Writing

3 Things I Have Learned From Writing 100 Articles

So number 1, be consistent. Number 2, do not think about the money. Number 3, find a niche. Thanks for reading, and good luck. By the way, you can read more of my articles below if you want.

Yes, as you have probably guessed, I am sick and tired of those articles. If I had half a penny for the number of times I read to be consistent, I would have £10. I promised myself I would never write an article like that because I know how frustrating it can be reading them as a beginner.

After five months on this platform, I have finally written over 100 articles. The one you are reading right now is 108.

I was writing for a year before I came on this platform. On my blog (please subscribe here😄), I was writing one article per week. I wanted to get comfortable writing articles and improve before jumping on to this platform.

Despite doing that, I still had so much to learn. So, my experience of writing here has been a little bittersweet. I cherish the lessons and feedback I have received, but there is still so much to do.

If you are a newbie, you are probably wondering how much I have made in total. Well, this writing stuff certainly will not make you a millionaire.

Despite all the work I am pumping out, I have received $111.98 for my efforts. However, the money has been increasing every month.

But I do not think the money has been a benefit. I do not write for the money. I write to create value for others. And through doing that, I believe I can leave a lasting effect on people.

From writing on this platform, I have received the following benefits:

1. Increased the number of subscribers on my blog
2. I Had my work featured in a news article in India
3. I Had the opportunity to speak at a university in India and advise lecturers on ways to engage their students
4. Became a creator for two other platforms. It may even be three because someone contacted me today to become a leading creator on their platform.
5. Became a leadership consultant on an experts platform (Thankyou DDI)

By the way, all of this has happened in five months, and I am only 21. Although I said there is a lot of progress to be made, I am grateful for the opportunities so far. So here are the three lessons I have learned.

People Want Your Connection More Than Anything

After writing around 50 articles, I was finding it hard to elevate my stats. To make it worse, I kept reading stories about how people wrote on medium for a week and made it big.

Although it is possible, it happens to a small number of people. Even though I knew this fact, it still made me feel bad. Why was I not getting a bunch of follows and claps? And why could I not get the medium bonus others were getting.

So, in frustration, I wrote a kind but frustrated comment on one of those articles and left. Little did I know that someone was feeling the same way. The next day, that person connected with me and commented on one of my articles.

They then followed me on Instagram and even added me on Linkedin. It did not take long until they sent me a message saying, “Just wanted to connect with you”.

On this platform, people want to connect with more than the words on their screens. They want a relationship with the person behind it. As you get better at writing, your words will be enough. However, at this early stage, you must be open to actively connecting with others.

It is not hard because people want to collaborate and learn about each other on this platform. So, the first lesson I will be taking into my future 100 articles is:

1. Connect with others because they want you to

Do Not Niche Down Too Early

Yes, I am going counter to the mainstream advice of finding a niche fast. At the start of my journey, I tried niching down to the self-improvement area. However, I realised that it was not working for me. Also, I started getting bored of it.

So, I decided to write on five topics and spread them out across the week. They were:

1. Business
2. Leadership
3. Education
4. Philosophy
5. Self-improvement

After writing 6–7 articles on each, I used analytics to find the three best-performing topics. Now, I mainly write on three and leave Thursday’s for a fun day to write anything I want. By the way, I highly recommend a fun day. It gets your creative mind ticking and helps you find joy in the writing process.

Niching down too fast does not give you enough time to develop your writing skills and find what works for you. So, a big lesson I learned is to spend a good chunk of your first 100 articles writing around topics of interest. Try to write at least 50 articles on random topics you like.

Then, use your analytics to govern where you go from there. So, second lesson:

2. Take time out to write on topics you love before choosing a niche

Read the Most Recent Articles on Your Feed

Here is a little hack I have learned recently. Your home feed setting is automatically set to top stories. Although that is great for the reader, it is not so much for the writer.

As a reader, you are looking for the best user experience. So yes, you want to read the best-performing articles. However, to build connections, you want to be the first comment and clap for someone who has just posted.

Imagine what it would feel like to get a clap and comment 5–10 minutes after posting. As a new writer, you would feel over the moon and be more likely to support that writer.

So lesson 3 is simple:

3. Be the first to comment, clap and connect

Summary and Thankyou’s

Before I end my 108th article, I have to say thank you to all those who have supported me so far. You are amazing, and I appreciate all the hard work you do. Without your comments, support and claps, I would not be where I am.

Here is a list of names I would like to thank for helping me reach this milestone. If you have forgotten what you did or do not know, please comment so I can tell you:

Bill Abbate Taylor Foreman Erik Brown Michelle Loucadoux, MBA Dr Mehmet Yildiz Maria Rattray Sahil Patel Amin Sazuki Vaibhav Sharma Tasneem H Yousuff Milan Kordestani

I apologise for anyone I have missed, but thank you nonetheless. So to conclude:

1. Connect with others because they want you to
2. Take time out to write on topics you love before choosing a niche
3. Be the first to comment, clap and connect

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