What the Heck is Substack and Why Are We Here?

My newsletter has a new home and I think you'll really like it! Plus, some honest thoughts about putting content behind a paywall ..

Hello, friends! Have I ever told you about one of my favorite quotes: ‘Don’t talk about it, be about it’? I don’t know that I have but, really, it kind of explains itself. Talk is cheap but actions are everything. And, your girl here has been talking talking talking about launching a Substack … but, until now, that’s all it’s been.

Let’s be honest. Anytime you find out you’re pregnant, so many things you want to do or intend to do just fly out the window or are at least postponed for a little while. So, I’ve giving myself a lot of grace with this new endeavor but I am really happy to ‘be about it’ now and finally welcome you to my Substack, a new community-centered newsletter hub for those of you who would like to become a subscriber.

Now, I am not going to lie. It takes a lot for me to want to spend my time launching a new platform of any kind. For old-school content creators who have been in the space since its infancy, we. are. tired. ha … and feel a bit like dinosaurs now. Where it started aligned so beautifully with what I loved and what I was craving - writing and community - and it felt exciting and freeing to make my contributions each day. While I’ve enjoyed so much about how things have evolved, I have also often felt as though the pace is too fast and the content ‘requirements’ for growth just don’t align with my interests or desires. So, where does that leave those of us in this space?

*Insert Substack*

I know a lot of you have questions and a lot of you are tired, too. But, I promise, Substack for us bloggers, especially those of us who love long-form content, is the community platform we wish our blogs could have been.

Let’s dive into some of the questions I’ve already received about Substack!

What is Substack?

Substack is an online platform for writers and other content creators to write and distribute their newsletter. It’s set up much like a blog but … it’s a newsletter … and so much more!

So what’s the difference?

While bloggers have long had newsletters in addition to what they share on their blogs, as a way to provide added value to their subscribers, Substack goes well beyond that and allows the creator to foster a community so much more than your standard blog … which is what has made it extremely appealing to me. It also allows the creator to build a subscription-based community, where the community members can decide how much value they want to opt-in for. Yes, this means some content can be behind a pay-wall but, it doesn’t have to be. It can all be free. It’s up to the creator!

So, that’s why it’s different than a blog but, let me tell you why it’s so much more than a newsletter and why we’re moving.

Here is why we’re moving the newsletter to Substack:

You get to see the creators you choose to support because it’s not controlled by an algorithm.

I know. Many of you who follow influencers have been subject to passionate gripe seshes about the dreaded Instagram algorithm. Ha, sorry about that …

It’s been years since I’ve ‘grown’ on Instagram but, truth be told, it doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it used to. As my passions and priorities have shifted, I think it’s been clear that I have had more important things to focus on. And, to be honest, right now, I just want to find a better place to engage with and provide value to those of you who already follow along.

The only thing about the algorithm that does bother me is that it prevents me from reaching you. Now, I realize I haven’t been posting nearly as much as I used to but, it is painful to see that what I do share only reaches a small percentage of you.

And I know why.

The more you feed the algorithm what it wants, the more it will give you in return. And vice versa.

But, I’m sorry … I have outgrown the age and stage of my life that complies with these demands because it doesn’t align with my values. I’m tired of shelling out an absurd amount of links just to keep clicks up [and thus, potentially, commissions up], shopping for the sake of making sure the things I’m wearing are shoppable [and then never wearing them again], and my home slowly but surely filling to the brim with ‘stuff’ that doesn’t actually fill my cup.

Wow, went on a bit of a tangent there. But, that’s where I’m at. If you’re wanting more heart talks, there we go, ha! I’m so over what it takes to remain relevant as a style influencer. I want to continue to share style content but in a way that feels conscious and mindful. I want to do it my way. Thankfully, I was reminded my manager today that I absolutely can while still posting consistently. I think sometimes I can get in my own head about this. *working on it*

And, I want a safe and guaranteed place for all of you to find me when I have something valuable to share and for us to find each other … and I think Substack is going to provide that and here’s how:

It offers a ‘chat’ feature to creators for their community to use.

One of the things that has always felt ‘weird’ to me about my ‘community’ is that I’m the only one that gets to ‘commune’ with you.

I’m the only one that really sees how amazing, hilarious, and kind all of you are. I’m the only one who gets to benefit from your helpful insights and tips when I ask for them. I’m the only one who recognizes your Instagram handles and real names.

Honestly, you’re all so incredible. I can’t tell you how many thoughtful messages you have sent me over the last few years [I think it’s been clear that I’m not shining as bright as I used to ha] with the kindest words of encouragement and support that have brought me to tears. What if you guys could find that in each other or be that for more than just me?

I’ve been so grateful to have you as a part of my life … but I’m really only one piece of the community. For so long, I’ve been the conversation-starter but many of you are who inspire them. Why should you have to wait for me to answer the question ‘what is the best travel stroller?’ or ‘what do we think team: barrel jeans or are we giving them a hard no?’ You have just as much valuable and helpful knowledge as I do.

And, let’s be real … it’s hard to make friends as you get older. Many of us are in similar seasons of life. We’re likely all around the same age. Let’s get to know each other. Let’s make a friend or two!

So, all that to say, when I saw that this was a feature of Substack, I was like ‘okay, yes, this has been one of the missing pieces I have always wanted to be able to provide’ my community … and I think it’s going to be really magical.

You can go back and reference old newsletters in one place.

Were any of you with me when I did the ‘Ask Alyson Haley’ newsletter? I think I did that one between 2018-2020 or so.

Not to toot my own horn or anything [because, really, I’m not that special] … but it did really well. It always had a really high ‘open rate’ for a newsletter and I always got such sweet feedback on it. If you weren’t here, it was basically what it sounds like: send in your question, I’ll choose a few to answer in next weeks’ newsletter. Honestly, I was really really proud of this newsletter but …

I also had a love / hate relationship with it.

All of us lead busy lives. We have demanding jobs. We have demanding kids. We have a demanding social life. In one way or another, some of the extracurricular things we like to spend our time doing … like reading a blog or reading a newsletter … just isn’t what we have time for. But maybe two weeks from now, you do …

Well, something Substack has that my old way of sharing my newsletters doesn’t have is the ability to easily, in one feed, go back and find the newsletters you need / want to catch up on.

This, for me, is a dream.

I only ever want to be helpful. That is always my main goal when it comes to anything that I do.

And one of my biggest pet peeves is when I invest my time in something [especially when that something is meant to be helpful to you] and then it’s wasted somehow or becomes inaccessible. And that’s how I felt when it came to the Ask Alyson Haley newsletter. You couldn’t read my answers if you missed the newsletter two weeks ago because you were busy with work then went out of town so then you’re back to asking me the question again. And, while I don’t mind that, I also saw it as incredibly unhelpful to you because the time I invested in that answer has no way of being accessed by those of you who want it … regardless of when you have time to look for it.

So, I absolutely love this feature. It will only encourage me to curate more of those really thoughtful, intentional pieces that you all so loved from me back in the day.

To build off of that …

It allows me the ability to put certain pieces of content behind a paywall.

I know, I know … ‘ewww, I don’t want to pay!’

Ha, I’ve already heard this from a couple of you when I mentioned I was moving to Substack and, to be honest, I get it. Life is certainly expensive. After the last few years, I have really felt the weight of that as both my professional income and my personal life have drastically shifted in opposing financial directions. So, please know, I do understand …

AND

We also need to talk about the why behind some of the content creators you see opting to host a Substack because, I promise, it’s more justified than you think. It may seem like a gross attempt to make ‘more’ money but, for some of us, it’s moreso a pivot in how we’ve done business before in order to honor our strength as creators that the long-standing ‘free content’ model doesn’t.

Before I was a ‘content creator’ and an ‘influencer’, I was a ‘blogger’, which essentially meant I shared and expressed myself through writing. Sharing in this way has always been a passion of mine. It’s always how I’ve felt like I could most accurately and naturally express myself. It allows me to share, commune with those invested in said material, and then retreat and go away for awhile … like the true introvert that I am.

That landscape has been long gone and I’ve said for years how much I miss it. Not only was it much simpler but I felt like it was the best way for me [and my neurodivergent brain] to thrive. It was so much easier to plan and stick to an editorial content when there was only one type of content I was creating, of which I enjoyed creating. It allowed me to invest more time in some posts because it was my creative strength and I could more easily find my flow. While it has been so cool to see an industry grow from being something so simple to what it is now … and I’m certainly not naive to how it’s blessed me incredibly thanks to many of you … I can’t deny that it’s also drained me of the joy and excitement it once gave me. Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy some aspects of how things have changed and evolved but, mostly, it’s made me feel like my brain is playing a constant game of ping pong.

And, with all the changes life has thrown my way over the last few years, I’ve had to get really honest about how I want to be spending my time and what is worth my time … when I have so much less of it in this season of life.

Does my business currently reflect my values? Not fully.

Am I operating out of what brings me joy? Not fully.

Does my business currently exemplify the things that bring me joy? No.

Do I get a full-body ‘yes’ when I’m thinking of what this job wants out of me? No.

Do I want my business to be completely hinged on how much and how often I show up to talk about material items, like clothes? Do I want it to be completely hinged on how much I shop, how often I’m mentioning clothing brands I love and linking to them, and how much and how often you are purchasing through my links? No and no.

Sure, I started as a stylist of sorts so I’m happy to style some outfits and put a couple of reels together here and there but, when I’m really honest with myself, it can become a slippery slope when the premise of a business is hinged on promoting material items. And I know that from experience.

When I was cleaning out my wardrobe in 2020, in an effort to declutter and embrace less [which was my word of the year; that’s kind of when I started having all of these thoughts to be begin with but also especially because I was about to move to a country where, unless you have a lot of money, you likely don’t have a ton of ‘extra’ space to store all your crap], the amount of ‘stuff’ I had acquired due to this job [that I created; don’t get me wrong .. I made these choices] really grossed me out. And, of course, you can do your best to ‘re-home’ your wardrobe by having closet sales and you can donate the proceeds to charity — I mean, there are ways to try and make good out of it but, I just couldn’t / can’t get past how ‘gross’ it made / makes me feel to the point that I just did / do not ever want to have that much stuff again. Now, do I want to curate a wardrobe I love? Yes but, I could visibly see just how much I was doing it from a frivolous, thoughtless place which is the total opposite of how I want to be influential.

I started thinking so much about things versus experiences, especially after all the travel I had done between 2016 and 2019. I consider them my glory days of sorts because I had so much fun and I feel like I was operating out of so much joy. Stuff doesn’t give that to you. Experiences do. Stuff doesn’t have heart. Seeing other parts of the world and experiencing other cultures and how people do life makes you feel in a way that stuff never will.

Over the last year, and especially since we moved, I’ve really been focusing on what I can pull from that time. What is the joy I felt within it trying to tell me now? What about it made me feel so lit up and how can I create something out of that so I can get back to that in this season of life? In a way, and we can talk about this more another time, I feel like I’m going backwards by moving back to Florida but, I don’t want to lean on the old comforts of how I operated in the past when I have sensed so strongly that I am meant to do something new and different.

What that is has alluded me … and, therefore, frustrated me because I so badly want to get back to building something I’m proud of. I want to get back to my joy. I want to get back to showing up. I want to get back to you guys!

It feels [sometimes] like I can’t access the joy I get from style influencing [by the way: all of this isn’t me saying I’m done sharing style content … I will just continue to do it mindfully and it might not be the crux of my business like it had been] until I figure this other thing out.

And I can’t fake it. I can’t just pretend to be into something that I’m not which is why I can’t just ‘play the game’. I’m not going to get back to shopping incessantly all the time just because I have access to the U.S. retailers again. I’m not going to create reel after reel when I don’t want to. I know what it takes to be successful in this industry but I want to do it out of a genuine, authentic desire. Again, don’t worry about me, guys. My manager, Molly, has talked me off the ledge here and reminded me that I can post style content that is thoughtful and far from gross but that I still just need to post, lol.

But, as I’ve already shared, what has come through, intuitively-speaking, is that I miss writing and I miss investing in long-form content … like the Friday Five, or the Ask Alyson Haley newsletter, or Travel Diaries … and I want to get back to that. The tricky part about it is that that type of content takes a whole lotta time. And, it’s funny how your perspective on how you use your time as a business-owner changes when you have kids and your time is finite, especially when you were raised by a workaholic so you want to [somehow] find that balance of following your passion and continuing to work but also not ‘always’ being distracted and unable to turn work off.

Despite having always offered that content for free in the past because I enjoyed putting my time into it and I knew it was helpful to you and [therefore] worth it to me, I unfortunately had to stop because I couldn’t as freely use my time to work on that type of content if it wasn’t also helping to support my business financially. And as much as that’s a hard thing to put out there because hi, I’m a people-pleaser who just wants to be liked … but also, I have to be honest about the value of my time. Like everyone else, I can’t work for free. I have a family to support and, especially after my business took a massive down-turn while living in the UK, I need to get back to work. But, I to afford myself the opportunity to get back to content I enjoy investing my time in and you once enjoyed consuming.

And Substack is giving me an opportunity to do that through these subscription-based fees.

While I know it can be a bummer to have to pay for something that was once free, I hope you can understand where I’m coming from here.

Now, will everything I share here be behind a pay wall? No. But, a lot of the meatier, lengthier, and most helpful content more than likely will be. I will, however, do my best to provide as much value for as low of a monthly payment, or annual payment, as possible. And you will still be receiving lots of free content from me on Instagram and Instagram stories.

That’s the jist of why but I also love that I can also share a podcast episode with you here as well as video messages!

There’s so much to enjoy here on Substack. I cannot wait to see what this space becomes for us!

Will you still update the blog?

Yes, definitely! My blog will always be something I’m super proud of and I will likely continue to update her as time goes on. As much as I can, I’ll continue to post over there but, also, I won’t make any promises. I am going to have another baby this year. I want to focus on the content I want to bring you all here on Substack and, if inspiration strikes, I want to invest in whatever it is I’m meant to build next.

What you get: Free vs. Paid

Here’s what I’m thinking so far — again, keep in mind, you’ll still get lots of free content though IG reels, LTK posts, and stories!

FREE

• A virtual hug and my deep and endless love for being here as a newsletter subscriber! By the way, I hate calling you all ‘newsletter subscribers’. Can we come up with another name?

• The ‘See You Sunday’ Weekly Newsletter:

  • What’s New With Me and The Fam [ie: pregnancy updates, things Louie has been loving, recipe John made that week, upcoming travel plans, a show we’ve been watching, something we might be struggling with and would love advice on, etc]

  • What I Wore Recap of the Week [think old school IG Roundup style]

  • Sale Alerts and Discount Code Reminders

  • Exclusive LTK Roundup: I’ll recap the posts that have been shared exclusively in the LTK app

  • Content You Can Expect For the Week Ahead

  • Q&A IDEA … let me know what you think: I was thinking of how we can bring more of you all into these weekly newsletters and build community outside of the paid subscription. We all have stuff we need help with, right? What if you use the comment section to leave a question you need help with [relationship advice, restaurant recs for your upcoming trip to NYC, etc] and you’d love the newsletter community to weigh in on. Each week, I’ll pick one question from the comments [from the week before] and then gals can weigh in to provide their help and support. Then, the following week, I’ll include both the question that was asked and the answers y’all gave and the cycle continues each week. Here, I’ll break it down like this, as well, if it’s easier. This is how we’ll get it started —

    • WEEK ONE: You leave your questions in the comments at the end of the newsletter.

    • WEEK TWO: I’ll include ONE question in the newsletter that one of our gals needs help with and you all provide your help & support if you can. You can also leave a question to be considered for the next weeks’ newsletter question.

    • WEEK THREE: I’ll reshare the question and include the answers that were shared so that you can search my Substack in the future if you need to refer back to the question for the answers. Then, I’ll provide this weeks’ question for you to respond to in the comments OR you can leave a question for me to choose from to use in the next weeks’ newsletter.

    What do you think?

  • This is not an exhaustive list … I’m open to suggestions but I also just kind of let inspiration take me where it wants when I put these together so it includes all of this but it isn’t limited to only this, if that makes sense!

• Access to leave a comment at the end of the ‘See You Sunday’ newsletter as a way to connect with me and your fellow newsletter community members!

PAID

• MY ETERNAL GRATITUDE for helping to bring me back to life by supporting content I love to invest my time in! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

• Monthly Lookbook & Personalized Style Q&A: Beautifully curated and shoppable lookbook comprised of 25 outfits based on your personal style requests PLUS answering 5 of your personal style questions

• Monthly Astro Update + Ask Alyson Haley Q&A: Answering questions you send in on IG stories PLUS providing a monthly astrology report in either long-form or video format

• Heart Talks: These will be more personal posts catching you up on more personal aspects of my life that I only want my besties in on, instead of the whole of the internet. At least one a month.

• Detailed Travel Posts: Sharing in-depth travel posts like trip outlines or travel recommendations for a particular destination. At least one a month. If not, then there will be two heart talks or vice versa.

• This is not an exhaustive list. I have so many other ideas like cooking videos with John or doing smaller Q&A podcasts with special guests, etc. You let me know what would be fun for you as an investor in my content!

• Access to and the ability to start new threads in the community chat! Hey girl heyyy, can’t wait to see you in there! I think it’s going to be so fun!

Alright, there we go!

Whew, speaking of long-form content! That took forever to get on ‘paper’. But this is what I miss. I miss sharing so openly and keeping you guys up to date on all of my feelings. You know I wear all of the emotions on my sleeve but I truly just haven’t had a second to get a lot of them out to you lately. There’s so much more to come: about Fish, the move and our house, the baby / pregnancy, my word of the year and my overall feelings about what this year is going to hold for us all, etc.

I hope you know that I am endlessly grateful for your support, regardless of how you subscribe to this space. I appreciate you endlessly and I look forward to the ways in which we thrive and get to know each other here.

As always, thanks for being here! x

Haley