This Obvious Mistake Stops You From Growing on Substack
Stop creating AT your audience, and start creating FOR your audience.
AI can write a thousand words in just a few seconds.
It can publish a blog post before you finish your morning coffee.
So why would anyone subscribe to YOUR publication?
This is the question every creator needs to answer in 2026. Because if you can’t answer it, you’re going to keep publishing into the void, wondering why nobody’s paying attention.
Here’s what most people do…
They sit down, open a blank page, and publish whatever comes to mind. Whatever they feel like sharing that day.
And then they hope someone subscribes.
This is creating content AT your audience. And it’s the single biggest mistake I see on Substack.
The creators who actually grow? They do something completely different. They create FOR their audience. And that one shift changes everything.
In this article, I’m going to break down exactly what this means, why it matters more now than ever, and give you a framework to make sure every single thing you publish actually resonates with the people you’re trying to reach.
Let’s get into it.
The AI Reality
We are living through the biggest shift in content creation that’s ever happened.
AI can generate endless amounts of text. Perfectly grammatical. Well-structured. Technically correct.
And this has fundamentally changed the value of content.
If anyone can produce a thousand words on any topic in seconds, then the words themselves have become worthless. The information has become worthless. Generic advice has become worthless.
What still has value? YOU.
Your perspective. Your experience. Your understanding of a specific person’s specific problems.
AI cannot replicate that. It doesn’t have your lived experience.
Here’s where we see the split happening:
Some creators are using AI to produce more content faster. They’re flooding their publications with posts, thinking volume is the answer.
Other creators understand that AI changes the game completely. They’re not trying to out-produce the machines. They’re trying to out-connect them.
AI is an incredibly powerful tool. I use it all the time for all kinds of tasks. But it’s only useful if you know exactly what you’re trying to say and who you’re trying to say it to.
Without that clarity, AI just helps you produce mediocre content faster.
WITH that clarity, AI helps you articulate your ideas more effectively, research more efficiently, and edit more thoroughly.
The tool isn’t the problem. The problem is that most people don’t know who they’re creating for.
Creating At Your Audience vs. Creating For Your Audience
Let me make this concrete. When you create AT people, you’re having a conversation with yourself. You’re sharing your thoughts. Exploring your ideas. Processing your own experience.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Journaling is valuable. But it’s not going to grow your publication.
Because when you create AT people, you’re not thinking about the person on the other end of the screen. You’re not asking what THEY need. You’re not considering what problem THEY’RE trying to solve.
Creating FOR people is completely different.
When you create for someone, they’re at the center of everything. Before you publish a single word, you’re thinking about them. What are they struggling with? What do they need to hear right now?
You’re not asking, “What do I want to say?”
You’re asking, “What does my reader need?”
That shift changes everything. Your content becomes relevant. Useful. Something they actually want to consume rather than scroll past.
Here’s the irony. When you create FOR people, your content actually becomes MORE personal, not less.
Because you’re forced to dig into your own experience to find the parts that are relevant to your reader. You’re pulling out specific stories, specific lessons that connect to what they’re going through.
Creating FOR people requires you to curate, select, and shape your experience into something that serves someone else.
That’s harder. But it’s what makes your content valuable.
The Framework
So how do you actually do this? Here’s a simple framework that has worked for me since I started.
Step 1: Pick Your One Person
You need to know exactly who you’re creating for. Not a demographic. Not an “audience.” One specific person.
When I started, I created for my younger self. The version of me stuck in a corporate job, dreaming of building something online, completely overwhelmed by all the advice out there.
I didn’t do this because some marketing guru told me to. I did it because it was the only way I could actually create. I knew exactly what that person needed because I had been that person.
Your one person might be your younger self. A past client. A friend going through something you’ve already navigated. A specific reader who sends you messages.
But you need to picture them clearly. Their situation. Their frustrations. Their hopes.
Step 2: Know Their Current Struggle
Once you know who your person is, understand what’s keeping them stuck right now.
Not their general goals. Their immediate obstacle.
What are they googling at 11 pm? What keeps them up at night?
When I create for my younger self, I know exactly what she was struggling with. Information overload. Imposter syndrome. The fear of putting herself out there. The confusion about where to start.
Your reader has specific struggles. Your job is to address them directly.
Step 3: Create What You Wish Someone Had Told You
You know your person. You know their struggle. Now create the thing you wish someone had told you when you were in that position.
Not generic advice. The actual insight that would have changed things for you.
This is where your unique value comes from. Nobody else has your exact experience. Nobody else has walked your exact path.
When you create from this place, your content becomes impossible to replicate. AI can’t do it. Other creators can’t do it. It’s uniquely yours.
Step 4: Test It
Here’s how you know if you’re creating FOR your reader instead of AT them.
Ask yourself: Would they screenshot this and send it to a friend? Would they save this? Would they pay for more?
If the answer is no, you haven’t gone deep enough. If the answer is yes, you’ve found something real.
What This Looks Like In Practice
Let me show you what this actually looks like in practice, because I think a lot of creators understand this concept intellectually but struggle to apply it.
Example 1: The Generic Post
Let’s say you want to create content about productivity.
Creating AT your audience looks like: “Here are 10 productivity tips that will change your life.” You list some tips you’ve read somewhere, maybe add a personal anecdote, hit publish.
This is what 99% of creators do. And it’s why 99% of creators don’t grow.
Creating FOR your audience looks completely different. You think about your one person. Maybe she’s a freelancer with two kids who’s trying to build a side business in the margins of her day. She doesn’t need 10 generic tips. She needs to know how to protect two focused hours in the morning before the chaos starts.
Same topic. Completely different approach. One gets scrolled past. One gets saved and shared.
Example 2: Turning Your Experience Into Value
I started writing online and building my audience while working a full-time job, starting my first business, and finishing my studies.
That’s not just my story, but it’s a strategic asset.
Because when I create content about how to get started, I’m not sharing theory. I actually know what it’s like to squeeze in some writing during lunch breaks. To feel exhausted at night but force yourself to publish anyway. To wonder if any of this is actually going to work.
That lived experience, filtered through the lens of “what does my reader need,” turns into content that hits differently.
Your experiences aren’t just stories. They’re proof that you understand what your reader is going through.
Example 3: The Specificity Test
Here’s a quick test you can run on any piece of content before you publish.
Read it back and ask: Could this have been created by someone who has never met my ideal reader?
If the answer is yes, it’s too generic. Go deeper.
Could AI have generated this without any of my specific experiences or insights?
If the answer is yes, you haven’t added enough of yourself. Go deeper.
The goal is to create something that could ONLY come from you, FOR the specific person you’re trying to serve.
The Compound Effect
When you create FOR your reader consistently, something happens.
They start to trust you. Not just your information, but you as a person. Because they can feel that you understand them.
And that trust compounds.
They open your emails. They share your work with friends in the same situation. They upgrade to paid.
You’re not just building an audience. You’re building relationships. And relationships are what turn free subscribers into paying ones.
In a world flooded with generic AI-generated content, the creators who deeply understand their readers and create specifically for them will stand out more than ever.
The bar for content has been lowered. Anyone can produce words.
But the bar for connection? That’s as high as it’s ever been.
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