I Wrote 82 Medium Articles, But Now I Give Up
Here is what I did after I failed in Blogging and how it can help you, too.
Blogging is hard, man… You must write regularly and keep writing through the bad times (even when you get few or no views and even fewer reads).
And tons of people are giving you advice that can mislead you… So you can think, “Everyone is making the cash register ring” (everyone except you).
If you are lucky, you will get a few cents here and there from the Medium Premium program (and even a few dollars on good days)…
But how much time do you give away for that?
Don’t be like me and stick your head in the sand writing and writing…
At some point, you should ask yourself if you picked the right topic and channel to communicate with the audience.
There is no shame in saying, “Well, I was wrong and now going back to quadrant one”.
It’s even worse if you keep investing an enormous amount of time in writing that actually “sells” for peanuts…
(Yes, you’ll also hit your self-esteem pretty hard as there is a disproportion between what you GIVE and what you GET.)
And remain in the hampster wheel because as soon as you stop posting, the World ends (views/reads plummet, and even that $1 per day turns into cents)…
I am exactly in the same position as you.
My Medium account has more than 82 articles today, but then I realized something…
I got maybe $100 over the last 3 months for all the reads.
And the time I spent writing?
Countless hours (which is pretty hard, next to my full-time engineering position).
So, I realized that I was actually keeping up with the Joneses… Despite a long line of people writing about the same topic of online marketing/blogging/writing…
So it’s time to “pick my battles”, as I admitted that the efforts one needs to make to get a decent income on Medium are just enormous…
And don’t adjust the time spent (before you get there).
But what now?
Well, I am not going to stop here… I am still going to write on Medium (and on my blog), but this is not going to be my primary focus as it used to be.
Going back to square one and evaluating other alternatives until I find something that works better.
And yes, I’ll probably use my engineering knowledge to create a new website app.
Actually, I just thought of a weight-loss app that collects user data and gives tailored advice on the nutrition and exercise plan for ladies (subscription-based).
(Facebook and Instagram should be good ways to get traffic to this app.)
So yes, I will at least try something new and see if it works.
But for sure, I am not going to keep doing what I did yesterday without questioning myself if this time was well spent.
Again, there is nothing bad in admitting a mistake as long as you stand up again and try again.
And here, I finish with my favorite quote that helped me regain morale whenever I failed.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett
Don’t worry, this is not my last post here, and I am just setting the priorities straight.
How is the Medium Partner Program treating you?
Write in the comments.
P.S. I still offer very decent blogging lessons.
