Summary

The author reflects on a successful January, marked by increased followers, subscribers, and earnings on Medium, while also sharing personal milestones, lessons learned, and humorous anecdotes about their journey.

Abstract

The author describes January as a month of significant growth on Medium, both in audience engagement and personal achievements. They highlight a substantial increase in followers and subscribers, reaching a total of 602 followers and 27 subscribers by month's end. Despite not reaching a $100 earnings milestone by a narrow margin, the author surpassed their December earnings and hit other financial targets. They also share insights on engagement metrics, the importance of reading and interacting with content, and the impact of article titles. The author humorously notes the purchase of a "Lambo," which turns out to be a toy car for their child. Additionally, they discuss the value of consistent posting, the challenge of Medium's comment limit, and the lessons learned from not achieving every goal. The article concludes with an optimistic outlook for future growth and a call for reader engagement.

Opinions

The author believes that success can come unexpectedly and values engagement over follower count.
They emphasize the importance of the 30-second read metric over the number of claps.
The author agrees with a commenter, Valentina O., that reading AI-generated articles encourages their proliferation and has thus stopped reading them.
They express that being in "Medium Jail" (comment limit) is an inconvenience but acknowledges it as a result of high engagement.
The author is grateful for their progress and the community's support, maintaining a positive attitude towards continuous improvement on the platform.

From $0.6 in November to Lambo? January was the best

Earnings, followers, money, and lessons learned.

Oh, it took me a while to write this post.

The beginning of February overwhelmed me with so many notifications on Medium. I didn’t expect that.

It seems success comes uninvited when you don’t expect it, haha!

I can’t wait to write about February! It’s been only five days, but I could write ten posts about it already.

My wife says I am exaggerating, oh!

Haha!

Anyway, for now, let’s focus on January!

It was the best since November.

A lot happened.

My stats rocketed up, and I learned valuable lessons.

Also, I bought my first Lambo.

First, it’s not a Lambo! It’s a Boss 302 Mustang.

Second, it’s not even mine. It’s my kid’s toy car. I lied in the picture’s caption.

I thought it was funny to add this.

Audience stats

In January, I got 325 more followers and 20 more subscribers, which makes a total of 602 followers and 27 subscribers at the end of the month.

This way, I have reached the milestone of 500 followers.

In the article where I talk about this, Paul Is Positive asked me how I managed to get so many in such a short time.

Sir, I haven’t done anything special besides writing, reading, and engaging, but mostly reading and engaging. I don’t even think about the number of followers.

You can read more about this in the linked article above.

Regarding the number of subscribers… I don’t know how to take advantage of this. Maybe you could say something about it.

I should add a subscribers section to my milestones article.

As you can see in the picture, the audience stats look promising for February also.

Story stats

I started the month with a good rhythm of posting.

In the first week, I posted daily, but then I started being lazy, haha.

Anyway, I posted 17 articles, which is good. It means an average of 0.5 posts per day.

The views and reads were quite impressive.

600x100/1106 = 54.24% Read Ratio

It is ok, but I know it is not enough, and I should work on it.

The spike in views and reads on the last day of the month looks interesting. Doesn’t it?

Earnings stats

This part gave me a lot of emotions, haha!

It was the 30th of January, and my earnings were $88. I still needed $12 to reach the milestones of $100.

But as some of you know, I didn’t.

Read the funniest drama down below. You might find something interesting.

Can This Article Reach My 100$ Milestone?

I can’t believe this happened to me

What I learned from not reaching the 100$ milestone in January?

Long story short, I missed the hundred by $1.98.

I am grateful I made over December’s earnings, reached the $50 in-a-month milestone, and the $100 in total on Medium one.

Lessons learned

So, articles have been published. I practiced my writing skills. Views and reads went up unexpectedly. My bank account is not empty anymore.

Also, I learned some good stuff and crazy things happened.

What did I learn?

The 30-second metric is the most important. Now, for me, 30 seconds is more valuable than 50 claps. I don’t complain anymore about claps;
It’s better for the algorithm to read and then to clap — it helps the writer more;
‘If we keep reading A.I. generated articles, they will keep writing them’ — Valentina O. (one of our conversation’s conclusions), so I don’t read any more such articles;
Being in Medium Jail is not so great — I have been there three times.
What I learned from not reaching the 100$ milestone in January?

What have I done well?

I posted more than in December;
I read and engaged more — daily — something that didn’t happen in December. This is why I reached the limit of 100 comments three times;
Improved my titles;
I like this article a lot. I am grateful I had the idea for it.

I Will Track My Milestones Progress on Medium via This Article

LAST UPDATE: the 5th of February;

medium.com

What could I have done better?

I can’t believe this happened to me;
I should have kept posting daily or at least every two days.

In conclusion, January was FAN-TAs-TIC.

Writing and reading more mean improvement. I think this happened. I have improved, and I figured out more things about medium-engine.

If you keep doing so, you can’t go back.

From now on, I know there is only one way:

UP.

Of course, if I keep doing the same things, with the mindset and intention to improve something every time.

Thank you for reading and your support!

What do you think about my progress?
Comment how was your January using one word.

Before you leave, please spot this mistake for me. It annoys me because I can’t find it.

Screenshot by the author — Grammarly extension

Never mind! Spotted it!

Thank you for reading!
🎮You may subscribe to my YouTube channel if you are a League of Legends enthusiast!
📖Take a read on this, too: My Dear ‘Friend,’ the Medium platform is not just a hobby!