KEY TAKEAWAYS
- ✓Start writing on platforms that already have an audience. Sinem and Philip built their credibility on Medium before launching their own products.
- ✓Packaging your journey into a framework is more valuable than just sharing tips. Their structured approach to writing and monetization is what people pay for.
- ✓Couples who co-found need clear role division. Sinem focused on content and community while Philip handled systems and operations.
Hello! Who are you and what are you working on?
Sinem Günel started writing on Medium in 2018 as a university student in Austria. She had no audience, no writing credentials, and no particular plan to turn writing into a business. She was studying and writing articles about personal development, productivity, and self-improvement — topics that resonated with Medium's massive reader base. The early months were humbling. Her first articles earned a few dollars in Medium's Partner Program, which pays writers based on reading time from paying Medium members.
But Sinem had a quality that separates successful online writers from the millions who quit after a few posts: she was relentless about consistency. She published multiple articles per week, studied what performed well, analyzed the patterns in Medium's algorithm, and steadily improved her craft. Within a year, she was earning meaningful income from Medium — not life-changing money, but enough to prove that online writing could be more than a hobby.
Philip Hofmacher entered the picture as both Sinem's partner in life and eventually in business. Philip brought a complementary skill set: he was systems-oriented, technically capable, and had a mind for building processes that could scale. While Sinem was the prolific content creator, Philip was the architect who thought about how to turn content creation into a repeatable business.
Together, they started documenting their journey. How did they grow on Medium? What strategies worked for getting articles distributed? How did they go from earning cents to earning thousands? This documentation became content itself — articles, social media posts, and eventually courses about the craft and business of online writing.
The transition from Medium to Substack was a pivotal strategic decision. Medium's algorithm-dependent model meant that writers were always at the mercy of the platform. A change in the algorithm could slash traffic overnight. Substack offered something fundamentally different: direct subscriber relationships. When someone subscribed to a Substack newsletter, that writer owned the relationship. No algorithm sat between the writer and their reader. Sinem and Philip recognized early that this ownership was the foundation of a sustainable business.
They launched Write Build Scale as an education brand focused on helping writers build profitable newsletters on Substack. The curriculum drew directly from their own experience — how to find a niche, how to grow a subscriber base, how to convert free subscribers to paid, how to create digital products that complement a newsletter, and how to build a writing habit that produces consistent output without burnout.
The business model layered multiple revenue streams. There were digital courses that students could purchase and work through at their own pace. There were coaching programs where Sinem and Philip worked directly with writers on their strategy. There were community memberships that provided ongoing support and accountability. And their own Substack newsletter served as both a marketing channel and a revenue source through paid subscriptions.
Growth came from practicing what they preached. Every piece of content Sinem and Philip published — on Substack, on social media, on YouTube — served double duty as both valuable content for their audience and a demonstration of the principles they taught. When they showed their subscriber growth numbers, revenue milestones, and strategic decisions in real time, it built credibility that no amount of theoretical teaching could match.
The audience resonated particularly with aspiring writers who felt overwhelmed by the noise of the creator economy. Sinem and Philip's messaging was grounded and practical. They didn't promise overnight riches or viral fame. They taught a methodical approach: write consistently, serve your readers, build an email list, and monetize through a ladder of products that increases in value and price. The framework was accessible enough for beginners but structured enough to produce real results.
Revenue grew steadily as their audience expanded. From earning $500 per month on Medium in 2019, they crossed $10,000 per month by mid-2021, then $25,000 per month by 2022, and eventually reached $50,000 per month through their combined education products and newsletter income. The growth trajectory was a direct reflection of their growing authority in the Substack and newsletter ecosystem.
Their biggest mistake was spending too long on Medium before building their own platform. The years of writing exclusively on Medium built valuable skills and some income, but it also meant they were building on rented land. When they finally shifted focus to Substack and their own products, the growth accelerated dramatically. They wished they had started building an email list and their own courses at least a year earlier instead of being dependent on Medium's algorithm for distribution and revenue.
The couple dynamic proved to be an advantage in a space where most creators operate solo. Sinem handled the public-facing content creation, community building, and coaching. Philip built the systems — email automations, course platforms, analytics dashboards, and operational workflows. This division of labor meant the business could operate more efficiently than a solo creator while maintaining the personal, human feel that audiences expect from creator-educators.
By their late twenties, Sinem and Philip had built a business that earned more than most professionals twice their age, operated from anywhere with an internet connection, and helped thousands of writers start generating income from their craft. The Write Build Scale brand stood as proof of its own thesis: that consistent writing, strategic platform choices, and methodical audience building could produce a genuinely profitable business.