I Went Live on Substack 3 Times in May. Here’s What I Learned Before, During, and After.
You do not need to be more polished to go live on Substack.
You need to be more prepared.
When tech breaks, your audio disappears, your phone dies, and your co-host has to suddenly grab the wheel, your audience is not just watching your content.
They are watching your leadership.
That is what hit me after going live on Substack three times in less than three weeks.
Three lives.
Three successes.
Three snafus.
That combination taught me more than a perfectly smooth live ever could have.
If you are a podcaster, coach, consultant, or service provider using Substack to build trust and grow your business, going live can become one of the fastest ways to let people experience you in real time.
Not the edited version.
Not the carefully rehearsed version.
You.
That is powerful.
But only if you know how to handle the live before, during, and after it happens.
In this week’s episode of The Substack Podcast Studio, I’m breaking down what I’ve learned from going live with Jodi Silverman, Kristen Dronchi, and Dagmar Khan, and what you need most before you schedule your next Substack Live.
Keep Reading for the biggest takeaways (and what you can do to be successful with your own lives).
Let’s get into it.
1. If you wing the live, the live will expose you.
I do not recommend riffing your way through a live.
Can you riff in parts? Sure.
Should the whole thing rest on your ability to “just show up and talk”? No.
That is how people end up rambling, losing the thread, stepping on each other, forgetting the CTA, or smiling through a tech mess while the audience checks out (and doesn’t come back).
A strong live needs the same thing a strong podcast episode needs: A clear audience win and a clear business win.
Before I go live, I want to know:
Who is hosting and who is co-hosting
How long the live will be
What the audience will walk away with
The dual CTAs for each co-host
That conversation needs to happen one to two weeks before the live.
Why?
Because that creates your hype window.
And if you are not using that window to build expectation, you are making the live much harder than it needs to be.
People need a reason to show up.
They need a reason to care. (WIIFM 📻)*
They need a reason to watch the replay if they miss it live.
Substack gives you assets to help with this, which is great. But the platform cannot do your thinking for you.
You still need to decide what this live is doing.
*WIIFM📻 - What’s in it for me?
2. During the live, somebody needs to lead.
This is where a lot of people get casual in the worst possible way.
They assume, “Oh, it’s just a conversation.”
No. It is a live conversation with an audience.
That means somebody needs to know:
Who is opening
Who is introducing the topic
Who is watching the time clock
Who is picking things up if tech goes sideways
Who is closing with the CTAs and the final wrap up
Because when something does go wrong, and eventually it will, you do not want both people freezing up and wigging out.
You do not want both people apologizing.
And you definitely do not want both people trying to steer at the same time.
You want one person calmly taking the wheel.
That is what trust looks like in real time.
I saw this up close during my live with Dagmar Khan.
We were talking about how podcasts can help clients feel seen, heard, valued, and cared for. Then the tech started acting up. My audio failed on my computer. I jumped on my phone. Then my phone died.
Not ideal.
Because we had a plan, Dagmar lead the room without panic. She stayed steady. The audience stayed with us. In fact, all 11 attendees stayed on through the full live. That’s almost unheard of!
That matters.
It tells me the trust was there.
It tells me the topic mattered.
And it tells me the framework worked.
3. The live is not over when the room closes.
This is the part too many people waste.
They go live.
They finish the conversation.
They move on.
No.
If you are going to spend the time preparing for a live, promoting a live, and showing up for a live, then that live needs to keep working after it ends.
That means:
pulling out ideas for future Notes
restacking Notes related to the live
turning the live into a podcast episode
reflecting on what worked and what you would change next time
This is where lives become more than a one-time visibility play.
This is where Substack lives start compounding.
4. Be careful about sharing the live link itself.
Here is why I am changing how I handle this.
When the main host leaves the live, that live link can die.
So, if all your promo points people to that one specific link, you have a problem.
What I recommend instead is simple:
Send people to your main Substack and tell them to subscribe so they get notified when you go live.
That is the better long-term move anyway.
It brings them back to your home base instead of pushing all your traffic toward a temporary room.
5. The hidden benefits of going live on Substack.
There is also a layer here that people do not talk about enough.
Going live is not just about visibility.
It helps you:
Build your network
Every live opens relational doors. You get to borrow trust, share audiences, and deepen connection with people already serving similar readers and listeners.
Get on other people’s stages
This is one of the smartest ways to grow a business. You do not always need more content. Sometimes you need more proximity.
Learn how to co-host well
And let me tell you, that is a real skill.
You do not need to be funny.
You do not need to be flashy.
But you do need timing.
And timing comes from listening.
The hosts who make this look easy are doing a lot more than talking. They are paying attention. They are reading the moment. They are hearing what needs to happen next.
5. One more thing.
I’ll leave you with this.
Just because Substack lets you go live often does not mean your audience wants endless notifications.
Some creators go live four or five times a week. More power to them.
But you need to know your audience.
You need to know what helps them stay connected and what makes them tune out.
More is not always better.
More can become noise.
Your job is not to flood people. Your job is to help them take the next step.
Want the full breakdown?
In this week’s episode of The Substack Podcast Studio, I walk through:
what to decide before you schedule the live
how to handle the live when tech gets messy
what to do after the live so it keeps creating traction
why going live can sharpen your message and deepen trust faster than polished content alone
If you have been avoiding Substack Lives, this episode will stir things up a bit so you can decide how lives could help grow your impact and your income.
And if you have already tried them and felt like they were clunky, messy, or harder than expected, you are not doing it wrong.
You may just need a better plan.
Listen to the full episode here.
If you’re not yet subscribed, become a free subscriber at thevirtualpodcastschool.com/substack.
Been going live on Substack, tell me: What has surprised you most?
Message me!
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If you are launching a podcast on Substack, this will help you make stronger decisions before you build bad habits.
If you already have a podcast, it will help you see why the show may not be creating the kind of momentum or monetization you expected.
In this week’s episode of The Substack Podcast Studio, I go deeper into these five patterns and share what I found from reviewing those five podcasts on Substack.
If you want your podcast to build trust, attract the right people, and support your business without burning you out, this episode will help.
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