why I'm so proud of my 'orange tick'

3 ways I've done it 'my way' since joining Substack 18 months ago

A few weeks ago Substack awarded me with an ‘orange tick’ after my name. This means that I now have more that 100 people who have paid to subscribe to my membership. It was a moment of great pride for me, for a number of reasons. Validation of what I joined Substack to do, achievement of a goal I’d set myself, a stepping stone along the path towards my writing goals and intentions here.

The day I got the orange tick I received a tile from Substack, encouraging me to share it with my followers. And part of me really wanted to do that straight away – I was genuinely thrilled. But I also held back, partly because of a sense of ‘showing off’ that I was uncomfortable with (my baggage I think), but also more importantly because I wanted to sit with the achievement for a little while before sharing it with you all. I wanted to sit with why this felt like a milestone for me.

I’ve had a few weeks to mull it over, and so now let me share my thoughts on what has worked for me since joining Substack, three ways this milestone has felt really important to me, and why my joining has marked a truly different way of doing things in my working and creative life.