My Substack Grows While I Sleep. Here’s the 20-Minute Morning Routine Behind That.

Every morning I wake up to new subscriber notifications. Here's the simple system behind it, and your last chance to join the July Challenge before it starts tomorrow.

I truly believe we’re making this whole grow-your-newsletter thing too hard.

Posting on five platforms….Studying algorithm hacks….Trying every new format and strategy that comes along.

Most writers are doing more than they’ve ever done and growing slower than they should be.

Here’s what I’ve learned after two years of this: the simpler you keep your growth strategy, the better it works.

For over a year now, I’ve been plugging into the same 20-minute morning Notes routine. That’s it.

That routine is the entire engine behind my Substack’s growth, and my newsletter consistently grows by 20-30+ subscribers a day because of it.

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I wake up every morning to new subscriber notifications. This has been happening for over a year.

Every single morning, there’s new subscribers waiting on my phone before I’ve done anything that day.

real “new subscriber” notifications on my Substack app in the mornings

Not because I did anything special overnight. Because I ran through my routine the morning before and the platform kept doing its job while I was completely offline.

Last month alone, that routine brought in 770 new subscribers.

I sit down for twenty minutes every morning, work through my Notes routine, and go on about my day.

The growth happens whether I’m at my desk or not, because the system is already running and the algorithm already knows who I am and who my readers are.

That’s what a real system feels like from the inside.

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After 1,000+ Notes I found only three types actually bring subscribers. Here’s what they are.

I pull from only three types of Notes because I know these types resonate most. They come from my Notes templates (which you get when you join the Workshop & Challenge).

Story Notes — a specific honest moment from your own experience that your reader recognizes in themselves.

The more specific and real the better. These convert better than almost anything else because they create genuine connection before the reader has even clicked your profile.

Community Notes — genuinely inviting your audience into a real conversation rather than just broadcasting at them. These build the kind of engagement the algorithm rewards and the kind of trust that turns casual readers into loyal subscribers over time.

Motivational Notes — speaking directly to the specific struggle your reader is dealing with right now. Not generic inspiration but the kind of honest encouragement that makes the right person feel like you wrote it specifically for them.

Each type serves a different purpose and works at a different moment in the reader’s journey.

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Tonight’s the last chance to join the July 7-Day Notes Challenge. Here’s what’s available before the doors close.

You can keep doing what you’ve been doing…

Posting on Notes occasionally without a clear system behind it….Spending another month showing up inconsistently, wondering why the subscriber count barely moves, telling yourself you’ll get more serious about it next month.

Or you can get the complete system today before the window closes tonight.

Tonight is the last chance to join before the 7-Day Notes Challenge which starts Wednesday (July 15th). Once it begins, you won’t be able to get in mid-challenge.

Here’s what you get when you join:

• The Notes Growth Workshop — my complete 20-minute daily Notes routine behind 19,000 subscribers and consistent 10+ subscriber days. The three Note types broken down in detail with real examples so you know exactly what to write and why it works.

• The 7-Day July Notes Challenge — starting July Wednesday, one proven Notes template lands in your inbox every day for seven days. You open it, make it yours, and post it.

Over 300+ writers have joined the Workshop in the last year alone, growing every day with Notes. You can join them below:

In just a month from now you could be telling a story like Charlotte Stephens — a Substack bestseller who was skeptical of my system and then gained 10+ new subscribers every single day after trying it.

“I’m never convinced by these things but am so glad I trusted you on this, because I’ve literally gained almost exactly 10 subs a day since. Witchcraft! 😂” — Charlotte Stephens, Substack Bestseller

And even if the Workshop isn’t for you right now, I want to encourage you to start writing Notes anyway.

I genuinely believe you’ll be in a completely different place this time next month.

Keep writing, Wes

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Questions on the Challenge? Drop them in the comments below or my DMs are always open.