After 2.5 Months, I Earned My First $200 On Medium
Here’s how I did it
I wrote earlier that writing is not just a skill, nor a career, but also a business. I know I sound like a sellout but money is a motivator and a good indicator of your content’s value to readers.
From the end of November to December 2019, I produced 23 original articles. Out of 23, 16 were published in Medium-based publications, the rest weren’t. I had about 7 articles curated by the Medium team. I earned a whopping $12 in December (Woah!).
As I write this today, January 21, my earnings have gone up to $250+ because of this article. I would like to earn more than $100 a month, consistently (who doesn’t?). The only way for me to accomplish that is to write more quality content and get published or curated even more.
To start the year, I thought of ways of establishing habits that can support this goal. After reading through articles of top writers like Shaunta Grimes, Tom Kuegler, Matt Lillywhite, Tim Denning, and Jyssica Schwartz, I just had to follow their footsteps.
Habit №1: Write at least 300 words per day.
Anne Lamott, author of Bird By Bird suggested to ‘sit down at approximately the same time every day.’ I am unable to do this, but I make sure to write. Even if I don’t want to, even if I feel too lazy to. There’s always something to write about, and writers never run out of words to use. The topic could be your cookie jar that fell on the floor and how your dog looked after the cookie crumbs…it’s still something.
Annie Dillard said ‘how we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives.’ I want to spend my days writing, this I know for sure.
Habit №2: Read at least 1 Medium article and engage with the author. I started liking Medium for its content. It came to a point where I had to delete the app on my phone because I was reading too much!
Joining Facebook groups such as Womxn Of Medium and Medium Magic, I confirmed one simple thing. Writers love to read. They appreciate good content. They also like to support, help and empathize with other writers.
I don’t find it a chore to engage with writers at all. It’s fun, it’s always a learning experience and it feels like home. Shaunta Grimes wrote an article about why and how to support Medium writers here.
Supporting is a way to learn and grow.
Habit №3: Promote one article on Twitter and engage with fellow writers by responding to tweets and retweeting other people’s work.
When I made friends with people practicing Ashtanga yoga, my practice became more meaningful. I enjoyed attending classes more.
Engagement is great when you are doing what you’re passionate about with like-minded people. In the book Tribes: Why You Need To Lead Us, author, entrepreneur, and marketing expert Seth Godin, said that a tribe is ‘a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, connected to an idea. It’s about faith — about a belief in an idea.’
It’s not about joining or building a cult. It’s having a community.
Habit №4: Promote at least one article on Quora. I love answering questions. If the answer I think of is something I have answered in one of my articles, I use a link.
Seth Godin said this of trends and going viral, ‘Movements happen when people talk to one another, when ideas spread within the community, when peer support leads people to do what they always knew was the right thing.’
Your readers are smart enough to know when you are bullshitting them or not. If your idea is worth sharing, they know what to do.
Habit №5: Post at least one article (mine or others’) about writing or remote work. LinkedIn is a bit more for ‘business’ and most of my connections there are from my previous jobs.
Posting an article about yoga or my personal relationships is not that suitable for my LinkedIn network. Instead, I post about writing (which I consider a job), books, and remote work (since I do have a full-time job).
Marketing used to be about advertising, not anymore. Today, marketing is about engaging with the tribe and delivering products and services with stories that spread. Seth Godin
Michael Phelps, the most celebrated and decorated swimmer of all time, channeled his energy into one discipline that developed into one habit — daily swimming. Anthony Trollope, the British novelist, wrote 2.5 to 3 hrs every morning before work. This made him write 47 novels and a dozen short stories.
While we may never be the next Phelps or Trollope, they are great examples of how habits can take us to places.
Easy choices, hard life. Hard life, easy choices. -Jerzy Gregorek
Some people fear to establish habits because they create restrictions. This belief causes them to misuse their time. Committing to habits, rituals and daily practices give us the freedom to do what we want, when we want.
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Odyssa writes, practices Ashtanga yoga, and works remotely.
Follow her tweets here. Subscribe to her weekly letters to hear her thoughts on Ashtanga yoga, shifting from the office desk to remote work, writing (of course) plus bits and pieces of her personal life.
