What happens when two Australian creators get together on New Year’s Day to talk about Substack? Coffee, controversy, and some surprisingly useful insights.
Today on New Years Day, I had the pleasure of hosting my first Substack livestream with Mike Searles, a fellow Aussie who’s been turning his writing into actual income through short problem-solving PDFs. We shot the breeze for over an hour, and if you missed it, here are all the highlights of what us couple of Larrikins got up to.
The Monetisation Debate (Or: Why We’re Not Starving Artists)
Mike didn’t hold back when discussing the “Substack should be pure for writers” crowd. His take? If you’re not interested in people reading your work or making money from it, write in a notebook and put yourself to bed with it.
Strong words, but there’s truth there. Substack is a platform built for writers who want to be read AND compensated for their work. Money pays bills, love doesn’t cover rent, as Mike aptly put it. The misquoted Bible verse came up: it’s not “money is the root of all evil,” but rather “the love of money” that causes problems.
Monetising your writing isn’t selling out. It’s called being a professional. Also, Substack needs to keep the lights on, yeah?
The Retirement Identity Crisis Nobody Talks About
We took an unexpected detour into mental health and retirement territory, no doubt, most Substack posts avoid. Mike shared his journey from 10 years as a copywriter to retirement, heart surgery, and the sadness that comes when your career identity vanishes overnight.
Here’s what struck me: we Australians (and most Westerners) don’t say “I do copywriting.” We say, “I am a copywriter.” Our careers become our identity. When retirement hits, that identity evaporates, and there’s almost no support for the transition.
If you’re approaching retirement or know someone who is, this conversation matters. The mental health resources for retirees are virtually non-existent, and we need to talk about it more.
Substack Notes: The Underrated Growth Engine
We both agreed: Substack Notes is brilliant—and vastly underappreciated.
Think of Notes as Twitter from 10 years ago, before it became whatever it is now. It’s where you:
Build community (I’ve had 150+ DM conversations in 4 months—more than I ever experienced in 13 years on Twitter)
Generate direct sales (world’s shortest funnel: idea → link → sale)
Get discovered by fellow Substackers who become subscribers
Build relationships with those in your field and your peers.
Mike posts multiple Notes daily. Why? Because Notes is like standing beside a highway, waving a promotion sign to grab attention. From Notes come followers. From followers come subscribers. From subscribers come sales.
The Wisdom Economy vs. The Content Economy
Mike introduced a concept that’s reshaping how we think about writing online: the wisdom economy.
Content is facts, figures, and knowledge that anyone- including AI- can produce. Wisdom is personal experience, lived reality, and hard-won insights that only you can share.
AI can write content. It can’t write your story.
We’re entering an era where experience matters more than information. This is especially true for Gen Xers and Boomers (I often refer to them as “greypreneurs”) who have decades of wisdom to share. A 30-year-old life coach hasn’t lived the life a 60-year-old has that’s not judgment, it’s mathematics.
Google Loves Substack (And That Matters)
Here’s something practical: Mike published a post, and it appeared in Google search results 59 minutes later. Not days. Not weeks. Under an hour.
Why? Google considers Substack an authoritative platform and indexes it aggressively. Your audience won’t just come from other Substackers; they’ll find you through search engines.
Check your stats. You’ll see visitors from Google, Bing, and Yahoo, even if you’re not actively doing SEO.
PDFs as a Business Model
Mike’s been quietly building a business selling short problem-solving PDFs on Gumroad, promoted through Substack. His first PDF was written, formatted, and published in one day and sold within an hour.
His positioning statement? “Short problem-solving PDFs.”
Simple. Clear. Repeatable.
If you’re curious about his approach, visit pdfs.me (yes, that’s his actual link). Don’t feel pressured to buy, just look at how he structures his offers. There’s a lesson in that simplicity.
Bonus tip from Mike: Upload your PDF to Google’s Notebook LM (free for everyone) or through Google Workspace if you have a biz account, and it’ll generate a podcast-style overview with two AI hosts discussing your content. It’s shockingly good and makes for compelling sales page audio.
Final Thoughts
This conversation reminded me why I’m on Substack. It’s not just a publishing platform, it’s a place where real people share real experiences, build genuine community, and yes, make money doing work that matters to them.
If you want the unfiltered version of building on Substack, not the polished guru advice, stick around. Mike and I will likely do this again, and next time, who knows where the conversation will go.
Find out more about Mike and his PDF empire here — > https://substack.com/@mikesearles
Happy New Year from 2026, Jason
P.S. For those still in 2025, we’ll see you when you catch up. The future’s looking good from where we’re standing.
