3 Lessons I’ve Learned on My Way to 500 Followers
Thank you!
Sunday, September 6th, 2020 was a weird day.
My girlfriend returned from abroad the day before, so right in the morning, she went to the hospital to get her mandatory Covid-19 test. Ten hours later we received a message with a negative result. Our immense joy was mixed with palpable relief.
How did we celebrate such awesome news?
Well, my girlfriend had to do the laundry from her trip but, overwhelmed with the emotions of a day, she didn’t close the washing machine. While she watched Netflix and I edited an article with a mix of downtempo music grooving in my headphones, the water was pouring out to the apartment.
Two of us were flooded with gratefulness after the test results, our apartment got flooded with actual water. My girl freaked out but I was chilled, we avoided the possible encounter with the global enemy number one. This put this disaster into perspective; it was nothing to be bothered about.
To complete the weirdness of the day, right after we dealt with the flood, I reached 500 followers on my Medium profile. I don’t often celebrate milestones, but the day’s weight finally fell on me. I inhaled the success, and thanked all of you! The notion of people dedicating their precious time to read and even comment my work still feels surreal. It is beautiful.
I treat this achievement as the start of a long-term relationship — with my readers, with this platform, with a community of writers.
Please, let me introduce you to three lessons, which I’ve learned during this rollercoaster ride.
My way is not your way
I published my first story on February 29, 2020. There was symbolism in this act — I leaped into the unknown and started blogging on the Leap Day of 2020.
Actually, I was too eager and self-published it a couple of minutes before midnight. After years of postponing my ambition, I couldn’t wait ten more minutes to follow through with this symbolic scene.
Classic me.
It took me six months and 37 articles to accumulate 500 followers — that is six articles per month. But from the beginning of May to the end of July, I wrote only 8 articles — not even three per month. This pathetic tempo could never lead to success on the platform. Since August I maintain a better pace and I intend to keep it this way.
What I wrote in six months, may authors write in a single month. Those preaching follow for follow strategy can even reach 500 followers in a month.
But here’s an interesting number. I wrote 347 responses — a combination of comments on articles of others, and responses to comments on my articles. That’s almost ten times the number of my articles.
I can hear some of you saying:
This is a wasted time you should rather spend writing. With this approach, you will never be successful.
Oh, I will.
But I’m not interested in success in a vacuum. Just to float in my bubble of Medium fame, but never form a meaningful connection with my fellow writers. I love to read, clap, highlight, and comment — it is a natural, integral part of my Medium journey.
I consume ideas, I produce ideas.
But my way is not your way, that’s the point. You do what suits you best. The only important thing is to enjoy the process and to be true to yourself — just be you! Everybody climbs their own ladder to success and self-realization. The best thing we can do is support each other.
Everybody should write
In various forms, I write my entire life — journals, essays, social media posts, grant projects. I can’t tell how many pages I have written, probably tens of thousands. But often my writing had an external purpose. With university essays, you study a topic, look for causalities between phenomena, and provide your conclusion. With a grant proposal, you have to present your project and convince the evaluator to provide their funding.
The motivation to write a blog is internal — I challenge myself to put my thoughts, knowledge but also heart and soul into the articles, which benefit my readers and community. Writing is my calling and I will continue to write for the rest of my days.
When you hit the publish button, it’s like throwing a dice. You never know what happens next. You can inspire others, or provide them with a piece of actionable advice. You can also fail.
Then there are people like Dr. Mehmet Yildiz and his initiative ILLUMINATION, which promotes cross-pollination among writers and creates excellent conditions for the serendipity of ideas. In synergy with other writers, you can produce a piece of work that will shake the ground.
But in my six months on Medium, I came to a clear conclusion — writing isn’t just for writers, writing is for everybody. The mere act of molding your thoughts into words, then seeing them materialized on the screen/paper is profound. It helps us to discover more about ourselves, to sculpt our life mission, to formulate ideas and learn how to communicate them to the world.
Writing makes us more competent and competitive. Writing makes us better.
Help yourself by helping others
My writing hasn’t reached as many people as I want. Yet.
But the reactions I’ve received are wonderful. I’d like to read as many positive responses as possible. Not to satisfy my ego, but to see the tangible impact writing and reading can have on our lives.
No one lives in isolation, we form a mutually dependent community. As social creatures, we thrive the most when everybody around us thrives as well.
By helping others we help ourselves.
This is the ultimate satisfaction of writing. The feeling of a positive impact on someone’s life.
Bonus lesson
Do you know what writing on Medium hasn’t brought me? Money.
Even though Stripe is available in my country since March, I still haven’t signed for the Medium Partner Program. I will join in January 2021.
I decided to write until the end of the year without the monetary distraction. I treat this year as an investment and until January I don’t care about my revenues.
Maybe you see it as foolish, or even disrespectful since I reject this wonderful opportunity. But remember the first section?
My way is not your way.