Summary

The author has discovered a newfound appreciation for the value of small earnings through writing on Medium, which has provided a sense of fulfillment and validation that transcends the actual monetary amount.

Abstract

The author embarked on a Medium challenge to increase their writing output, traditionally producing only a couple of articles per month. While the primary goal was to observe the impact on views, followers, and income, the author also remained open to unforeseen consequences. Despite the modest earnings from writing, which pale in comparison to previous minimum wage jobs, the author finds joy and a sense of accomplishment in earning even a few cents from their passion for writing. This psychological shift has made these small earnings feel significantly more valuable than larger sums earned from less fulfilling work.

Opinions

Writing for Medium has provided the author with a sense of joy and validation that goes beyond the monetary value of the earnings.
The author values the recognition and readership that come with getting paid for their writing on Medium, considering it evidence of their skill.
The author reflects on past jobs with dissatisfaction, highlighting the monotony and lack of fulfillment compared to writing.
Even minimal earnings from a story featured on Medium, such as $0.03, can induce genuine happiness and a feeling of success for the author.
The author believes that the intrinsic value of earning money from a passion, like writing, far exceeds the actual monetary worth of those earnings.

How I Managed to Increase the Value of a Dollar

A surprising result from my Medium experiment

Okay, I don’t mean literally — I haven’t inadvertently found a way to manipulate the stock markets in my favour. The effect I’m talking about here is psychological.

I recently started a Medium challenge in which I’m primarily interested in the effect it has on views, followers and ultimately income. But I’m also keeping my eyes open for any unexpected consequences.

I’ve never been a prolific writer and so I’ve never earned a monthly Medium income worth whispering about, never mind shouting. I’m halfway through my attempt to seriously increase my output, but I’m not doing it with the expectancy of significantly increasing my earnings — not yet, anyway.

At most I usually only manage to write a couple of articles each month and never submit to publications, so up until now I haven’t bothered to keep track of the handful of cents I occasionally make. But now I’ve started, I’ve been surprised by the change in how I view these cents.

The value of a cent

I’m writing ‘cent’ not just because the majority of Medium’s users are American, but because it’s how the site tracks my progress. I’m in the UK and ordinarily deal in pounds and pence, so the value of the smallest denomination has actually decreased for me. But that’s not how it feels.

I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life that have paid close to minimum wage. My labour has been unappreciated in factories, warehouses, building sites and an untold number of offices. This type of work always manages to induce the same bad habit in me: clock watching.

Minimum wage jobs tend to be monotonous. Rarely do they require a great deal of thought, which leaves far too much time to daydream of the things you’d rather be doing. Seconds feel like hours, minutes feel like days, an hour feels like an eternity.

When you’ve suffered for an eternity for roughly ten dollars, acutely aware that you’ll have to endure at least another seven eternities before being allowed to do something you actually want to — well, let’s just say it doesn’t feel worth it.

The difference with Medium

Writing isn’t the same — I do it because I want to. I’d do it even if I didn’t get paid at all, which is unfortunately where I am right now. I have my own website that generates no income, and the little I’ve managed to earn from Medium so far isn’t going to worry any income tax officials.

But it’s a completely different experience to get paid for something you’re passionate about. Getting paid to do something you truly enjoy is living the dream for most people. For writers, there’s a certain level of validation involved, too. If you’re getting paid, you’re getting read — and that’s evidence that you’re good enough.

The story that’s earned me the most so far this month is When You Can’t See the Forest for the Trees. At the time of writing, it’s earned me a grand total of $6.19, largely thanks to it being Featured (which is something else I’ve written about, pulling in a whopping $1.07 and counting).

I joke, but these sums have made me genuinely happy in ways they couldn’t if I’d happened on them by any other means. Since I’ve been paying attention to my stats, I’ve been getting the little buzz of realising someone else has read my work almost daily.

Just now, when checking the stats page for the figures above, I noted that my story earned a further $0.03 cents yesterday and I smiled — I properly smiled. That’s three cents to induce an actual, physical manifestation of joy — who knew I was so cheap?

I haven’t worked out the hourly rate I’m getting for my writing, but considering I overthink absolutely every sentence, calling it infinitesimally small would be an exaggeration. After a day of stacking shelves, packing boxes or copying spreadsheets, you’d think the $80 dollars or so would stack up well against three cents — but it doesn’t come close.

While I haven’t bought sweets since I was a kid, I think you can still buy them individually for around that sum — but that’s about all you can get. Yet the sense of pride it offers beats the regret I feel after wasting yet another day increasing the profits of some multinational corporation — every, single, time.

Just like that pay packet you took home after your first paper round, or the handful of change you got for washing an auntie’s car when you were eight, sometimes a coin can be worth more than what’s imprinted on its face.

While I might only be bringing in cents from Medium, there’s no denying it — they’re some of the most valuable cents I’ve ever earned.