Why I Created a Health and Wellness Network on Substack & How I Will Support It
Welcome to the new ILLUMINATION Health and Wellness network for healthcare professionals, business people, and health enthusiasts!
As some of my readers still couldn’t transition to the Substack app and website, I published a copy of my message on Medium.
Grab your 50% discount to Health and Wellness Network until 30 June 2025
Dear friends, Happy February! I hope this post finds you in good health. January 2025 was an interesting month for me. Receiving many personal and caring messages from writers and readers meant a lot to me and caused a new realization.
It meant a lot to me personally because my absence from writing on Medium was noticed in around three weeks. It means a lot professionally, as there is a gap that I can fill now, which I will cover in this post.
In 2024, I had an epiphany with the support of my wise mentors, who showed me a blind spot in myself. Unknowingly, I was unknowingly addicted to Medium and put all my efforts and precious time into it to support and help grow our community. It has worked well for the last 5 years, but suddenly, something unexpected and unpleasant happened, and I couldn’t pinpoint the reasons.
Instead of wasting my time down the rabbit hole and delegating the difficult task to people smarter than me in such an investigation, I focused my energy on building a community on Substack. It was an eye-opener.
At a high level, while my personal and professional performance dropped 95% on Medium, it increased by 600% on Substack. I established five prominent publications, mainly supporting freelance writers. It worked well and helped hundreds of writers to start a new journey.
While my once cherished EUPHORIA on Medium was put into distribution jail, my original and innovative health content, reaching millions on other platforms, helped my online profile be recognized in the top 5 global thought leaders and influencers in health and wellness, assessed independently by the Thinkers360 network in December 2024.
My book Substack Mastery, read by over 100K freelancers, became a knowledge source. It was not a masterpiece, but it did a quick job as a jumpstart; therefore, despite sharing 90% of its content for free, it still became a best seller in its category. So, I am grateful and satisfied with that win. I also wrote an advanced Substack version for freelancers, published on 1 January 2025, and 47 chapters are available in the Content Marketing Strategy Insights for members.
However, I did another experiment in my area of expertise. As a health enthusiast, researcher, consultant in the healthcare industry, and a strategic networker, I have created a personal publication called Health and Wellness. 3,000+ subscribers joined the journey quickly. Most of them were healthcare professionals like researchers, scientists, and medical practitioners.
167 of them contacted me personally and wanted to become a partner. Although this number is still small for a global reach, it gave me confidence. Most volunteered to become founding members, inspiring me to create a new network, as I did in 2020 when I joined this platform.
So, welcome to the ILLUMINATION Health & Wellness Network.
I invite all healthcare professionals, business people with a health focus, writers, and readers interested in health and well-being topics.
This professional network in a unique ecosystem will extend beyond a personal Substack publication into a collaborative hub for healthcare professionals, business leaders, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.
As the owner and chief editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications on Substack and Medium, integrating Medium with Substack and Patreon created a synergistic effect. I have spent five years since I retired from the corporate world to build a thriving community.
Starting with only around 100 high achievers in 2020, the network reached over 37,000 freelance writers and 300,000+ readers by the end of 2024. With the planned integration of my first brainchild from the 1990s (the ILLUMINATION Connect network), which reached 700,000+ subscribers, this new initiative will be part of the growing my second brainchild digitalmehmet content ecosystem in 2026 upon successful completion of the Substack Mastery Boost Pilot.
We aim to create a new educational and marketing service that will allow us to curate and distribute high-quality health and wellness content across multiple platforms, ensuring it reaches those who need it most. If you are a writer in health and wellness, you can make a difference.
Health and wellness are not only for professionals. Everyone needs them, so this project excites me because it will help countless people. Currently, the US healthcare system is very challenging. Half of the population is unwell and struggles with multiple chronic diseases. This is only one example.
In many countries, type II diabetes and other cardiometabolic disorders skyrocketed. For example, over two billion people live with fatty liver disease, which is preventable and reversible, yet so many people suffer from it, and untreated conditions lead to more serious issues like heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and even cancers.
As my focus is on holistic health, I will help Western medicine integrate with Eastern healing approaches. The body and mind are inseparable. While Western medicine made significant progress in addressing bodily issues, it failed to address the mind and spirit. Therefore, we can leverage well-established Eastern systems, which I see as ancient wisdom. We need to focus on both physical and mental health.
Apart from personal and 17 public publications on Medium and Substack, I also opened my website to guest bloggers in September 2024, and I noticed that many writers were interested in contributing. I invited them to share their Substack newsletters, Medium stories, and professional insights as guest contributors. This creates a bridge between different publishing platforms while elevating the reach and impact of expert content through search engines.
Why I Built This Health and Wellness Network
Having spent decades as an advanced researcher in the healthcare industry, as well as personally overcoming a dozen severe health conditions, including abdominal obesity, in my younger years, I have seen firsthand the devastating consequences of neglecting health in pursuit of wealth and success.
Many high-achieving professionals, leaders, and entrepreneurs who amassed financial success found themselves struggling with preventable health conditions. Their wealth ultimately meant nothing or little when their well-being deteriorated.
This realization was a turning point for me. My background as a postdoctoral researcher in cognitive science and emerging technologies, and extensive collaborations with eminent scientists and healthcare professionals, reinforced the need for a dedicated space to translate scientific knowledge into practical, accessible insights for the public.
Originally, I designed the Health and Wellness publication on Substack to share my hard-earned lessons and rigorous research in an understandable and actionable manner, as I did with EUPHORIA on Medium. However, as the initiative evolved, it became clear that this was not just my story to tell. It was a unique and empowering space for a global network of experts and professionals.
Expanding the Network for Synergy
Recognizing the power of interdisciplinary collaboration, I invited over 3,000 health professionals to join this network, contributing their expertise and building peer-to-peer learning in 2024. Now, I am expanding this initiative ten times more to over 30,000 members, further to include:
Freelancers, startups, and business leaders who want to optimize their well-being while managing the demands of modern work.
Professionals across different industries who want to integrate health and wellness services and products into their leadership and decision-making strategies.
Individuals from all walks of life who recognize the importance of health and wellness in achieving personal and professional success for a healthier and happier life.
Most of our content will remain free to the public, ensuring accessibility to all. However, to sustain the initiative and provide premium resources, we offer additional networking services and expert content for paid members.
A Universal Network for Health, Education, and Community Building
The ILLUMINATION Health & Wellness Network is not just for writers. It is for everyone looking to integrate health, knowledge, and professional development into their lives. Our platform will serve three goals:
Resource for education, offering insights into well-being, business growth, and lifestyle optimization.
Community-driven space, curating discussions, collaborations, and networking opportunities across industries.
Marketing and business development tool, helping professionals connect with their target audience while prioritizing personal health.
Unlike platforms where authentic content is penalized due to flawed engagement algorithms, this network embraces expert-driven, human-curated content that prioritizes depth, accuracy, and meaningful interactions.
How I Will Support and Sustain This Network
As the leader of this expanding health and wellness ecosystem, my role extends beyond publishing. I will act as a catalyst for community building and growth, ensuring the network remains vibrant, engaging, and beneficial to all members. This includes:
Curating high-quality guest contributions from leading healthcare professionals, health researchers, and medical practitioners.
Interviewing prominent professionals and introducing them to our community to create networking opportunities
Providing mentorship and coaching to support health and wellness professionals in amplifying their impact.
Facilitating meaningful discussions through comments, chats, and exclusive community events.
Leveraging data-driven content strategies to refine engagement and maximize the reach of valuable health insights from contributors.
Business and Philanthropy: A Sustainable Model for Freelance Writers and Entrepreneurs
My long journey in business and philanthropy has shown that long-term sustainability requires a balance between altruism and sound business principles. The ILLUMINATION Health & Wellness Network is designed to function like a vision and mission-driven enterprise that supports professionals while ensuring financial sustainability.
I firmly believe that freelance writers and content entrepreneurs should not have to choose between passion and financial stability.
By creating a commercial arm within our network, we can provide opportunities for professionals to earn while making a meaningful impact.
Drawing insights from my experience establishing a charity organization for content creators, I recognize that the financial independence of such networks ensures their long-term viability.
Our long-term approach to sustaining this network will include:
Offering low-cost paid education and marketing services to professionals or freelancers who want to expand their audience and monetization strategies.
Providing sustainable funding for the network through strategic partnerships and memberships instead of relying solely on donations.
Building a network of like-minded professionals who can share expertise, services, and opportunities for mutual growth.
Encouraging knowledge-sharing and business-oriented collaboration to help professionals move toward financial self-sufficiency.
I will document details in a handful of ways during the Substack Mastery Boost Piot and share them with the community in 2026.
Paid Subscription Benefits for ILLUMINATION Health & Wellness Network
For those looking for an enhanced experience, our paid membership will offer exclusive benefits, including:
Premium Content: Featured articles, summaries of cutting-edge health research, and access to select book chapters.
Expert-Led Monitored Chat Groups: Direct engagement with health scientists and medical professionals. Members will also be able to create their own personlized chats groups in the network.
Weekly Newsletters: Curated content distilled from expert insights and scientific literature with case studies from the industry.
Professional Exposure: The opportunity to introduce products, services, and expertise to a large Health & Wellness network across multiple platforms without censorship.
Access to Censored Health Research: Exclusive insights and discussions on emerging health topics that are difficult to find elsewhere. I am experienced and comfortable dealing with controversial topics that will be mainstream in the next decades.
Substack Mastery Boost Pilot (For Writers): Advanced strategies to amplify their writing reach and monetization on Substack.
Founding Member Privileges include exclusive coaching, mentoring, and full access to Tier 3 services of the Substack Mastery Boost Pilot.
I provided a special founding membership as a mega deal to Content Marketing Strategy Insights, and 53 people took advantage. The offer for that service was closed yesterday, but I am opening a new offer for the LUMINATION Health & Wellness Network. So, any basic membership joining by the end of February will be upgraded to Founding Membership. After that, it will be the usual price $500 and $3000 in 2026 when we start global service offerings.
In addition to 16 generic publications, our main Medium publication to support this initiative on Medium is the Health and Science publication led by
, who updated his guidelines yesterday and shared a free copy of it on our Substack publication.We will make Health and Science a curated collection for our Medium writers by adding more editors and curators to amplify high-quality stories and curate exceptional ones on Substack for our subscribers. Every ethical writer is welcome to join it.
My Vision for the Future
The ILLUMINATION Health & Wellness Network is more than just a publication now. It is a movement dedicated to reshaping how we approach health, well-being, and professional success.
Through scientific rigor, community-driven collaboration, and business acumen, I will continue to expand this initiative, ensuring it remains an invaluable resource for millions of professionals worldwide.
If you share this vision, I invite you to engage, contribute, and support this initiative through participation, collaboration, or by becoming a paid subscriber to gain listed benefits. I invite you to join for free, and if our services don’t resonate, you may unsubscribe with just one click. Our health and well-being are the most important assets in life.
ILLUMINATION Health and Wellness is not in the top 100 Substack. In fact, it is #70 out of thousands of newsletters on Substack, with over 33,000 subscribers.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
Congratulations to Health and Wellness Network for being a bestselling publication announced by Substack in March. Many thanks to all contributors.
I shared my strategy in a recent story:
How My 2 Publications Became Substack Bestsellers in 8 Months Without Even Aiming for It
I will send Medium-related monthly updates in another post soon. They are not as exciting as the Substack ones. Thank you for joining me on Substack.
This is a dream come true for me, Dr Yildiz. It is hard to survive in the healthcare industry without a network. All successful people are part of large networks and they are picky and very costly. You offer a free service and premium for a low cost. I am delighted to be part of this community as a retired mental health advocate. I look forward to meeting others and will support your network also through my personal publication, Thoughtful Therapist. Thank you for educating and inviting me to Substack and Medium.
Thank you for leading us. As a retired healthcare professional I am fully committed to the success of this unique network.