I Went Live to Talk About AI. The Real Lesson Was About Being Human.
Yesterday I jumped on a Substack Live with Michael Simmons. It was supposed to be about Claude Code, about AI, about the systems I’ve been building.
And it was about those things. But the thing that actually made it work had nothing to do with technology.
Robin G. from Solving Unwellness asked how to find her new subscribers to message them. Doug said hello from Jacksonville. Mark waved from Montana. Philippa shared that without AI, she couldn’t write at all because of her dyslexia.
People showed up. They chatted. They asked real questions. And that right there is the thing I keep learning over and over: the writers who grow on Substack are the ones who stop broadcasting and start connecting.
I’m an introvert. I’m shy. I kind of hate that I have to do this stuff. But it’s the single biggest thing that has helped me grow here. And I think it’s worth talking about, whether you use AI or not.
The four ways to actually connect on Substack
Most writers publish a post, share a Note, and wait. That’s broadcasting. It’s one direction. Here’s what works better.
1. Go Live (even if it terrifies you)
Substack Lives are still underused. Most writers haven’t done one. That’s exactly why they work so well right now.
You don’t need a presentation. You don’t need slides. Yesterday, Michael and I literally couldn’t figure out screen sharing for the first five minutes. We laughed about it. People loved it because it was real.
Start small. Go live for 15 minutes. Say you’re going to answer questions about your topic. Or just say hi and see who shows up. The bar is so low right now that just being there puts you ahead.
One thing I learned yesterday: screen sharing on Lives is a game changer. Michael shared his screen showing his AI setup running, I showed my Drift 🦦 landing page. It made the whole thing so much more tangible for people watching. Try it.
2. Use DMs like a human, not a marketer
When someone subscribes, send them a message. Not a template. An actual message. Ask them what brought them here. Ask what they’re working on.
Michael and I started talking through Substack messages. We realized we were both obsessed with AI and how it’s changing creative work. That turned into Cozora, our AI education community, which now has 30+ expert speakers lined up for an eight-hour summit on March 27th.
None of that happens if I just publish and wait.
3. Show up in community chats
If you have a community chat enabled, use it. Not to promote your posts. To actually be present.
I asked my community the other day what they thought about AI writing tools. The response was split 50/50. Some people said they’d never use AI for writing. Others said they desperately needed help with everything around the writing. Both sides were right. And that conversation directly shaped what I built next.
Your community chat is market research, connection, and content ideas all in one place. But only if you’re actually in there talking.
4. Connect with other writers (not just your readers)
This is the one most people skip. Find writers in your space. Read their stuff. Reply to their Notes with something real, not “great post.” Suggest a collab. Go on each other’s Lives.
Michael writes about mental models and education. I write about Substack growth and earning with your words. Different audiences, but overlapping curiosity. When we go live together, both communities show up. Both communities grow.
You don’t need to network. You need to be genuinely interested in what other people are building. The rest follows.
Now, the AI part (for those who are curious)
Here’s the thing I keep coming back to. All of this connecting, showing up, going live, sending DMs, being present in the chat. It takes time. A lot of it.
And you know what else takes time? Writing the SEO description. Coming up with email subject lines. Creating Notes to promote your article. Designing a header image. Formatting everything for publishing.
That’s the stuff that keeps you at your desk at 11pm instead of being in the chat talking to the people who actually read your work.
That’s why I built Drift 🦦. Not to replace the writing. Not to replace the creative process or your voice. But to handle everything around the writing so you can spend that time on the things that actually grow your newsletter: being human.
What Drift 🦦 actually does (real use cases)
I talk about Drift 🦦 a lot, but I realized I don’t always explain what it looks like in practice. So here’s what actual weeks look like with it:
The “I have an idea but no time” week. You sit down Monday morning with a topic in your head. You tell Drift 🦦 “I want to write about why most people quit freelancing in year one.” Ten minutes later, you have a full draft in your voice, SEO metadata, three email subject lines, five Notes ready to promote with, and a header image. You spend your time adding your personal stories and making it yours. You publish Tuesday instead of Thursday.
The “I need to promote but I’m drained” week. You already published your article. Now you need Notes to get eyeballs on it. You tell Drift to turn your article into promotional Notes. Five different angles, five different formats, all pulled from the most interesting parts of what you wrote. You post one right after publishing, one 24 hours later, and space out the rest. Done.
The “I want to batch a month of content” week. You have four topics. You run each one through Drift 🦦. By the end of the day, you have four complete article packages sitting in folders, ready for you to add your personal touch whenever you have time. Your month is planned.
The “I just want to write Notes this week” week. No article needed. You just want to stay visible. Tell Drift 🦦 a topic and it gives you five Notes using different viral formats. Post one a day. Stay in the conversation without spending hours crafting each one.
Every single one of these gives you hours back. Hours you can spend in the chat. On a Live. In someone’s DMs. On the work that actually builds your newsletter into something real.
What I learned from going live yesterday
The session was 38 minutes. A handful of people showed up. We fumbled with screen sharing. Michael’s mic didn’t work for the first minute.
And it was one of the most useful things I did all week. Because Philippa told me that AI helps her write despite her dyslexia. Because Yaraf asked how to join our summit. Because Monica asked a question about voice that made me think differently about how I explain Drift.
You can’t get that from publishing a post and waiting.
So here’s my challenge to you this week: do one thing that connects you to a real person on this platform. Go live for 10 minutes. Send a DM to a new subscriber. Reply to another writer’s Note with something genuine. Start a conversation in your community chat.
The writing gets people in the door. The connection is what makes them stay.
If you want to see what Drift looks like, here’s the page: drift-by-claudia.netlify.app. And if you’re a premium subscriber, I have a discount code for you which gives you $200 off. Just reply to this email and I’ll tell you more about the 1:1 setup call that comes with it.
