A 48-Hour Growth Experiment

Stop broadcasting. Start participating. Here is what happens when you focus on value over volume.

Look, I’m going to be honest with you.

VengaDragon Magazine is my baby. My other projects? They’re on cruise control. This is where I’m pouring everything right now, and I’m treating it like the real business it is.

But here’s the thing that’s been gnawing at me: the growth advice in this space is exhausting. Everyone’s shouting the same mantras: ”Engage, engage, engage!” and “Go find your tribe!”, but nobody’s actually proving it works. I was tired of the echo chamber. I needed to know: does genuine engagement actually move the needle, or are we all just rearranging deck chairs?

So I did what any slightly obsessive person would do: I ran an experiment.

The Setup: Simple, But Not Easy

My hypothesis was straightforward: Stop broadcasting into the void and start actually participating. If I did that, the growth would follow.

The parameters:

• Duration: 48 hours (Friday through Sunday)

• Action: Leave 5 meaningful comments per day on other publications

• Rules: No “Great post!” garbage. No sneaky self-promo links. Just genuine value.

Here’s what made it work: I treated it like a sprint, not a marathon. Friday at 5 PM, I sat down and knocked out my engagement in about 25 minutes. Read, commented, moved on. Then I went back to filming YouTube videos and writing.

Because here’s the truth, documenting this experiment doesn’t mean my life stops. We can walk and chew gum.

The goal wasn’t to live on Substack. It was to make my time there count.

The Numbers (Because We’re All Curious)

I started with 27 subscribers and 248 followers. After 48 hours of just doing the Rule of 5:

• Subscribers: 34 (+7, a 26% increase)

• Followers: 274 (+26, a 10% increase)

• Note Engagement: My video note pulled 8 Likes and 1 Restack, my best performance yet

A 26% jump in subscribers over one weekend? That’s not noise. That’s signal. But honestly, the numbers only tell half the story.

What Actually Happened (The Part Nobody Talks About)

The real surprise wasn’t watching the subscriber count tick up. It was how different it felt.

When I started leaving genuine comments, my phone started buzzing. And for the first time, those notifications didn’t feel like vanity metrics, they felt like proof that people were actually listening. I wasn’t shouting into a void anymore.

I filtered out the growth hackers and found the real builders. Here’s what I learned:

1. Big Substackers Don’t Ignore Value I interacted with Karo (Product with Attitude) who has over 10,000 subscribers. Instead of pitching myself, I offered a real observation on their work. They didn’t just scroll past, they followed back and replied.

The lesson? High-level creators ignore spam all day long. But they engage with insight.

2. Your Archive Comes Back to Life RainbowRoxy (830+ subscribers) noticed me in the feed and didn’t just read my current note. They went back through my archive and commented on an older post about stream quality. Thanks Rainbow Roxy

This is the part people miss: engagement is a signpost that points back to everything you’ve already created. Your old work starts working for you again.

3. Networking Becomes Actual Conversation I stopped “commenting” and started conversing.

Keegan and I had a real back-and-forth. He subscribed. I restacked his work because I genuinely enjoyed it. AI.Mirror left me a comment that completely shifted how I think about AI tools. I came to encourage them; I left with a new perspective.

This wasn’t transactional networking. It was an exchange of energy. I validated them, they inspired me, and we both walked away better for it.

The Real Shift: R&D, Not Promotion

Here’s the mental reframe that changed everything: engaging with other creators isn’t marketing. It’s research and development.

When I read Malaika R. Simmons note about the “Power of One Reader,” I didn’t just drop a comment, I gained a lens that shifted how I think about community building. When people reacted to my video note, I learned what content actually resonates.

The process became a learning experience, not just a promotional tactic.

The Verdict

The Rule of 5 works. Plain and simple.

You don’t need to spam DMs. You don’t need to follow/unfollow like it’s 2015 Instagram. You just need to show up, be a good neighbor, and offer real value.

Malaika was right: don’t underestimate the power of one reader. That’s where real community starts. Focus on depth, and the growth follows naturally. When you truly help one person, you create value that attracts everyone else.

So here’s my challenge to you: try it. Five meaningful comments a day. Give it 48 hours. See what happens.

And then come back and tell me about it.

Venga!

P.S. As I was typing the final draft of this article, literally moments after writing about how “Cold DMs” are a waste of time, I received this DM.

No context. No value. Just a demand for my attention.

Don’t be a “Hello.” Be a “Rule of 5.”