How to Know What to Sell on Substack in 1 Day (Even With 50 Subscribers)

The exact process I use with my private clients to find their high-ticket offer, even at 50 subscribers.

Heads up: this is a longer article for people who are serious about making a living from what they know, not just collecting subscribers. If that’s you, grab a coffee and a Google Doc. You’ll need both.

“I have a Substack. I know my stuff. But what do I actually sell?”

That’s the question.

Maybe you have 50 subscribers. Maybe 500. Maybe you don’t even have a Substack yet, just years of experience in something and a feeling that it should be worth money.

And every time you sit down to figure out your offer, you end up in the same place.

A blank page. Ten ideas. Zero confidence in any of them.

It took me almost 2 years to figure this out, with no support.

“I’ll write an ebook! That’s how you make money on Substack!”

That was me back then.

My publication was about productivity and consistency. I had around 500 subscribers, and I thought: okay, people read me for productivity, so I’ll sell them a productivity ebook.

It took me 2 whole months to write it.

Two months. You imagine?

The night before publishing, I was honestly stressed. Checking everything again, rewriting the sales part, wondering if anyone would care.

Then I launched it.

1 sale.

And I felt two things at the same time. Happy, because someone actually paid me for something I made. And sad, because 2 months of work for 1 sale out of 500 people didn’t feel like a business.

It was a win. But it wasn’t a system I could repeat.

And that’s the problem I want to solve with you today.

So today I want to give you the process I wish I had back then. It’s the same one I go through with my private clients, step by step, with the exact messages and prompts.

Let’s jump into it.

The short version of the article:

• Your offer isn’t in your head. It’s in the problems your readers and other creators’ readers keep repeating.
• Collect them, research what the market already pays for, and turn the most painful one into a high-ticket offer.
• Test it with one person this week, before you build anything.

Why Can’t You Figure Out What to Sell?

Here’s what most people do.

They open a doc, think really hard about what they’re good at, and try to invent an offer from that. Then they build it. An ebook, a template pack, a $9 guide. Two months of work.

Then they launch it.

And nobody buys.

(Or worse, two people buy, and one of them is their mom. Thanks, Mom.)

Here’s the problem with that approach. You’re trying to find the offer inside your own head, when the answer is sitting in other people’s words.

And the math is brutal too. A $10 product means you need 100 buyers to make $1,000. If 5% of the people who see it buy, that’s 2,000 people who need to see it.

At 200 subscribers, that’s not happening.

But one person paying $997 to solve a real problem? That’s one conversation.

That’s why I always say: sell to 1, not 100.

So here’s the central idea we’ll stick with:

You don’t invent your offer. You find it in the problems people keep repeating.

Your audience is already telling you what to sell. Every DM, every comment, every complaint under someone else’s Note. You just haven’t been writing it down.

What Is the Substack Freedom Code?

The Substack Freedom Code is the full system I teach my private clients. It goes like this:

FOUNDATION → RELATIONSHIPS → MONETIZATION

This article is the part most people skip. It’s the bridge between knowing who you help and having something they’ll actually pay for.

It comes down to 3 moves:

• Listen to your own people.
• Study the market (other creators and their audiences).
• Turn the repeated problems into one high-ticket offer you can test this week.

Then I’ll show you how that research becomes something you reuse everywhere, and how to package your offer so it’s easier to deliver than hourly coaching.

“Okay William, sounds nice. But what do I do on a Tuesday afternoon?”

So let’s make it concrete.

Step 1: What Are Your Own People Already Telling You?

Before you look at anyone else, start with the people who already chose you.

Your subscribers. Your DMs. Your comments. Even 10 people is enough to start.

The goal is simple: find the friction. The thing that keeps coming back.

Not “I want to grow.” Everybody wants to grow. You’re looking for the specific, slightly annoying problem they mention without you asking.

Here’s how I do it.

Ask in the welcome DM.

If you’re not sending one yet, start today. When someone subscribes, send this:

“Hey, how are you? Thanks so much for subscribing, I’m genuinely excited to help you get to [outcome]. Most people who subscribe are stuck on one of three things: [1], [2] or [3]. Curious which one hits closest for you right now, or if it’s something else entirely :)”

Then a second message:

“Also, I’m Will by the way. Nice to actually meet you. Where are you writing from?”

The first message is your research. The second one makes it a real conversation.

Ask your current subscribers directly.

Don’t wait for new people. Send a short DM to your existing readers:

“Hey [Name], quick question. I’m working on something to help [audience] with [general goal]. What’s the one thing you’ve tried that still hasn’t worked for you?”

That last part is gold. “Tried but still hasn’t worked” tells you two things at once: they care enough to act, and the market hasn’t solved it for them yet.

Go back through your old DMs and comments.

Scroll back. Read everything people sent you in the last few months. You’ll be surprised how many times the same thing shows up.

Now open a Google Doc and call it Friction List.

Every time someone says something, write their exact words. Not your summary. Their words.

For example, if you write about getting back into sport, you might see:

“I want to start exercising again, but every time I try, my knees hurt and I stop after two weeks.”

“I don’t have time to train with my job.”

“I start strong and quit after a month.”

Three different sentences. One pattern: they can’t stay consistent without hurting themselves or burning out.

(I’m testing this exact process right now on a new badminton Substack I’m building from scratch. Want the results? Read till the end ;) )

You’re on track if: you have at least 10 real quotes in your Friction List and you can see 2 or 3 problems coming back.

Step 2: What Is the Market Asking That Nobody Answers?

Now we go outside your own little world.

I call this spying, but honestly it’s just paying attention to what’s already in front of you on Substack. That’s what makes this platform so good for research: people write what they care about in public.

Find 5 creators in your niche.

Use the search bar. Type keywords around your topic, not just your exact niche. If you help people with fitness after 40, search “back to fitness”, “joint pain training”, “exercise after 40”, and see who comes up.

Pick 5 creators who have real engagement. Not just subscribers, comments.

Go read their comment sections.

This is the part nobody does.

Don’t just read their posts. Read what people answer under them. Read the comments under their Notes. Look for:

• Questions with no reply from the creator.
• “Yes, but how do I…” comments.
• People sharing their own struggle in long comments.
• The same question asked under 3 different posts.

Those are the unanswered questions. The demand nobody is serving.

For example, in my own niche you could see a creator post “5 ways to grow your Substack” and under it, someone writes: “This is great, but how do I actually make money with 200 subscribers?”

No reply.

That’s an offer waiting to happen.

Check what they sell.

For each creator, write down: who they target, what problem they promise to solve, their offer, their price, their CTA. Check their website too.

You’re not doing this to copy them. You’re looking for the gap. What do they all do the same? What are their readers asking that they don’t cover?

Add a second section to your doc: Unanswered List.

You’re on track if: you have 5 creators broken down and at least 5 unanswered questions written in the reader’s exact words.

Step 3: Which Problem Is Worth Solving?

Now you have a lot of signals. Too many, maybe.

Here’s where most people pick the problem they like the most. Don’t.

Pick the problem that hurts the most.

A real high-impact problem usually checks 4 boxes:

• It comes back again and again (you saw it in both lists).
• It costs them something right now: money, time, health, confidence.
• They’ve already tried to fix it and failed.
• They want it fixed now, not “someday”.

Then define the outcome. This is what I call Zero State → Hero State.

Zero state is where they are now, at their worst. Hero state is the real result someone would pay for, in clear words.

And be specific. “More endurance” is not an outcome. Endurance for what? To play a full match without stopping? To run with their kids without their knees hurting?

Here’s a quick test I use with clients. Fill in this sentence:

“I help [who] go from [zero state] to [hero state] in [time], without [the thing they hate].”

Example: “I help busy adults go from quitting every workout plan after two weeks to training 3 times a week for 3 months, without knee pain or 2-hour sessions.”

If you can’t fill it in, go back to your lists. The words are there.