5 Things That Could Make You Quit Substack
Why a bottleneck can mean life or death for a writer
One of the most unfortunate things that can happen to a writer is quitting right before their next breakthrough.
A bottleneck can either do this, or delay you for months, wasting time and energy, two of the most important resources we humans have.
That’s why learning the bottlenecks in your journey isn’t just a productivity “hack.”
It’s essential.
If there is one thing that I hoped someone told me during the start of my journey,
It is this a 100%.
Because one of those bottlenecks nearly got me, and if it had, I wouldn’t be here writing this today.
So let’s get into it.
Part 1: What Are Bottlenecks — And Why Learning Them Matter
A bottleneck is a point that slows down or limits progress.
Most of the time these are things that we should be doing to get us to the next level but we avoid them hence you can be writing every day but your progress is still painfully slow.
You’re like a hamster on its wheel running, running, running… not getting anywhere.
When you could just step off.
And boy spend too long stuck, and it’ll drain your energy and motivation fast. Then what?
That’s right. You quit.
On the contrary, if you are aware of what’s blocking you or might block you, you move seamlessly with direction and confidence. Not that it won’t be hard, it’s just you will be more efficient.
Name the problem, and half of it is already solved.
My goal is to highlight some of the most common bottlenecks so you can identify them more quickly, conserve your energy, and overcome them before they hinder your progress or worse, deplete you.
This is why Substack is survival of the fittest, not because there’s no room enough for all of us, but because only those who learn, adapt, and keep moving make it long enough to grow.
That’s why so many successful writers say:
“The only game is the long game.”
So if you’re feeling stuck, you’re not broken.
You’re just at a bottleneck.Let’s help you figure out which one.
The bottlenecks I’ll talk about here aren’t necessarily things you’ll experience in the exact order I present them, and you might not go through every single one. However, I’ve arranged them in the order they most commonly appear in the creative journey.
1. The Bottleneck of Starting
Your Substack journey as a writer starts the moment you decide whether to publish or not.
Yes, it starts thereth at’s your entryway, your biggest jump: 0 to 1. But sadly, it’s where many of us get delayed the longest. I spent four years in that bottleneck, myself. Longest in any bottleneck in my case.
Publishing that first post feels scary.
But without that step, everything else is impossible.
This bottleneck could look like getting ready to write… then postponing it because
You’re “not ready yet.”
You’re still busy.
You’ve got other goals.
Maybe Substack isn’t the right platform.
There are too many people here already. It’s too noisy.
Maybe you should try something else.
You just don’t feel like you have anything worth saying.
You still need more confidence
Stop.
The answer to all of those is simple: starting.
Being ready, knowing if it’s the right platform, knowing if this is a workable goal and refining all comes through practice and experiment.
This is what a bottleneck looks like. The thing that we refuse to do is the actual thing that would help us move forward. In this case, all the questions and doubts would be settled by starting.
Until you start, there’s nothing to improve.
2. The Bottleneck of Information
Substack has its quirks: Notes, Subscriber Chat, Recommendations, Crossposting and so on ...
You publish high-substance articles, but you wonder why nobody is reading it. So next time, you make it a little bit better, then publish, then study your article again and publish. But nothing changes.
Eventually, you start to wonder if you’re just not cut out for this.
“I’m not good enough.”
“Maybe this just isn’t for me.”
“They lied writing consistently doesn’t work.”
“Maybe it’s too late. I started too late. Might as well quit.”
“Nobody cares about what I’m writing anyway.”
Blah blah blah...
This is the trap many beginners fall into.
They assume they’re not getting attention because their writing isn’t good enough, or because nobody cares about their topic. There are billions of people in the world, and there will be people wanting to read just about anything.
Most of the time, the issue isn’t the substance of your work. It’s a lack of information in navigating the platform, A lack of visibility. A lack of strategy.
Substack has its rhythm. Its own culture. It’s mechanics.
If you don’t learn how to position yourself, your work might stay invisible, no matter how good it is.
The answer, once again, is something most people in this situation just avoid doing.
They don’t spend time learning Substack.
They’re so focused on writing that they don’t spend time on the platform itself.
They stay behind their screens, don’t observe, and refuse to acknowledge that there’s a learning curve they have to pay upfront. And until they accept that, their progress will stay painfully slow.
I spent about 2-3 months in this stage as well.
Because, at first, I thought I’d be better off using the time I’d “waste” scrolling through the platform’s little corners to just improve my writing until it finally got better.
Wrong.
It turned out to be the opposite. Once I learned how to use the platform, my work got better in a fraction of the time. I got faster feedback because people were seeing it, and give me so much feedback, plus I was finally able to use Substack’s features to highlight the strength of my articles.
If you want to save time and improve fast in writing and using the main types of content, join the waitlist for my upcoming guide, releasing next Monday!
It’s packed with clear principles, visual examples, exercises, and frameworks to give you a head start on implementing and experimenting right away.
Only a limited number of spots are available, and those who join the waitlist will get exclusive discounts plus 30-day email support.
Join the waitlist in by clicking the button!
You can see the breakdown of the contents below if you wanna check it out first!🔥🔥🔥
Understanding how Substack works is essential to seeing real engagement and growth.
3. The Bottleneck of Implementation
Now, this happens as a counterpart or even the next part of the previous bottleneck.
The curse of knowledge (or whatever, I just want to make it dramatic).
Once we start, we suddenly become aware of just how much we don’t know, so we go on a quest to: ✨learn everything✨.
Once we figure out that the thing holding us back earlier was a lack of information, we get geared toward the idea that information and learning are the answers to continuous growth.
So we stay in our comfort zones… learning.
This is why the most common traps for beginners is over-optimization.
Trying to learn everything at once
The result?
A spiral of overthinking, burnout, and decision fatigue.
Too many things to plan.
Too many things to do.
Too many things to worry about
Too many decisions to make.
Most of which are still far ahead of where you are right now, things you don’t actually need yet.
Plus, there’s only so much we can do at once and most of the time, learning won’t stick if we just rush through it. It needs time to sink in and real experience to make it stick.
You’ll be drained just from thinking alone.
But since this is a bottleneck again, most of the time, we don’t know we are in it.
In our brains, we think we’re doing something for our goals, but that often gets out of hand. It turns into procrastination, cleverly disguised as productivity.
There’s nothing wrong with learning or doing research.
It’s valuable when it’s intentional and conscious.
But most of us are missing the fact that we only need a few key skills to start making real progress.
Here’s a great article about this:
You learn more by creating than consuming.
It’s the reflex you build by doing something over and over through the countless iterations that come with creating. That’s also where confidence grows.
This journey is deeply personal. Yes, the struggles may look similar, but only you truly know what your specific problem is. We each have a unique set of circumstances, a unique audience, and everything in between. Having a solid understanding of the basics and the ability to execute is already enough.
And naturally, only you can create the exact solution. But that only happens when you’re actually doing not just thinking, planning, or consuming.
Here’s a great resource a podcast that dives deeper into the importance of just doing:
That’s the goal of The Guide to Mastering Substack Content, releasing next Monday.
Even though I could stitch everything together into one big guide, I’ve broken it into clear, focused parts—so you can take it step by step.
No overwhelm, and you can immediately implement what you learned from basic principles using the frameworks to help guide you and experiment the right way to get to the next level.
Put something out.
Get feedback.
Tweak.
Do it again.
That’s how you grow.
You don’t need to learn everything perfectly — you need to apply what you already know.
4. The Bottleneck of Consistency
The first part is learning. The second is taking action. The third is taking action over and over again.
This is where it turns into a battle of Endurance.
Even with the right knowledge and tools, showing up regularly is hard.
Because this part isn’t just about creativity anymore it touches more on your intrapersonal ability to manage your time, energy, discipline, and most importantly, to build systems that make showing up easier for you.
There are two common ways things can fall apart here:
You’re inconsistent and haven’t found a rhythm.
One week, you write once.
Next week, you will write twice.
Then you write four times.
Then… back to once.
There’s no momentum. It’s hard for readers to follow you, and it’s hard for you to feel any real progress.Your rhythm doesn’t suit you and it leads to burnout.
You push yourself to consistently write 4x a week in a month.
Then disappear for two.
Then you come back again and try to “catch up.”
This kind of stop-start cycle spreads your effort too far apart to build real traction.This happens because you’ve chosen an unsustainable rhythm, one that doesn’t suit you.
In both cases, your results show up slower than they should, and we tend to blame things like the algorithm, timing, or external circumstances.
Then we decide to take a break because it’s “not working.
And yes, because it’s a bottleneck, a classic one, we might be avoiding it by denying it altogether, or simply not be aware that it’s the issue.
We end up focusing on other things that don’t solve the one biggest thing holding us back to get to the next level, our rhythm and consistency
I was only able to admit this to myself this May:
I wasn’t being strict with my publishing rhythm because I kept denying that it really had much of an effect.
But I was very wrong.
Sticking to a rhythm doesn’t just build external momentum, like consistent exposure and algorithmic favor that compounds your visibility.
Because I stayed consistent in May, the results finally showed up in June.
Numbers over-all are also way better.
It also builds internal momentum for the creative side of you—the writer.
Since I committed to my rhythm, I’ve been having better creative ideas, and I finally feel like I’m in flow. Honestly, I’ve also come to understand myself better as a writer—less confusion, more clarity, and more decisive action.
This was one of the most recent bottlenecks I overcame, and it had stalled me for a good two months, maybe more. I just still won’t admit it.
The frustrating part is that I kept trying to tweak every little thing except my rhythm.
I had started to accept that maybe things were just slow now. I even considered taking a break, which could’ve easily turned into a few more months of pause, or worse, quitting altogether because I felt like I had plateaued. I wasn’t seeing results anymore.
That’s the danger of these invisible selection processes.
So ask yourself honestly:
How consistent are you, really, in showing up?
If you know what works, you have a strategy, you’ve already learned a lot but still feel like results aren’t coming fast enough… or if you’re exhausted, feeling like your effort isn’t paying off…
It’s probably not your strategy.
It’s your rhythm.
One way to get into your rhythm is by setting accountability measures, both internal and external.
For me, I used my Subscriber Chat as a way to create that external accountability. It gave me a reason to show up regularly, and in the process, I also got to encourage my subscribers through our threads.
Your audience, even if not consciously, can sense your inconsistency.
And they won’t invest deeply in you if you’re not consistently investing in them.
Because consistency builds trust.
And trust is what leads to long-term growth, not viral moments or random bursts of energy.
Consistency compounds. The writers who last are the ones who win.
5. The Bottleneck of Self-Sustenance
Let’s be real, writing or creating content takes time. A lot of time.
It takes effort. Energy. And those things? They’re very, very expensive.
No amount of money can buy them back.So if you’re writing seriously and want to keep going long-term,
At some point, your Substack should ideally support itself.
But here’s where a lot of writers get stuck:
Monetizing feels weird. It feels scammy. Or selfish. Or premature.
Especially if you're like me, someone who's gotten used to giving everything away for free.
When we talk about monetization, it can feel like a sticky goo splashed into your soul.
Like you're becoming some opportunistic parasite.
And because of that, you start telling yourself stories like:
“Nobody will buy.”
“Now’s not the right time.”
“I should grow more first.”
“I don’t have time to build a paid tier.”
“It’s too much hassle.”
“What if I start hating my craft once I monetize it?”
These thoughts are loud. And real.
But think about it this way:
If your writing genuinely helps people, then monetizing it isn’t selfish, because it allows you to keep showing up, it allows you you continue offering value more than you can with your free stuff.
And this also helps you stay in the game without burning out.
Because the time, energy, and resources you pour into your writing have to come from somewhere often at the cost of other important areas of your life.
But, don’t get me wrong, if you truly don’t want to monetize, that’s fine.
There is no shame in choosing not to.
But if you do want to…
There’s no shame in that either.
Monetization isn’t selling out it’s staying in.
It’s how you sustain the work that matters most to you and to your readers.
How to Get Unstuck
If you've seen the pattern, then you already know the antidote for being Substuck is simple:
Identify why you're stuck.
Admit it.
Then focus your energy on that.
That’s how you get to your next level.
I’ve given you the first step.
Now it’s your turn.
Here’s a simple trick that’s helped me every time:
Ask yourself:
“What’s the one thing I’ve been putting off even though I know it matters?”
That’s probably your current bottleneck.
And naming it is the beginning of breaking through it.
Final Words from the Author
Growth on Substack isn’t linear; it’s a series of bottlenecks.
But once you know which one you’re in, you can stop spinning your wheels.
Pick your next step.
Focus only on that.
And then move forward one bottleneck at a time.
☕ Found my work helpful?
Feel free to buy me a coffee every bit of support helps fuel the hours (and caffeine!) that go into creating these resources. Nonetheless, I appreciate you being here.
Thank you so much for taking your time to read It means a lot!🧡
- Frey.
🎉 Launching Soon: The Premium Handbook for Substack Writers!
The first part of my new MASTERING SUBSTACK series is here—focused on the #1 skill every writer needs: The Matsery of the Main Content forms in Substack
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There’s no shortcut to success—but this is your shortcut to learning. 🔥
📚 Summary of Contents:
✍️ Part 1: Mastering the Substack Article
✅What makes an article valuable + how to write with purpose
✅Craft click-worthy titles (roles, tips, examples)
✅Maximize your sumtitles
✅Keep readers engaged till the end
✅Use every Substack editing tool effectively (headings, buttons, paywalls, images, etc.)
✅The ultimate article checklist to build with confidence
🗒️ Part 2: Mastering Substack Notes
✅ How are Notes so Powerful
✅ 3 core goals of powerful Notes
✅MASTER FRAMEWORK — Theme × Structure × Principle
✅Use Substack’s Note tools efficiently
✅ Keep ideas flowing consistently
✅Know when to post Notes and why it matters
💬 Part 3: Mastering Subscriber Chat
✅Why Chat is valuable + what it helps you develop as a Writer and How does it help the Readers: Principles you can build on for your own strategy
✅Subscriber Chat Strategy Framework (access, support, community, daily content, offers, etc.)
✅How to plan weekly Chat sessions that align with your goals
Up Next: 2 Things You Need to Be a Writer
Yes, being a writer is simple
But, in no way easy.
See you there.
HAPPY WRITING!😊