From Notes to Revenue
Why creators need a CRM that works like they do
I didn’t start out trying to build a business. Like many creators, I launched my Substack with a vague idea of what I wanted to write and little else.
As an engineer, I naturally built tools to solve my own problems. I wanted to know what content resonated, so I created a tool to analyze my posts and notes. Eventually, those tools became products I casually listed on Gumroad.
That’s when things started to shift.
In nine months, my newsletter grew from 20 to nearly 700 subscribers. I now have over 1,500 Substack followers and a profitable product on Gumroad—the Substack Notes Scheduler, launched in November 2024.
What began as a side project has become a real, sustainable solo business.
With growth comes complexity. I’m no longer just writing - managing launches, responding to feedback, analyzing what’s working, and shipping new tools.
That’s when I realized I needed better systems, not some corporate, bloated tools, but lightweight workflows that match how solo creators operate.
Understanding the customer journey
Growing on Substack is about more than just hitting “publish.” It’s about building relationships—one note, post, and conversation at a time.
You write. You publish. You engage with readers and fellow creators.
Some notes get dozens of likes and replies, and some get quietly bookmarked. But behind the surface metrics, there’s a deeper, more complex path: the customer journey.
What happens between someone reading a note and buying your product? Between hitting the "Subscribe" button and becoming a repeat customer?
I’ve been tracking these patterns, and while no two are exactly the same, they often rhyme.
Some people stumble upon a note, click through a few posts, and purchase the product within hours. Others lurk, observe, and only buy after a dozen touchpoints—when a trusted creator shares a recommendation or a third product version is released.
Some bought my Substack Scheduler tool's earliest, roughest version the day it launched. Others waited for testimonials, deeper documentation, and a clearer “why.”
These patterns taught me something: growth doesn't happen at the point of sale.
It happens across dozens of micro-moments—notes, posts, DMs, recommendations, and replies.
Why does this matter when you have traction
When you’re just starting, your job is to ship, learn, and get something out the door.
Getting traction changes the game. You’re not just experimenting anymore—you’re stewarding something already working.
I’ve studied solo entrepreneurs like
. The ones who grow sustainably master two skills:Running a business efficiently
Creating consistently valuable content
Doing both alone is hard. That’s why systems matter.
Some creators are natural builders—they love the creative process but dread operational tasks. Others love spreadsheets, systems, and processes—but struggle to stay in flow long enough to build a new offering.
That’s why I’ve started thinking differently.
Not a sales funnel but a feedback loop
I need a system not to micromanage every detail, but to map the customer journey.
A creator-first CRM should help you answer:
Which Notes drive subscribers?
Which posts convert readers to buyers?
How long is the average journey from first click to purchase?
A lightweight CRM system for creators could help me visualize this, not in an abstract marketing funnel, but in a human, actionable way.
Who’s interacting with my work? What are they responding to? Where should I double down?
This isn’t about surveillance or sales pipelines. It’s about understanding my audience to serve them better and grow with clarity.
Building with purpose
As an engineer, I love tinkering. I get excited about new technologies, frameworks, and clever problem-solving methods. But over time, I’ve learned something hard but essential: building products that solve real customer problems is a different challenge.
The biggest lesson? It’s not about the code. It’s about the context.
First, you have to identify the problem. Then you need to figure out whether it’s worth solving—and for whom. Finally, you must build a working solution that fits into someone’s real life, not just your elegant technical model.
The trap of building in isolation
This is a common trap for solo creators, especially technical ones. You get a spark of an idea, dive into code, ship a product, and then wonder why it didn’t land.
I’ve been there.
What I’ve found is that success comes from doing the opposite:
Talk to your audience early. Share rough drafts. Listen. Iterate.
When I built the Substack Notes Scheduler, it wasn’t fully formed on day one. It evolved based on what people asked for. Each update solved a real, specific problem. And every feature that hit the mark built more trust.
This cycle—feedback, iteration, delivery—creates loyal customers and fuels word-of-mouth growth. When people see you’re building with them, not for them, they want to spread the word.
But there's a problem...
Too much feedback, not enough structure
I currently keep feature requests in TODO.md files—one per project. It worked at first, but now I’ve got 10+ ideas in flight, and I’m losing track.
Who asked for that scheduling feature?
Was it a buyer or a lurker?
Did one person mention it, or five?
The more feedback I collect, the harder it is to connect the dots. And that’s where a creator-focused Customer Relationship Management system could make a real difference.
Imagine a CRM that connects conversations to creation
Imagine a system that helps you:
Track what readers are clicking on in your Substack notes and posts
Log feature requests tied to customer profiles or email addresses
See which emails led to product purchases and subscriptions
Spot patterns across notes, customer surveys, and purchase history
It doesn’t have to be fancy. Even a simple dashboard connecting audience signals to product features would help me prioritize and build smarter.
Patterns, not guesses, should drive product decisions.
A lean CRM isn’t just a way to stay organized—it’s a way to create with purpose, grounded in your audience's wants.
From chaos to clarity with systems that scale
As your audience and revenue grow, so does the operational complexity.
You’re no longer just publishing posts—managing content pipelines, launching products, responding to feature requests, and tracking what’s working (and what’s not).
For me, this started with scribbled Notes, an Obsidian kanban board, and TODO.md files scattered across projects. But as I added more tools, launched more products, and interacted with more readers, it became clear: I need a better system.
Not a bloated enterprise CRM. Just something lean enough to keep up with my creator brain—and powerful enough to give me clarity.
A lightweight system should help you answer questions like:
What products am I actively building, and what stage are they in?
Which Substack emails, notes, or posts are driving engagement or sales?
What’s the status of that launch plan I started two weeks ago?
Imagine being able to look at your dashboard and immediately see:
A product launch is in progress, tied to a specific email series
How did that launch impact sales or Substack open rates
Which audience segments clicked, bought, or replied
This kind of visibility helps you move faster, with more confidence, and fewer mental tabs open.
The lean tech stack that works
I’ve adopted a lean, clean, and scalable mindset to stay solo and scale sustainably.
For me, that means:
Substack for writing, publishing, and audience connection
Gumroad for digital product sales and distribution
A lightweight CRM layer to connect the dots
The key isn’t complexity. It’s integration.
A few simple automations—tagging buyers, segmenting subscribers, logging feature requests—can save hours of manual work.
And when your tools talk to each other, your business feels less like a juggling act and more like a system.
Run like a business, create like an artist
The right stack shouldn’t feel like overhead—it should feel like freedom.
It should clear space, not clutter it. It should make it easier to create, not more complicated to manage.
For me, the right system does three things:
It helps me quickly see what’s working and what’s worth improving
It turns scattered signals—clicks, comments, purchases—into clear product direction
And most importantly, it lets me stay in flow, creating with energy instead of drowning in admin
This isn’t some bloated corporate CRM.
It’s a lean, creator-first system built for clarity, momentum, and solo speed.
Not a weight to carry—but a force multiplier that helps you move faster, smarter, and with purpose.
The connected, clear, and creator-led vision
Picture this:
One dashboard that lets you trace the entire journey—from a note someone clicked on, to the moment they subscribed, to the product they eventually bought.
You can finally see:
Which ideas sparked curiosity and led to a connection
Which readers became customers, and what resonated with them
Which products are gaining traction and why they matter
That’s not just useful.
That’s transformative.
This is the future of the solo creator business:
A system that grows with you, without pulling you away from what you do best.
You don’t need to hire a team to scale. You need the right systems to stay focused, energized, and manage your business.
Stay solo. Build smarter. And let your system do the scaling.
How are you managing your business? What tools are you using?
Reading your posts always leaves me feeling calm and fully immersed. I really admire how clearly you lay out your ideas, development phases, and organized in Obsidian.
It was incredibly transparent (maybe even a little too transparent?), I could see exactly which products are gaining traction and which ones are demanding the most effort.
Really nice work!
As one of your customers, I would say that you have truly impressed me with how fast and well you respond to feedback.
I haven’t taken the leap to monetisation myself, and I’m just building up a base of freebies, but I already get a lot of feedback on my plugins and my templates, so I know how difficult it is to respond to comment so fast and how tiring bug fixing can be.
As a creator, I would say that I really appreciate when my audience stress tests my work in ways that I don’t really use it.