Getting My First 100 Medium Followers
How it motivated me to be a better writer
Let’s be honest, 100 followers is not that much, but for me, it was what I needed to keep writing. It meant that someone is interested in what I have to say. Even if just ten people from them decide to read my future stories, I will be glad they spend some of their valuable time, reading my posts. If I manage to help or inspire even one person, then I am doing something right.
As a new writer on Medium, this was a huge milestone for me, just as earning my first one dollar from my posts.
Followers are not the most important thing on Medium and you won’t get specific benefits just from having a lot of followers. But it feels nice to know that someone is interested in your writing. They found something to relate to or some valuable information in your posts.
On popular social media platforms having 100 followers is nothing, but here it felt like a big accomplishment. Especially for someone like me, who had no previous writing experience. I fell in love with writing and sharing my stories recently and I am trying to get better at it.
Most of these followers were a surprise because I haven’t posted in a while. In the beginning, I posted some articles, but then exam season started. After that, I went on a 20-day trip without my laptop. During those 2 months (exams and trip) I haven’t stopped writing, even though it was for less time. I tried to write something every day or every other day, depending on how busy I was. Now I have several drafts that need final editing when I get back home and use my laptop again.
Writing on my smartphone or on a notebook I carried with me was a different experience. I kind of love writing the old fashion way — with pen and paper. The only downside is that you can’t easily edit and add stuff. But I prefer it for writing your thoughts and then combining them into the first draft.
All of the time I wasn’t posting on Medium, I was still very active. I read several articles per day. Highlighted and clapped for the ones I liked and replied to many of them. This helped people find my profile, even though I wasn’t posting. I gained a lot more from that because writers on Medium share some amazing and helpful content.
Paying the 5$ monthly membership was a really great decision for me. Now I find myself reading stories on Medium or writing a new draft in times that I usually would have used to browse through social media. It helped me become more productive.
I am sure that many people will say “100 Followers is nothing. Why is she making such a big deal out of it?” And if you are an this platform just to make money, then you will be 100% correct. My goals are to become better at writing and to help people while sharing my stories. So when I first saw that number of followers, I felt like I need to improve my writing.
I have to provide valuable content to those people and I am responsible for the quality of my writing. Every minute of our time is valuable and I don't want those people to waste their time reading shitty content. So now I spend more time editing my posts, before clicking publish.
Having big goals is important, but if you only focus on them you will never be happy with your current life. Learn to appreciate and celebrate every little accomplishment that gets you closer to your goal.