GNT #153: Where reach actually comes from

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A few weeks ago, I was skimming my inbox and almost missed a reply to my newsletter.

It was short.

“I forwarded this to a friend this morning."
"She texted me back and said,
‘This is exactly what I needed today.’”

That was the whole message.

I didn’t get a huge spike in subscribers. There was no obvious signal that anything had changed.

And I should say this:

I pay close attention to numbers. I care about ROI and I track what works.

I reread the message a few times, and we had a nice exchange followed by an intro chat to get to know each other better.

The message landed in my inbox on one of those days where you wonder in the back of your brain if your work is actually reaching anyone.

That message didn’t show up anywhere in my analytics.

But it reminded me of something that's very easy to forget.

→ This is what reach usually looks like.

Sometimes it's not loud or trackable. Just one person deciding something mattered enough to pass along.

And when enough of those moments stack up over time, that’s what real scale is actually built on.

In today’s newsletter, I want to unpack:

• where reach actually comes from
• how scale works underneath the surface
• what to focus on if you want your ideas to travel farther and last longer.

Let's get to it.
 

Most conversations about reach start in the wrong place

They start with channels. Or tactics. Or frequency.

Post more. Repurpose. Be everywhere.

But reach doesn’t actually begin there.

It begins much earlier, with something simpler and harder to fake:

Being understood.

If someone can’t explain what you’re about in their own words, your ideas won’t spread. If they don’t trust your perspective, they won’t risk sharing it. And if nothing sticks, reach resets every time.

That’s why a lot of “growth” feels busy but it's fragile. There’s activity, but no memory. There's visibility, but no pull-through.

Scale doesn’t fix that. It exposes it.

Scale is not the thing that creates clarity. Scale is the thing that multiplies whatever clarity already exists.

When your message is fuzzy, scale spreads confusion faster. And when your ideas are grounded, scale compounds that trust.

That’s the difference.

So if reach feels hard right now, it’s usually not because you’re under-posting. It’s because the signal isn’t strong enough yet.

The practical shift is this:

→ Instead of asking: How do I get this in front of more people?

→ Ask: What would make this easier to understand? What would make it more memorable? What would make someone feel confident passing this along?

Those questions will not limit your reach. They prepare for reach.

Takeaway

If there was one idea I'd want you to walk away with today, it's this:

→ Real reach doesn’t come from shouting louder. It comes from doing the kind of work that other people want to carry for you.

That’s where reach actually comes from.

I'm always rooting for you. See you next week.

-Colleen

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