
Any path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you… Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question… Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t it is of no use.
—Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan
Why you are here: 9 reasons to diagnosably fall in love with Substack
You are not just starting any newsletter when you start a Substack. You are rallying a community to solve problems alongside you. Let’s examine.
This is a place that values and loves writing. Developed by writers for writers originally, there is a lot of street cred around here. You'll find authors, journalists, copywriters, editors, publishers and beyond, thriving here. And yes—I’m discovering them—even those who write newsletters for a living. Writing is the service and the product (at least as originally conceived). From “the home for great writing” to now “An engine for great culture,” I appreciate the writing roots of Substack.
Writing online leads to a discovery process and channeling one's thought leader messaging. I’m one to say that sometimes you don’t know a truth until you say it. And I support the practice of it, the necessary exercising of Free Speech. With Substack, the soulful channeling of thought leadership is elegantly amplified with greater visibility and discoverability than your typical email or blog post. I loved
’s coverage of the matter on their Substack and Wellness Creator Podcast episode "Why You Need to Write Online.” This marvelous team also had me at hello with their Substack strategy podcast episode with .The vibe on Substack is more human, artistic, creative and editorial. (Than, say, traditional email marketing newsletters, or social media posts on Instagram.) It is more of a space for authentic human voice, where the idea is to create and connect. That makes this content far more interesting, relevant and personal than blog posts driven solely for SEO and Google, where AI might as well generate that.
This platform is ad-free and oligarchy-free. A great alternative to support a healthy and thriving information ecosystem and decentralized social media that isn’t in it for data scraping, censorship, privacy concerns, and targeting of accounts against the mainstream genocide-as-usual, business-as-usual, gaslight & girl boss vibe. Journalists do well here and on Bluesky as well for these reasons.
Ownership. Creators on Substack own 100% of their work and content, protected by copyright and IP laws. Not the case on any Meta platform of course.
A user-friendly experience with clean design that is super simple and fuss-free. Readers can access content on the app or direct to email. Dignity for the attention span of readers and writers alike. The editor is intuitive and refreshingly simple.
Community. While I can't say I've experienced it yet (this being my first post), allegedly people can find their people on this platform. The social algorithm is said to be based on connection, engagement, and quality editorial content, versus posting rhythms or reels or what not. Because of the in-house social component, writers and creators can synch up with their subscribers and with one another. Chats with subscribers is optional and can even be behind a paywall. The above Wellness Creator Podcast with Sarah Fay listed in #2 mentions opportunities like challenges or workshops in newsletter content for paying subscribers.
The robust “engine.” While the platform was created by writers for hosting email lists and blogs, there is now also built-in hosting for podcasts (with distribution to Spotify, Apple Podcasts and the main players), audio and video (with connectivity to YouTube). And all for free when setting up an account. Pretty damn accessible. Increasingly now, podcasters and content creators can thrive here.
Finally, the monetization. With creators earning 90% for their paid newsletters and content, the platform builds in many growth incentives for writers to profit.
put it well when she said to imagine a social media network with a subscribe button next to everyone’s name. She cited a viral social media note that got 20,000 subscribers—”that’s subscribers, not followers.” And that wasn’t a full post, just a comment. All to say that there is ample built-in support (Recommendations, pledges, sales copy and more) geared to helping out beginners and experienced newsletter writers alike. With analytics, an exportable email list that you own, and many intuitive features right in the dashboard, I must say I’m already enamored.
So that’s it! Are you convinced?
Substack criticisms, concerns, and contraindications
While I am crushing hard and certifiably enamored of my new obsession, Substack is not for everyone in every case.
There is no such thing as any one perfect platform…
And while we should certainly be leery of Big Tech that makes disentanglement too difficult (think of Google trading data nefariously), there is a beauty to breaking down a robust engine and analyzing comparisons part by part.
Though we haven’t got the time of day for that here and now.
Emailwise, the downside to Substack is no API integrations with other apps, no customizations, and no automations. For that, something like Kit would do the trick.
Overall, the complaints and concerns I’ve read regard the true identity of the platform. Some don't trust where it's heading, in terms of increasing development of videos, video lives, and direct video monetization (and trust me, I have no idea what that even means, but it was just announced). Folks are concerned about veering from the writing roots of quiet, pensive, poetic newsletters and personal memoirs in words, without the shock value of the social media outlets we’ve come to know and distrust. Those outlets many are burnt out on.
Let’s cross over to the shore of freedom.
Can Substack be the vessel to carry Freedom herself? Me living my dream… ?
My dream could be…
To make damn good money as a writer… Or at least a comfortable living, period…
Writing a paid newsletter, something I’d never seen myself doing until coming across this platform. Even if that means $8 a month with just one paid subscriber…
Working with people in the community, such as others keen with me on liberation-focused marketing and equitable practices in the health and wellness space, for instance…
And launching a kick-ass podcast, which is dropping in the next newsletter installment, my second Substack post, on the 🌕full moon of the 14th of March…
“Using my journalism degree?” Lol (*sob)
And of course, uplifting one another in health and abundance in our businesses and lives while changing the world for the better along the way…
My instincts say:
Hopefully that vessel is my intentional words.
My authentic human voice.
My thoughts and ideas.
My window into consciousness of what it means to be alive and human from this view, and what to experience while you’re reading this.
Which is to say, hopefully my words—and Substack—can carry me. Can carry us. Can free us.
Let’s live the dream!
Let's soulfully channel our thought leader messaging, be expressive artists, change the world, free ourselves and others in collective liberation and global solidarity…
(In my case, pivot careers to write for a living…)
And all while magnetizing abundance for ourselves, our communities and our clients—in money, health, love, freedom, dignity, and all aspects of abundance.
Make yours Substack.
See you in the next newsletter, when the premiere episode of The Equitable Wellness Podcast drops.
Until then, thanks for being here with me today.
Endlessly yours,
p.s. I look forward to evolving my writing with you.
Okayyy Shayna!! This is the exact kind of first post energy I knew you’d bring—clear, grounded, and real. You’re saying the quiet parts out loud, and doing it in a way that feels actually human, not like some vibe-chasing brand voice.
Also—wait, I need to go find that podcast episode you mentioned 👀 I already know you dropped gems. Substack is lucky to have your brain on here. Let’s gooo 💌