Summary

The author emphasizes the importance of consistency, fun, and patience in building a successful online creative presence alongside a full-time job, advocating for a focus on enjoyment and personal growth over immediate success.

Abstract

The article "I Wrote For 3 Years Straight Before Anybody Cared — Here’s How" delves into the journey of a part-time creator who persevered through years of consistent work before gaining recognition. The author acknowledges the loneliness and challenges of creating content while holding a full-time job but stresses that the key to long-term success is to find joy in the process. They suggest that rather than fixating on numbers and immediate outcomes, creators should explore their curiosities, mix up their routines, and prioritize fun. The article argues against the myth of overnight success, instead proposing a model of gradual improvement and organic growth. The author shares their personal routine, which aligns closely with what they would choose to do if they had won the lottery, indicating a deep satisfaction with their creative work. The piece encourages creators to embrace the journey, optimize for happiness, and understand that the true victory lies in the love for the craft, not in external validation or financial gain.

Opinions

Consistent creation is crucial, but it can become monotonous if not balanced with variety and exploration of new topics or styles.
Patience is overrated; instead of waiting for a big break, creators should focus on enjoying their current position and the act of creation itself.
The idea of sacrificing well-being for quick success is flawed; a healthier approach is to have fun and be kind to oneself while creating.
Creators should not view their endeavor as a race but rather as a continuous game where the joy of creation is the ultimate reward.
Financial success can be a byproduct of years of dedicated, enjoyable work, rather than the primary goal.
The concept of "making it" is subjective and should be redefined to include personal fulfillment and the intrinsic rewards of the creative process.

I Wrote For 3 Years Straight Before Anybody Cared — Here’s How

The secret ingredient in staying consistent

Creating on the internet is lonely work.

It might be even lonelier for those of us who create alongside our full-time jobs. Not many people understand why we have the desire to create a scale alongside demanding jobs.

But for us, it makes total sense. It’s something we’ve built up over the years, it’s become ingrained in our lives to create online.

But if you want to stick around for the long haul, here’s some stuff you need to know.

The boring work becomes boring

Building alongside full-time work can be a slog.

The danger of churn is that it becomes boring, day in, day out things things all merge into one.

It can, if you’re not careful, turn into a numbers game. It did for me. You have a list of things that you need to get done in a day and it becomes a churn of boredom:

Tweet
Write
Repeat

Your to-do list writes itself and things stagnate. If you feel yourself getting bored, you need to mix it up. The work will still need doing but there are a million and one ways to have more fun.

Explore new topics
Mix up your routine
Try and new style

The list is endless.

Don’t be patient, do this instead

There is one fact that rings true for all of my favorite creators: they’ve all been creating on the internet for more than five years.

That’s the kind of commitment it takes.

Overnight successes are those of fairytales. If you want to be around long enough for people to pay attention then you need to find ways to keep this thing interesting.

Instead of waiting for your big break, reframe the thing entirely. Spend each day exploring your curiosities and enjoying where you are. If you do that, every day, you’re not waiting, you’re living.

The best decision you’ll make as a part-time creator

If somebody asked me, Eve how would you spend your time if you won the lottery? This would be my answer:

I’d wake up, grab a coffee and write. I’d write about my thoughts, my ideas, and my passions, I’d follow my curiosity. I’d stop at about 11 am to go for a long walk with my dogs. I’d let them play in the water, chase balls, and sniff until 1 pm. I’d go home, grab lunch, and write until 5 pm.

Today I wake up and write. I walk my dogs at lunchtime and I write in the evenings. In many ways, I’m already doing what I want to be doing. So in many senses, I’m where I want to be.

Choosing fun over anything

There are two truths about creating part-time:

1. You are choosing to spend your free time doing this.

2. This is a long game.

The only thing then that makes an ounce of sense is to have fun creating. It’s to be kind to yourself, create at your own pace, and do the things that make you happy.

This idea of slogging it out to 2 am to then wake up at 6 am to do it all over again is frankly, unhealthy. Those people might get there quicker than you do but I bet they’re not having a good time doing it.

Who wants to win the race burnt out with nobody waiting at the finish line?

You don’t have to choose that life if you don’t want to. Instead, you can dial down the ambition and dial up the fun. You don’t have to self-made in the next 6 weeks.

What if…

Instead, what if you just created it online because it made you feel good?

Over the years you got better and people started noticing. 5 years in you started taking on clients, building relationships, and finding new ways to make money from your craft.

Sure there are days when it feels less fun to make money from this thing you love but also, you can barely believe you get to make money from this thing you love.

You build over years, you laugh, you cry, you optimize for fun and you see where it all goes.

In the end, you realize there is no race. It’s a game with no exit. You won when you fell in love with it.

That’s the game I’m playing.

P.S. If you want more content like this (designed to help folks with a 9 to 5 build on the internet) sign up for my free newsletter — The Part-Time Creator Club.