After a year and a half of publishingmy newsletter Reputation OnRamp on the Beehiiv platform, I’ve made the decision to return to Substack – and rebrand the newsletter as Earn the Right.
This isn’t just a platform switch. It’s a strategic recalibration.
Over the past six months, I’ve spoken with readers, podcast listeners, and LinkedIn connections – people navigating solo businesses, micro-firms, and expert-led practices. I wanted to understand who I could serve most meaningfully.
What became clear is that the people I’m most drawn to – and best equipped to help – are experienced, credible professionals building something of substance in midlife.
Like me, they’re not looking for growth hacks. They’re not chasing virality. They’re weary of always having to compete for attention, and fed up with the rise of bro’ marketers, pretenders, and wannabes flooding our feeds.
Instead, they’re looking for systems, ideas, insights and platforms that reward depth over noise – and help build lasting visibility, trust, and commercial relevance.
And in this context, Substack just makes more sense.
I first established my newsletter on Substack but shifted to Beehiiv in 2024 to start afresh. In the interim, Substack changed – a lot – and consequently I’m back onboard!
SUBSCRIBE TO EARN THE RIGHT HERE
[ Alternatively, you can continue to catch my articles here on the blog versus subscribing to the newsletter ]
The platform isn’t the strategy … but it can reinforce it
This is not a knock on Beehiiv, which I think is a great platform – it’s slick, fast, data-rich, and ideal for newsletter operators running growth-heavy plays. But that’s not the game I’m playing.
My work is rooted in strategy, trust, content ecosystems, and what I call Personal Brand Sovereignty – the idea that we should build our visibility on foundations we control. Now, I’m well aware that I don’t control the Substack platform, but I still have access to my content (I cross-publish to my blog PR Warrior) as well as subscriber email addresses.
Substack, for all its quirks and limitations, supports this philosophy better than most.
Its community-first design makes it feel more like a dynamic knowledge network than your typical email delivery tool. You’re not just broadcasting to a list, you have the ability to contribute to a broader cultural layer of ideas, insights, and conversations.
Substack allows you to:
- Recommend other newsletters (and be recommended)
- Publish longer-form articles, short posts, and podcast episodes (including a private audio feed)
- Engage in comments, Notes, and subscriber chat
- Build reputation through presence and participation, not just performance metrics
This isn’t just email – it’s content with connective tissue, which will allow me to go deeper, by building a multimedia platform with social foundations.
FYI – I subscribe to some excellent newsletters here, and that’s another reason why I’m keen to immerse myself back into the Substack ecosystem. These newsletters include: Brian Clark’s Further, The Ask by Ellen Donnelly (who also returned to Substack recently), ICYMI by Lia Haberman, The Author Stack, Pr@ctical (by Sarah Evans), and Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter. Check ‘em out!
Newsletters are having a renaissance – but perhaps not in the way you think
There’s a lot of noise about newsletters right now. Growth bro’ threads. List-building playbooks. “Monetise your audience” in 30 days or less.
That’s not the kind of renaissance I’m interested in.
The real opportunity lies in building authority ecosystems, where your ideas, voice, and reputation work together across platforms, channels, and touch-points. And newsletters are the backbone of that system.
Why? Because email is still the most direct, owned, and resilient way to show up regularly for your people.
Social media is rented land. SEO is unpredictable (and currently under threat of GEO – Generative Engine Optimisation). Algorithms are fickle.
And yet, email – with value, clarity, and consistency – lands directly in someone’s world. And when paired with a system like Substack’s, that email doesn’t just exist in isolation, it becomes a node in a larger network of trust and insight.
What this means going forward
If you’re reading this, you’re probably someone who already has expertise. You’ve built something. You’re respected in your space, but maybe feeling a little invisible in the modern digital landscape.
This is your time.
Whether you’re a strategic soloist, a credible advisor, or a mission-led founder, I believe we earn the right to be seen, heard, trusted – and chosen.
And that’s what this new phase is about.
Same voice. Same mission. But now with sharper intent, and a platform better aligned with long-term authority-building, along with scope for me to provide a more expansive offering down the track.
SUBSCRIBE TO EARN THE RIGHT HERE
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