Everyone has an initiation.
I was On Cloud Nine when I got 0.02 USD from Medium.
A new Mediumer’s startup.
I started blogging on Medium in July 2019, inspired by Sam Ngu, a very supportive friend of mine. He was decisive to begin his career as a web developer. As an outstanding researcher, he advised me that I should have started a métier on Medium since I am so “obsessed” at expressing myself.
As a truth seeker, I love to fathom mysteries, untie the twisted knots, listen to the sages, put forward appropriate suggestions, help people to behave better.
This time, I decided to take the advice from Sam Ngu The Wise, start blogging on Medium. I posted my first article in July 2019: How is it like to work in Huawei — My Song of Ice and Fire in Chinese Tele-giant. It is an article about my working experience as a procurement specialist in Huawei.
On the other hand, intending to earn extra income from blogging, I attempted to fill in the necessary information to get paid.
Alas, I failed to join Medium Partner Program at that time because I could not get through the tax form section. Since I am a Malaysian, W-8BEN was an alien document to me. I phoned local law firms, query about W-8BEN, but none of them could give me an answer.
Moreover, when I clicked into the Medium Partner Program FAQs, Malaysia is not on the list of enrolled country. Medium Help Centre has not stated clearly about the Medium’s payout condition of Malaysia.
I tried many ways to sign up, but things did not turn out the way I desired. I could imagine writers in many other countries might have met similar predicament as well.
Confused, discouraged in the first place, I refocused my attention to things I deemed more important. Nevertheless, I still put stuff on Medium when I felt apposite. Such as: Do you have a True Friend?, published on January 5th; “Lazy Thai” — The Virtue of Contentment and Adequate Diligent published on 19th January.
These two blogs were composed carefully, even knowing I might not able to get paid. I just wanted to share the happiness of owning a precious friendship and re-explain the “Lazy Thai” statement.
About a week ago, I came across two videos made by Shelby Church on Youtube: “Making Money Online Writing for Medium… Is It Worth Your Time?” and “I made $6,000 from my Medium.com article… an update”. She recorded her experiment on Medium, and the outcome was electrifying. She started with making a few in the first week, ended up receiving 6000 USD after a month!
That is a big “WOW”!
Kindled by Shelby Church, I bounced to my working-desk, rechecked all necessary information step by step. Surprisingly, I sorted out my taxpayer information on that day(Presumably Medium has updated the system, I managed to key-in all information smoothly).
I was overjoyed while I saw the Partner Dashboard revealed itself. It means I could get paid by blogging!
Little by little, I got familiar with Medium. Then, I connected with the other bloggers on Facebook, updated payment information in Stripe, submitted proposals to publications, and signed up as a Medium member to support Medium community(Yap, I paid the member fee).
At the meanwhile, I published an article about the situation in the remote areas during the pandemic lockdown: Yet Some Parts of the World Still needed Ear-piercing Alert.
About a day after, I saw the figure in the dashboard changed.
It is 0.02 USD!
No doubt, I was treading on air.
Many authors on Medium write about their significant earning to celebrate achievements or attract readers; I wanted to record my thread from zero to hero in detail, started from meekness. Hopefully, it helps readers to gain a completed picture of blogging on Medium.
Even though I am not a high-income writer, yet I strive to step closer. And, I am stepping closer.
More importantly, I love writing.
So, be happy when you are invisible, earning 0.02; and also be happy when you become invincible, earning hundreds or thousands.
Earning money on Medium signifies public approval, and it fuels my enthusiasm.
Let’s write for a better world!