How I Made $8,000 on Medium in One Month

It took a lot of hard work, but it was worth it

In January of 2020, I made over $8000 on Medium.

Last time I wrote about making money on Medium, people left comments telling me it sounded “too good to be true.” Honestly, that’s how I feel right now. But there the money is, sitting in my bank account, and this is reality.

But even if I feel like it’s too good to be true, I know it isn’t. And the main reason I know it isn’t is it took work. I’ve been writing multiple times a week for Medium for 24 months — sick or healthy, rain or shine, views or no views, traveling or at home, and while juggling another job, I continued to publish. It was (and is) my priority number one. Publish, publish, publish.

I also know it isn’t too good to be true because while the money may be rolling in now, there was a long period of time where it wasn’t. When I started on Medium’s Partner Program, I began with around 1̶,̶1̶0̶0̶ 456 followers and 12 stories from the old, non-member program.

I spent about 20 hours that month writing for Medium. After my first month, I made a whopping $149 — and that was with 1̶,̶1̶0̶0̶ 456 people already following me. The next few months were like this: low income and low reward.

I wasn’t discouraged. Years of entrepreneurship had made me accustomed to being underpaid, and I was undeterred. I continued to focus on Medium, cutting my freelancing hours to make time to write.

As I expected, my income didn’t stay low forever. While Medium income is really prone to up-and-down months (some months you make $1,000, some months you make $100), my overall income has steadily risen each quarter. Writing for Medium is a form of entrepreneurship, and the beauty of entrepreneurship is your income grows on an exponential curve:

• In March of 2018, I made $3 an hour.
• In July of 2018, I made $11 an hour.
• In November of 2018, I made $5 an hour.
• In November of 2019, I made $12 an hour.
• In December of 2019, I made $50 an hour.
• In January of 2020, I made $150 an hour.

Emotionally, those first 18 months sucked. While all my friends were getting their grown-up jobs, renting stylish one-bedroom apartments, and taking out loans on Nissans, I was eating yet another instant soup dinner and writing yet another article I knew would probably go nowhere. I lost many nights to sleeplessness brought on by worrying about my future.

What I’m saying is, the answer to the question of “How I Made $8,000 on Medium in One Month” is this: I was willing to write three to five articles a week, every week, for two years, even when I wasn’t making much money at all.

This is consistent with what we know about success in the world outside of Medium. When people ask venture capitalists what traits they look for in entrepreneurs, one of their answers is always tenacity. It takes tenacity to get through months or years of doing difficult, valuable work for only $3 an hour, but that’s the price of starting something on your own, and venture capitalists know it. And ultimately, writing for Medium is nothing more than another internet startup. So if you want to make money on Medium, there’s no way to get around the fact that it’s going to take some time.

This isn’t meant to be struggle porn. If something is more of a hustle than it is rewarding, it’s something you shouldn’t be spending time on, Medium included. I just want to make sure everyone understands that while writing for Medium is a fantastic opportunity, it isn’t too good to be true.

That being said…

Getting Started on Medium Is Easy

I know I just spent five hundred words trying to convince you that writing for Medium is difficult in the beginning, but it isn’t that difficult. In fact, it’s rather easy. Compared to other things you could start, like a YouTube channel or a podcast, getting started with Medium is a piece of cake. It requires no tools but a basic computer and an internet connection.

Better yet, the income starts early. YouTubers and podcasters often have to produce content for years before seeing even one single cent, but many Medium writers start earning small amounts of income within a month.

To anyone who’s just getting started on Medium, know this: You’re on the right track. Medium is an unbelievable opportunity, and capitalizing on it is one of the best things you can do. Yes, the slog through making little to no money will last longer than you want it to. Long enough, in fact, that you should stop thinking about how long it’s going to take. But once you’ve done it, it will feel like it took no time at all.

You Have to Commit

What made this possible for me was that I gave myself no other option.

Before being a writer, I was a startup consultant. I spent four years earning a management information sciences degree from the Ohio State University with a specialty in entrepreneurship. In addition, I spent seven years running my own business, earning more than a few awards in the process.

When I decided to become a writer, that was over. I quit my job. I changed my LinkedIn byline and Upwork title. I made a new resume. I was no longer a startup consultant; I was a writer. I spent almost a decade building a career, and it took me exactly one day to throw it all in the garbage can.

Many people say quitting your day job is a very stupid idea, but for me, it was critical. If I had stayed in my former career, I would have agonized over every single article — how many views it got, how many reads, how the headline read, so on and so forth. Giving myself no other option changed my perspective. I no longer cared whether one particular article got any views, reads, or made any money. It didn’t matter if my latest article did well because I’d committed to being a writer, and I was going to be one, goddamnit, whether I made big money on Medium or I struggled to get by on freelancing gigs for the rest of my life.

I’m not saying you should quit your day job (because yes, quitting your day job can be a very stupid idea). Nor do I think you should take Medium full-time. Most people will never take Medium full-time, and that’s all right. I’m just saying that… well, I often see beginners stressing out about how every story they write is doing, agonizing over every little view or read. It’s as if they need their next story to be their big hit. If you need every single story to be a big hit, you’ll never make it, on Medium or anywhere else. Really, what I’m saying is this: Stop worrying about how every single story you write is doing, because it doesn’t matter. You can’t just be in it for the next story. You have to be in it for the long haul.

In Conclusion

For beginners on Medium, here’s the only tactic you need:

1. Write. As often as possible. Whenever you have even the slightest urge. Write.
2. Publish what you write. Always. Even if you don’t think it’s good, even if you feel nervous about the whole thing, even if you think everyone will think you’re stupid, publish.
3. When you publish, pick good tags, write a good headline, and pick a good photo (preferably from Unsplash). Spend some time on this, but not too much time. It can easily become a form of procrastination. Submit it to a publication if you can.
4. Once it’s done, pat yourself on the back. Maybe pop a link on your Facebook page so your mom can see.
5. Do it again.

Do this enough times in a row, and people will start to notice.