Sparkle on Substack

(Live) Running a multi-million dollar subscription service online and making waves that change lives on/ from the internet.

(Members - don’t forget - Get it DONE (on Substack) Weeks - by Claire Venus 💫 is happening live this week and our welcome sequences membership class is tomorrow) Are memberships dead? Ai is making us all redundant! Do we all have subscription fatigue now? Are paid subs the first thing to be cut from budgets? I don’t know about you but I feel like people want to constantly rain on our parade just as we’re gearing up to throw more sparkle.Don’t listen! Guess what love - the internet has WOKEN up - we have digital migrants and natives all in this mix here on Substack and beyond - if you you want to build something it’s not too late and you have time.If you feel called to create, thank goodness because creativity is an infinite resource. If you feel called to share your voice - thank you because I need to stand with other strong spirits as we navigate this next chapter and model new ways of working and dismantling systems for our kids together.I LOVED this live chat with my mentor Leonie Dawson - she is always so generous with her time (and clear with her boundaries) which is why she’s been able to deliver subscriptions programmes for 10+ years - wild!“I’ve been able to create a membership that doesn’t feel like it’s another thing for me to mother. It’s something that is there and nurtures me and supports me and has been able to hold me through some of the most challenging times of my life.” — Leonie, on designing her business around flexibility and her own wellbeing as a neurodivergent person.That’s sustainability for you right there!! Leonie’s Academy Closes again in just a few days and we’re all starting the million dollar memberships programme together next week - come join us over there? (*) I wrote a whole post about how much I’ve learnt from Leonie Dawson in the last five years and why I think everyone should be in the academy. You can read it here…Ai summary - thanks Claude Leonie shares her origin story selling art online from 2002, launching her first e-course in 2008, and eventually creating a membership model that now has around 3,000 members, 80% annual retention, and generates roughly a million dollars a year all while working roughly 10 hours a week.The conversation covers pricing strategy (she’s moved her membership from $99 to $495 and back to $99 again), how to tune out internet doom and gloom about AI, subscriptions being “dead,” and trust recessions. A recurring theme is the importance of building something sustainable that doesn’t “brutalize your spirit” — including taking four months off and structuring the business so she doesn’t have to answer every DM. “If you want the basic b***h result, AI is for you. But if you want extraordinary results, you need to learn from people like the ways that they’ve been able to create those outsized results.” — Leonie, on why AI won’t kill well-run e-courses built on genuine expertise.Thank you Sally Ekus, Kate Harvey, mary beth kaplan🪶, Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, Colleen | 3rd Act Field Notes, and many others for tuning into my live video with Leonie Dawson! Join me for my next live video in the app. (*) aff link. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe

(Live) Substack Welcome emails and our 'get it done week' challenge...

More here folks - This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe

(Live) Substack 0-£10k class preview

Come to class - https://www.creativelyconscious.co.uk/substack-0-10k-live-masterclass-and-replay?coupon=SPARKLERS This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe

(Live) Biohacking - what you need to know for wellbeing online

Thank you Christina Bieber Lake, RAJ KAUR, mary beth kaplan🪶, Jennifer Zarin, LCAT, Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, and many others for tuning into my live video with Emilia Ferreira! Join me for my next live video in the app.“Biohacking is the art of controlling your biology — and you are the mastermind. You can control your environment from inside and outside, but that needs to be an individual journey. We have so much more control than we think we have. Right now I am 41, about to be 42, and my biological age is 25. The reason why I say that is because I don’t do too much and that still has a huge impact.” - Emilia, on the power of simple, consistent biohacking This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe

(Live) Notes from a founder

Thank you Rebecca Mack ☕, Julie Schmidt, Abigail Thomas, and many others for tuning into my live video with Vicki Willden-Lebrecht! Join me for my next live video in the app.Ai Summary - thanks ClaudeHere’s a summary of the conversation, which is a Substack live chat between a host and Vicky Wilder-Librett, founder of the Bright Agency (founded 2003), a literary and illustration agency with offices in London and New York.Why Vicky joined SubstackVicky’s decision grew from a December reflection exercise she does annually — looking back at trends and forward to the year ahead. She posted on Instagram asking: if she were setting up Bright today, could she do it the same way? Her concern was that she built the agency entirely through in-person relationships — book fairs, conferences, launches — and wondered whether that was possible in an increasingly digital world.“If you had relationships, you could take a relationship online. Fine, no problem. If you didn’t have a relationship with someone, could you make a relationship online?”Substack felt like a natural answer — a place to recreate those conversations.“It’s almost like this is the conference, this is the party, this is where we need to go.”Who the Bright Substack is forVicky sees it as broader than just illustrators and authors — it’s for anyone wanting to understand or work in the creative industry.“I don’t think creativity is about drawing. I think creativity is about the way we think and the way we problem solve.”She’s keen for the content to be responsive rather than pre-planned, mirroring how she networked in person: “You wouldn’t trot in with your ‘I’m going to talk about these things to people’... I would just be talking to people about what they’re interested in.”The National Year of ReadingVicky welcomed the government’s backing but was candid that it’s both exciting and alarming that such a campaign is even necessary.“It’s a really scary time in publishing that the decline in reading, the fact that it is so needed.”She was dyslexic and had ADHD, and credits her mother’s advice — “if you’re interested in something, read around the subject” — as formative. She’s passionate about physical books specifically for brain development:“A book just allows the brain to rest, but still absorb... We are not robots yet. We have souls and heartbeats and brain rhythms.”On World Book Day, she was gently critical: “From working in publishing, I get slightly irritated that it becomes fancy dress day.”Bright’s approach to licensing and growthVicky was clear that licensing at Bright isn’t about merchandise — it’s about audience building and discoverability.“Licensing for us is not about putting it on a lunchbox and a tea towel. It’s really not what we’re about at all. What we’re about is growing the readership.”She explained that children now discover books through films, stage shows, and events rather than libraries or bookshops — and that licensing is how you meet them where they are. Even Netflix, she noted, wants pre-built audiences.Vicky’s personal Substack: Notes from a Creative FounderHer own Substack is about the messy reality of building a creative business — not a polished success story, but the journey, mistakes, and recovery.“It came from making loads of mistakes. And it was about how you bounce back from them and how you grew from them... accepting that no one’s life is perfectly going to plan.”She said she’s never felt ready to share her story before, but now feels the time is right:“I feel in a place where I’m happy to share my war wounds.”Her goal is to help others trust their instincts: “If they don’t believe in themselves, no one else is going to come knocking on their door and say, ‘Hey, you know that idea you’ve been thinking about — share it.’”Subscribe to Vicki Willden-Lebrecht hereand to The Bright Agency here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sparkleon.substack.com/subscribe